I am only in my second year of college, however I have grown and developed as a student, athlete, and an overall person in so many different ways. Coming from a high school where there were not many individualized opportunities, I was very used to being on the same schedule as my peers. Now that I live on my own and have classes and practice times that differ from my friends, I have learned a lot about how to be my own person. Who I am today has a lot to do with many different factors, but the one most relevant is my career path and education. My desire to be a teacher, specifically one with a focus in English Writing has exposed me to many opportunities. The classes I have taken in college have shaped me to be the profound writer and thinker that I am. The language I use in my papers and speech is much more professional and authoritative. I am confident in what I have to say and take ownership in it.
There is such a prominent relationship between writing and identity. Depending on what a person is writing for will change the language used within the piece and the identity they present. For instance, when I write a lab report, the language I use will be extremely different than the language I would use in a creative writing setting. The identity I would put forward in each of these papers would also be polar opposites. In the lab report, I would write in a professional and scientific way. I would identify as a researcher or experimenter and with that group/class I am in. When writing creatively, I would write in a way that expresses myself in whatever topic I am writing about. I am currently working on a piece about what being an athlete means to me. In this scenario, I identify as an athlete, but being an athlete would be irrelevant and inappropriate in my lab report.
Learning and engaging in different forms of writing has broadened my knowledge and abilities. It has also shown me what it means to express my identity in my work effectively.
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