Reflection About Reading And Writing

Before I began elementary school, I enjoyed reading picture books, the touch and feel books and pop-up books. I loved the author Dr. Suess, because he was funny and because I loved the rhyming he did in his writing. I can remember before bed, my mom or dad would read to me until I got old enough to read myself. My mom has always enjoyed reading, if she is not reading a book, then she is reading a recipe or a magazine. My dad on the other hand, I have only seen him read one book, besides reading manuals for his tools. Reading was not a big deal in my house, all of us kids were told that we needed to read, but they did not force us to read. This brings me to Richard Rodriguez’s essay, in his household reading was not as important, but once he got to school, he realized that reading is one of the main activities. I can relate to Rodriguez because in either one of our households we weren’t told that we had to read before we did something else. Once I got to elementary school is when I realized that reading was not for me. Before school, I enjoyed reading, then once I began elementary school, I was forced to read, take tests over books, and read out loud in front of the class which made reading a chore.

I’ve always been an avid reader. When I was in elementary school, my mother would take my brother and I to the library every week to pick out books. I would take the books to school and read them all in one day. I loved reading so much that my teachers would call home and tell my parents that I was reading my library books during class instead of my textbooks. Reading has always been a major part of my life. I used to aspire to become an author. I even wanted to become an editor at one point. I used to make daily household newspapers and magazines for my entire family to read and enjoy. My strong love for reading certainly came in handy during my freshman year of high school.

Which I was shocked because I never wanted to read one whole book in my life. So back to the library I went to get my second book, and then read that before anyone else finished their first book of the year. Looking back to those books some of those are the best books I have ever read to this day. Right after school I would rush as quickly as I could to the front office and laid on the ground reading until my mom got off work, then reading on the bumpy car ride home, after dinner and right before bed. Sometimes, when I was really close to finishing a book I would even stay up super late to finish and use a flashlight as my light so my mom wouldn’t see my bedroom light on and know I was up past my bedtime, just so the first thing I said to my teacher the next day was that I finished another book, and of course I said it loud enough so the whole class heard me. They were so shocked that I read so much in so little time. I was on a roll and I didn’t want to stop. I had read more books than anyone else in my class and even in my entire

As a writer I’ve grown so much throughout my college experience at Rowan University through the writing arts program. I was introduced to the different genres and styles of writing within all of my courses. Specifically, my Senior Seminar Evaluating Writing course. This course introduced me to the many different genres and styles of writing. I learned quickly within this course that the genres in writing can be determined by the literary technique, the tone, the content, the voice, the vocabulary used and even how the long the reading is. Not only did I learn all of the ways to determine a genre, but I have also learned all that would not be considered a genre.

In addition to reading and writing in my books, I would sit with my sister after she had checked out her books from the library at the school she attended. I’d wait until she finished, and then get her books and read as much as I could. The books she had checked that I had been really fond of would have to be the Clifford the Big Red Dog and Junie B Jones series. She didn’t really like to read so she would get small books and let me read them. After I had read her books, I would read other things around the house,I also liked to read the Sunday comics. It was around that time I discovered how much I liked to read. I read so much that by the time I had reached second or third grade, I didn’t have a reading level. I would just go into the library and get any book I wanted.

Throughout the timespan of a semester could you improve your writing to where there would be noticeable differences? When writing for English 1010, I noticed that there was obvious weaknesses and minimal strengths or lack thereof in my writing abilities. In many ways I do believe that I was able to improve in areas pertaining to reading, thinking, researching, and writing.

This class has helped me to improve my writing in many ways. Though I do not manage my time as well as I would like to at the moment, I have evolved this aspect of my writing vastly. At the beginning of the semester, it took anywhere between two and four hours to complete an essay, and I would wait until the very last minute to even begin writing. I have learned how to properly manage my time in order to write my essays in a shorter amount of time. I have also increased my ability to find and present sources in an academic essay. Though I still need to polish my ability to present information without bias, I am able to find relevant information in order to further prove my point in an essay. Overall, this class has taught me many valuable things

They bought me a big spiral notebook and would help me learn to write once a day. This didn’t interest me as much as reading the words. I have never liked writing as much as reading. I remember always dreading writing assignments in primary school and on into middle school. Even still I don’t care for writing very much, but I still love reading. My favorite memories from my childhood are the ones of my mother reading me chapter books. She would read me things like “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Little House on the Prairie.” My favorite thing she would read to me was the Harry Potter series and it remains my favorite series of all time. My mom reading me these books as well as others when I was young got me started on my love for reading throughout my

My past with reading and writing has not been a constant thing, I’ll admit. Growing up, the word reading would be met with a consistent groan by most of my family. Writing would probably hold a worse reaction, but no one in my family really wrote beyond the grocery list. When I was young, my favorite books were either the short informational books about animals, or the Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony Diterlizzi (I never read them, just looked at the pictures). The best thing about books was being able to leave class to go to the library and get read to. Books just weren’t very important to me, or anyone I knew.

When I was just a little boy in middle school, I already had a great amount of pressure put on me. I was not the type of kid who particularly enjoyed reading; it was not something I would just do for fun. With my mother being a teacher at the elementary school level, she always pushed me to read. My mother would always say something along the lines of, “You better start reading now, because you are going to be reading for

“I either go to television or turn on the radio in my car” (Whitefield 2011). Before I started this class, that is what I thought about when someone asked me “Do you keep up with the news?”. Most people do not get the opportunity to learn about what is going on around the world in their everyday lives and how they can help out. I feel that being in this class I got the chance to learn more about life and what is happening everywhere, not just insignificant matters such as who Kim Kardashian is now dating or why Kylie Jenner got more lip injections, I am learning about the important things. I am getting the chance to learn about how I can participate in the world to make big changes because of reading The New York Times, “Why Local Newspapers,” and “Freedom is Intended as a Challenge.”

In my younger years, I loved reading. My mother would read me stories every day and I loved the way it would spark my imagination in every way possible. I could so vividly picture what was happening throughout a story my mind would jump straight in as if I was the main character throughout the whole adventure. As I aged, my mother would stress the importance of reading and every night I would insist she read me stories before bed.

For as long as I can remember I have loved reading. When I was younger I would read just about anything I could get my hands on. Cereal boxes, shampoo bottles, just about anything. Reading was my favorite past time and no one was more thrilled than my parents, who took it upon themselves to brag to everyone that I loved to read. As I got older, however, I became less interested in reading. The books assigned to us in school were terribly boring and they successfully ruined reading for me. They made my once favorite pastime seem like a chore and I was convinced I would never love reading like I used to.

At this point in the semester I do not really feel any different than in the beginning. For the most part my writing has stayed the same as when I first started. The biggest change I have experienced in my writing is my ability to organize more effectively and to manage my time better. Although my writing has not changed increasingly, some parts of the writing process has been improved such as organization and time management.

As a child, my interests were more focused on reading than writing. In elementary school I fell in love with books. Initially I read simple children’s books, much like everybody else in my class, but it did not take long for my passion to drive me to read more difficult writings. Fiction books quickly became a replacement for any childhood toys. Instead of blocks or stuffed animals I would ask my parents for books. Since they were aimed at young readers, they tended to be short. I found myself going through them within days, and then soon several hours. Towards the end of elementary school I was reading series like Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. I was captivated, and reading truly opened up a whole new world for me.