Initial Posting by 11:59pm on Thursday, 1/12/2017
There is no need to answer every question from the paragraph
above- the questions are there to give you a jumping off point to get ideas to
the page. I want you to think of this as a “writing to learn” activity- a safe
place to put your experiences without fear of being ‘wrong.’ Focus on being
authentic to yourself and rendering some experiences related to your journey of
learning and evolving as a literate person. Give detail to show what you
experienced; rather than only declaring that Harry Potter inspired you, show
how and why Harry Potter inspired you by making connections between your life
and the story.
Why am I giving you this prompt? I believe that a journey
forward requires some acknowledgement of what made up the past. It is important
to note: history is NOT destiny! Understanding how important interactions with
wonderful teachers, fascinations with certain texts, frustrations with
particular literacy sponsorship situations, and your understanding of what is
valuable and important in terms of literacy allows a jumping off point for
growth and opportunity. In short, I am interested in getting to know what makes
you, you. My job is to help you grow as a writer, and if I can get an
understanding of where you are coming from, I can help you to find ways to get
to where you need to go. Be true to yourself and your experiences, and have
fun.
Please give your posting a title that is reflective of your reported experiences. DO NOT simply title your posting as Week 1 Discussion. We already know this is the first discussion area, and the audience already knows this is week one discussion area. Make your title appropriate for the content of your posting.
Please give your posting a title that is reflective of your reported experiences. DO NOT simply title your posting as Week 1 Discussion. We already know this is the first discussion area, and the audience already knows this is week one discussion area. Make your title appropriate for the content of your posting.
Response Posting to Peer(s) by 11:59pm on Sunday, 8/28/2016
Respond to at least
one peer: Through either finding common ground or expressing a connection
to a related theme- extend or build on what one of your peers has set up. For
example, let’s say that Knightro posted a comment that he loved reading comics
as a teenager, but his joy and excitement for comics was never shared by his
English teachers. Perhaps you had a similar experience with another genre or
form of literacy; perhaps you began using technical manuals to improve your
performance in certain video games, and though you read these manuals with a
sense of dedication and enthusiasm, when you tried to write a report at school
about video game manuals, your teacher denied the legitimacy of this kind of
writing.
You might also raise open ended questions to further explore
the dimensions of a certain literacy experience. For example, let’s say that
Gary Gamer reports that early on (1st through 6th grades),
he struggled with literacy in classroom environments because he found the
content boring- in fact he found the material so boring that he was often found
daydreaming in class and was eventually diagnosed with ADHD, and was labeled as
slow. Interestingly, Gary reports that he grew in confidence in 10th
grade when he discovered Fanfiction about his favorite video games. Gary Gamer
became hyper focused and could spend many hours reading Fanfiction. He even
began writing Fanfiction by the end of his 10th grade year. You
might help Gary develop his ideas further by asking some open-ended questions
like the following: what kinds of literacy experiences, if any, were available
in your later schooling (11th and 12th grades) that you
became interested in as a result of the Fanfiction you were reading? How did
reading and writing Fanfiction help you develop writing skills in other
contexts? How might Fanfiction be used in writing classes to help teach certain
types of writing skills?
Born with a Pen
ReplyDeleteMy first experience writing that I remember was in Kindergarten. We were allowed to write stories of our own or do another story. So I rewrote Cat in the Hat and I read it to all the parents and kids complete with my horrible crayon scribblings. But I had so much fun. I wrote stories all throughout grade school and when I was in fourth grade I started to write my own stories based off of books I read. They started off small as little scenes I imagined and as I grew up, I started participating in National Novel Writing Month so I could write full length stories and even when I was doing the contest I was writing longer and longer stories. It was what I did all the time if I wasn’t doing school work. I believe my love of writing came from my love of reading. Ever since I was little I loved to read and I remember staying up until 3 am every night because I just wanted to keep reading the same way people want to keep watching just one more episode on Netflix. For me it was, “just one more page, just one more chapter.” I loved in both reading and writing that I could fall in love with characters, travel to different times, go on a journey without leaving my bedroom. Due to that, I’ve always loved fiction books much more than nonfiction. Learning is fun, but pretending was always so much better. I love that aspect of stories. And my mom has always been supportive of my reading, we used to read together every night when I was younger and I believe that was what first gave me the interest. From then she was always taking me to the library and buying me a mountain of books. I remember spending an entire spring break just reading books because that’s all I wanted to do. I hope this course will help inspire me to continue my love of reading and writing.
Hi Grace,
DeleteMy mother also read to me a lot as a child and I loved when she read but not so much when I did it. I was quite the opposite to you as I disliked reading and thus disliked writing because of so. However much like you I hope that this course also inspires the inner writer and reader within me and teach me to enjoy those both things more.
Grace,
DeleteI truly admire your love for reading and writing. This will benefit you a lot in the long run for you knowledge and your happiness. I wish to be able to have as much connection and love for reading, the way you do. I also hope this class inspires me to BEGIN my NEW love for reading and writing.
I can also relate that my mom used to read with me. I think it really does make a difference!
DeleteA Common Narrative about Struggling Against Common Narratives – Joshua Koller
ReplyDeleteReading and writing were certainly acquired tastes for me. At the base level they're both easy, but the base level alone is pretty boring for just about anything. In my early academic years, my teachers pushed their students to be descriptive and creative when writing. For reading, however, they were looking for perceptiveness and, most importantly, speed. Between writing and reading, I, like many other youngsters with too much to say, preferred the former. With less-than-scholarly intentions, I enjoyed writing because I loved showing my works to my peers so they could see how 'funny' I was. On the other hand, what steered me away from reading wasn't the challenge of comprehension, but the types of printed literature presented to me. To put it simply, and in all likelihood, pretentiously - narrative short stories and children's novels weren't fulfilling. If I wanted to be immersed in a fictional story solely for the sake of the events of the story (which is about all we were taught to do at that age), I'd reach for something more stimulating such as TV or video games.
While not at all uncommonly, my initial interest in different forms of literature was found outside of the classroom. I enjoyed video games with long narratives, movies with epic story lines, and of course, any humor found in such forms of media. In all honesty, I was too immature to appreciate subtlety. I had to read "Huckleberry Finn" for 3 different middle school English classes (which were evidently uncoordinated with each other). Despite my repetitions over the same novel, I was constantly unaware of the subtleties that make it so important. I did like the book, but the story itself isn't all that exciting. I revisited the novel in my AP Literature class in high school and was surprised to find how much lies beneath the surface of the novel, along with many others. Between the tones of the prose, indirect references to other works, or even the bigger picture that caused Mark Twain to write the novel, I found myself finally seeing novels as pieces of art. The methods of analysis I learned in AP Literature also helped me find new ways to enjoy films. Finding meaning in subtleties such as utilization of certain shots, cuts, music/sound effects/silence, or dialogue can add so much to a film outside of the events of the story alone.
Around the time I began finding so much value in these literary classics, I also found that my own writing was just as dull as the written literature I previously criticized. Ever since then, I've been trying to implement what I've learned to improve my own writing style. Just the awareness of all these factors that make other works great can lead one to become a significantly better writer than they were previously.
Now shifting focus to where I am now - as I mentioned before, I've already taken AP Literature. I passed the exam, which should have given me the credit for ENC 1101. For whatever reason, UCF missed that. Instead of going through the trouble of sorting that out, I decided to take this class. Despite theoretically having the credit for this class, I still wish to improve as a writer, and I know that different English professors can really put their own spin on the material to give students a new perspective on writing. So in that sense, I'm optimistic about where this course may go with it. What's actually pretty interesting to me at this point is using the blogging system for writing. Obviously we'll write more formally for the actual essays, but the blog allows us to use more conversational ways of writing, which I haven't really used much of in an academic environment. They kind of contradict each other, so I'm curious to see what these posts look like as more people submit them. We're all far from our full potentials as writers, so I'm open and hopeful for improvement wherever I can find it.
Hi Joshua,
DeleteI appreciate your outlook and attitude about the course. So often, people approach course work, not with the goal of improving or building skills, but instead on the grade to be attained. I too was guilty of this from time to time during my academic journey.
We're going to have a lot of opportunity to write in this class- some informal blog postings that are loose and free-flowing and other assignments that are more formal.
Coming into a new situation with a winning attitude means that you are open to new experience and new opportunity. Judgement is set aside, and experience takes over.
I look forward to working with you this term, Joshua. We're going to have fun and challenge each other. We are all going to get better.
- Joe
Colour or color? - Haydn Turner
ReplyDeleteBack when I lived in England, the English courses that were taught there were boring to me. I feel that the books they made us read were not in my style or had nothing in common with my interests. For example anytime I had to read Shakespeare I dreaded it. This lead to English being my worst class and thus I drifted towards mathematics and the sciences. Throughout all of my high school years in England and middle school years, writing also happened to be one of my bad areas. Having to follow strict guidelines of how they expected my writing to be from my hand writing to spelling to formatting, subsequently deepened my dislike for literature. It was not until I moved to America that I started to regain some enjoyment from reading/ English class. This is thanks to my English teacher who was the first one who actually pushed me and that I bonded with. She was just a normal teacher who you give work to she genuinely wanted to see me improve my literature skills. Jumping forward to this day, I found that I like reading actually items such as the news, Reddit or narratives about people's lives. The people's narratives I enjoy are ones that travel the world and do all these crazy life activities. I also like learning new things about places I have never visited or heard of since I'm a big believer in you gain your life experiences by being multicultural and seeing what the world has to offer.
Hayden, I was the same way. I hated reading and loved math. I hated all the rules that went with writing. I also have same to bonded with in regards to changing the way I thought about reading. I struggled for years with reading, but like you bonding with someone that liked reading change my opinion. By the way I never could understand Shakespeare too.
DeleteHi Hayden, I very much feel for you. for all of middle school and freshman year of high school but my sophomore year my English teacher actually inspired me to do better in my writing and reading, but to this day the only book you'll see me with is basically a comic book
DeleteThe Gamer's Narrative - Austin Aguayo
ReplyDeleteMy parents always knew I had an affinity for books and reading- at the age of one, I was already sounding out complex words and small sentences. My dad told me that he was in the process of registering me for a pre-school academy, and I was in the room with him. There was a sign posted with all of the rules and expectations, and I proceeded to read all of it. The owner of the program was astonished, asking my dad, "did he just read all that by himself?" I've always had an urge to read books that were above my level. I read my first Harry Potter book at six, and finished The Order of The Phoenix(an 870 page book) in a day and a half. When I turned six, however, another great thing came into my life; video games. My parents purchased me a Nintendo GameCube, and I went to town. I loved racing games; games like Need for Speed and Mario Kart filled my drawers. After a while, reading took a backseat in my life, and my parents noticed it. They decided to make a deal with me; for every hour I played I had to read for thirty minutes. That deal stayed in effect for many years, until I hit middle school. When I was in the seventh grade, I was introduced to creative writing. Up until then I had no interest in crafting my own stories or poems. My teacher, Mr. Mattera, showed me all the different types of poems, short stories, and writings that I could create. I became so interested that I began writing stories about the games I played. At that time I had just started playing Call Of Duty, so I would write short stories fabricating the missions I played in game. They were intense and I loved writing them. My teacher encouraged me to continue writing, and showed my work to other teachers. When I made it to high school I stared getting into survival and RPG type games. These genres widened my writing experiences, allowing me to bounce off the story line and make my own experiences. I've written plenty of poems and short stories, and I owe it all to video games.
I was the same way! I loved video game stories and was engrossed by them. One of my favorite games growing up was Halo and was ecstatic to find out they had a series of novels that further expanded the lore of the Halo universe. I loved those stories. Unfortunately my mom ended up selling the all in a garage sale and i will never get them back.
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ReplyDeleteThe Struggle with understanding.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started elementary school, I did not know English. I have just come from Cuba. As I got older it become harder and harder to understand when I was reading. At home, I spoke Spanish and at school English. Learning two languages, it become hard for me to understand what I was reading. The more a struggled with trying to understand what I was reading, the more I started to hate reading. When I took the FCAT for the first time, I did not pass the reading part and ended up having to repeat the 3th grade. I would also fall asleep during the FCAT because I did not understand what I has reading. The following year, my teacher told me to reread the passage until I understand it. One time a reread the same passage for more than 10 times and I still did not understand what I was reading. For the next few years, my teachers tried different ways to get me to understand what I was reading. For a long time, reading was my enemy and I hated doing it. This continued until I met a friend that change what I think about reading. My writing was pretty good until the rule started. My friend gave me this paranormal book about angels. After reading and understanding the book, I realize that reading can be fun. I have always like writing. I sometimes start writing a stories. As of right now I have a story that I have been writing since high school. In the last 5 or 6 years, I read and understand more because I like what I am reading. I sometimes still have my struggles with understanding a passage, story, or book but I get through it be taking my time the understand what I am reading.
Hi Viviana! I also spoke Spanish at home and English at school. It was very hard for me to understand reading because of that. To this day, if I don't enjoy what I am reading, I find it very hard to understand and have to read certain things multiple times. However, just like you, if I get my hands on a book that I really like then I love reading!
DeleteHi Viviana! I also grew up in a Spanish home, and only speaking English at school. I can definitely relate to the struggle of trying to understand something that just does not come naturally.
DeleteMy wonderful experience with FCAT writing - Tyler Newman
ReplyDeleteMy experiences with reading began with my parents teaching me to read at a very young age. So young in fact that it is before most of my memories. I always had a big imagination when I was younger and I think that made me get a lot more involved with reading. Around elementary age I was really into spy novels, as well as the Harry Potter series. Books excited me because they gave me a chance to kind of escape from normal life, it made me enjoy life more as a kid because you can connect with the characters, as well as live in their fiction. My experience with writing began much after my experience with reading, in elementary school we were required to take the FCAT so I was taught to write in that style. This leads me to my next topic which is the frustration with writing. Until my high school AP English class in 11th grade I was always stuck in the basic five paragraph FCAT style of writing which was just unsatisfying. It made me dislike writing, and I thought that was all writing was. When I finally hit 11th grade and took that AP English class my teacher taught me what real writing was, and although I can’t say that I love writing now, I certainly enjoy it more than I did from kindergarten through tenth grade. As far as the things that I enjoy reading, watching and playing, I haven’t read anything recently but I used to enjoy spy novels, as far as movies I really love sci-fi films, Star Wars is actually one of my favorite things in existence. Overall I look forward to increasing my writing skills throughout this class.
Reading was/is also a way of escape for me. Even unto this day, the smell of books excites me.
DeleteI'm also looking forward to becoming a better writer at the end of this class.
I enjoyed reading your story.
Hi Tyler,
DeleteI strongly disliked FCAT style writing as well. I prefer writing narratives over expository writings. It allows for a much more creative piece that flows much easier.
The Adventures of Nikki's Reading Life
ReplyDeleteGrowing up I never liked reading what so ever, it was more of a chore than something I was drawn to do everyday. My sister how ever reads like there is no tomorrow as if all the books will disappear. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that might have been a problem for me because I had no desire to be like her so I hated everything she enjoyed. But now that we’re both mature and older I’ve grown away from wanting to burn all types of novels to actually enjoying mystery books and the hopeless romantic sappy Nicholas Sparks novels. My love for mystery comes from where I grew on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. My family lives in Manteo where the famous lost colony happened, where no one knows till this day what happened to all the souls living on the mysterious island. But my hopeless romantic side comes from watching one too many Disney princess movies as a child dreaming of prince charming sweeping me off my feet on a white horse. But without my hometown and my love for Disney princess movies I wouldn’t be here today saying I do enjoy reading after many failed attempts over the years.
I like that you mentioned the fact that you were against reading simply because of your sister at first. I think the same thing can be said in my family except that while I enjoy writing, my sister absolutely hates it. I also love anything Disney, those books were some of my favorites as a child.
DeleteI completely agree with the feeling of reading being more of a chore rather than something I would naturally want to do for fun. Our roles are kind of reversed in a way because I feel like that currently, but when I was younger I used to love reading! I wish I still had that quality but unfortunately, reading got a little harder and more time consuming for me. My hopeless romantic side definitely came from me being a "fan girl" over my favorite TV shows like The Vampire Diaries or other lovey dovey type of shows. Social media also completely got my romance expectations up as well. I'm glad that you finally got the chance to begin to enjoy reading as you grew older!
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ReplyDeleteI lived at the Library! Bernadette De
ReplyDeleteMy first memory being fascinated with books started when I was about three years old. I can remember my aunt Sherry reading Archie Comic books and laughing out loud. I always wondered was so funny. I wanted in on the joke; I wanted to laugh too. I waited with excitement to look at the pictures in the book to figure out what she was laughing at, what was so funny?! I remembered asking her, every time she read a page and laughed out loud, to tell me what the joke was about. I couldn’t wait to learn how to read so that I could read Archie Comics, to laugh out loud, just like my auntie.
As I learned how to read later on in life, I became addicted to reading Archie and other Comic Books.
Those early memories of reading and writing also included my aunt Angela teaching me my ABCs, initial sounds, and to write my name.
Reading became a way of escape for me; an escape from all things Religion, from my very Religious family.
I very much enjoyed reading Comic Books, an escape from my reality. If I was by myself reading, no one would bother me; I liked that a lot. Writing about my personal experiences is a way for me to share somethings about myself with others because I hate talking about myself.
Also, I had difficulty with writing about an experience I never lived, not sure why; I hated writing and preferred doing presentations instead, which allowed me to speak instead of writing.
Because my family was so Religious, I wasn’t allowed to ask certain questions. Reading was a way for me to learn about things no one would tell me about.
As a young woman, learning about the changes that takes place in my body and caring for myself was very empowering for me, since the people around me were brought up to now discuss certain things. They didn’t know any better; we were all sheep to a particular belief system. I strayed a bit, not too far though.
I lived at the Library. Well, not really, but I was at the Library every chance I could. I even got in trouble, back then, for being at the library TOO MUCH. Even now the smell of books gets me excited.
I have a brilliant eight year old daughter who loves to read and write because of the influence of her mom. She said that she will be a “Writer” and an “Illustrator” when she grows up; her words NOT mine. I am not sure if she knows what ‘Illustrator’ means, but makes me very proud to be her mom.
There were many aspects of reading and writing that frustrated me when I was younger. I hated not knowing the definition a word meant whilst reading, pausing, interrupting my reading to find the word in a dictionary, just so that I have clear understanding of what I was reading when I concluded my reading.
Over the years, I have learnt so much from reading that I wouldn’t have otherwise learned. For me that is rewarding; being knowledgeable of something I was once curious about.
I remember reading the novel ‘The Martian, which was made into a motion picture, then later watching the move; I just couldn’t enjoy the movie because I had read the book.
I definitely enjoyed the version of the story I read in the Novel better.
I loved to read, still do.
In the past, I read lots of Comic Books and Self Help books. Now, I enjoy reading Historical Fictions.
Really interesting perspective on reading you've brought up here. It seems like the one-on-one interaction between the reader and the book was a recurring theme in your early interests in reading; between wanting 'in' on what your auntie was reading, and later your privacy from your religious family when you were alone with books and comics. This definitely left me with some new ideas to think about on this topic.
DeleteI can relate to your story with the books. I didn't have as much of a problem with religion, but I did use books to learn and escape reality as you did, which made life a lot more interesting. I totally understand your pain with writing as well, I had a lot of trouble with writing in the past, hopefully this class will change that.
DeleteOil and Water Don’t Mix – Logan McKinney
ReplyDeleteMy perception of Literacy has always been negative. Throughout middle school and high school my professors seemed only to care about moving through the material, regardless if their students understood the meaning of the literature or not. A string of uninterested teachers who only care about the curriculum and not the students have made me despise them. Luckily for me, I seemed to grasp, more or less, the basic concepts of how to construct my paragraphs and make my writings flow smoothly. That being said, I never reached a grade of 6; I always fluctuated between 4.5-5.5. Even when I put my heart and soul into an essay I always seem to come up short of exceptional. I am unsure whether it was the mandatory topic I had to write about or if I was missing a small but significant key piece of information to put my essay over the top. My 11th grade English teacher did not help the situation. I remember vividly in my junior year of high school I has an awful English teacher named Mrs. Kollwitz. She was despicable to say the least. A passive-aggressive teacher with bipolar tendencies is a scary person to have in control of your grade. She made us read boring books that, at the time, we didn’t understand, she assigned 50 pages per day to be read, and butchered our essay with the addition of condescending side notes. To say the least, she turned me off to the idea of ever taking another English course ever again.
Personally, if I had the opportunity I would read about action, adventure, and mystery. I have not read too many books as a leisurely activity, but when I do, I feel sucked into it just as if I were watching a thrilling movie. My senior year one of my best friends, Jason, recommend an anime for me to watch. I wasn’t much of a cartoon watcher to begin with but with nothing better to do, I decided to try it out. After I finished it, I felt a huge amount of excitement. It had mystery, action, and supernatural abilities. It was very interesting to watch and had me on the edge of my seat each episode. Ever since that year, I have been watching them in my spare time and have even decided to try and learn Japanese. To me, it is a fun challenge to learn a very complex and intricate language. I even have planned to visit Japan when I become fluent. I would have to say that reading Manga (Anime in book form) and watching these “cartoons” are what really spikes my interest and is the reason I am so interested in Japanese culture.
I know exactly what you're saying because I too have felt that most of my english teachers only cared about moving through the material no matter if everyone didn't understand what was going on at all. However for some reason I feel that has made me better when it comes understanding the meaning behind books. Those teachers made me better because I knew I would have to learn things at a much faster rate than I was used too.
DeleteSearching for More - Aliyah Valdez
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, reading and writing were never things I enjoyed. Growing up, as a child, I was very much into sports and although I did very well in school, it was not something I wanted to do 24/7, like some kids go home to read. As I got older and reached middle school, it seemed like my interest to read grew as the assigned books got worse. It became that none of the books interested me and that was one of the main reasons why I continued to not read. In this time, I started trying to read books outside of school and there were a couple that I considered “page-turners.” I found it to be a common theme, even through high school, that the books being assigned in class bored me, so I went out and read things of my choice. The fact that the books in school were so boring, and a drag to read, definitely discouraged me to continue reading, or even begin reading, in any way shape or form.
The kinds of books that mostly catch my attention are those that have voice. I like books that are not so monotone, really adding fun and a good vibe to the story. Even if it was not such a happy book, there are ways to create humor to keep the reader interested, and those books definitely interested me. Another way to describe the books would be creating drama and action that capture the reader. For example, some of my favorite books are: The Fault in Our Stars, The Child Called It, Smile, and One Night that Changes Everything. These books had a lot of voice and really made the reader, me, feel involved. And it is not that the books that are about other things do not have voice, but they personally make me feel bored. Basically, I prefer fast-paced, action-packed books, whether they are cheerful or somber.
I grew up around a lot of people, whether it is my mom, sister, or friends, that really enjoying reading. Reading is more of a hobby, rather than a chore to them and I aspire to be that way. There have been a handful of books that initially catch my interest and some way, some how I just stop reading it. I really wish to be able to read as a hobby and find the genre of books that is for me. Reading is extremely beneficial and if connected with the correct kinds of books, fun.
On the other hand, writing is actually somewhat fun to me. Once I begin writing something, a text, short response, or paper- it is very difficult to get me to stop. It seems as if as I continue writing, more ideas come to my head and my writing does not seem complete without that thought written down on the paper. Because of that, I truly enjoy free-response writing more than I do prompted, just because I like to be able to express everything I have in mind without restrictions. I believe that in my case, how well and in depth I respond to a topic, directly correlates with my initial interest of the topic.
Breaking free from five paragraph essays
ReplyDeleteEver since I can remember, stories have always been a way for me to escape reality and live vicariously through the life of a fictional character. As a child, my mom would read the Harry Potter novels to me each night before I went to sleep. It had become the most exciting part of my day. However, what I have never been able to accomplish is actually enjoying doing the work by reading the stories myself. When I was younger and first learning how to read and write I would only read in order to be ahead of my classmates. If you were reading the higher level books then somehow you were the coolest person in the class, so naturally I tried my best to stay on top. The thought of actually reading for the sole purpose of pleasure though, had never really crossed my mind. Sadly, perhaps this is what led to me growing up preferring movies over the novel that it was based off of. In addition, I also decided to get more involved with sports, the busier I was, the better. So the idea of just sitting at home on my couch reading a novel, was not exactly on my list of thrilling things to do.
As far as writing goes, the journey was slightly different. Anyone who has gone through public schools at some point, has had to endure the long years of standardized testing. For myself, this was where my writing journey began. I was in fourth grade and all I wanted was to get a five on the FCAT writing exam. The day of the test came and went just like any other day but the day the results came back, I was in a state of pure anxiety and frantic worrying. All along I was convinced that I was going to get a five and what if I was wrong? What if I didn’t pass at all? However, all of these worries were quickly extinguished once my teacher informed me that I had in fact reached my goal. From that day on I made the mistake of only ever writing “FCAT” style because it worked….right? Unfortunately it did not work. Come high school I was expected to write research papers and essays about literature which most certainly cannot be bound to the five paragraph outline I had always used. By my senior year I had finally broken the habit of writing those, less than impressive, five paragraph essays and have never looked back. I learned that what lies behind any piece of literature is a hidden meaning, or some form of symbolism that would leave the audience in shock. I believe that this is what helped me enjoy writing. I could write so much about everything I would piece together, and I hope that eventually it will also help me learn to enjoy reading again.
Brianna I completely agree about loving movies more than books sadly because just as you I could never just dive into a book. But I also agree about the FCAT and how it teaches you to write one way but real life doesn't want that at all. Your post was very accurate and I enjoyed reading it this evening.
DeleteReading vs Writing
ReplyDeleteMy parents enforced reading a lot when I was at a very young age. However, I have never really liked to read. Throughout high school, I never really liked any of the books that I was required to read. This is due to the fact that I’m very picky with the types of books I read. The worst thing about that is that if I don’t like a book, I won’t be completely engaged and a lot of the times I find myself just reading words and not understanding what I’m actually reading. The books that I do like to read are romantic novels, preferably written by Nicholas Sparks, and autobiographies. I enjoy reading autobiographies because it makes me feel like I’m actually communicating with the author. I love learning about the author’s ups and downs in their life, and how they’ve come to be the person they are.
On the other hand, writing is a different story. Writing has always been very easy and natural for me. Writing rules like grammar and punctuation was never a big deal for me because I memorize things quickly, and I understood the reasoning behind correct grammar and punctuation. I especially liked writing in high school because most of my papers were strictly research papers. The reason why I liked this is because I’m not a very imaginative writer; I don’t get into too much detail into what I say and I like getting straight to the point. Overall, I enjoy writing because I like idea of gathering all of my thoughts together and putting them into words.
Natalia,
DeleteI love reading autobiographies as well. I feel like when I am reading one the author is trying to leave me a better person. They are telling me all the important things they learned in their lives and ensuring that I use them in my life. I think autobiographies are a great for personal growth and take the authors thoughts into your own life and see how they affect yourself. I am not a big writer though. I am not imaginative as well, I love reading about things are fictional but I don't think I am capable of writing the same.
Hi Natalia!
DeleteI am the same way, and I have never really enjoyed reading. However, I love Nicholas Sparks books. I have read a lot of them throughout high school, and my grandmother just gave me his book called "See Me" to read. Also, my favorite part about English class was always the grammar portion, even though my memory is terrible for all of the rules.
Leighton Wilhelm
ReplyDeleteDiscussion 1
Expressing Myself
Throughout grade school, like many others, my writing career was primarily through the standardized prompts and busy-work essays given to me by a teacher who truly didn’t care for what I produced. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school when I truly started to enjoy writing. My literature teacher wanted us to express ourselves and be creative and witty. She simultaneously taught us literature while assigning us essays where we had to write about whatever we desired. During this class I could write about what I wanted and add my sense of humor which I was never allowed to do before. I had the most fun I have ever had writing during her class, and I wish more teachers in early education would’ve adopted her same principles. It was so frustrating to me to have low level books crammed down our throats and be forced to write strict and lifeless essays throughout elementary and middle school. I always longed to be able to write the stories I wanted but instead of inspiring our creative niche, we were stuck writing essays that would prepare us to pass the FCAT or other standardized tests so we could continue through the crowd in grade school.
On the bright side, Professor Longhany seems very understanding and open to various writing styles and I am more than excited to express myself in his class. Cheers to a great semester y’all!
Writing vs. Reading- Samantha Daleb
ReplyDeleteGrowing up reading and writing were two completely different subjects for me. I enjoyed to write but was not a fan of reading. I have loved to write for as long as I can remember but there was one specific experience that made me love it even more. I was a sophomore in high school and decided to take a composition class with one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Ferrara. His first assignment he gave us was to write about what life would be like as a pen. I had so much fun writing the story because I could be as creative as I wanted. This was the first class I wasn’t writing persuasive papers where I needed to do research and add citations. His class opened my eyes to what writing is really about. I loved the feeling of being able to write a paper with just my own thoughts and nothing else. Although I’ve had a lot of practice writing I feel like I’ll become a stronger writer if I read more. I have tried to find a book I like numerous times but I end up daydreaming and getting frustrated which leads me to never open the book again. During family vacations my family always reads on the beach while I fall asleep and attempt to tan. I would always procrastinate summer reading and save it for the last week before school started. The only time I read is for school and my goal is to change that. I strongly believe my writing skills will improve if I begin to read more.
I completely understand hating reading assignments that have been assigned because they felt like a chore. It's interesting to see which stories inspired you and how you must've taken them into your own personal views of life and your struggles and challenges. I hope you continue to enjoy the life of college reading and writing and beyond!
ReplyDeleteThe Journey to Michelle DeSamper's Reading and Writing Career
ReplyDeleteI remember learning to read really early in life, I was always ahead of schedule when it came to reading and writing. My mom used to be a teacher, so of course she started teaching me how to read and write since the day I first started being able to talk. We had a series of books in our house that we would always read before bed. One of them was a big book of fairytales, all different kinds that most people might not have ever even heard about. I’ve read those stories millions of times yet I still got excited to read them every night. The main book that I would always read as a child with my mom was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. My mom always loved that book and would always share it with me. It quickly became “our thing” and we still both own copies of that book to this day. The Magic Treehouse series and Series of Unfortunate Events were probably the biggest book series that I’ve ever read and enjoyed every second of it. I’m sure that at the time there were about 100 books to The Magic Treehouse series and I owned and read every single book, twice. I was obsessed, they took me to a world full of imagination and creativity and for an elementary schooler, that was a pretty fun time. The Series of Unfortunate Events always ended badly and I think that’s what I liked about it most. The good guys would never win in the end, making the series more like reality such as film noir does. In life, you don’t always win at everything and sometimes you have to accept losses and learn to make the best out of it, and that’s what I took out of that series.
I started out so advanced already in learning that I had to skip kindergarten and go to first grade at a public school. I was still always ahead of the game when it came to learning. In second grade, we got little packets of how to write cursive. Each packet focused on a new letter or a new set of words. I clearly remember finishing all the packets so early that I didn’t have anything to do for the last couple weeks of class during our English portion of time. Now is where the irony comes into play. Present day, I am probably one of the slowest readers you will ever meet, and I also have the worst handwriting in the world. Ever since high school started, my reading skills got worse and worse. It takes me too much time to understand everything in my readings. I’ll usually have to go back and re-read because I can get so confused so easily. All those little reading tests over the years proved my skills getting worse and I’m not quite sure as to why. If I were to read, I get really into the book if it’s to my liking. I like to read fantasy and realistic fiction.
When it comes to people asking “was the book better than the movie?”, I’m the type of person who will usually say that I liked the movie better. I’m a huge film junkie from classic 40’s film noir to present romantic comedies. I’m more of a visual learner myself so by visually seeing all the moments being put together with amazing graphics and cinema skills, I truly do appreciate the science behind filmmaking. There are of course a couple of books that will always stand out as better than the movie, sometimes they can just explain more about the characters than a movie can.
As a kid I loved to read. I remember my mom always reading to me, and at school I loved getting books at the library. I continued to read a lot into middle school, however in high school I began to read books less and less because it began to feel more like a chore for my classes. I also stopped because I didn’t have much time to between school and working. My junior year of high school, I had a teacher who truly changed my feelings on it again though. She had us read really good books in our time and had discussions over them that actually made the class interesting and really unique compared to my other high school classes. A lot of books that I would now consider some of my favorite books are ones that she had us read, such as The Great Gatsby, of Mice and Men, and several others. During that year I also changed my writing style a lot because of my teacher. When Professor Longhany was talking about how the standard “5 paragraph essay” isn’t the only way to write an essay it reminded me so much of her too, one of my only high school teachers who encouraged us not to follow that outline. Although my teacher passed away last year, I’ll always be able to say she is someone who really inspired me to read more and helped me become a better writer than I was before.
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ReplyDeleteShannon,
DeleteI also had a teacher in high school that would encourage us not to follow the "5 paragraph essay" outline. He would explain that it doesn't matter if the paper was broken down into three paragraphs or twenty because everyone has different writing styles. He changed my outlook on writing and inspired me to become a better writer.
A Love for Reading
ReplyDeleteI feel as if I was like most kids; learning to read wasn't my favorite thing to do. I was more of a math kid and loved how if you did it correctly you would end up with the right answer. Reading in front of my class was always scary and an easy thing to mess up. I wanted to be good at reading so badly but I learned that I needed to be patient and find something that I was passionate about reading.
The summer of 7th grade my teachers required us to do summer reading. I was so upset that I was being forced to read something I wasn't interested in. My mom made me read a chapter every night before bed and that was the first I felt like I surpassed a learning hump in my life. After finishing that book, I realized that it felt satisfying to finish something you took a lot of time to do. This horrible book sparked my fascinate with reading and being taken into a fantasy world where anything was possible. After finishing a book I felt left with something good that made me a better person.
I got my first library card that summer and ended up spending a lot of my time with my head in a book. From that summer on I have always been reading a book or two. I am currently reading "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler and "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. I have a love for reading and being about to learn about whatever the book is willing to teach to me. Now I only have to acquire a love for writing.
The struggle... of reading and writing- Alejandro Munoz
ReplyDeleteFor as long as I can remember I had struggled with both reading and writing. My first experience with reading came when I was in elementary school learning how to read an I just could not get the hang of it. I was placed in classes that would help me to learn how to read faster. Nothing helped I remember even getting a tutor who would help me and she ultimately got me on my feet and taught me how to read. I only spoke Spanish at home, so asking for help from my parents was not an option. Since I disliked reading and writing so much because of the difficulty it placed on me I turned more to math and science which came naturally. In 6th grade my reading skills had been perfected so I took on the challenge of reading the Harry Potter series, slowly but surely I finished them and I felt very accomplished; but that was the end of reading for a long time. As high school approached my sophomore through senior year I took AP Literature, AP Language, and IB English, the only books that I would read were the ones that the teacher assigned. Only a select few grabbed my attention, for example Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby and books alike. These books were both fiction novels that had underlying themes, which corresponded with the time they were written. This is where I found out that I thoroughly enjoyed history, and learning about other people’s culture and beliefs.
Writing on the other hand was even worse, then reading in my opinion. I have had great teachers that have helped me to improve my writing skills but I could never get to what they expected of me. I always had trouble writing not knowing the basics like where a comma was appropriate, along with having trouble to organize my work to prove my point over a topic. Since I was not good at reading or writing I leaned more towards math, science, and history which I enjoyed, and still till this day I only read what is assigned by the teacher, and nothing more. I hope to improve in my writing throughout the semester and maybe even get more into reading.
Do Books With Pictures Even Really Count: Eriq Wilson
ReplyDeleteI’m not really sure where to really begin but there’s was a point in my younger days when I loved to read I especially enjoyed Diary of a Wimpy Kid, all of the Goosebumps books, and a plethora books I read before middle school then around the 7th grade when teachers begin pressing the idea of forced readings I just gave up on reading as a whole it frustrated me it wasn’t captivating in the slightest, yet I had to power through it. My teachers weren’t really interesting either making the class unbearable. I soon loathed the idea of having any English classes. This never-ending cycle would continue like it was set in stone doomed to repeat itself, then my goddess of a 10th grade English teacher opened my eyes again. She was kind and caring, funny and most of all what I look for in a teacher. Anytime that I needed help she was there. Even though I’m sure I annoyed her over the 3 years I had her she definitely would be a person I would never forget and I will forever be in her debt to the literature she introduced me too and the guidance she gave. One of my favorite books we read was Othello, the idea of the work as whole was magnificent something I had never experienced before. The Characters, the setting the plot everything was glorious and from there every book that my teacher had us read were so full of life and adventure even though they were just words on a page the book still had a voice. This Voice was powerful enough to invoke an array of thoughts and emotions. Then one aspect that I had never before seen was a Socratic Seminar, in which we take the book we read and we decipher it break it down to its core, here we can challenge certain ideals on a higher standard of thinking. Seeing as people are opinionated by nature a lot of the books read dealt with very situational ethical or political issues which could be discussed amongst peers and Socratic Seminars certainly did its job it got me and my peers alike to engage and become more acquainted with the material as opposed to simply reading it and taking a test on it. It was this change of pace that would later give me a newfound appreciation for reading and writing and I owe it all to me English teacher. Oh, and side note I always loved comic books and anime and manga but I’m not sure if that really counts, but the artwork and colors are so beautiful and vivid so on the books with pictures side of things I’ve always loved that.
The Mostly Hate Relationship
ReplyDeleteThe earliest experiences I could remember with reading were the AR books my school required me to read weekly. When I would find a book cover that intrigued me, I did not hesitate to pick it up and start reading wherever I was. When I would go home I would lock myself in my room, and just lose myself in whatever story I was reading. It was not until around middle school when I became way too cool to read anymore. Those years proved detrimental to my reading and writing abilities when it became important in high school. In high school, I would have rather eaten glass than ever have to pick up a book. It became a chore over anything else. I could never focus on what I was reading because I could only think of how much I did not want to read. I figured I would always hate reading, and therefore just tried to get by without reading as much as possible. It was not until my junior year in high school when I finally saw some joy and merit in reading. I stopped thinking of reading as what nerds do, and realized many people I admire read constantly. I found joy in getting to explore the minds of others through what they write. Whether it is books, articles, song lyrics, tweets, etc…, being able to expand my understanding on just about anything has brought me back to reading. My favorite thing I have found to enjoy reading are song lyrics from my favorite rap artists. Being able to read through and dissect their lyrics gives me an unique understanding of a world I would have never known anything about.
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