Week 4- My Journey As A Writer

Let me first start by saying that I can't remember hardly anything from my child hood. I had a pretty normal and simple child hood. When I was in elementary school, all I can remember is that we used to have Spelling; which included writing our spelling words. We also had a spelling bee that I took second place in. I liked it even though I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to participate out of shyness. Yes, shyness can you believe I was once shy. I think spelling was important for me; because I feel like it introduced me to new words that I could use when I was writing. The schools in the area where I live now; have a system called "Words Your Way". This activity has the students putting words into different grammatical categories and writing them in their categories on paper. I feel like I would want to have a weekly spelling bee or timed writing contest using these words weekly. I would also like to make a slide show with pictures related to the words, for the students to view.
My next influence in writing, that I can remember, was my Mother who wrote stories on her type writer and then later a word processor. Yes, a type writer and a word processor no judging on my age, lol. I learned how to use a type writer and a word processor from her. She let me use them to try to write my own stories. I have always loved writing. I loved stationary paper too and still do; although a lot of things have gone electronic.
I still can't remember a lot from my Middle School years either. I do remember that we were required to read different kinds of books and write book reports on them. I read the book "The Giver" and "Gone With The Wind". We were required to read a novel in 6th grade; thus "Gone With The Wind". It seems to me that writing has always came easy to me.
In High School, it seems like we wrote on a lot of worksheets or mini summaries on videos we watched. The videos were based on books or plays we read in Drama class. I am sure there were some essay papers, but as I said, I don't remember too many things. Writing has always been one of my favorite things to do; even recreational. I also like to talk a lot and this is probably another reason I like to write a lot too.
In college, I got my first experience of writing extreme amounts of essay papers; especially in my general education classes. I liked these kinds of assignments; because I love to write. There were many students I had talked to; sharing what I assignment I was working on and which one they were working on. I would likely say something, like "I am working on my Math homework, ugghhh." and they would jokingly reply, "I am writing....essay paper on..." "I'll trade you." My reply was "O.k. sounds like a deal." This was obviously a joke and never transpired, lol. On a serious note though, I feel like all my teachers have played a part in me becoming the writer I am today. One of the hardest assignments in college writing; was when I wrote an autobiography. I had a hard time getting started on that assignment. I never know how to start talking about myself, but when I do start; watch out I never stop. I have picked up different skills for writing along the way through my education. It has taken a while to get to where I am today in my writing abilities. So, I know when I start teaching writing; I will be patient with the young writers and try to encourage creative thinking reflected in their writing. My journey in writing has been influenced by creative people who have supported my creative thinking through my writing, as well.