The beginning of my interest in reading goes way back, although I don’t have any defining “aha!” moment, where I all of a sudden enjoyed reading books. There were always books around when I was growing up, if I was at my grandparents house it was the books they kept from their youth; classics like Treasure Island or any Hemingway book, the hard covers permanently infused with dust; plenty of History books, particularly World War II history; and the children’s books I always received as presents when I visited. My mom also read a lot, but more modern books, like supernatural or light horror books, nothing too difficult (or scary). I spent a lot of time reading magazines, mostly Video Game (note: spent more time creating stories off the video game articles and stories than actually playing the games; remember also creating stories from multiple video games) and newspapers, particularly the baseball scores I always was into creative things as a kid (note: the baseball simulation tournaments).
There were notebooks full of drawings and stories I created, inspired by the stories I picked up in whatever it was I could read. fake movie descriptions, satires (or what would pass for them when you’re under ten) of popular things at the time, I even tried to write a fake radio show with my friends using a tape recorded and index cards in place of cue cards. Basically anything I could use as a launch pad for creativity or inspiration I would take in, be it movies, books, any art form.
As I got older, I picked up playing guitar and learning composition and music theory, which lends itself well to reading and writing, as there is a lot to learn and express. Without reading, I would never have been able to learn guitar the way I did, as there...
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... could be represented and interpreted based on prior experience was similar to how one would approach any written work.
After working in business for quite a few years, I finally had the freedom to read whatever I wanted in my spare time, but as I ventured into more and more difficult works, I found that the ideas I wanted to express weren’t easily contained in just essay form. I found that I wanted to share this with others, and learn how to improve my own writing, but bring these different ideas to others. I originally had come back to school to do more of a research oriented study, a science or math based major. After retaking the English Composition 122 class at CLC, where we covered science fiction along with classics, and other forms such as memoirs, I began to realize that my passion for reading and writing could be beneficial to others as well as myself.
My English Literature major has helped me to achieve an outstanding level of appreciation, enjoyment, and knowledge of both American and British Literature. As a high school AP English student, I struggled through great works like Hamlet and To the Lighthouse. My teacher’s daily lectures (there was no such thing as class discussion) taught me merely to interpret the works as critics had in the past. I did not enjoy the reading or writing process. As a freshman at Loras, I was enrolled in the Critical Writing: Poetry class. For the first time since grade school, my writing ability was praised and the sharing of my ideas was encouraged by an enthusiastic and nurturing professor. Despite the difficulty of poetry, I enjoyed reading it. Because of my wonderful experience in Critical Writing, my love for reading and writing was renewed and my confidence in my abilities as a writer had been restored. I decided to take a second chance on English by declaring Literature and Writing as my majors.
Instead of mom reading children’s books to me, I read them to her. And if I stumbled upon something I didn’t know or understand, mom helped me out! Soon enough I started reading to her without stuttering of not knowing how to say a word. I started being able to sound out words easier and my fluency became much better than before. First grade came around and I started reading bigger books such as Junie B. Jones and also the Magic Treehouse books. Books became easier to read as I aged and the books I read were getting bigger and bigger. In 5th and 6th grade I read The Red Pyramid, The Throne of Fire, and The Serpents Shadow, a trilogy called The Kane Chronicles written by Rick Riordan. I thought these three books were the greatest three books ever written! I even thought they were better than the hunger games! Especially with the series being based around Egyptian gods and theology, and also managed to tie in kids around my age that I could relate to. Those books made me love reading more than I ever have and I would read them again if I had the time to. Once 8th grade came out along I decided to read a “big boy” book: DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. I thought I was so cool because I was reading a book that my parents have read. It has been the best book I have yet to read so far because it sparked my interest from the first sentence, to the last, there was intense suspense throughout the whole book and I could nonstop
As the semester finally approaches the finish line, I revisit my past work to compare and contrast how this class has developed me into a successful writer at the college level. Throughout the year my writing style has developed and become broader as I have learned how to incorporate more of my personal views as well as reliable, unbiased information. This portfolio is a representation of how many things I have learned along the way while being an English 102 student.
Although it has only been 2 weeks that I have been attending in this writing course, I have already expanded my knowledge greatly and gained plenty of courage in a very little time period. I am not an avid reader, nor do I ever bother to take my own time to go out and pick up or buy a book, but throughout the weeks, I have been assigned to read a new article every week, and each article has made me realize the power and potential reading has to a single person. How it can change someone’s life drastically. I mostly enjoyed reading “The Importance of the Act of Reading” by Paulo Freire, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, and “All Writing is Autobiography” by Donald M. Murray.
English has never been my best subject. Reading books can be exciting, but the writing aspect of English can be dreadful. Somehow, however, I passed all my advanced English classes with at least a B, and my teachers always considered me to be “above average.” My impartiality toward English shifted to an indifference near the end of my high school career; my indifference then shifted to appreciation. This appreciation is attributed to American Studies and Honors Writing, the most difficult English classes at Belleville East Township High School. American Studies and Honors Writing have strengthened my writing skills beyond what I believed possible. I still do not believe that I am the best writer, and English may never be my best or favorite
Writing doesn’t come easily to me, which must make me a glutton for punishment. It has taken me years of training, learning to structure an essay and unlearning to begin again. Only since attending HSU am I realizing how exceptional my writing has become. Over the course of two semesters, I have seen my writing expand and grow. While I still adhere to the training I received in high school, I am excited to now take these tools and develop my own unique style in the years to come.
I wrote short stories, poems, and articles; all centering on an idea of deep relevance and striking resonance. I experimented with various styles and numerous techniques with the majority of them proving to be useless and unimportant. However, despite these seemingly futile grasps at concrete steps towards amelioration and evolution as a writer, all of this experimentation paid off when it finally led me to the one particular style of writing that I enjoyed immensely: essays. After discovering my hidden talent for creating formal compositions and literary pieces, my writing had improved vastly. This was because I finally gained the crucial self-analytical skills required to be able to identify my strengths and weaknesses and break through this obstacle which had obstructed my path to
During the transition from a high school writer to a collegiate writer, my strength at understanding the basic principles of good writing has remained consistent. I grasp the ...
Throughout my year enrolled in AP Literature and Composition, the skills I have learned from my reader’s journal has helped me create a different outlook on the world that helps create an order to the meaningless entertainment that would otherwise take over. I now have an insight on the world; the world’s tales are more than just happy accidents. They’re constantly inspired by other works and constantly racing to see who can create the most memorable and meaningful message. Whether I am now watching a quick flick at the movies or reading a Shakespearean play, I can see the dramatic effects of the literary world and how each event corresponds to a determined meaning.
Some of the books which we read in elementary were examples like, Dr. Seuss and other childish books. As I went to a higher standard of books, and got older,
I read voraciously as a child. I grew up in a college town and spent my summers in Middlebury, Vt, where my father taught summer school. That meant I was surrounded by libraries and by people who love to read and discuss literature. During the Vermont summers, one of my favorite places was Middlebury College's rare books room where I read first-edition Louisa May Alcott novels.
The time that I recall when I first began to read was when I was two years old. My mom started teaching me a lot before I went into kindergarten and it was really useful that she was a kindergarten teacher herself. The main types of readings I do are magazines, research articles, and when I get assigned to read a novel for a class. I would describe myself as a reader that once I start reading a book, I find myself not being able to stop because I want to know what will happen next. A moment that encapsulates who I am as a reader is when I read a novel that I chose for a class to do a book report on and found myself reading it for over an hour because I was in such suspense. My favorite books are “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” and “Dress Her in
I can remember like it was yesterday that I had a passion to read. Learning new words and reading new books excited me as a teen. It all started when I was in ninth grade. I wasn’t your typical fourteen-year old child reading children library books. I loved reading the young adult books. My favorite author was Ellen Hopkins. She wrote most of her novels about teens struggling with substance, abuse, feelings, sexuality, etc. I didn’t go through the problems like the teens in the books, but the stories made me think a whole new perspective in the teen world. I felt like the young adult books gave me meaning and the hard, cold truth about the world so that’s why I liked
My parents instilled a passion for reading in me even as a toddler; years later, an excellent,
Reading is an amazing activity that can transport you to various worlds and eras. I can recall being asked many times to put down the book I was reading and pay attention to class or losing sleep to finish the next chapter. While it certainly helps to be able to pronounce and understand what you are reading, I believe that the most important thing a good reader needs is curiosity. It can be easy to lose yourself in a book you are curious about if can catch your attention. A lot of readers hear about a book and decide to explore it or simply find the summary interesting and being to read. Encouraging that curiosity is my goal as a teacher. I want my children to have an insatiable curiosity for the world around them. My own passion for reading will help me get my students encouraged about the next book or topic. Children can feel how people are towards different subject areas and reading is one of my favorite so I feel that I will be able to pass that excitement on.