Reading and Writing? No big deal! The words reading and writing used to make me cringe. The thought of putting my own ideas down on paper gave me complete anxiety. And worse, the thought of reading 300 plus words made me sick. When assigned papers and reading my stress level would rocket, to the point where I didn’t even want to try. It wasn’t until I realized who my sister was as a writer and reader that, I too, could become half of where she was at. Not only did my sister help me realize who I am as a reader and writer, she made me realize that I could actually enjoy the things I hated most. With the help of my sister and my 12th grade English teacher, I was able to pinpoint what my level as a reader and writer was and helped me learn to question and look into something with a deeper understanding, making these two things seem much easier. My sister is extremely smart, or perhaps brilliant would fit her better. She was a 4.0 student in high school, with a 33 on the ACT, she attends New York university, and having a photographic memory is something to never doubt. Along with being very intelligent, she reads …show more content…
I began to read for fun. I went to the library more to pick up book that looked interesting. I started the series Hunger Games, and found that I was hooked. It was the first series that I read within two weeks. Weeks earlier, reading anything was a chore, taking me up to three weeks to read just on book. But with the help of my sister, I pushed myself based on what my sister did, I found that it became easier and easier. I started to love to read. I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that I would actually enjoy reading words in a book. Not only did reading help my grades go up significantly, I found something I enjoyed doing, it even made reading textbooks, or school assigned books a lot easier to finish. My attitude towards reading was no longer bitter, I found that reading was my escape from the
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” –Nelson Mandela. Some people say that change is a bad thing, and some say that change is a blessing. Change is what makes us human. It is what enables us to grow wiser and stronger, and it is also what allows us to love, hate, and grow. I have grown so much since I have started the eighth grade in ways that I love, and ways that I have not yet recognized. I have learned and changed greatly throughout mathematics, science, and history, but I have learned the most about writing properly. Throughout the year, I have changed and recognized my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, my strategies and my progression, and what has caused change and the change to come.
I find myself following in the literary footsteps of my beloved sister, Alyssa. Her pure love for reading and her stretched imagination has intrigued me ever since I was younger. She always had her nose in a book, and being her little brother I tried to emulate her thirst for words. My sister is my role model, in my everyday life, but I also have to look up to her when it comes to reading and writing. She is able to manipulate words to conform a complete and truly beautiful thought. Alyssa has impacted my literacy and language development through her passion for reading and her ever-growing imagination, which has lead to the way I read, write, and converse in everyday life.
I am sitting in my bed, thinking about my process of writing as I am trying to go through it. It seems the more I think about it, the less I understand it. When I am writing, I don’t think. Which I know, sounds bad. But, I spend every single moment of every single day over thinking, over analyzing, and over assuming every aspect of my life. When I’m writing, I’m free from that for just a little bit. Until of course, my hands stop typing or the pencil (no pens- never pens) stops moving, then I’m right back on the carousel that is my brain. Heidi Estrem says, “...writers use writing to generate knowledge that they didn’t have before.” (Writing is a Knowledge-Making Activity 18). I believe my ability to write without an exact destination
I went through most of school reading those boring books that we all know about, and it was a serious struggle for me. When reading something you’re forced to, you don't find it quite enjoying. If you don’t enjoy it, you can forget what you’ve read, not get much out of the book, find it incomprehensible, and so on. Then out of nowhere in my life, I had discovered the first book that I honestly enjoyed. I can’t remember a whole lot about them, but i do remember the feeling of finding the first book I liked. The book was almost life changing it seemed. I would read it many times over and over again! These books, Choose Your Own Adventure series, were full of action and took me places! You directed where the story went, or ended by making choices for the main character. It was different every time you read it! It not only was good for reading, but also helped with being able to comprehend what I was reading, finding the theme of a book, and a lot of reading skills. I was finally an active reader! My reading took off, my attention was captivated, and my reading skills began to really
Reading is to writing as breathing is to living. When you read, you interpret life. When you write, you provide your perspective. I work with multi-level educators daily and the common denominator is the fact that they need for their students to read. Read math, science, social studies and even music.
Reading has been relatively painless for me, I remember always wanting to read when I first learned how, in the same way that teenagers want to drive everywhere when they first receive their license. One series I remember reading was called The Tucket Adventures, a book series by Gary Paulson. It is based around a fourteen-year-old boy who is captured by a tribe of Pawnee Indians. As a result of reading The Tucket Adventures, I was
When I was in elementary school reading was a struggle for me. By the time I reached third grade, I had fallen several grade levels below my peers. To assist my education I was placed into a “special” reading class. As I watched the other kids exceed, I felt lost and ashamed of my reading impairment. Knowing this, my mom ingenuously got me to pick up the first book of Harry Potter. It started as a book she would read to me at night, but it sparked my curiosity and interest. I began reading the second book by myself, which was a slow tedious process. After that, I continued to pick up one book after another and it got easier for me to read. At the end of my fifth grade year I finally caught up to the rest of my class. Even now reading sometimes
What has brought me to this class and what do I expect to gain you may ask. You also may wonder what is my background in writing, or even my strengths and weaknesses with such. Follow along with me as I tell my story of composition and me. Most people to whom know me well will tell you I disked writing, but never knew why. I have never considered myself an accomplished or even an elegant writer.
I have been highly involved in language arts, reading and writing, ever since I was young. It has played an important part in my life as I’ve always been an avid reader. Books were my portal to the bigger world, a world full of imagination and different peoples and places. I transitioned from being a reader to a writer, and a big part of my growth as a writer has come from an organization called Writers & Books located in New York State, a group that aims to help young writers bloom through different classes that approach writing and words creatively. The people there have greatly encouraged me as a newbie artist writer with their enthusiasm for both writing and teaching.
There are many different types of events that shape who we are as writers and how we view literacy. Reading and writing is viewed as a chore among a number of people because of bad experiences they had when they were first starting to read and write. In my experience reading and writing has always been something to rejoice, not renounce, and that is because I have had positive memories about them.
Throughout my life, reading and writing were a positive thing because of the support from the people around. I was never really the confident or extroverted type of person back in the day. This then caused me to be anxious when I read or be doubtful of what I wrote. I can still remember breaking balls of sweats and tensing up whenever I had to read something aloud in elementary. It was a pretty big social problem for me but I can also recall many times where I was laughing and having fun while doing something with reading or writing with my mother. Although there have been many things that affected me so far in my literary journey, my mother has been the most supportive and impactful person to me by reading short stories, going to the library, and giving me writing prompts. One of the activities I liked to do before I fell asleep was to read.
Learning to read and write has always been a challenge for me. Not because I couldn’t read or write but because I had a hard time spelling and pronouncing words. Majority of my time spent in school I lived in New Orleans, La. In New Orleans learning to read was as simple as that, all they taught was how to learn to read. Meaning, I was given a book and told to read it. Punctuations, parts of speech, and pronunciation of words were merely touched on. Majority of my English lessons were tracing simple letters or words and reading basic books. This way of learning affected me in a major way when I came to New York, but not in a bad way. When I came to New York it was almost like students were on Collage reading and writing levels compared to my basic teachings while living down south. This at first was a little intimidating I must admit but New York’s way of teaching
I am currently enrolled in my second semester at Elgin Community College, and one of the classes that I am currently taking is an online class that is about fiction literature. I have always had mixed feelings about reading when I was younger, but now I like it more. I am always reminded about when I was a young child, I thought of reading more of a burden because I was not interested in it. I am not sure if you picked up on that, but it was something that I always thought of being boring, and would think it would take up too much time.
Reading was never something I fussed about growing up. As a child, I loved genres of realistic fiction. I was hooked on The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley, Goosebumps, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, Judy Moody, and especially, Zoobooks and Highlights magazines. My mother was always ready to help build my reading and writing skills. She took me to the library constantly to feed my passion for books and knowledge. I loved exploring the shelfs, organizing the books, and filling up my library cart. I tried keeping a diary in elementary school to keep track of my outings with my parents and grandparents to museums, zoos, movies, and libraries. This flash of writing enthusiasm was spun from books I read in the 4th and 5th grade that were
While she was on her “ten year maternity leave,” she didn’t stop teaching, but instead instilled knowledge upon me and my siblings. By giving me an early start on learning to read enjoyably, I have always enjoyed reading and always will. I can remember several books that I have read throughout the years. In second grade, I read Where the Red Fern Grows and it was one of my first, big reads. In third and fourth grade, I completed the Percy Jackson series. In fourth and fifth grade, I read the entire Harry Potter series and began rereading them in 7th grade. Over my many years of school, I try my hardest to keep a book in my backpack at all times which is all thanks to the support given to me by my mother.