Over the past 13 years of school, I was never really a writer. I loved to read and stuff but never liked coming up with my OWN ideas and writing them on paper. The first thing that I can think of is my mom used to read me childrens books before bed all the time. It was the way she read them that I adored. Her voice flowed so nice and she would get deeply into the book. Shortly after she stopped reading books to me I got a journal for my 10th birthday! I was so excited. It was blue and white and had Dogs all over it. I started writing in my journal every day. I would write what I did that day, what was on my mind at the time, why my brother was so mean to me, and so much more! I loved getting my feelings out on paper because I didn't always have someone to share them with. I feel that this made me become and emotional writer and showed me that I love to rant about things.
In the 4th grade my teacher gave us an assignment where we had to read a book, dress up as the main character of it, and write a report and present it to the class. Mine was about a kid who lived in the city that played baseball. So.... I dressed up in a baseball cap and pants... yes I look kind of like a boy but oh well! I think that the fact that I had to dress up as the character really helped me as a writer. It put me IN the story and helped me visualize it better.
Vocabulary words and stems. Yes, I hated these words so much when I was in the 8th grade. We had to do so many of them and I honestly wanted to throw them accross the room and never have to look at them again. But of course that wasn't the case. I am glad I did all of the vocab words and stems now because it expanded my vocabulary tremendously and helped me with high school essays a ton. My senior year of high school I had one of the hardest teachers. But she turned out to help me a lot. She taught me how to critique and edit and how to write in different ways. This helped me with my college essays!
Overall through this whole experience I discovered that I am still not a awesome writer, but I try. I get better and better as the years go on and I hope that that will continue through my college years.
-Arin Hall
Thanks for taking us with you on your journey into your writing history, Arin. I'm really wanting to know more about how school conceptions of literacy (like vocabulary activities) shape how we understand literacy in our lives. Like I am wondering without "activities" or lists of words, what other ways do people come to understanding more meanings of words...
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your introductory paragraph because like you, I was nervous when we were given this assignment. It was nerve-wracking but I thought it was cool when I actually discovered all the things I had done. I liked the way you brought us along with you, you really made it so that we could understand what all the events did to develop you as a writer. I look forward to reading more of your blogs...
ReplyDeleteHey Arin! I really liked your timeline, especially how your mom used to read children's stories to you when you were young. My mother used to do this sometimes too! I also had a journal when I was younger where I could vent my opinions to my heart's desire. (As you know I'm not a very outspoken person!) It's reassuring to have a voice somewhere, even if it is in the confines of a notebook. Good luck with your writing! I'm sure we will all be better writers by the end of this semester!
ReplyDeleteHey Arin! I really liked reading your post titled "Reflective blog 2", it was easy to read and I could really liked it because I could sort of relate to your timeline. I thought that it was pretty cool that you had children story books read to you before going to bed. I wish I had that, my parents never read me a story not even once. I also noticed that you had to dress up for a school project. You must have been brave cause I wouldn't even dare to come to school dressed up let alone speak in public (My favorite books were fictional so I would have looked hilarious).
ReplyDeleteHeyy Arin! I can tell you are getting better at writing, according to your experiences. Things like the 10th birthday gift and the dress up event really ties in to how you write now. It's good to hear how you even remember those moments and relate to it now. Just as you are hoping, I hope I can also venture in my ability to write better as time flows.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Lacy's other class btw.