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| PATRICK HICKS at augie.edu. We'll study his masterful poetry because you are really literate. |
Second, reflect on the writing and reading you've done this year.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Reflection--due May 5
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101 comments:
Literature has always been part of my life. My parents, avid readers themselves, taught me at a very young age to read and write. One book, in particular, that I remember from my childhood is a children's book about a black cat called "Six Dinner Sid" I don't know if it was our family pet George, a black cat himself, or just the idea of reading about cats (who doesn't love cats?) that interested me so much, but I would ask to read it at every chance I got. Sid, the black cat who did not have a home nor did he have an owner, roamed the streets every night going to six different houses to be fed six different dinners. I soon expanded my literary horizons into chapter books, reading the first three Harry Potter novels in the first grade; however, I was not a fan of those books--fantasy bores me--and I found other pieces of literature that interested me. Middle school, of course, brought the Twilight books that preteens would obsess over and, like I said before, they bored me with the unrealistic occurrences like vampires and werewolves. Oddly enough, I read Life of Pi in the eighth grade and I enjoyed it, but did not get much out of it. And that is where I have grown; I can now analyze literature and find symbolism in things that I would not have seen before. As for the reading and writing that I have done this year, Life of Pi, once again, was a favorite, however I enjoyed Beatrice and Virgil even more. My writing, with only a few exceptions, seemed rather lackluster and without passion. Few pieces of mine have I been proud of. Maybe it was the inundation of impending college essays, but I did not feel as I wrote to the best of my ability or did I read and analyze the stories to my full potential. For certain, my college years will bring hundreds of new opportunities for me to write with passion and read with gusto.
My journey to becoming literate began at a very young age like most. First of all I think we all need to take a moment to reflect on the great opportunity that being literate truly is. Often times we take it for advantage, when instead it should be perceived as a privilege. My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other extended family members played a major role in teaching me the treasures of literature. It all began before I could even get a full understanding of it. From touch and play to pop up books, every little bit was helping me learn. In my early stages of reading I enjoyed many of the Dr. Suess books as well as Mercer Mayer. Hitting the midpoint of my journey to literacy, I focused on books such as the Junie B. Jones and Magic Tree House series. After the books previously stated allowed me to gain more skill, I tested my knowledge with books containing a bit more difficulty. In middle school I was highly fond of the Twilight series, as well as several ghost stories written by Mary Downing Hahn. Unfortunately my time in high school has caused me to slowly put the books down. It seems as if I am overwhelmed with a great deal of other assignments and required reading that I cannot find time for myself to sit down and enjoy a book of my choosing. However, taking this college literature class has been a grand opportunity for me. It has allowed me to expand my knowledge and creativity in depths I did not realize were even possible. My favorite reading from this year would have to be Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I think the reason I enjoyed this piece of work so much was because of the deep symbolism. Yes, the other works we have read have symbolism as well, but I found myself getting caught up in the story Martel shared. The reason I was so intrigued by this novel was because you truly get to choose what you want to believe. There are so many ways you can perceive the plot, but it is all up to each individual in their own mind.
Like most, my journey to become literate began at a young age. As a young child, I loved to play with any toys, which led to multitudes of learning in itself. My parents, along with my daycare lady, helped me gain the literacy I have today. Reading books with me, and helping me sound out words are just a couple small things that they did for me, but left a great impact. With that, the years before school, recognizing objects such as apples and playing games involving the alphabet aided my journey to literacy . From there and in the beginning years of elementary school, I enjoyed short books such as Brown Bear and those by Dr. Suess. Along with those, I collected the entire Junie B. Jones series and developed more literacy through those books. I found that when I enjoyed the books I was reading, I was more likely to gain something by reading them. In my later elementary and middle school years, I lost the interest to read. I would read when I had to for school, but I would much rather be outside playing sports. As high school came around, I didn’t gain back my enjoyment for reading, but I did learn the importance of reading. Because of that, I read the books required to be read in high school and analyzed them to the best of my abilities.
Analyzing and understanding stories has also never been easy for me. With this Literature class, I have read numerous novels and short stories, each providing me the chance to get better at analyzing them. I feel that I have improved those abilities, but plan to even more so in college. Aside from that, this year I feel that my writing has improved. Before Composition, essays were extremely hard for me to write. I didn’t even know where to start most of the times. But after writing numerous essays through that class, I feel a little more comfortable about writing. I’m hoping that the preparation given in high school, will have provided me with all that I need to succeed in writing essays at college.
I feel that throughout my life I have become quite literate and obviously considerably so since I was a child. I have especially grown substantially this year in becoming more knowledgeable in literature. One book I read as a child that especially helped me begin my journey into becoming a literate individual was Dr. Seuss. I read each of the Dr. Seuss books to my father at least thirty times. My father helped me greatly to become literate by constantly handing me books to read to him and helping me when I did not know how to say a word or the meaning of a word. My mother helped me as well to become literate by reading to me and my brothers every night before bed. I was constantly being exposed to new words and ideas every single day.
This year I have done a great deal of reading and writing. The first semester we had many essays to write with many different, interesting topics. By having to write about unusual topics that I never would have thought I would ever write about, I definitely grew as a writing. It forced me to think outside the box and stretch my imagination to come up with fresh, new ideas. We also read a number of books this year--my favorite being Life of Pi. This book especially forced me to think and choose for myself what I wanted to believe. Yann Martel left it up to me, as an individual, to decide how I wanted to interpret the book and which story I wanted to believe. This book was unlike any other book I have ever read and it completely fascinated me.
Literature was not something I was thrilled to learn about prior to taking Mr.Christensen’s Literature class. English in general, was not a class I was extremely successful in during my high school career. When my class was first introduced to the novels we were going to be reading as a class, the reviews I had read said they were bizarre and strange novels. I have heard of the novels before I was introduced to them telling myself that there must be something important that I will get out of them. If they are famous novels there must be an importance to them. Once digging into the novel, I was able to dissect what the novelists were getting at with different symbols and looking at the novel through a different lense. Being able to look at novels at a different angle made me more interested in reading the famous novels we were given in class. I have become literate at a very small age. As far back as I can remember, my parents always read stories to me before going to bed each night and listening to me read to them when I was a little girl. Some books that have helped me at the beginning of my journey would have been Dr.Suess, Judy Moody and gradually as I got to the middle of my journey, The Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones would have been books that would have gradually helped me get prepared for the novels I have read in Literature such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Life of Pi, and Lord of the Flies. Throughout this course, I have seen a drastic change in my writing from freshman year to senior year. I am able to look at topics, novels, short stories, and poems through a different perspective making me have a different input on what the author is telling me.
Some of the books that helped me would have been: Little House on the Prairie, Hunger Games Series, multiple short childhood stories, bed time stories, and some other great works. Middle of my journey would definitely be more along the lines of shorter stories and poems but even some plays may have contributed to what i view literature as in the middle and even up to today in my life. My teachers have been such a influence on what i should read and what i have had to read that change my view and opinions on literary works. The books we have had to read are often unsung heroes in the literary world giving subtle life lessons and insight in to the literary world.
I can see my writing from throughout this year and can tell i become more and more fluent in writing and make my words flow better. This class is huge to take to enhance your reading and writing skills that you will use for the rest of your life. Some of these literary works we went over will be remembered and some forgotten but only to be remembered again when the time comes.
Reading has never been my forte. I like to read slowly to comprehend what I'm perusing instead of skimming. Although this is discouraging when having deadlines to read novels and poems and testing on the ACT, I believe it is helpful to me to grasp what is in front of me. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Sunne taught me it is ok to not read outrageously fast, and rather understand the text instead of worrying about being the last student still reading. My favorite books when I was very young were Junie B. Jones books. They are witty, fun, and interesting to read. My first chapter book I was thrilled to finish on my own was titled Colorado Summer. The novel was about a young girl who moves to Colorado with her aunt for the summer to ride horses and help with her farm. I enjoyed this novel because of my fascination with horses. Any novel about animals seemed to be my favorite when I was younger. As I grew older, I began to enjoy fictional books. Mrs. South strongly encouraged me to read and do well on my AR tests. She greatly motivated me to grow as a reader--so I did. My older brother was my idol when it came to reading. He had completed the entire Harry Potter series in sixth grade and made me extremely jealous; how badly I wished to excel like he had.
I owe much gratitude to Mr. Christensen, Composition and Literature for my excellent literacy at the end of my senior year. I have discovered new novels that I love, such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Poetry has earned a new respect after reading plenty of it in Literature. Learning to read farther than the text and understanding symbolism and literature devices makes reading far more enjoyable. I am beyond grateful to have the opportunity to know how to properly read and compose!
1 Klumpp
Reading has always been one of my strongest skills, even dating back to elementary. I was always above the average reading score for my grade. I tend to be a fast reader and comprehend the material quickly. This has shown on all my ACT tests where i scored the highest in the reading section every time. My parents raised me by reading a multitude of books to me every night. Even when my dad would go out of town for work, he would bring the same book that I had and he would read it to Ellie and I over the phone. The books that helped me in the beginning of my journey were Junie B Jones and The Series of Unfortunate Events. My parents pushed me to read longer and more challenging books each year. At the middle of my literacy journey, I began reading books like The Hunger Games Series and the Divergent Series. My parents and different English teachers along the way helped me improve my literacy.
From the beginning to the end of this class I believe my writing and reading skills have improved dramatically. I can think of ideas for essays much faster and my work ethic has improved a lot with all extra work compared to last year. My transitioning from idea to idea has become more smooth and flows better. Reading Othello has also improved my reading skills by reading something that isn't modern day text. I think this English class has helped me more than any other class I've taken in high school, because of all the writing we have had to do and all the different ways we have had to view things.
6 Bose said…
I would have to give my progress with my literacy to Mr. C. I never thought I could write essays at the length I have or produced some well written essays. Not meaning to brag by any means, but my essays and writing skills sucked before I took Composition and Literature, now, my essays have somewhat of a greater value to them. When I was younger I started off reading many Dr. Suess books, such as Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham. They were simple, but helped my with my future education in reading and writing. These books allowed me to become a creative writer and not put my audience to sleep while composing my work. As I progressed into my middle school years, I would have to give big credit to the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. This book series was challenging for me because they used big words that I could not pronounce, but as Mr. Snicket would use these words I would look them up so I could understand what the text was talking about. These books helped my vocab expand greatly. The one person I would like to give a special thanks to in helping me how to read would be Mrs. Fjersted. She was a teacher that helped the kids that struggled with school and I was one of those students. Without her help I would not be able to read at the level I am able to right now. I have never been much of a poetry type of person until this year when Mr. C introduced us into confessional poetry. This poetry is different then other poems because I feel as if you can relate to it and really get a feel for what the writer is feeling and experiencing. As hard as I thought this class was going to be, it really was something I was able to handle. I enjoyed, strangely, writing essays in Composition because it kept me on track and helped me discover different ways to write things and also a way to reflect on others essays and find new ways to build my work as well.
I have never been a student who likes to study literature when I am forced ,but rather independently. I was born into a family of readers. My mom, dad, and brother have stacks of books and read any chance they have. It took me some time to get into books. When I was in elementary school I was forced to read books and take tests on them, which made despise reading altogether. As I got older and started to figure out my own interest in reading, I understood how easily it was to get lost into a book. I do not have much time now as a senior to read, but when I have the downtime I take that chance. Besides leisurely reading, I have become proficient in literature (still learning obviously) with the help of Mr. Christensen, Mr. Canfield, Mrs. Sturgeon, and Mrs. Lockner. I have taken four years of Spanish which have not only helped me understand Spanish, but actually the English level to a much higher degree.
This year we have typed, what seemed like endless amounts of essays. I dreaded doing essays because of how much work they were but as I sit back and type my 12 page manifesto I realize just how far I have come in the literature world. I have learned how to cite, analyze, and summarize things I probably never would have without taking this class. Composition and Literature is definitely a difficult class, but it was worth while. I do not have literature pinpointed down exactly yet, but this class will set me off to college in the right direction.
1 Peltier
Literature has been a part of life since I can remember. I grew up with people like my mom, dad, and grandparents reading me books. After that I gradually got better. However when I got older I did not exactly continue reading. I kind of fell off the wagon when it came to reading in my free time or just for fun. To me it was never something that I wanted to do. The only books that I was interested in reading were the ones that had a movie coming out soon, like The Fault in Our Stars. It was not until recently that I have become more interested in. Mr. C’s class has open up a whole new world to me when it comes to reading books. I have learned to analyze the material that I am reading, which has increased my interest in reading and to a point increased my writing ability. I grew up reading the amazing Junie B Jone’s books and The Magic Treehouse series. They were my favorite. I was never really interested in anything else but these two series. Mostly because I thought that they were extremely entertaining. I also have great memories of laying in bed with my mom reading them for hours which contributes to my love for these books. The beginning of my journey I have great thanks for my 1st grade teacher, from St. Lambert’s Catholic School, Ms. C. She really cared about her students and helped me so much. She sat with me and helped and encouraged me to read by taking the time out of her day to sit with me and help me sound out words that I did not know and the time. I am truly grateful for her kindness. When it comes to the end of my journey I was introduced to many books that I would have never read on my own in a million years. However I am truly grateful and happy to have been pushed out of my comfort zone in Mr. C’s class. Because of this I am truly a better and more well rounded person. Throughout my whole journey I have to give all the credit to my teachers for helping me get through and making me a better student by introducing me to new things and caring about my education enough to take time out of their days to make me better.
I became so literate due to many people that have helped me throughout my journey. My mom started reading me books at a very young age and she took me to story-time often. My dad also read a book before I went to bed every night. My favorite books were anything Dr. Seuss or when I was very young, the "Brown Bear" books. I also started writing at a very young age. I remember I would write stories for hours at my sister's band competitions. I think I kept writing because my whole family would read them and would give me over exaggerated praise. When I was in elementary school I really enjoyed reading. Reading time was my favorite part of the day and I remember I would always read under Mrs. Pudwill’s desk. She helped me pick out countless books that would interest me and she challenged me to take on different series. Mr. Lockner also encouraged my writing skills when we had to do journal entries every day. He stretched my creativity by letting us write about everything and anything for a short amount of time. In high school both Mrs. Sittig and Mr. Christensen have helped me immensely throughout my writing and reading career. I enjoyed the composition part of Mr. C’s class the most. I surprisingly enjoy writing essays. I enjoy creating my own image and letting people see that image through their mind when I write. My favorite essay is still my classification essay because it was the funniest one I wrote. I am halfway through my manifesto now and I am doing the narrative option. I picked this option because I enjoy coming up with my own stories and thoughts. It hasn’t been too tough so far and I have many more ideas to come. I believe my manifesto will become my new best essay.
Being literate is a huge developmental skill for all young children. The easiest gift for a child is a book. Whether it is a picture or chapter book, the pages hold value for growing brains. As child get older the purpose of books are not so much about increasing word comprehension but about increasing world understanding. Personally, I have always loved reading. When I was younger my daycare provider had the greatest books. My favorite was “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. That book was read to me hundreds of times before I could finally read it myself. In elementary school I read multiple series one after another. “The Series of Misfortunate Events” challenged by vocabulary knowledge while entertaining my creative mind. Throughout middle school I would read whole series within a couple of months then would be lost when I would complete one author’s work. Author to author I went until I had read every book of a genre. In high school, I have continued my love for series with This Man trilogy and One Time Promise written by the same author. Jodi Ellen Malpas, the author, has the power to spark extreme emotions with one sentence. Her novels were packed with information leaving readers to analyze the deeper meaning of the printed words.
English has never been a strong subject for me. I love reading in my freetime but hate being forced to read novels. It is even worse when a teacher makes me analyze super hidden meaning of a story. However, I have greatly enjoyed Lit this semester. Not all the novels read have become favorites but the deeper understanding process of each story has been enjoyable. Creative thinking is not forced out of us students, it just happens. The readings of second semester are a reflection of first semester--patience, thought, and creativity placed in essays were carried into forums. Large essays may not have always been the most intriguing assignments but they did their job in teaching students the art of procrastination. Along with establishing the fact that well written essays can be pages long without becoming redundant.
The first book I remember reading with my mom (besides the Bible) was “How Many Trucks Can A Tow Truck Tow?” I would always ask her to read then finally I would start reading to her. First, it may of been just repeating I remember what my mother said but then I slowly began to grow more independent and pick the books and not only read with my mom but in my own free time. The first novel books I read that I just loved were the Boxcar Children. This series had so many books in it that I felt I had to be always be reading to get done with the series. After I got off the train of the Boxcar Children, I read the Little house of the Prairie. I loved the outdoors and how they had to live out the land. I also liked how the books were really thick and it would boost your confidence when you could say you read the a book of that size. Then you just wanted to keep read longer and longer books. So I think my literacy really took off after I read that series and I could just not read enough of historical fiction, action fiction, and many other genres. One book that really stuck out during this phase was Elephant Run. I think I reread this book at least 4 or 5 times. Roland Smith also wrote books like Peak and others that I thoroughly enjoyed. Then once high school came around I halted reading on my own. I rarely read for fun. It was all for school. The only book I did not read that wasn’t for school was probably the Bible. The books have moved toward non-fiction for research instead of fiction for fun. Now my senior year was more of the same as the previous three years of highs school were I would only read for class but I read them differently then I have before by reading between the lines and try to think about what the author is trying to get across instead of just reading it because I had too. Along with all this reading over the years, I didn’t start to write my own until this year. When I am writing about something I am passionate about and care about. Like when I wrote my Causal Paper on why people doubt God. I care about that and I want people to understand what I believe. I can remember as well writing about things I thought was pointless. For instance last year when we did not get to pick our topics; it drove me crazy. It was a long hard process and felt like a chore to write. Quite a contrast from writing this year. I learned a lot of skills from this class that will be very applicable in college classes. Thank you Mr. C.
I have become literate because of many influences in my life. In the beginning of my journey, Dr. Suess had a big influence on me. His rhymes of the fish, story of the Lorax, and many other great stories allowed me to enjoy literature. Having fun reading, while still learning, allowed for my young attention span to be captured. There is one book that I owe most of my young success to and that is The Ant Bully. My grandmother had given me this book when I was younger and I could not put it down for weeks. It was a story of a young boy who bullied ants because he himself was bullied. Continuing, he then became an ant and realized what he was doing was wrong. The pictures and plot grabbed my attention and taught me to be nice and how to read. In the middle of my journey, I read the series Seekers. Not many kids were reading these books, but I was introduced to them and hooked. The adventures of bears and their dialogue was extremely interesting to me. This had been the series that really made me enjoy reading. It allowed me to read because I wanted to read, not because I have to. The symbolism and themes throughout the book allowed me to take a giant leap in my literature journey. I owe much of my success to my parents, grandparents, and teachers. Without these people, I would have been hopeless. There would have been no way for me to have a strong background in reading without these people. I owe them a huge thank you. This year, I have enjoyed the reading even more than I thought I would. My favorite has been Life of Pi because of the masterful way it was written and the lessons learned. Being more in depth with my reading has opened doors in the literature world that I never knew existed. Thank you Mr. C for facilitating my great growth this year in literature and life. Without the books I was introduced to this year, reading may have just been at the back of my mind and not an importance in my life.
Klumpp 2
Being iterate is something I think a lot of us take for granted. I could not imagine how helpless I would feel if I was not able to read and write. I have always excelled in reading and it has always been one of my favorite subjects and hobby to do. Reading and writing is a huge part of our daily lives and I am thankful to the people who helped me become litterae. My early teachers and parents are the first ones who instilled this skill in me, from reading me stories before bed every night and countless alphabet worksheets. Reading and writing is enjoyable it helps us do basic tasks like filling out forms to writing complex essays or novels. When I was very young my parents read Dr. Seuss and Winnie Pooh books to me, even when my dad was out of town he would read books over the phone. As I started reading on my own I read all the Junie B. Jones books and Diary of a Wimpy Kid were my favorites. As I got older and into middle school I started reading Hunger Games and Divergent. My favorite books I have read on my own in High school are the novels, Room and 19 Minutes. Without reading and writing our world would be a less enjoyable and less advanced place. I am so thankful for the ability to read and write and I hope to use this skill to its full potential as I move on to college and beyond.
As I began my literary journey I found a love for books. In first grade I read every book between Clifford the Big Red Dog to Disney books. On my 9th birthday my mom bought me the complete collection of Little House on the Prairie. I loved that series most probably because it took place right in Minnesota. The older I became I started to fall for the more tragic books. I read every book of Series of Unfortunate Events. They are making that series into a Netflix series too. I have read too many books to even compare too. Into my high school career I dove into more romance type novels such as Nicholas Spark’s books. I have read almost every one of his books as well as seen the movies. Reading a book and being able to see the movie is one of my favorite things to do. I choose to read books simply because they have a movie. I am currently reading Me Before You which the reviews make it out to be a tragic love story yet I choose it because the movie trailer caught my attention. I believe my mom made the largest impact on my reading skills. She would read me books every night before I went to bed when I was little. Now today she will go to her library and bring home books her librarian picks out for me. This is how I found the Gillian Flynn novels. She is a brilliant writer who brings into emotions and stories that are unimaginable. I love staying up and reading a great book. The best gift to give is a book. Without reading my writing would not be up to par. I would not have examples of literary gods to compare my work too. Having examples is one of the ways that has improved my writing over the years.
2 Brett Hoffman
Reading has never been something that I have enjoyed a great deal. When I was younger I use to read a lot of Dr. Suess and also the Magic Tree House series. I never really had a great deal of fun with reading but when I read the Magic Tree House series than I found reading a lot easier. During my life in Middle School I really did not want to have any part in reading because I thought it was just plain dumb and a waste of time until I found out about a series called Cirque Du Freak. I really enjoyed reading these books for some reason, it was a series about Vampires and a few “freaks” who were all apart of a moving circus. I loved reading them and when it was time to read my last chapter of the series I found a feeling of sadness due to wanting to just keep reading more of those series. Now, without this class I honestly do not know where I would be at with not only my literature status but composition as well. With having to read a book, it was a little stressful and irritating, but, it taught me to really analyze books deeply and to look up parts in a book that I may not understand. Much like with Life of Pi or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I never would’ve thought that deeply with those books if I were to just flat out read them on my own. When I was younger my mom use to always give me a hard time with reading, always saying I needed to go and read for an hour to get up to my AR goal in Elementary. I also found great pleasure in my last few years of Elementary, I would go and make my “goal” or the points needed, really high. I don’t know if it helped me read better or more but at the end of a quarter and seeing I needed more points than I would normally get, I found happiness and success for myself with reading.
Reading and Writing this year has been no walk in the park but when I tell people about this class, never leave out the fact of telling them, you will truthfully learn more in this class than you have ever learned in a class. Along with it, this class has helped immensely with reading and writing. Starting with the “extremely long and over the top hard, (wo)man hood essay, consisting of 2 pages?!” to now being able to write that with a breeze, really is satisfying. I never have been a fan of English but now after this year, I really did enjoy this class a lot because it helped me realize hard work will pay off, it’s a struggle for sure but the hard work paid off and will help greatly with college.
I believe I have become literate due to the education I have received in terms of having to study multiple novels and short works. From a young age we are influenced to enjoy reading and often read cute picture books in order to get us interested in reading. As we age we are then expected to read harder material and look more into novels by paying attention to things such as symbols and themes. At the beginning of my journey, books such as Junie B. Jones and the many books written by Dr. Seuss allowed me to get a start on becoming literate. The middle of my journey consisted of young adult novels such as Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. The people who have helped me learn to read include the teachers who first taught me the alphabet up to the teachers I have today. My mom was also a big part in helping me read by first reading to me when I was a little kid and later in my life when she brought home reading assignments for me to do from the classes her fellow co-workers taught.
This year I have learned how to dive further into books more than I have ever done before. This began with the first book we read this semester, Lord of the Flies. At first, I was not able to pick up on everything, but as I read on and researched some of the book I was later able to understand more of the book. By learning how to deeply read into Lord of the Flies, I was better able to read and understand One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. By writing papers that made me comprehend a critical lens and analyze a chapter in depth, I have learned new literary skills and terms that I had not known before.
As a young child, reading was never my forte. I enjoyed the activity, yes, but only when I discovered a book which shared my interests and held my attention. Having ADD set me at a disadvantage and there were several moments when I felt spiteful toward literature, simply for the fact that my learning disability often made me feel inferior to my reading-proficient peers. My mother often tried to encourage me, though bedtime stories tended to consist of her reading the stories rather than myself, and reading aloud is a practice that is not always the most beneficial for a struggling youth. I must thank my second grade teacher Mrs. Petree for facilitating my present love for literature. If not for her frequent encouragement and gentle mentorship, I may have remained spiteful and never have discovered the beauteous sabbatical that is literature. Early on it happened to be tales of adventurous pets that fascinated me, and Mrs. Petree introduced me to books like Biscuit and Henry & Mudge. From there I proceeded to read a number of pet-related books such as the Warriors saga and A Dog Called Kitty. In middle school I expanded my horizons to adventure, action, and sometimes horror stories involving people, typically young teens, as that was most relatable for me. Some of the most impactful books of my middle school years were the Percy Jackson series, Running Out Of Time, and Gathering Blue, all of which featured teenagers who were virtually alone in a quest to protect their loved ones and unravel masterful plots in some sort of corrupt authoritative system. It was also around this time that I unearthed a personal love for creative writing, and would often collaborate with other girls (we were pen pals, in essence) to hone our literary skills. By 7th grade, English had taken it’s rightful place as my favorite school subject, and I was grammatically and analytically at an advantage over many of my classmates, which I am proud to say may have aided a few in their own literary development. As for the past year in Rising Scholars Composition and Literature, I feel that the work I have done has enabled me to write more proficiently lengthwise and depthwise, and to understand and analyze readings with a more culturally and humanly aware eye. I hope to continue and improve these skills well into my life.
In elementary school, teachers made it a priority for students to read a certain amount of books and short stories, making them read to achieve a certain point goal for that quarter. I owe most of my literary success to those teachers and that program. It forced me to read books, as we would visit the library once a week to pick out new books. Achieving that point goal means that you were able to participate in the AR party. Early on, Junie B. Jones and The Magic Tree House series became one of my favorites books to read. These series were what started my literary journey. Later on in elementary school, I was obsessed with reading A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket. These books were a series of long chapter books about kids whose parents died. They were very intriguing and kept me wanting to read more and more. They were how I met my reading goal in school. My mom, being an elementary school teacher, also helped me succeed in reading. She made sure I read constantly and also continued to read during the summer. She used to bring me to the library each summer and let me join a reading program that they had. If you finished a certain amount of books, you got a prize. In middle school, I stopped reading outside of school. However, I quickly picked it back up in high school, reading Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling every chance I could get. I enjoy reading a series better than just one novel as it forces me to continue to want to read. As you can see, my favorite novels consist of series.
Being in this class has also helped further my literary journey. I have read and analyzed books that I would have never considered outside of class. This class has opened me up to reading more things and also it has helped me analyze novels in many different ways.
Things that have made me a better reader is definitely reading a lot in middle school and in high school. I love to read and find much joy in reading a good book. I recently read the Hobbit and reading that book made my understanding of literacy sky rocket. The book is phrased there sentences very hard for me to read, but the more I read the easier it became to understand. This book is styled differently than other books made in the modern day. I think reading books that are not easy give a reader more knowledge when reading other books. By becoming a better reader I have also became a better writer. My writing at the beginning of the year was very choppy and would get off topic quite easily. There was not many details and just very boring to read. I feel as if my writing was helped a lot by these classes and also by the books we read. Also analyzing the books made the understanding more clear which also helped a lot.
I personally have not been a fan of literature, but I have learned to appreciate it in many different ways. When I was in elementary school, I loved to read. The reason I loved to read is so that I could reach my AR goal. I tried to push myself more each year so that I could continue to read more books. I really enjoyed reading Junie B. Jones, The Magic Tree House, Little House on the Prairie, and many others. Reading that much as an elementary school student has taught me that your imagination can expand so much when you have your head in a book, not thinking about other problems in the world. When I got to middle school I did not read that much.I do remember that I had a stage where I was into horror books. They freaked me out but kept me entertained and intrigued. As I got older and into high school I did not read unless it was an assigned book that I had to read for a grade like Night, Lord of the Flies, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. There are many people who encouraged me to continue to read and those people included my 2nd grade teacher Ms. Austin (maiden name), my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Vandyke, my Rising Scholar teacher Mr. Christensen, and most importantly my mom. All of these individuals have pushed me to try my best and to gain knowledge through literature.
At the beginning of my senior year I did not know what to expect while I begun my first college course classes, Composition and Literature. First semester I had to write a few essays. Even though I do not like to write essays and it takes me a while to figure out what to write about, I always got it finished in time and ended up getting a grade I was happy about. For second semester, I had to read books. I did not enjoy it that much but it helped with understanding the importance of the different genres. This Rising Scholar class made a huge impact on me and my literacy journey as I get older.
Mullet 6
For me, the Little Critter books and Junie B. Jones series were big steps into literature. I loved reading these books when I was little. I also like the Boxcar Children stories. These stories captured my attention and formed my love of reading. I read as often as I could and often finished books within 2 days of picking them up. I started reading R. L. Stine books around 3rd or 4th grade and continued reading them until 6th grade when I finished all of them. I would read during the school days when I had free time and sometimes at home. I really loved horror/suspense/mystery stories when I was young. I remember trying to figure out what had happened before finishing the books I was reading, inferring hints and trying to read between the lines wherever possible. These books strengthened my ability to pick up symbols and unwritten meanings. Once I was in middle school, I read all the Twilight books and reread them multiple times I started straying from constantly reading, but I still continued to read books that I thought would be the most interesting. I remember reading the Ugly series and The Host, which I still will read every once in awhile. I do not remember middle school years very well, so I am not sure what other books I read. I started reading Nicholas Sparks books my sophomore year and love reading them. My favorites are The Best of Me and Message in a Bottle. All of these books have intrigued me enough to keep me literate and enjoy reading. My teachers and best friend have helped me to read well, along with my mother and older sister. This year, my favorite essay we wrote was the classification essay. I got to decide what I was comparing and my own classification system. I liked hearing what other people were classifying their subjects on and deciding whether I agreed with them or not. My favorite book was by far Life of Pi. It had so many details and was so lively, yet you get to decide what you want to believe. I think Life of Pi reveals how fragile humanity is and shows a lot about how each person thinks, depending on what story you choose to believe.
My literature journey started as a four-year-old. I would read to both of my parents every night. We enjoyed reading a lot of Dr. Suess books. As I grew older, I started to read more challenging books before bed. I loved reading Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, Judy Moody, etc. In middle school, I would read The Clique, Twilight, and The Hunger Games. However, once I started high school I did not read many books unless I was required to for school. We read several short stories and novels. We read Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, and The Great Gatsby during my first three years of high school. As a freshman, sophomore, or junior, I was not very illiterate. During my senior year, my grammar and literacy grew immensely. I owe that to my Composition and Literature class. If I wouldn't have taken this class, I still wouldn't know the difference between then and than, or how to properly write and essay. My writing was very choppy and I did not use a good variety of words. My past teachers did not help me understand the English language. Mr. C was the only teacher that helped me become a better writer and reader before college.
I have grown a lot in how I write and learn this year through english class. I have learned to go past the normal writing I use to do and go into depth and show symbolism. Before this class I never thought of symbolism when I was writing or reading other stories. When I was young and first reading one of the books I read a lot and helped me first start my literary journey was Little House on the Prairie. I use to read and also watch the tv shows throughout my whole childhood. Then later on when I read all those books and moved up in my literary skills I moved onto A Series of Unfortunate Events books. I read all of those books multiple times and they really showed me a higher level of reading then what I was use to. My dad really helped me in my literary learning because my father was a big reader and would always bring me home books he found interesting and thought I would like. He always encouraged me to read and learn more. The writing I have done this year has really pushed me to be the best I can be. I have gone outside of my comfort zone and even wrote a essay about pi and the history of it, math is my least favorite subject yet it was very interesting for me. The books I have read this year have really made me think, when I use to read books I would not look into the symbolism of it I would just read it. Now a days I look more into what the story is actually telling me.
My literature journey started as a four-year-old. I would read to both of my parents every night. We enjoyed reading a lot of Dr. Suess books. As I grew older, I started to read more challenging books before bed. I loved reading Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, Judy Moody, etc. In middle school, I would read The Clique, Twilight, and The Hunger Games. However, once I started high school I did not read many books unless I was required to for school. We read several short stories and novels. We read Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, and The Great Gatsby during my first three years of high school. As a freshman, sophomore, or junior, I was not very illiterate. During my senior year, my grammar and literacy grew immensely. I owe that to my Composition and Literature class. If I wouldn't have taken this class, I still wouldn't know the difference between then and than, or how to properly write an essay. My writing was very choppy and I did not use a good variety of words. My past teachers did not help me understand the English language very well. Mr. C was the only teacher that helped me become a better writer and reader. I am thankful to have this skill before I go to college.
As a little child, my mother and father always read to my brother, Cam, and me before putting us to bed. Often it would be Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, or other fantastic adventure stories, and other times it would be the Encyclopedia where our parents would quiz us over Julius Caesar and the great Mesopotamian region. These nights were always something to look forward to for us. I think these readings and competitive knowledge quizzes were what spurred me to read so much as a child and even into my high school years. Reading was what my life consisted of besides attending school and playing sports. I would read everyday after school for around an hour or so, or whenever I had down time. In middle school, reading was still habitual and I read the Ranger's Apprentice series as well as the Hunger Games series. Sadly, once I got to high school, I started reading less and less. It is difficult to find time to read when you are overwhelmed with doing homework, hanging with friends, and participating in sports and school activities.
Your course, Composition and Literature, and your teachings, have improved my reading and writing skills tremendously. I have never really enjoyed writing or having others review my writing, but I think that was due to a lack of confidence in my skill at writing. I have learned so much information regarding sentence styles, various grammar issues, and the flow of writing overall. I am now confident in my writing skills. The novels, stories, and poetry we read in class and analyzed have also made an impact on me. It has truly made me a lot better in thinking and problem solving. Thank you, Mr. Christensen, for all that you have done for not only me, but for everyone.
When I was little I loved to have the Little Golden Books read to me by my mother and my father. Some of my favorites were "Baby Dear" by Esther Burns Wilkins and "The Poky Little Puppy" by Janette Sebring Lowrey. When I was in elementary and middle school I absolutely hated reading during that time. I hated it so much that I would often make my dad read the books to me, so I should really thank him for that. The only books I ever enjoyed were the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer. This year we read "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey and I really enjoyed that. I think that my writing has really improved over this year. All of the knowledge I have acquired about writing essays will really help me in college. When I think back to that Womanhood essay, it was really bad. I am really proud of how my manifesto is coming together.
I have read an abundance of books that have helped me begin my literacy journey. When I was younger I had troubles with AR testing (reading a book then taking a test over it and reaching a certain number of points from each book) in elementary school, but thankfully I have a dedicated mother. She would make me read to her every night or she would read to me in order for me to obtain the knowledge I needed to pass these aggravating tests. Then, since my teachers knew I struggled, they allowed my mother to come in early in the mornings to help me pass these tests. Then throughout middle school I wasn't much of a reader, until one of my friends who read every single day introduced me to a magnificent book. Although I can't remember the names of most of the books I've read, all I know is that something changed in me after that book. I started going to the library to check out books or went to Walmart and bought series at a time. I would read every single time I had free time, such as the minute I got home to any spare second in class to get through a paragraph or two, and all that was ever on my mind was the book I was reading. This progressed through middle school and high school until I have reached the point of where I am now. This class has tied together my literary knowledge to a point of understanding I have never been able to obtain previously. The range of my vocabulary words have grown immensely and I realized that I love sounding smart when I use words that my friends cannot understand. Right now I am writing a narrative about Ravi Patel's life after the ship sank and before taking this class I would have never been able to do it. Although my stress level has always been high due to this class, I will forever be grateful to have had such an amazing teacher like you to piece together all the English and Reading classes I have taken throughout my life (which have always been my worst classes grade wise). Also I think some day soon I will read Life of Pi soon (because it was fantastic) and continue with my vast knowledge you have instilled into my brain. Therefore, I wish to thank you dearly for being one of the most amazing, dedicated, and caring teachers I have ever had, so thank you.
Before I could read, my mom would constantly read to me. When I learned how to read, my favorite authors were Dr. Suess and Laura Numeroff. As I progressed in my reading, I became very fond of the Lemony Snicket series. Without these authors and their books I would not be as literate. Although, before these books came learning how to read. I could not thank my parents and my elementary school teachers enough. You really do learn the most important essentials to life in elementary school. The teachers always set AR goals for us that we were required to meet. I never had any problem reaching mine. You could always find me in my spare time reading a book. My parents would praise me for spending my time wisely. I read the most in those years. I am saddened that I didn’t continue reading as much as I did. Yet I am content that I had that reading under my belt because it carried over into my writing. I can tell that my writing style reflects what I read. After taking Composition and Literature, I have advanced further this year than any other previous English classes. I hope that I can continue writing so I do not lose this under appreciated art. I also want to make reading one of my hobbies like it was when I was a child. I have come this far, why not continue to pursue and progress in my literature skills.
Finch 1
In the earliest beginnings of my "literacy journey," I suppose I started out with childish stories such as Dr. Seuss and similar stories, but I was never very interested in reading until late elementary school. My dad is the one who essentially introduced me to books. He had a large collection of science fiction, horror, and fantasy books circa 1970-1990. One of the first books I remember reading is "The Hobbit." Reading these more advanced books at an earlier stage allowed my malleable young mind an initial apprehension both grammatically and lexically.
I have also music and movies to thank for my understanding of literature. Some songs have expressions that can hold lots of meaning. Movies can have sayings that can stick with you forever (See the fireside monologue at the end of "Cast Away"). Movies and music can have as much to offer, from a literature standpoint, as books can. Words can become more than sounds if you listen closely.
These stories, movies, and music have built my proficient grasp of literature. Whether this is apparent in my writings I cannot say for sure. Truthfully it is difficult to be motivated to write well when you are not fervent about what you are writing about. To write out of obligation is not the same as to write out of passion. Regardless, I am indecorously aware of my excellent understanding of the English language and how it works. These stories in word, song, or visual form have all granted me a comprehension of English. Or at least a misguided notion of one.
Growing up I was never a huge fan of writing or reading. I enjoyed going to school but focused more on things like art, gym, and music class. I have always been a hard worker in school but always had to put in all my efforts in order to keep my grades high, unlike a lot of my classmates who tend to get good grades by even their littlest of efforts. Neither my mom nor dad enjoyed reading or tried very hard in school as well. I was never read any book before bed or given a book as a present. The most they did was teach me how to read and write. Through grade school I mostly read books like Junie B Jones and Magic Tree House. I never finished any of them completely but I did start them. I also really loved to read easy poetry as a kid, even if I didn’t necessarily understand it. I remember being in 5th grade and I was put in the top level of reading when my class split up into groups. The peers and I in our group read books like Inkspell that was almost impossible for me to read or understand. I believe this is when I turned my back to reading because this book was so hard for me to understand or even accomplish finishing. I learned to hate reading almost completely as I felt I slacked, which as a perfectionist is hard to endure. Moving to Brandon, I was forced to read because of AR. Since I hadn’t read for quite some time, I struggled my 7th grade year when I had to read books the I especially didn’t have any interest in. Into high school, I didn’t read until I was in Sophomore Honors English. Even within this class it was impossible for me to read the books as fast as the other students. When this class presented itself you can see that I had my doubts and concerns. Out of all the books I enjoyed One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest the most because I am only interested when something is more believable and realistic. Out of all the books you can see that this is the only one the most realistic. I felt this class challenged me and now I can see just how far I can go. I pushed myself and now I have found out what I want to do for the rest of my life, just because of this one class. Truly the only person to push me to read is Mr. C himself, he encouraged me to express myself in poetry which is now what I love to do the most. I had to read the books because of the forums and papers. No other teachers cared too much if I read one single page. This past year I could not feel more prepared for college. My manifesto is by far my best writing I’ve done in my entire lifetime. I can see just from my first essay I have become more fluent, use better vocabulary, and explain my ideas better. I remember being so scared to write a single page and now I can confidently write over 10 pages. I have written almost 6 papers and read 4 books in the matter of 2 semesters. I could never have imagined myself doing any of these things if it wasn’t for this class.
As I began my literacy journey starting all the way back from when I was first able to read, I have continuously been increasing my ability to read more fluently, quickly, and easily. When I was younger, reading was not my strongest point nor was it one of my more favorite thing to do during my free time. It started off with books like The Magical Treehouse series back in elementary school. I absolutely loved those books and probably read almost all of them from the time of first grade to fifth grade. Those books were enjoyable to read and also allowed a bit of learning along with them as well as help learning new and now easy words. Reading these books slowly made me begin to think that books may actually not be as boring as I thought they were. Going into the middle of my literacy journey I started reading bigger books like Percy Jackson, The Maze Runner, and Cirque Du Freak. These were books that I never imagined being able to read and finish. The fact that these books were extremely good at grabbing your attention and making you not want to stop reading really helped as well. Books like these, fiction or nonfiction, still taught me how to read even more fluently and quickly. Now, in high school, I am much more open to reading new books or trying to read bigger books to see how far my literacy journey has taken me. I still have the problem though if I am assigned to read a book I do not find enjoyable, I will not read the whole thing and will just skip around a lot just to get done with the book quicker. Some people that helped me learn to read so well was my mother at first during my early elementary years. She encouraged me to find new books, and preferably a series so I would have even more of a reason to continue reading after finishing just one book. She would help me read the first few books of the series and then when I felt as though I could do it on my own she let me and then asked me questions about it later to see if I really was able to comprehend what I was reading. She would also set checkpoints for me to get to either each couple of days or each day. Doing so allowed me to not just stray away from reading as easily. In fifth grade, my reading teacher was another reason that I can read so well even to the day. He helped and encouraged me to read more advanced books to stretch my literacy even further. In his class we were taught more advanced words or reading techniques and abilities to understand how to say or know the meaning of upper level words.
Now, the main reason I am able to read and writing so proficiently is because of my English teacher Mr. Christensen. With his two classes that he taught--Composition and Literature--I was able to enhance my writing and reading skills greatly. I will admit, during composition I did not enjoy writing all of the essays we were assigned, but I can easily say that I learned how to write them more proficiently and with better word choices. Even though still now writing is not my favorite thing to do, if I even have to write more essays in the future like I know I will, it will be much easier than if I had not taken this class. During literature, reading all of those books that were considered a more of an upper level reading for all of them, I found that it was not as difficult as I expected. There were times where I felt rushed or pressured with deadlines on when we had to be at a certain point, but I still managed to always make it and finish the book in time. Overall I am extremely glad I was able to take these two class because they made my writing and reading skills honestly near twice as good as they used to be before taking it.
7 Nelson
My literary journey started when I was very young. I remember going to my grandma and grandpa’s house every weekend to find my grandma’s nose buried in a book. So I became intrigued. The first book series I remember reading was The Magic Tree House series in Mr. Bobzien’s first grad class. It also helped that on camping trips, my mom avidly read the Harry Potter series to me and my older sister. As I got older I enjoyed longer novels. The ones I was most fond of in middle school were The Maze Runner as well as the Twilight series. I believe I read each series multiple times in the same week. My family was very supportive of my love for reading. I recall going to my grandparents house just to sit in the same room as them while we all read our own books. Being in Honors English all throughout high school encourages reading, however they were not books I would have chosen to read for fun. I was forced to read old books and was too busy to read the ones that I wanted to my favorite hobby of reading slowly diminished. I enjoyed some of the short stories through the years, but analyzing was always my favorite even if I liked the book or not. Senior year has been my best year of my literary experience. I learned that I am able to have my own opinions and views. I plan to continue my literary journey for the rest of my life even if I am not taking an English class.
I vividly remember a time in elementary school when my brother Steve read The Hobbit. I was mesmerized by the illustration on the front cover (a painting of the Shire, although I would not have realized it at the time) and astonished that my brother could read a book with such fine print. I had no idea what the book was even about, and to be perfectly honest, I probably was not concerned with that--all I cared was that Steve had read it! As soon as he set it down I picked it up. Reading it was a struggle. I plodded along for the longest time, slowly and unsteadily, and when at last I found myself on the final page, I knew nothing more than when I had begun, except of course for the fact I was on the final page. I have reread the very same copy of The Hobbit over half a dozen times since then, and in my opinion, the story only improves with time. At the very least, I should hope I’ve picked up on more details than my first time through.
My dad has read historical nonfiction for as long as I can remember. His bookshelf has always been stacked with the work of Stephen Ambrose and the like, and in many ways my dad’s taste in literature has influenced my own. When I was in fifth grade, my dad read Roy Adkins’ Nelson’s Trafalgar, which documents the decisive Battle of Trafalgar in its global historical context. I have no idea why I chose to read this book in particular, but much like when I saw Steve reading The Hobbit, I saw my dad reading about the Age of Guns and Sails, and I wanted to imitate him. I attempted to read Nelson’s Trafalgar as soon as he finished it. Once again, I was able to find myself on the final page, but I comprehended nothing. I still couldn’t have found Britain or France on a map! I have since reread Nelson’s Trafalgar several times, and much like The Hobbit, I like to think I have gotten more out of it than my first time through. I am very thankful to my dad for encouraging me to read.
I am a slow writer. I started this year a slow writer, and I am leaving as one, too. Sometimes this annoys me, and my condition is definitely a poor one when it comes to timed essays, but over the course of this year, I have come to terms with it. I enjoy writing. I find it relaxing, and many times this year I’ve become so engaged writing a paper I’ve quite forgotten about the room I’m sitting in. The thing I’ve most enjoyed this year is our degree of freedom when choosing topics. Thank you, Mr. C, for letting us write about what matters to us--this has motivated us to stay focused and work harder.
2 Nick Rise
In the beginning short books with a lot of rhyme were the center of my learning. Books by Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle were consistently finding themselves within my lap and my brain to enjoy their simplicity. Moving past this my style of reading in elementary school shifted towards a more intelligent information gathering style. I first started to read nonfiction books, especially reptiles and amphibians I absolutely loved reading about them along with a few planetary books that had caught my interest including a specific one I remember regarding “Venus.” These books taught me things that were not of any value other than the occasional trivia toss in for talking to people, but they did open a door to me. They showed me how much books and other pieces of literature can pander to anyone and any interest. Eventually I got bored with learning about these things and became fascinated with the mystery genre. Specifically books like Encyclopedia Brown (which come to think of it would be interesting to read now to see why I liked that series of books so much) caught my eye more in my later elementary years. Of course Harry Potter the first and really the only set of books I’ve read that takes more than a few days just because of the length caught my eye in around the 4th grade. I remember the easy AR points that came with these interesting stories of magic. This opened my eyes to the adventure aspect of literature and storytelling. After this point I read books like “Holes” by Louis Sachar, “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen, and the entire Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz (this is a series that follows a kid who goes around on missions similar to a spy or agent (or something like that)). From that point everything I have read has been for the adventure and story. I do not specifically remember people that stand out in my career as a student learning to read. I remember my family reading me flashcards at a pre-elementary aged child, but to be honest that is all I can remember. I remember learning the alphabet in kindergarten (I’m unsure how her name was spelled, but I do remember how to say it: Mrs. Van Den-over).
This has been an honestly amazingly and surprisingly quick year. I have always been told by people that my senior year would go by fast, but oh my it’s already May. We have written essay after essay in Composition and read book after book in Literature, and I feel as though I have learned so much just by adding different “Terms” to my essays/writings. My writing style has shifted somewhat, but possibly almost entirely. One thing I do notice that I do, is I have slowed down on my dead word usage. Whenever I recognize that I use one, I’m one CTRL + T, “search: synonyms” away from better writing. I absolutely loved being able to write on whatever I wanted. This is an idea I have never came across before, and in literature I loved the books that we read especially Othello. With that said I never thought that I would enjoy reading something by Shakespeare which was a complete surprise to me and just goes to show how little we really know about ourselves and of course are quickness to “Judge a Book by its Cover.” (To wrap this up) It was a good year for education, this includes learning about myself and who I am along with pure fact and schoolwork related knowledge.
7 Hammond
I think most kids start off the same way, learning their alphabet is just the first step into putting together the puzzle that is being literate. From there piecing those letters together goes hand in hand with speaking. My grandmother has her Doctorate in English and taught my mother, who then taught me "you write the way you speak. If you always speak clearly, and use grammar, that is the way you will write" and boy was she right! Thanks to my parents getting me started in the pursuit of literature (yes, even those small books were once epic novels to someone), at a young age, I think I am much more literate than I would've been without that strong, early foundation. My favorite book as a child (which I recently found hidden in a box in storage) is Inkheart by Cornella Funke. I don't know why I loved the book so much (perhaps my 'skill' at reading aloud stemmed from here, as the main character has the magic power that anything he reads aloud form a book comes to life), but it was great and I read it at least five times (that's a lot for a small child). I'm not sure what period it helped me, beginning, middle or end, but it was significant either way, and I am very excited to read it again now that I have found it.
Well, Beatrice and Virgil is one reading that has made a difference to me this year, and it has also impacted my writing as I am doing the majority of my manifesto based off of that book. I will say that I enjoyed Life of Pi very much though. The subtly and delicate nuance in every page, every letter, Martel is such a purposeful author, I can only wish to write with such finesse some distant day in the future. Despite that, another one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much was the discussion I got to have with Mr. C. It was very enlightening and opened my eyes to a lot of those small things Martel puts in his writing that I would have otherwise missed. All of the stories were good, from short stories, to poems to shorter stories, even Othello, this is the first year I've actually really enjoyed one of Shakespeare's works (Macbeth was pretty good but not this good). I think, reflecting on the year, that I have grown in leaps and bounds as a literary theorist, and appreciate-ist. I hope to grow much more in the future and during college, when it comes to literature, as an ever expanding field, the readers and authors must always be open and ready to grow with it.
Like many others, I was never too thrilled to learn about literature. It had never been something that I took seriously, until this class. Some books that intrigued me were obviously various bedtime stories. I never read too much. I started reading many books such as The Hunger Games series, and The Maze Runner series. Then, over this past summer, I was a lifeguard so I had plenty of time to read and I read some amazing books, such as the Harry Potter series. My mom and dad both helped me learn how to read over the course of my life. My dad helped me the most though, even though I rarely get to see him.
I have become such a better writer than when I first started writing. I am actually able to delve deeper into my mind and seek a better wording for each sentence that I fabricate. It is actually amazing being able to create writing that is your own. I am so lucky and grateful for this great opportunity of being educated on Literature.
Schwint 1
When I was younger there were many books that helped me on my literacy journey but there are a few that stick out the most in my mind. The first book that sticks out in my mind was a book called “Underwear”. This book was about an orangutan and a zebra who were best friends and loved to wear underwear. Also in this book was a mean buffalo who did not like underwear and was so mean that all his friends left him and he became very lonely. This buffalo tried on a pair of underwear and was finally able to hang out with all his friends again. Another book that also helped me on my literacy journey when I was younger was a book called “A my name is Alice”. This book would go through every letter of the alphabet and give you a little story about a husband and wife, what they did, and what type of animals they were. All of the things started with the certain letter of the page. In the middle of my journey I moved on to book series and I thoroughly enjoyed the Gallagher Girl series which was about a school for teenage girl spies. My mother was always a big help in my literacy journey. My mother would never hesitate to take me to Barnes and Noble whenever I wanted to go and she was always the one who would read to me or with me at nights when I was younger. My mom was always there to help answer questions about new words that I would run into when I was younger and would always do what she could to make sure that reading was enjoyable for me. This year with all the reading and writing we have done I feel that I have learned to look more in depth at stories and to try and piece together the deeper meaning that is hidden in all novels.
What has helped me become so literate is reading. That is one reason; to just sit and read and therefore understand the way a book works. But what has helped me even more is to be in the honors classes. I have been in honors 9, 10, 11, and now composition and literature and it has been especially comp/lit that I have begun to understand everything better because it is taught on a higher level and in even more depth. I feel like comparing comp/lit to my other english classes it could potentially be as a result of the way Mr. C teaches. In other englishes classes, you have a reading guide and you sit in class and either read together or you read quietly to yourself. In literature, you are assigned a book and a place you need to be at by a certain day. You are then reading that book outside of class while inside of class you are learning about how the literature process works. Along with that, we are assigned multiple other “side projects” such as reading short stories and poems. While this may seem like a lot and overwhelming, it truly is not because you are reading while learning about how to understand how to read. I am not saying the way other english classes are taught is a bad way, but I am saying, for me personally, comp/lit has been the most effective way of learning. In the early days, I read books such as The Boxcar Children, Junie B. Jones, and The Magic Treehouse. Later, I fell in love with books such as Harry Potter, The Tale of Despereaux, and currently, Game of Thrones and various medical books. My Mom and my Grandma are who I owe my kick start on literature to. They always read a bedtime story to me when I begged them and they are who also taught me to read.
1 Jacobson
Literature has always been a big part of my life. Growing up, my favorite thing to do was read Dr. Seuss books with my dad. I remember him constantly reading me Are You My Mother. That was my all time favorite. My dad would spend many hours reading with me and I owe my love of reading to him. Growing up, math and numbers were always hard for me...but words, they came easy. I have a weird love for learning new and bigger word and I feel like I owe that to being introduced to books when I was very young. I remember I could read the word hippopotamus before pre-k and most kids couldn't. I have always excelled at vocabulary and I think that is because I was introduced to literature at a very young age.
Moving on from my Dr. Seuss stage, in Middle School I read many works of literature from front to back. I never got into the Harry Potter or Twilight series but one series I did enjoy was A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. There was something morbid and terrible about these, but for some reason my eyes stayed glued to the pages. Another book that I loved was The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling. Maybe it was my love for chocolate that kept me stuck with this one, but I read it a countless number of times. Now I try to read when I can. Being busy with school, track, and work I don't always get the chance to sit and enjoy a great novel but literature continues to influence my life on a daily basis and I am glad I have a love of words.
I certainly am a literary genius, just kidding, I can truthfully say, without a doubt in my mind that I am nowhere close to literary mastery. I have been working towards it all my life and will continue for the rest of it. I think I am closer now than I have ever been with the help of this class and my frequent reading habit. In my early days, I read a lot of books that were meant for older kids. I did not understand them all the time because there were big words that little Logan could not comprehend in the slightest, but I kept at it. I was reading Harry Potter books by grade 3 or 4 and I was delving into the works of Stephen King by grade 5. To start out, I read a lot of dumb little kids books that would probably still entertain me to this day, such as the Magic Tree House books and Dr. Seuss books. Once I was hooked on reading I could not get enough of it, I would spend hours in my room just devouring a book, I think I read “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” in about 2 days. My love for reading could stem back to when I was a young boy just learning how to read, and my father would read us the Narnia books before we went to bed each night. That half hour was sometimes what I looked forward to most in the day.
This year, my love for reading has been explored further, with me having to analyze a story that I enjoyed reading. I will definitely be thinking about the meanings behind the books as I read them. The writing aspect has not been the easiest thing in the world but it certainly has made me a better writer in the long run, which can only help to improve my respect and admiration of literary works of art.
As a beginner in literature, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Magic Tree House books. These books were very interesting to me because the main characters went on magical journeys to real places in other parts of the world and/or time. My favorite of the whole series was Tonight on the Titanic because they had their own story of survival along with a second book that came with it that was all nonfiction. These stories blended really well with nonfiction and sparked my interest in it.
As my reading level increased, I still enjoyed the same formats of writing. My favorite author at the end of elementary school and the beginning of middle school was Roald Dahl. This man had the ability to make everyday life seem magical. The world of readers love his stories like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, and Matilda, but my favorite was his childhood memoir, Boy. He turned mundane, everyday activities into a well crafted and page turning story that made me love reading.
My elementary teaches encouraged reading a lot, so I spent time in and out of school reading. From then on, all my English and reading teachers have made sure that their students enjoy reading as well as making sure that we are learning as much as we can from literature.
This year, I have really pushed myself with the amount of writing done in these two courses. I have learned how to research, how to compose rather than write, and how to convey a message through a writing versus my usual medium, painting. Composing essays and painting both allow me to get my point across and I realized this year how well they blend together.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the novels that were required for the literature course. They were extremely thought provoking as well as interesting to read. They are the novels that sparked interest in reading for me.
Litt 2
Becoming an expert of literacy is a lifelong journey, no one ever finishes it though. The journey continues because the pursuit of knowledge is intoxicating and addictive. It starts from an early age, for me it started when I was about two years old. One of my first memories is my father laying with me reading the book The Hobbit from cover to cover. When I think back he is the one who propelled my love of reading to where it is now. He read to me every night and I would not let him stop reading until we both fell asleep. While The Hobbit was a fairly complex book for two year old me, I started reading smaller chapter books. My favorite series of books were The Magic Treehouse books. I was obsessed with reading these books because they were easy to read and there were a lot of them. As I got a little older the Harry Potter series was a staple read for me. The series was an escape from reality and filled my mind with wondrous thoughts of wizards and witches. These were the largest books I had read in my life and I was amazed at how quickly the pages seemed to diminish. I was hooked on literature. This has brought me to where I am in my literary career. Throughout the past school year I have matured in my writing and reading similarly to when I started reading the larger chapter books in the sense that I have propelled my understanding of literature and creativity in writing enormously. I have found that when I am writing the time seems to slip away. I get so focused on what I am writing that I become oblivious to the outside world and I love it. I thoroughly enjoy writing creatively.
I became interested in reading and writing ever since the first grade. The Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones were the first series of chapter books that have really helped me progress in literature. If I were to have began by reading a different series of books, I feel as if my outlook on literature would differ from what it is now. These books had much plot action and intensity that made it easy for myself to delve into the reading. The characters also grasped my interest because they seemed to be in the same age group as I, which allowed me to relate to them and their conflicts. But as I aged into middle school, I learned that I had to make myself relate rather than let the book relate to me; this was the most influential and important skill that I taught myself in literature.
My brother is a great reader so I learned from him that books are interesting and stress relieving once you put the setting into perspective. Also, my parents pushed me to set my AR reading goal to be one of the highest in my grade. The hard work I put in to gain my literacy was all worth it because I became greatly informed and educated.
This class gave me the opportunity to appreciate and discover all types of literature. I’ve learned so much about the techniques that allow me to write intriguing readings. My literacy skills have greatly strengthened throughout this course and in Composition.
How I became "amazingly literate" had a lot to do with the help of my parents when I was at a young age. As far as I can remember, my mom and/or dad had always read a book to me before bed; books such as Dr. Suess's entertaining pieces of literature. Starting in first grade I had a little trouble learning how to read on my own, so I was also enrolled in extra reading classes for the betterment of my literature skills. When I got the hang of reading I moved onto the popular series "Magic Tree House". Along with "Junie B. Jones", "A Series of Unfortunate Events", "The Clique Series", multiple novels covering the stories of the Holocaust and novels by my favorite authors Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks and John Green. These examples helped me become more literate while growing up. As I progress into my adventure of learning and becoming more literate, Mr. Christensen’s class helped me tremendously with opening my eyes and opening new doors to different perspectives. As I am aware that I have yet to grow and learn, I am still on my literacy journey learning abundantly.
I am excited about becoming more literate. At the beginning of this school year, I would not think that I could have become more literate, but it is amazing the amount of knowledge I have gained this semester. I recently looked over my first essay in Composition, and I made many mistakes in writing that essay I would not make now. I have honed my writing skills this year, and this makes me happy. I have learned to enjoy writing, and it is a skill that will be important to have mastered in the next four years, when I attend Augustana University to study Business Administration.
As a child, my parents thought it was extremely important to read to me. We had a child’s bookshelf in my room throughout my childhood, stocked with books. My mom would read to me quite often, and I enjoyed listening to the stories. One of the books that we had was a thick book that had many children stories inside, one of which was “Leo the Late Bloomer” by Robert Kraus. It is a story about a tiger named Leo (quite odd consider Leo mean Lion in Latin) who is not good at the games that the other tiger cubs are playing. Until one day, when Leo “blooms” and is good at playing all the other games with the cubs. I thought this story was nice because it was reassuring to me as a child. I liked the lesson of the story: It will all be fine in the end.
During elementary school, I always met my Accelerated Reading goal, but during my late elementary years I started reading books much more rapidly. I read Harry Potter books, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Artemis Fowl, and other fantasy book series. I liked imagining the stories while I read them, and predicting how the plot would finish. Reading was my favorite thing to do in my spare time, and I wish I still had the time and passion for reading.
Polasky 6
Ever since I was born, my mom and dad read to me all the time. Simple books like Goodnight Moon or the Foot Book I would memorize what they would say and say the same when I would “read” it. I would pretend to read using words I learned over the years. I would pick up on little letters here are there thanks to my mom and dad. Dr. Seuss and any children authors helped such as Laura Numeroff. The illustrations always helped the learning process. Throughout my school years, teachers took some time out of the day to make sure we had time to read or we were read to. This not only helped with what we could read but using our imaginations and sounding out harder words. Reading Nancy Drew and Junie B Jones helped with fewer illustrations but enough to get the point of what I was reading. Teachers were always encouraging to read and were told if you could read you would be successful. This year in my high school career has been truly the best. Last year I always felt that I would never be good at English. Reading never seemed to go well for me because I was always bad at vocabulary. Writing this first semester seemed to break all the built up barriers against English. I was able to be creative on my own time and was slowly shown different tips through Term Tuesday's. Taking test after reading always scared me. No matter how hard I studied or read a book, I would never be able to answer the difficult and intricate questions on the tests. This year with the forum’s I was able to read and understand like I usually do and not get tested over it. I felt like by discussing the novels, I was able to grasp the actual meanings of the novels better and enjoy it. I was not scared of the test but excited to read and discuss with classmates. I feel like just this year I have excelled greatly in my literary world.
Throughout my literate life, I have enjoyed many books. Not as many in recent years but I have improved my literacy none the less. In elementary school I absolutely loved Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey and the Underland series by Suzanne Collins. These books made me love reading when I was younger. Captain Underpants was always entertaining and I loved all the jokes. The Underland Chronicles were a lot more serious than Captain Underpants but I fed my appetite for the genre of fantasy. From giant bats that talked to massive wars held under ground I could not put those down. I read those books when I was ten and I still remember so many of the images that the story painted in my head.
Later in my literary career I read a lot of the popular series like The Hunger Games, Cirque Du Freak, Aragon and Diary of a Wimpy kid. But these were blown completely out of the water from my all time favorite series. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. These books follow a power struggle in a medieval fantasy world filled with rich characters, plots and societies. I first heard of the books just before the HBO series started. I was hooked once again and I read them as quickly as I could. Each book was about a thousand pages so it took quite sometime to finish them but I am so glad that I did. These books continued my binding to literature and they have done the same to so many other people.
I would have to say that the people that have influenced my reading the most are my parents and librarians through elementary and middle school. Were it not for them teaching me how to read and giving me suggestions on what to read next I would have never became as literate as I am today.
7 Nador
My literacy started evolving very early in my life. I could read and write by the time I was four, and started learning English at five. At school, of course, I learned countless poems and prose sometimes as well; and we started reading and writing in English in second grade. Each year we had to read a couple of books, and then we talked about those in class. So the beginning of the journey for me was full of Hungarian classics mostly for kids. Then in high school I read Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell, and studied Shakespeare classics such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. At the beginning of high school I was pretty fluent and literate in both English and Hungarian, and it was the perfect time for me to pick up German. By the time we learned all the grammar rules, pronunciation, and spelling, it was time for me to move to Brandon. I can’t recall too many books I read in English, but the ones from this year. My last two years of high school made the biggest impact on my reading and composition, because being able to write consciously and effectively is so much more and takes a lot more effort and knowledge than just using grammar and vocabulary correctly in a boring piece of writing. The people I give many many thanks to for being where I am today (not only literally and intellectually, but as a person) are my mom and my teachers in every single school I’ve ever attended.
Like many my literary journey started at a young age and is still going to this day. Everyday there is something new to learn and that is one of the opportunities I am greatful to have. My parents served a huge role in my literary journey along with my siblings. My older sister is about four years older than me, and like most younger siblings I wanted to do everything my sister did. One of these things just happened to be reading. At a young age I remember reading a lot of Dr. Suess books, and my sister reading me Junie B. Jones books. Being that she was four years older than me she was further along in her literary journey than I was, but that did not stop me from reading the same books she did. When she was in middle school reading the twilight books, I was just in elementary school reading the same thing. My journey continued through middle school, however slowed down after reaching high school. During high school I would read afew popular books here and there, but for the most part just the ones we were told to read for English. Out of all the books we have read this year Life of Pi was by far my favorite. Although the beginning of the book started out alittle slow, the plot soon picked up and caught my interest. This year has truly opened my eyes to literature and helped me on my journey.
I have always been fond of reading. As a child, and still today, I become excited when I get the chance to read a new book. In elementary school, I would look forward to Dr. Seuss week where the students are asked to read as much as they can in a matter of a week. I would read and read and read and have no problem doing so. My AR goal was always high, and I would proud to meet my goal. I'm not sure where my love for reading came, but I know it started at an early age. When I was in elementary school, I would read books like Dr. Seuss, Junie B Jones, and Captain Underpants. I loved every aspect of those books. Although my reading ability became stronger, and I was ready for books with real plots and meanings with them. In middle school I loved the Clique series. I adored them. In middle school I would go to the library quite frequently to check out a book and read it. That didn't change in high school.I have read numerous books throughout high school. I've read the divergent series, Hunger game series, numerous John Green books, and numerous others. I frequently go to places like Last Stop CD shop and buy books. My freshman and Sophomore year was a time when I read a lot. I would get yelled at by teachers because I would be reading in class. I still enjoy reading, although I find it harder to sit down and read a book. I read when I can, but with so much going on I don't get to read as much as I would like. I have enjoyed books like Life of Pi that we had to read in this class. It has opened me up to want to read other genres instead of the ones I normally still too. Lit has opened my eyes to the numerous books out there for me to read.
When I was in first grade, I hated reading. The teachers made us bring little books home to read to our parents and I didn’t like to read them because they were really boring. In second grade, we were able to choose the books we read. I can remember a book called “Don’t Fry the Bacon” and I remember pronouncing bacon like bah-cahn. I couldn’t figure out what a “bah-cahn” was until I took the Accelerated Reader test. When I learned it was bacon, everything about the book finally made sense! Later, I began to read the Magic Tree House books and they really sparked my love of reading. My second grade teacher greatly influenced me and helped me to be a better reader. Throughout elementary school, my favorite series were the Magic Tree House books, Nancy Drew, and the Wizard of Oz books. I also remember trying to check out a stack of Nancy Drew books, but the librarian said that I couldn’t check out that many because I wouldn’t read them all in time. Little did she know that all I did in my childhood was read. I’ve always gone through phases in my reading. I first went through the fantasy phase and next came the mystery phase. In fifth grade, I read almost every book from the folklore section of the library. I tried sports novels in middle school and found that I liked those too. High school has just been such a busy time that I haven’t had nearly as much time to read. When I do start to read for fun, I end up reading the book instead of doing my homework.
This year, I’ve done more writing than I ever have before. I’ve had to write countless scholarship essays, college application essays, and essays for classes in school. I really enjoy writing, but this year got to be a little too much for me. One of my major disappointments in high school is that we didn’t write many essays in my other english classes. I think I have grown in my writing this year, especially with sentence structure and word choice. One of my favorite things about Literature class this year was analyzing the books in forums and finding all of the hidden symbolism in the novels. It was kind of like a scavenger hunt, and I especially enjoyed that.
Rasmussen 2
My literary journey began with the “Magic Treehouse” books, I read the whole series when I was younger and enjoyed reading about the magical places, past and present, the treehouse would take the two main characters Jack and Annie. The middle of my journey probably did not happen till this year when we read Life of Pi, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Lord of the Flies. I never read any books in middle school and learned how to do good in a class that you were required to read books in. I thought to myself, “What is the point of reading the book if I can do perfectly well without reading the books?”. So I stopped reading and did other things instead, but this year, second semester, I decided that I should take on the books and really learn how to analyze them, especially being I am going off to college next year. On this second part of my journey my brother Grant was probably the biggest help when it came to taking apart these books. He was in this call his senior year of highschool and loved it, so I thought that why not have him help me take care of these novels and help me dissect the literary genius that is put into these novels. He did that, and taught me how to take apart a book and find hidden meanings within a novel.
2 Laycock
I am proud of how skilled I have become at writing and reading since the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year you told me I would be writing 24 well typed, coherent pages into a single story, I would have thought you were crazy. Thanks to this class, I am able to do just that. A series of books that helped me enjoy reading at a young age was the Magic Tree House series. The first 20 or so books are only about 50-60 pages in length with large letters, making it an easy read for me when I was eight. As I got older, however, the books got longer. The rest of the series that I read had more pages, 150-200, and normal sized letters. It helped me mature as an elementary reader to a skilled reader. In middle school, the Hunger Games series. It was the first series that made me not want to put the book down. I remember one Saturday morning that I woke up, found the second book, Catching Fire, on my bookshelf and read it from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. I did not stop to eat, I just read. Suzanne Collins helped me realize how much fun it can be to read a book. The person who helped me the most would be my mother. She would read me bedtime stories when she could when I was young, such as the Magic Tree House books. She pushed me to read during my off time instead of watching TV, even though I did not usually listen to her. My mother was the biggest influence on my literate life
I have been reading ever since I was a little girl. I had a massive, white bookshelf in my bedroom. Every night my mom would read a book to me and then I would read one to her. I was a big fan of Dr. Seuss. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish was my favorite book in particular. I also read the books called You Read To Me, I Read To You. It was set up like a play script with dialogue. When I advanced to a higher reading level I started reading books like Charlotte’s Web and the Divergent series. I really love to read. I find it relaxing. My parents helped me read so well because they made it a point to take time and sit down and read with me. Also my elementary school teachers helped me advance my reading level.
To be honest, I never thought I was able to write well so I did not like doing it. The longest essay I had ever wrote before this class was probably two pages long. I was scared to take this class because I heard about the dreaded Manifesto. Now that I am almost finished with the Manifesto I realize that the essay itself is not hard, it’s just taking the time to sit down and type. I was proud of myself this year for being able to push myself to write more. I definitely think I improved on my writing and reading in this class. We read books that I normally wouldn’t read and I liked them. I am happy I got the chance to step out of my comfort zone.
For me, I have never really been very interested in reading. In elementary school we would have AR goals and almost every time the quarter ended I would be furiously reading a book just so I would be able to make my goal. One of the hardest parts about reading is finding a good book. One series that I loved, and what really got me into reading would be the Magic Tree House series. I read every single one of these books and loved them. If I have free time, one of the last things I would do is pick up a book.
Through the middle of my literary journey there is one novel that stuck out to me and one that I will never get bored of reading. Gym Candy is one of my all time favorite books. A few reasons why I love it so much is because I am a sports minded person. If we could relate everything in this world to sports, life would be a breeze. Also in the novel the main character is a high school football player who is trying to get the edge on the other athletes, he then proceeds to take steroids and from there his life is flipped upside down.
Lastly I believe now that I am able to compose anything I set my mind to. This class tested me to apply myself and try hard to get a good grade. I normally do not read books, especially some of the books we read in class I would never even think about picking up. Im glad I did because many of the books we read i actually enjoyed and would not mind reading them again
Beck 1
I believe that this last semester of high school has really shaped me into being a great literate. With being in this Introduction to Literature class it has really taught me how to appreciate the important works that have been created throughout the years. By not only just reading the novels, but really digging deep inside the novel it has really taught me the essence of books in school. I first remember starting to really enjoy the art of reading in third grade when we read the Little House on the Prairie Series. This was one of the first times where I started to love books and reading. In the middle of my journey of reading I believe that the Divergent Series and Hunger Games Series really added to my journey and helped me really understand my love of reading and helped me be able to dig deeper inside of books and to understand what lessons the books were teaching. I believe that the biggest help I had in this journey was in the beginning of my Journey was Mrs. Reiter my third grade teacher, who I believe was one of the biggest helps in getting me to understand the books and the loves for them. But throughout my entire life my parents were probably the biggest in helping me, by continuously putting books in front of me.
1 Wardlow
Throughout my school years if anything has been pushed on me it had been literacy, reading and writing. I remember singing the ABC’s in school little did I know at that time that 26 figures would play such a large role in my life. I started out reading Junie B. Jones books. Junie was such an eccentric character who kept me entertained. I giggled as I read those books. I would take AR tests and make my goal every quarter. I eventually started reading Little House on the Prairie and those books came to life when I visited DeSmet and saw the Ingalls homestead. I think that is when I really started liking historical books. Middle school I read all the Love Comes Softly books. Then I made it to high school and only read books I was assigned to read. I read many books that I would not have read if I was not forced to and I think I am more educated and cultured because of it. Of course throughout my school career my parents encouraged me to read. This year I even convinced them to read the novels I had to read so we could discuss them. My dad read Lord of the Flies when I did and we would discuss it in the evening and help me better understand the novel. He also read Life of Pi. I loved Life of Pi but my dad did not which made the discussions even more fun. Why didn’t he like it? Why did I like it? My mom read Beatrice and Virgil, she seemed to enjoy it but I did not. Which again led to interesting conversations about the novel. The writing I have done this year has helped me tremendously! I never thought I would be able to write a five page paper ever, but I have proven myself wrong and now am nearly finished with my eleven page manifesto. I really gained a lot of confidence in my writing this year and even in my reading. I usually struggle to understand novels when I am forced to read them however the forums have really helped me to gain knowledge on how to read a book so that you understand the story that is being told.
My interest for literacy started at a young age thanks to my my parents. Although hard to remember, my fondest memory as a child was my dad reading a book called Franklin to me. It was about a turtle who was faced with similar situations to Piscine Molitor and Ralph. Being read to at such a young age sparked an interest to continue reading as I got older. I especially liked the teenage spy Alex Rider series and the Hardy Boys series. I like these types of books because as an adolescent I was intrigued with the whole secret spy and detective idea. And what made these series even more fun to read, was that the main characters were around the same age as me. Throughout high school, many teachers have continued this literacy journey with me including: Mr. Canfield, Mrs. Kresak, Mrs. Sturgeon, Mrs. Lockner, and now Mr. C. It was particularly fascinating and challenging reading books in spanish with Mrs. Lockner. Composition and Literature has brought a whole a different aspect to literature that I had never explored. This year we read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Life of Pi, Lord of the Flies, and Beatrice and Virgil which for the most part I enjoyed. I think that my writing has really improved over this year although I felt unprepared coming into this class. All of the knowledge I have acquired about writing essays will really help me in college. Writing the Manifesto is challenging in many ways but I know that it was pay off more than I realize in the end.
Being a senior, I have had the honor of reading many books that I would have otherwise never read. Those books gave me a better insight into the workings of mankind and helped mold me into what I am today. Although I have been reading books most of my life, I have never liked being forced to read books in school because I would most likely have to take a test based only on the facts and what happened in the book (which I would normally not do well on). There have been a few books that I loved to read over and over again when I was a child. One of them was Stellaluna. It was a fairly short story about a bat named Stellaluna. I also had dozens of Dr. Seuss books and a few muppet books. I had a Winnie the Pooh book that had a clock on the book which helped me learn to tell time. My favorite books to read however, were the Warriors series. I started reading them in 5th grade and read them through freshman year. I ended reading the Warriors books simply because it took so long to order them from the library because the library had to order them from another library.
The middle of my journey consisted of long novels considered standard in schools. Novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Killer Angels, Life of Pi, and more. Yet these books allowed me to be able to interpret other novels in a different way. Reading those books helped develop me as a person like an author develops a character.
Out of anyone, I can say that there are two people that have influenced me most in my reading and writing skills. The first and foremost is my mother. She took the time to teach me how to read and how to interpret books in my own way. She was also the only one who ever bought any books for me to read.
The second person that influenced me would have to be Mr. Christensen. He helped me discover that I am actually fairly decent at writing, when last year I moaned and complained about having to write a one-page paper. Now I can write a six-page paper with almost no effort. He has also taught me very well in the ways of literary theories and how to look deeper than the words of a book.
I have done more reading and writing than I think I ever have in all my other school years combined in just this year. I am amazed at myself for the wonderful things I have done that I had previously thought impossible.
Mixell 1
I remember reading stories by Dr. Seuss in my childhood. The creative way that the books were written, paired with the abstract pictures, really caught my attention as a child. I loved reading the Archer's Apprentice series in elementary school, and I feel those books really helped boost my interest in literature. I loved going to the library to get my next book, and was disappointing if the book was not there. The disappointment would always be replaced with joy the next time I went to the library and the book that I wanted was there. Now in High school I love to read books by Stephen King. The content that he writes about grabs my interest and I am obsessed. He is a masterful storyteller. I can remember my father reading to me before I went to bed as a child, and I want to say that he is probably the reason I have such an interest in books. He was able to teach me that amazing stories can come elsewhere than the TV.
The reading and writing we have done this year has certainly been enlightening to me. I can honestly say that I have learned more this year than any other class before. Throughout this year, I could tell that progress was being made whenever we wrote essays. I feel that I am becoming a stronger writer/literary analyst, and it is a very unique feeling. I have learned more in this class than any other class I have taken. The amount of freedom we have as individuals makes this class feel very unique compared to other classes.
1 Gloege
Ever since I was little, reading books has been one of my favorite things to do. My mom use to read a different children’s book to my sisters and I every night, and I think this is where my interest in reading started. When I first began reading bigger books, I would read many fictional books such as Junie B. Jones, The Magic Treehouse, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. These helped me to become a much better reader, and got me started on a lifetime of reading. In middle school, I began to move onto much larger books like the Harry Potter and Twilight series. While reading these, I started to perfect my reading skills with the help of the English teachers and classes I took in those three years. My parents also helped me by buying me different books to read and helping me to read them from a young age. In my years of high school, I have read an innumerable amount of books inside and outside of school. I read the most books this semester in Literature, and I believe my reading has improved even more. I hope to continue to read higher level books in college and continue to perfect my reading.
Growing up I read a lot of short stories such as "Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham". They did not have many literary devices or symbolism that I could realize as a young kid. However, they provided a base for me to learn how to read more efficiently and smoothly. Later, when I started grade school I started to move into chapter series such as "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemmony Snicket. Later in the years I would get into Harry Potter. I read all of those books religiously and loved them. That is how I would get through my AR tests and feel even more accomplished because of the length of the books. The Hunger Games were also a good series that caught my eye. I tended to lean more towards fiction that was story telling and popular in culture. There is a reason they are popular, they are well written novels. I cannot remember one specific person helping me or teaching me read except for my mom. With my memory I can barely remember last week, this is why I do not even remember a time I could not read. Once I got into high school I strayed away from reading the books I wanted to and instead read the ones that were required for class. I no longer had time to read on my own because of the school work.
This year I have read the books required and my favorite one was One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. I enjoyed that novel because it used many literary devices and it also incorporated a character that brought in chaos. This was intriguing because the novel was not like everything else, and McMurphy was not the ordinary character. Overall, I think the novels and essays this year have made me a better writer and more literate.
Literature was not something I have been interested in all my life. When I was younger I read books that were required for the classes I was taken. I was never really hooked, I had problems staying focused to the book, and I believe that was because I was not interested in the story of the book. When I first got introduced to the harry potter books in middle school, I was completely hooked. The series were incredible and it was hard for me to stop reading them. I read the series twice, and they are such well written books and I’m hooked at all times. Reading the Harry Potter books really got me started in reading more and more. My next series was ranger apprentice and I used to read the books every night. The books were so intense and interesting I loved to read them. I would always want to keep reading because they were so intense and hard to stop. But beginning of high school, I lost interest in reading books, and found no motivation to read. But when our class got introduced to the novels of the books we would be reading I was little worried. I did not know how it would go reading the books, but during reading I enjoyed it a lot to read different interesting stories. I can thank Tyler H. for helping me find my interest in reading books. He always used to read the Harry Potter books and would always tell me how good they were. So I took his word for it and started reading them and sure enough they were incredible books. Also another person I can thank for getting me more interested in reading books, is my father. He got me to read ”Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen and I was in love with the book. It expanded me to other books Gary Paulsen wrote, and a few great stories by him. By taking this class, my writing and reading skills have improved dramatically and I think that will help me a lot in the future.
1 Peterson
As far back as I can recall, I can always remember being read a story before bed. I remember Junie B Jones that my mom read to me every night. After we finished that series, I remember my dad reading Little House on the Prairie. Not only did it help me become more literate but it was also a bonding moment with my parents that I will always cherish. I also remember being read Magic Tree House, by my first grade teacher, Mrs. Adams.These moments I can still remember vividly and they truly helped me enjoy reading. Without the joy they spoke with as they read to me, I would have not been as literate as I am today. As I grew older past the stage where my parents read to me at night, I remember the first book series I read by myself was the Clique, then I moved on to Holocaust books. Reading true stories is something that I find the most interesting, I hated that I loved learning about the Holocaust but it was something that I was completely intrigued by. When I was in 8th grade I suffered from concussions and reading became something I will dread for the rest of my life. I no longer can read without getting headaches, or forgetting what I read right after I read it. I have to read it multiple times and also have to read at a slow pace for not a long time. I have learned how to read without overdoing myself but, it does not come naturally anymore as it used to. People who have helped me through learning how to read again is Brenda, she was a eye therapist. But who helped in the beginning was my mom and dad.
This year has definitely been a struggle for me but with hard work I have pushed through. If you would have asked me to write even a four page essay I would have told you, it would impossible. Writing is something I struggle with but this year has most definitely improved my skills. I understand that writing is not my best academic achievement but I can now get through my college essays and now how to put them together piece by piece. Reading this year has been rough, but the story I most enjoyed was, The One that Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I found it oddly interesting. This year I have came a long ways and I am proud of my accomplishments.
I remember when I was in the first grade the books that got me into reading was the magic tree house books. After reading that first book of the series I was hooked. Then in middle school the thing that kept me hooked was the 39 clues and an author called Margret Peterson Haddix. The series of mystery fantasy books truly kept my imagination alive. The people that helped me read so terrifically well is my mom and my first/second grade teacher Mrs.Logan. They truly stuck with me through all of the words that I struggled with. Which helped me read and analyze all of the novels Mr.C has given us.
1 Oren
My love of literature began with a little girl named Junie B. Jones. As anyone with a childhood would know, the B stands for Beatrice except she doesn’t like Beatrice so it’s just B. I can accredit my dive into reading to my mother. She was a teacher and thought that it was very important for us to read. Books were the one thing I knew I could always get at the store. She may say no to a shiny new toy, but I knew that no parent could say no if their kid asked for a book. The middle of my literary journey was dominated by a book series called “I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill” You by Ally Carter. The series has six books in total and they are about a boarding school for girls. This school is a little different though, it trains spies. It is a great series for young girls to read because it includes major girl power and the importance of being yourself.
This year I have grown as a writer. Never before have there been so many essay cramped into one semester. I can tell that my writing has improved because this year was the first time I had ever gotten a 100% on an essay. As for the reading, the forums have helped with the understanding of books. In any other english year I would just sit back and listen to someone else who understood the story explain it. This year, with no study guide it let me discover the meanings on my own without being told what to look for. It made reading a treasure hunt again.
My literacy journey was not an easy one, but it was worth while. I remember when you did not go to the library because the teachers had books in their room for you to read. Then going for an entire 'class period' to the library, sitting in the little corner, have the librarian pull out the projector and read and illustrate a book to us.
Little House on the Prairie were honestly my favorite books in the whole world. I do not know if it was because the little girl's name was Laura or because the font was so big and easy to read.
After elementary school I remember not being a big fan of reading, and avoiding it as much as I could. Ms. Mohr was the only teacher that really did anything to help me with my reading skills. In middle school I started getting into historical and historical fiction. Today they are still my favorite types of literature.
It is amazing seeing how far I have come from barely being able to read to now. When I was younger, reading took a while to click for me. I read would small books to meet my AR goals or I would read larger book and not comprehend anything. My parents are probably the only reason why I am able to read today. They would help me reach my AR goals by helping me read the stories. The deal was if they read one page I would have to read one page. This would go on until the book was finished. I remember once my mom and I decided to read every other word! As a young kid, I thought it was hilarious. We kept reading like that and got faster and faster; it turned into a big mess. During this time, the books that have impacted my life were The Magic Tree House series. There were so many of them and I had to read them all. A friend of mine had all of them which made me jealous as a second grader. During my middle school years, The Hunger Games series and The Maze Runner series had a good impact on my life; I would like to thank my brother for showing these to me. He never directly told me to read them but because he read them, I had to read them. Because of my slow, arduous start to reading, reading was boring to me during this time. It was a struggle to find anything interesting. Once I started reading the Hunger Games, I fell in love with the book. I read the first two and had to wait patiently for the third. I wanted to go to Minneapolis to a book signing for the third but we could not go. A few weeks later I received a package from a bookstore in Minneapolis. My parents surprised me with a copy of the signed book. A similar circumstance happened with the Maze Runner. I read the first two books really fast and had to wait for the third to come out. My literary journey is not over but has merely begun. I hope to keep learning and reading throughout the coming years.
To an English major, my writing would clearly show that I am still on my literary journey. However, if I were to look at my writing from before and after taking Composition and Literature, the comparison would be cringe-worthy. In elementary school I read because I had to, but Little House on the Prairie was definitely something I could sit down and read without any hassle. I liked the aspect of survival that it portrayed. It took me back to the early 1900's, Midwest, where I was born and raised. Laura was relatable in some ways. Another set of books I enjoyed in elementary school was the Magic Tree House series. I guess I read these books for the same reason read Little House on the Prairie; they took me back in time with them, and inspired me to imagine a world where magic existed, or a place so vast there could could be nothing around you within a 200 mile radius. In high school I did not read as much. I forgot about my love for adventurous books and I cannot recall any books being read my freshman year, besides the Odyssey. During my Sophomore year, a friend recommended the Hunger Games to me, and I finished the series in a week. After that I got into the Divergent series, which was like a mock of the Hunger Games, but not as poetic. Either way, it satisfied my want for adventure in a book. I am very glad I decided to take composition this year. To be quite honest, I was not expecting the amount we were asked to read or write. This might be because in the English classes I took, up until this year, the entire class was expected to read all together, and the books may have been too advanced for some of us. with that said, there were always a handful of people who had not read a page. I have always valued English over other subjects. Proper grammar is more important than people give it credit for, and eloquent speakers tend to be more respected than others. I have always valued people who make art of their words. My grandma Lila and my mom have always been two women I respect, due to the way they present themselves. Do not confuse a fluent speaker with a proper or uptight person. These two women have shown me that through excellent writing and frequent reading, you can really get people to not only like you, but respect you. I hope to one day be a well respected woman. I know that if I continue to read and write I can get to that point.
The path to literacy has been an exceedingly long one for me. When I was very young, I was trying to learn how to read, but it wasn’t as fast as I wanted. I had a friend who was a year older than me, and I hated the fact that he could read and I couldn’t. I just kept practicing until I could read those first books. Once I was able to actually read, my first books I loved reading was the Magic Tree House books. I would always read one of them every day. Sometimes when I was reading a lot one day I would finish several in a day. The first longer novel I read was Eragon. The entire Inheritance series was a great set of books to expand my vocabulary and learn to read more efficiently. I was always encouraged by my mother to read at a young age. I was home schooled by her for several years, and when I wanted a day off of school, I would just ask for a reading day. I would just read for the whole day instead of doing my schoolwork. Reading has always been a big part of my life. This year has been quite a ride. Beginning with all of the essays we wrote. I had never written very many essays in the past, so doing all of these essays in such a short period was very taxing at first. I wasn’t used to it. However, after practicing with several of the essays it has become much easier to write them. As a person who has always loved to read, all the novels we read this year fit into my schedule fairly well. I just replaced the other books I would be reading with the novels I was supposed to read for this class. I have truly enjoyed this class as a whole.
In the beginning of my literacy journey I really enjoyed reading Junie B.Jone books. I read almost every single one. Another story I liked was the Magic Tree House series, without these books I do not think I would be as literate. In middle school I especially liked the Series of Unfortunate Events. I read every single book and loved every second of it. Now, I mostly enjoy romantic books that have good love plots to them. Both my parents helped a lot in my literacy journey. They made sure I sat down and read. So I had all the skills to be a good reader. Another person who also helped was my Oma. She was a reading specialist teacher before she retired. She always brought me books and made sure she put in time with me so I could read.
Reading has never been my favorite thing to do. Reading for me, was a chore back when I was little. Some of the books I did end up reading were Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, and Boxcar Children. They were the “easy” books to read that were interesting. During my mid-year journey, I read mostly historical books such as Yellow Star, Anne Frank, and many more. I also read about baseball books. I did not like reading so the most important person that influenced me to start to read was 8th grade year. Mrs. Geerdes was my friend and neighbor, she is a kind, caring person. She took the time to sit down and talk to me and help me succeed. This year was probably one of most important English classes throughout my life. Composition was the best class to prepare me for college because we write long essays but yet have a teacher/professor that cares about each person and will take the time to help improve to be better prepared. Literature has better helped me take the time to read in-depth and think about what the author was thinking when writing the specific book.
Paauw pd. 6 Shaping my life immensely, being amazingly literate has opened numerous doors for me. My literacy journey has included many people as well as many amazing books. When I was first beginning to recognize letters and simple words, stories such as “Goodnight Moon”, and “The Foot Book”, began to slowly increase my abilities. I remember reading these books every night with my mother. My sister also read to me. She was more interested in books such as Junie B. Jones and “Minnie’s First Day of school”. She never gave me an option to pick the story. Regardless, these stories are still some of the ones I remember the most. Katie always tried to trick me and say how the story would eventually, spontaneously, change its plot if we did not read and see what happened. It was always the same story, no matter how many times we read it.
In the middle of my extensive literary journey to where I am currently, I read many books of various genres. I loved series books such as the Magic Tree House books ,but I was always worried that I would finish them and the story would not end the way I would have like. So I can not think of a series I had actually finished.
My grandma was an enormous influence on my reading exploration. She is the person who told me to venture out more and read different genres and more upper level books with complicated themes and plots. She would always lend me books about faith, animals, a mix of the two, or of another genre. When she came over to bake cookies (usually once a week) we would then discuss what we thought of the stories and dived deep into the themes and the stories within the pages.
Reading has always been my favorite pastime; I find myself doing so in the oddest of places. It offers me peace and is a solace during stressful times. My parents always read to me, and my father was a high school english teacher, so literature was extremely important in raising his children. I was reading to myself before preschool, and by first grade, it was good old Junie B. Jones and Jack and Annie that kept me company. The characters were my friends throughout drama with friends, bullying, and the struggles that one faces in any elementary school setting. I had read through the HArry POtter series by end of my third grade summer, and my thirst for good books was only increasing. Through middle school, I began exploring the adult section of the public library, and found myself indulging in everything from Jodi Picoult to James Patterson. I struggled with speaking up in middle school, so outside of my small group of close knit friends, these characters understood me best. As I entered high school, Stephen King uncovered himself to me. I loved how opposite the characters were of me: I was so quiet and shy, whereas his characters were outspoken and crazy. What a rush it was to be scared of words on page, yet how possible it was? I continue having a thirst for new literature; I still have yet to quench it, and I hope I never do. I love the excitement of opening a new book, settling in to let myself dissolve in the adventure and thoughts. This year has been another literary roller coaster. I have written more than ever before, and in doing so, have discovered more parts of myself than I knew I had. My favorite book of this year was not part of class, but was recommended to me by Mr. C. The Bluest Eye affected me in such a spiritual way. It drew out past emotions and experiences that evoked tears, which not many books can do for me. I loved the heartwrenching story that was actually nonfiction for many. My father shares my love for literature, and I cannot wait to have the summer to explore more and learn more than ever.
Schroeder Pd. 6
Starting in first grade, I was in Mr. Bobzien’s class. Ethan Brown’s mother, Karla Brown read to us in class. I am not sure why she came in to read but she caught my interest with reading. The Magic Tree House books were read to us in my first grade class and I remember that was something I looked forward to every day. In third grade, Mr. Johnson read us the Little House on the Prairie books. I loved those so much, I begged my mother to buy the whole series so that I could read them at home. Throughout all of my english classes I would say that writing essays and reading books have helped me immensely. Naturally I think that I was a fast reader, I always liked to volunteer in class to read because I was a quick reader and it was better for me because I could understand it. I haven’t always been a fan of reading but I thank all of my teachers for teaching me from the beginning. This year’s english class has taught me to read some novels that I wouldn’t usually pick up. I also know that I should read more classics. Having a mother that is a librarian you would think that I would read a lot of books, but unfortunately I like to watch movies.
Kyle Horner
In the beginning of my reading career the series that really started it off was Magic Tree House or Little House on the Prairie. The person that pushed me to read the most would be my mother who relentlessly brought me to the library on a weekly basis for new selections. This was the starting point because it showed me how one can just dive into written stories. When you read literature, diving into the story line and forgetting about the real world is easy. This is an escape for most and was an adventure for me as well. During my middle school years the Hunger Game series was a big impact for me. This one had an in depth plot that made it somewhat realistic that something like that could happen someday. We can also learn from these books as well as a great story. Teaching us that people have been stupid in the past and we could be even worse in the future.
Senior year has been filled with the most interesting writing and reading experience of my four years. The difference between this year and all the other years would be how we got to really dig deep into the meaning behind stories and the impact that they have on readers. For me the most impacting book would have been One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This book taught me that it's not such a terrible thing to be different. Going out of your way to look at society in a whole and keeping it in check. Little movements can cause momentous events.
Dr. Seuss has helped so many children become part of the literate world. He taught us rhymes, poems, and stories. Our parents could enjoy reading them to us as much as we loved listening to them. The silly rhymes made me want to make rhymes and poems on my own. As I grew older I started to read the little chapter books without pictures. For example, the magic tree house was a series that I was hooked to. I wanted to read more and more and learn to words to use throughout my life. They have good plots to them and also have lessons to them as well.
I have to thank Mr. C for helping me become so literate. I have learned so many skills in tips to researching and writing essays. All the novels we read in class made me use my knowledge so much more. I had to think of symbols relating to certain topics and for me, I never thought I could think of the things I thought of throughout this year. I have become so literate because of my fellow classmates, my instructor, and through myself as well. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Life of Pi would have to be the two stories that got me so into literature. The make you think and make you wanting to read more.
I learned to read from an electronic book thing. I don't really know how else to explain it, all I know is that I would click on a word and it would say it to me. I still remember when it clicked and I could finally read without assistance. From there I remember a series of books called Magic Tree House, I read every one of them and they got me used to reading chapter books rather than short books. The first bigger books I read were The Harry Potter Series and I would argue that these books got me used to reading books more along the lines of novels. From there I have read many books that have been very similar to these and upon entering high school, I enrolled in English classes that taught me that literature is far more than just words on paper. It is a way to express yourself or talk about social problems that plague our society. You can find multiple ways to analyze books and see how the books apply.
The book that first got me started to read for an interest was called "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clemens. After that, I read the series called "The land of Elyon" which was my first series. After that, I read the Grimm Sisters, Warriors, and so on. Almost all of the books that I read are series. My mom and dad helped me learn how to read, but I think that I owe my passion for reading to my teachers, especially Mrs. Waterbury. We would read books in the Gifted Ed class such as "Freak the Mighty", which was a very good book. She inspired me to look beyond what was needed for class in order to reach my full intelligence.
As for the books that we read in class, I very much enjoyed Life of Pi and some of the short stories. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest was an okay book, but I definitely didn't like it as much as Life of Pi. I am not for certain why, though it is probably because it is older and not as easily relatable. I didn't like Lord of the Flies because it was old and hard to follow. Also, it didn't have much of a plot to me until the very end and didn't have much to compensate for that. I also didn't like Shakespeare because it was very difficult to understand, therefore I couldn't grasp what was happening very well.
Throughout my literary journey, I have grown and been shaped by works of literature that were placed before me. The entire process of growing is important to understand, the beginnings are always the most entertaining and vital to understanding the journey as it is now. In my elementary school years, the Magic Tree House book series was my favorite. I think that I was so fond of these books because they had a delightful balance between fact and fiction, with a fine, clear line between the two. These books were helpful in not only building the foundation of my knowledge of history and science, but they also taught me how to use my imagination to see the world from a different point of view.
The Magic Tree House books were great and all, but I eventually read all of the stories and learned about all that I could from them. In middle school, I my life became busier, and balancing my time between reading, studying, and socializing became a challenge, but as most children do, I managed to succeed. As a middle schooler, I began to read more and started to read different genres. I was able to read quite a few book series in my time there, but the one that I enjoyed most was the Ranger’s Apprentice series. These books were without question my favorite books to read because they were relatively large, vaguely based on real events in history, and the protagonist’s name was Will. Will and his master, Halt were part of an elite group of warriors/ spies/ diplomats that protected Araluen from both foreign and domestic threats. Especially in later books, the two would travel to faraway lands to not only prevent international chaos, but to also gain allies for Araluen. On their journeys, they would have to become one with the culture of the country they were in, which I believe has helped me become more open minded to new ideas and people.
Finally, a person who helped me become literate was my grandfather. He was a man that had acquired a vast number of skills over his years in the working force. He worked long hours, but he somehow managed to teach his children important skills, entertain the family, and read from his collection of books that would make a small town’s librarian jealous. Most people seem to only like to study or read one genre, but my grandfather was not one of his people. Out of the 1,000 or more books that he had, you could find any genre from mystery, to science fiction, to biology, to history. He even had books that belonged to the first Thompsons that arrived in America almost 200 years ago. I was the last of his grandchildren, so I was not able to do as much with him outside or that was too physical, so we would learn from his collection. As we talked about what we read, his passion for learning was passed down to me, so I guess that I would not be as far down the path of literacy without my grandfather.
6 Kribell
When I watch other people struggle with literature that I find incredibly simplistic I know that my literary skill are far more vast than most. I read quite a bit. And not just for school or projects, but just for fun and recreation. I've always enjoyed reading, when I was in elementary school I was introduced to the Magic Tree House books and a few others. In middle school I found the Clique series, which for a teenage girl were absolutely fantastic. I also started following in my brother's footsteps and began reading Tamora Pierce books. She became and still is my all time favorite author. My brother is without a doubt the main person who cultivated my love of reading. There is not a single book that he has recommended that I did not instantly love. From Brent Weeks' books to The Last Stormlord series. I love fantasy/adventure books. However, romance is something I enjoy a bit more than my brother, Brian. I like the love stories so Twilight was obviously a hit for me.
Looking back on the writing and reading I've done this year is slightly awing to me. I've learned so much from this English course and have truly enjoyed it. I will definitely miss Composition and Intro to Lit.
It is very interesting to think that less than a decade ago, I was nearly reading the same types of books as I am currently. From Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, to Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth”,(which I read at an alarmingly young age, in hindsight) I have read a multitude of novels without understanding more than the plot; Rereading “Frankenstein”, I have seen the elaborateness of the symbolism and intriguing nature of the literature composed and read centuries ago, but only when introduced by my teachers.
The beginning of my journey started very early in my life, before the age of five I was reading novels, and when I was in first grade, when my teacher had a cold I read Luara Ingalls Wilder to the class. Every week, when my sister would go to school, I would go to the library with my grandma and pick 10 to 12 books and read them all while she was gone, all before my sister got home from school. The plethora of books are too much to count, but in the midst of those I read the Geronimo Stilton books (about an absent-minded mouse, if I recollect correctly)
The middle of my journey probably started with the “Harry Potter” series, with the introduction of symbols and literary techniques, which I read online and created myself in middle school, to try and get as much out of those seven short books as I could. This was further introduced in high school, with the learning of the symbols that we are required to see, along with the details and hidden intimations also recommended and hinted at by the teachers. A special thanks, I would like to give, to Mr. Christensen, as he has taught me the most--A combination of freshly sought sentience, good teaching, and college level stimulation also led to this, I believe.
I think the essays and prompts I have completed this year reflect the gradual learning of knowledge, and the steps taken to achieve as much as I can. I look forward to writing in the future--be it a short story, song lyrics, or even a novel, perhaps--and am grateful about all the knowledge my high school career and high school life has rewarded me.
--Isaiah Dietz, Class of 2016
Many people were helpful in getting me to my current literary status. From the start my parents were always great proponents for me. My mom would read through school books with me each day and my dad would read me stories every night for as long as I can remember. Dr. Seuss of course was always a favorite along with The Princess’s Kiss. I read these over and over as soon as I was able. I loved reading from the start. In middle school I remember my favorite book being Peak, which I read many times. Now I am in high school and my favorite authors are Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Kristin Hannah. My favorite books are True Colors by Kristin Hannah and The Goose Girl series. Not only my parents, but teachers of course have helped along the way in not just literary learning, but other areas, and life skills as well. In middle school Brady Olson, Nick Skibsted, and Ms. Juffer were my favorites. Ms. Juffer was goofy and made science class (one of my least favorite subjects) memorable to say the least. Mr. Olson and Mr. Skibsted are people I still see today and am glad to have had the pleasure of knowing for so long. They taught me what a good person is. They are prime examples of the kind of person I strive each day to be. Every time I saw Mr. Olson he was smiling and I couldn’t help smiling back. Whenever I spoke to Mr. Skibsted there was hardly a moment I wasn’t giggling he was so much fun to be around. In high school, Mr. Gullickson, Mrs. Carroll, you, and Mr. Nelson have been my greatest influences and supporters. I’ve known Mr. Gullickson since middle school and there isn’t a day that goes by that he fails to surprise me with his antics. I’ll miss him dearly and our 55 minutes of torturing each other when I’m in college. Mr. Christensen brightens up my day whenever I see him in the hallway and is a wonderful teacher in class. I love how he finds new ways to make his class more exciting with projects and options. I had Mrs. Carrol for two years in a row and we made a bond. She is an amazing woman and a role model of mine. She balances being a working woman, having an adorable baby and husband, while remaining fabulous every day. We didn’t get along at first, but eventually, through many hours spent in her room getting help with math, she became more than just a teacher, she became my friend. I had Mr. Nelson for two classes as well, but we hit it off right away. He’s an all around terrific human that is a joy to be around and talk to. He gives great encouragement and kept me sane on days I didn’t think I could make it through school. His heart's as big as his beard. Thank you to all those who have helped me on my journey to success.
6 Bender
I owe my ability to read to my mother. She would have be read the short series called Bob Books. I have one fond memory--the first experience of reading I can recall--of my mom and I sitting at the Avera pool. I wanted to get into the water but my mom said I had to read a whole book before I could go for a swim. While she will tell you to never bribe, it may be the only way to get my former stubborn self to read, for I despises reading. But none the less, I learned to love reading and was no longer needed to be scolded for not reading, but rather reading instead of doing other tasks.
I will always credit Bob Books for teaching me the foundations of reading but I quickly grew to love every single “Magic Tree House” book and seemed to be with Jack and Annie on every adventure in my own shoddy tree house in my backyard. These books made me truly excited for adventure. At about the same time I picked up “Nancy Drew” along with the “Hardy Boys” following soon after by “The Boxcar Children”. As I grew up and continued to read more and more, I found a deep love and eerie love for “Series of Unfortunate Events” and this series still holds the record for fastest read.
And of course, Harry Potter must make an appearance in my life for the movies and books are my favorites. Even though my mom was concerned about all of the so called violence in the Harry Potter Hogwarts, I read them. At about the same time I was going between Lord of the Rings also. These are truly epic books.
My literate journey started at a very young age, my parents have read to me since I was a baby. I remember when I was little and lived in Mitchell, the best trip was going with my dad to Barnes and Noble in Sioux Falls. We would stay there all day, no joke, and read books. It was awesome. My mom hates reading, but my dad is a huge book lover and got me hooked on Stephen King in middle school, which is what I read all the time now. But I believe my first 'real' series of books when I was very young was Nancy Drew. I loved those books and read the whole series in 4th grade. I was always much further ahead in reading in elementary school; it's always been my strong suit. I can read quick and still comprehend just as well. My favorite part about reading is when you are so deep into a book you literally feel as if you are in it, and cannot hear or see anything outside of your book. I considered myself highly literate, as I read continuously, even if I'm busy. I will read during my breaks at work, even at swim meets. But this class and Mr. C made me realize I have a lot yet to learn about the art of Literature. This class really opened my eyes to all the famous writers and their works. I love this class, and wish I could just major in reading. I will miss this class dearly.
I feel that my literary career was started primarily in the third grade because my teacher at the time, Mrs. Johnson, would require each student to read a certain amount of books every week. Now for a third grader this can quite overwhelming. However, I made it, and afterwards it really helped me comprehend what was being said in the books that I read. I would venture on to say that my literary career was also bumped up a level in fifth grade because at that time I had just started reading the Tunnels books. I absolutely loved the books (which is why I own physical copies of all the books in the series), and also I started to read the City of Ember books. Once again, I adored these books and they really helped me increase my literary knowledge.
I am extremely glad that I took the opportunity to take the class mainly due to the savings but also for what I have learned along the way. For example, if I were to take the class in college, then it would have easily cost me double of what I paid to take it here at Brandon. In addition to the massive savings, I got the chance to have Mr. Christensen as my teacher.
The most memorable assignment that I have done this year is the comparison-contrast essay for Composition. This assignment led me to use what I learned in multimedia class last year and put it to good use. In doing so, I learned what I can do with a video camera and have become extremely skilled at video making and plan on continuing this hobby into college. Also, one of my favorite books that I have read this year in Literature is Beatrice and Virgil. I am fully aware that there were not a whole lot of people who enjoyed (if you want to call it that) the book. For me, though, I especially did not expect the ending of the book.Overall, I am very glad that I took this class due to the fact that it has, in my opinion, given me a small taste of what college might be like; work at your own pace but at your own risk.
Since the beginning of the year I feel that I have gained so much more literary knowledge than I ever had. When I was younger being read to by my mom from books such as the Little House on the Prairie series and the Magic Treehouse series set a foundation upon which my literacy could grow. As I started to read myself the Magic Treehouse books remained a constant. I was beginning to read about the places and time periods I had read about in the Magic Treehouse books, digging deeper and learning more. Outgrowing the Magic Treehouse books I read a bunch of fiction and historical fiction here I began reading voraciously and began to volunteer in the middle school library where Mrs. Bork, the librarian, fed my hunger for books and matched my passion. Sadly though now in high school I am realizing that I have less and less time in which I can just sit down and read but in lit we are reading some enlightening stories, novels, plays and poems. They are intellectually stimulating and fascinating to read. This year I am shocked that I have written as much as I have and not had too much stress over it.
I believe I have become so amazingly literate because of the drive installed in me by my teachers all throughout elementary school. I was always pushed extremely hard to read in elementary school and those habits have followed me all the way into high school. The first books I remember reading by myself were the A to Z mystery series books. My mom got me to enjoy these books right at the beginning of school and my love for them grew even more throughout elementary school. My teacher in third grade then handed me a book entitled Harry Potter and my love for books even more. I remember it took me a whole quarter to read my first Harry Potter book and by the end of elementary school I was able to read a whole book in two weeks. Thanks to my parents and my elementary teachers my love for reading grew exponentially in school.
This year my favorite essay by far would be the narrative essay. I have always had a love for writing stories so writing a story about something that actually happened in my life came extremely easy for me. The book that I enjoyed reading the most was Life of Pi. There was so much symbolism in the book that I greatly enjoyed trying to figure out. Then I got to the end of the book and sat for hours trying to make the connection between the end and the rest of the book. It is amazing to think how I progressed from reading A to Z Mysteries to now reading books like Life of Pi where the words are just the beginning.
In the beginning of my literary journey I read the series of magic tree house. These books were my favorite as a kid growing up. They sparked my love for literature and allowed me to explore my imagination. These books also introduced me to the way novels were read. They had chapters and this made me get used to it. Another series that I enjoyed very much as a teen was a Series of Unfortunate Events. These novels were so interesting to me that I could not seem to put them down. I enjoyed reading a lot as a young in but as I entered high school I lost the passion.
Since Literature class I had not read a book on my own. This class made me read books that I both enjoyed and despised. But it also brought back the enjoyment I had for reading and it allowed me to begin a book on my own.
1 Hicks
I did not start reading novels until either second or third grade. It actually began with story time, yes I did still have story time, and it all started with a pair of siblings and a mouse. The Old Willis place and The Tale of Despereaux. The Old Willis Place was not really something that I imagine many children would read, or have their teacher read to them during school. It is about two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother, and how they died and went into the afterlife. Kinda morbid but what enchanted my class with it was how something felt off the entire time. The book never said that the siblings died, only that they lived in a haunted house. You only figure it out after the sister tells their friend about the pair of siblings that died in the house. The Tale of Despereaux is about a mouse who wants to be a knight, a rat who wants to live in the light, a maid who wants to be the princess and the princess who just wants to be happy.
After Eighth grade I started going online for my reading, to a website called Fanfiction.net. Written by people like me, for people like me, Fanfiction is the literature that I read the most. Most of the time when I read, I wonder about what else goes on in the world of the book or what would happen if this was changed. Sometimes it's just because I do not like the final couples in canon. Mainly it is because the world of canon is more than the story and I want to help that world form, if only a little bit. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and how does one learn without copying something else? Fanfiction helps with learning how to write, and I have learned more on how to write from fanfiction that I have in class.
For me, I have never really been very interested in reading (unless it involved baseball). In elementary school we would have AR goals and almost every time the quarter ended I would be furiously reading a book just so I would be able to make my goal. One of the hardest parts about reading is finding a good book. One series that I loved, and what really got me into reading would be the Hardy Boys series. I read every single one of these books and loved them.
Through the middle of my literary journey there is one novel that stuck out to me and one that I will never get bored of reading, Gym Candy. A few reasons why I enjoyed it so much is because I am a sports minded person. If we could relate everything in this world to baseball, life would be a breeze. Also in the novel the main character is a high school football player who is trying to get the edge on the other athletes, he then proceeds to take steroids and from there his life is flipped upside down.
Lastly I believe now that I am able to compose anything I set my mind to. This class tested me to apply myself and try hard to get a good grade. I normally do not read books, especially some of the books we read in class I would never even think about picking up. I’m glad I did because many of the books we read I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would.
When I began this course back in the fall of 2015, I did not expect us to get so involved in one course. If I am proud of one thing that came from my senior year in academics it has to be the ability to sound intelligent through means of writing. I would say throughout the first semester when we were still in Composition 101, that is when we became masters in the art of writing but we still have quite the journey ahead of us in that area but also in literature I would say we have our whole lives to come across life-changing novels and interpretations waiting to be made. But when we are nearing the end, it is always comforting to think of the beginning and what possibly made us literate. For me, it had to be my obsession of the Harry Potter series throughout the duration of my childhood. I read the entire series a couple times actually during my middle schools years and I occasionally dipped into one of J.K. Rowling's majestic works a few times throughout high school as well. It is amazing how much reading can do for the mind and once more of the youth figure that out, they are gonna truly fly. It seems as if a majority if not all of adolescents have either seen the Harry Potter films or read the books. I think that everyone can agree when they say that series is magical and life-changing for everyone who reads it. Just by reading that seven-book series in middle school I can say it has broadened my mind and vocabulary. But more recently I just read The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and that book is incredible for anyone looking to read about an adventure that took place in a totally different world.
I would say my cousin helped me to read exceptionally well because she loves all those books that are made into series and she influenced me to read the Harry Potter series and also the Hunger Games series(which is a tremendous series of books and movies).
This year has had to have been the biggest jump that I assume my peers and myself have taken in writing and in literature. We have all become incredibly literate and we do not all sound like kids anymore when speaking with one another. We are on our journey to become great, intelligent adults but first stop is college.
My introduction to literature was when my mother would read me Dr. Seuss stories before bed every night. The children stories often involved a zany setting with characters to match. The beginning of my literary journey was in elementary school where i read the Among The Hidden Series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. These novels about a world where only two children were allowed features the story of the third child the family and his journey to survive and lead other third children to rebel. The middle of my literary journey was filled with the Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan as well as the Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan. These works are both adventure stories which I am still quite fond of. They wrote of bravery, courage, honor, and valiance all characteristic that were appealing to my young mind. The person that helped me to read so terrifically well, would have to be my fifth grade teacher Mrs. Strand. She was always recommending books for me to read which always kept me busy. She really started the fire that got me to start reading for enjoyment rather than just what we had to read for school.
I have many people to thank for helping me become so literate. Teachers, family members, and even my friends have helped me achieve being so greatly literate. Beginning in elementary school, I have been very interested in reading. When I was young, my brother and I would spend our summer days being babysat by our grandma. She was an early childhood teacher and took our education very seriously. She would take almost daily trips to the library with us to pick out books to read. With each book we read we were awarded with small prizes such as candy, money, and little toys to urge us to read. This made reading more exciting and intriguing. It was not hard to get me to sit down and read. I loved reading. Junie B. Jones, Little House on the Prairie, and Magic Tree House were a few of the first chapter books I fell in love with in early elementary school. I eventually graduated into reading more challenging chapter books such as, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and eventually, Twilight. Reading nowadays is a lot more challenging to do. This is due to the many other things that my time is consumed by. I rarely have enough time to fit in relaxation time, so sitting down and reading is not something easily accomplished. It is quite interesting to look back on what I had originally began reading when I was young and to what I am reading now. The novels, short stories, and poems we have read in class prove my literacy has improved. The articles we read in class are a lot more sophisticated reads even compared to junior years’. My writing and reading has gotten to where it is today because of those simple pushes to read by my grandma, mom, and teachers. I could not thank them enough for getting me to where I am now.
7 Ullom
As a child I never liked reading books. I have always enjoyed watching movies instead. On occasion when I did read, it was Dr. Seuss. My middle school journey wasn’t much different. I read but not often. I read the Twilight series. I didn’t enjoy reading them but just had too. In middle school I did not find the right genre. I did not know what I enjoyed at that time and it made it difficult. Closer to the end of that journey I started reading Nicholas Sparks books. I learned to love the romance novels and read five books of his. In my high school career I watched multiple movies. My favorite movie is Pride and Prejudice. I thought since I like the movie the book would be even better. I was right. I read the book and loved it. I actually not only read it once but read it multiple times. Throughout this journey I have changed. I went from not wanting to read too absolutely loving it. I have grown as a reader and writer. English was never my strong suit and it never will be. It’s always been tricky for me to find the write words. Until this year, my essays were not great. Even today I can still improve. The books we read in class taught me to analyze the book you read. Inside their are symbols hidden within the novels that uncover detail and meaning.
My mother had a giant impact on my literate life. She always enjoyed reading and tried to get me involved in it as well. I also have a sister that is amazingly smart and is great at English. She is the one that introduced me to Pride and Prejudice. Without those two incredible ladies I do not know where I would be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL4Tsj29bhE&feature=youtu.be
There are many people who have contributed to my love for literature. As a child I read constantly, finishing books left and right and loving every second of it. The book series that really stuck with me as a child was The Magic Tree House. I absolutely loved this series and read almost every instalment out at the time. I loved the fantasy and historic settings that took place in these stories and I would constantly have one of the many books checked out from the library. A teacher that really helped develop my love for reading was my 1st grade teacher Ms. Richter. She was an amazing teacher and we both really liked each other. She actually had me read to the class during our reading times. She was a huge influence on my love of reading and I really appreciate how much she pushed me to read. At the end of the year that year she even gave me the new Magic Tree House book as a goodbye gift. She really had a huge impact on me growing up. In the middle of the journey I would read a lot of sci fi or fantasy novels like Ender’s Game, Percy Jackson series, and the I Am Number 4 series. I loved these books and they really got me reading more and more throughout mostly middle school. I loved to read in middle school. Sadly I haven’t been able to do much reading throughout high school because of time constraints, but I’ve managed to keep reading the I Am Number 4 series throughout a lot of my time in high school. Overall I have a lot of factors to thank when it comes to me growing in the literature field, but those are a few examples.
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