Throughout the school year we have read poems and stories, along with essays and quizzes. Poetry, though hated by most students, opens the world to the variety of writing styles and lets the imagination run wild. This is important as the students can learn what they do or do not like from writing and lets them do whatever it is they feel like writing at the time, with no worries of if it holds to this rule or that rule. The stories help to make the past come more alive, like through the Crucible, where the Salem Witch trials are connected with the present day and given new light. The quizzes make students think beyond what is the normal capacity, leading to deeper and higher level thought in everyday life instead of skipping across the surface with “I don’t know” or, “the mirror is just a mirror” in Mirror. The essays build upon that and make it into longer, more elaborate thoughts, also helping to build vocabulary and vary word choice.
English can be used throughout life, and is an essential. Without being literate, or being able to make your words flow smoothly so people wish to listen, life becomes harder. Very few jobs want someone who can not think beyond the normal ideastream, and the jobs that do are more of the patty flipping ones. English will be used throughout my life for the duration of it. The patterns of this literature are simple. We read a book or story, usually have discussions during the book or afterwards, and then will write about the book or take an exam in some form. A different pattern I have noticed over the years is my reading comprehension has stalled. Growing since 6th grade and now hovering around a 12th grade level, the test no longer gives me new questions when I take it.
Over the course of the year thus far, I think I am at the liberty to say it has gone rather well. Not only have I made attempts to participate but have succeed in doing so. The short story on the fountain of youth comes to mind where I was the only student in my class to come up with a completely original idea on a symbol from that story. I find that humorous, but a job well done. Though I have believed that I was never great at English, being a slow reader and never truly writing. Nonetheless, I would enjoy writing in a creative story way.
We write so much because it grows our skills in reading and writing. Research papers help us to take information we are given and be able to write papers on it. The variety of reading is to expose us to the vast majority of different writing styles. Essays are the same as the research papers, being that you take a story and break it down to explain a point.