Reading and Writing Experiences in High School
Reading is an important aspect that brings about happiness, courage, and pleasure. Writing, on the other hand, enables an individual to learn diverse ways of self-expression, develop writing skills, and improve on vocabulary. Since High school, I have had different experiences in reading and writing especially in my English class. Some of the experiences were inspiring while some were embarrassing, but all incidences increased my motivation to learn and practice a lot. In High School, we had an English lesson four days a week, but each day at home, I would study English three to four hours daily. I enjoyed my classes since we did a lot of reading and writing exercises. The teacher included discussions on grammar, article, and essay reviews, writing formats, for example, the MLA formats and essay structures. The most memorable moment was when we had to do essay reviews. I did three peer reviews on my classmate essays. I had never done the exercise before, but I read other students' essays and tried to correct grammar mistakes using the knowledge I had acquired through reading. The second memorable exercise was when I successfully made a presentation of the book Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. In the presentation, I managed to outline five elements of fiction that include point of view, theme, character, setting, plot, and the author's purpose of writing the piece.
Expectations and Learning Improvements
When registering for this course, I had little idea about reading, however, in writing, I had no idea that an essay had structures and the formatting styles in writing. While reading, I just read texts to finish and grab little knowledge I could get. I had little expectations that are to learn reading fluently and reduce grammar mistakes in my writings. My expectations were not only met but exceeded in this course. I realized that reading has a lot to it, I now critically analyze a passage to understand things like plots in narratives, the point of view, themes, and motifs that help me know a lot about a particular story. In writing, I had numerous grammar mistakes, subject-verb agreement, and tense agreement, but a lot of reading, writing exercises, and working with a tutor in college have helped me reduce the mistakes I made.
Preferred Study Environment
I do all my homework at home; however, sometimes I find it hard to research when I need books and other materials like old newspapers. I would love to do my assignments in a library; researching on the internet at home sometimes is distracting. I find myself watching movies, reading other articles hence I take a lot of time finishing my assignments. In most cases, I do my homework in the evening due to school activities that take much of my day. During this period, I am either tired or overwhelmed with the day's events. Thus, I take a long time to focus, and I find myself easily distracted. The ideal time to do my assignments is in the morning; I am more alert and focused in the morning since I have had a good night's sleep.
Texts Covered in Class
This semester we have led numerous texts in class. For instance, 'An Army of One: Me' and iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, Chapter 4 'Insecure. The new Mental Health Crisis' by Jean M. Twenge, 'Note to Selfie' by John Dickerson, 'In the Beginning was the Word' by Christine Rosen, 'I Tweet Therefore I Am' by Peggy Orenstein, 'Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment' by Frank Luntz, and 'The Language of Advertising' by Charles A. O'Neil. I love the article by Frank Luntz, 'Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment'. This article has improved my writing as I have learned that to persuade a reader, one has to use credible and numerous examples in their article. My reading has also improved as I analyze the text to look for information that convinces me.
Essays in My Portfolio
I have included several essays in my portfolio, and the first one is 'Technology is a tool for self-expression'. The thesis of the piece states, "I believe social media has decreased education and literacy culture but has become an essential tool for self-expression since it captures moments in a better way than words would do." In this easy my arguments asset that technology has reduced education and literacy culture. People prefer to watch videos and read a summarized version of books and articles than learn a whole book. Individuals can no longer read due to the distraction and attention-seeking behavior that occurs online. However, technology has developed the self-expression aspect of individuals. For example, it is easy to capture moments as they happen without any form of editing. The instantaneous feature of technology aids individuals to express their ideas, perceptions, and moments through features like videos and photographs. Applications like Twitter allow people to write what they feel in the least words possible as many times as they want in a day. The paper was a little bit difficult since I had to read three different articles and synthesize the ideas of the writers. The good points in my last draft include the opening statement, the topic statements in starting each paragraph, and the conclusion that captured my understanding of the articles and the arguments presented. While writing this essay I learned that it is possible to synthesize ideas from different writers and use them to make original discussions about a particular subject.
My capstone essay was about the Nissan Advertising Campaign. The thesis statement posits, "I believe that Nissan Motor Co. Ltd successfully uses advertisements to entice their potential consumers and grow their profit margin. The company uses nature-themed images and catchy phrases to arouse the interest of the viewers to seek more information about their products." In the paper, my arguments affirm that the Nissan advertisement campaigns have played a significant role in the success as a motor company and led to growth in profits, revenue, and expansion to different countries. The paper was not difficult to write since all information was available. I aced several challenges with the accessing the Toyota financial statements that I had to compare with that of Nissan. The Toyota Company did not reveal some of their financial statements making it hard to make a comparison of sales and profits. Some of the good points included the writing the thesis statement and the arguments in each paragraph. I need to work more on connecting ideas throughout each section to create a cohesive flow. While writing this essay I learned a lot about the importance of advertisements and the language of advertising. I learned a lot about Nissan Motor Company and that while writing about a company I need to connect all ideas to my thesis statement.
Strengths and Weaknesses
My reading problem was reading too quickly without taking the time to grab the essence of the writing. My strength is writing short notes while reading. While reading the article 'Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment' by Frank Luntz, I wrote short notes to help me get the primary purpose of the reading and the message the author was trying to pass. My weakness in writing is grammar mistakes tense agreement and subject-verb agreement. My strength is in my researching skills. I conduct in-depth research about a topic before I write, for example, in the Nissan Advertisement essay, I did a lot of research from the background information on the company, previous advertisements, and financial statements to ensure that the information I write will be credible.
Memorable Activities and Challenges
The most memorable activities this semester are reviewing articles and writing exercises. The activities have helped me improve my writing skills and reduce grammar mistakes in the papers. The article review exercises have helped me develop a critical approach in analyzing and reading texts. While reading, I try to find out the main arguments the writers present, the target audience, and the information presented.
The challenges I encountered were incorporating the new information I learned in class. However, the regular exercises and individual reading at home ensured that I retained the information and learned how to integrate the ideas into my reading and writing. Learning to write and write papers free of grammar mistakes is the greatest satisfaction I have had from this course.
Future Plans
In the future, I hope to be a good writer and write blogs, articles, and books. Reading and writing skills will play an important role. I will be able to write, I will provide facts and examples in real life that will persuade them to a particular course. Finally, I will help other people behind me who have difficulty in reading and writing as a tutor.
