Alysa Smith

Instructor Macrum
UWRT 1103
25 January 2016
My Feelings About Reading
Ive never been one to frown upon picking up a book, whether it be for leisurely or
scholarly purposes its always been a passion and a hobby of mine. As Ive gotten older and had
more responsibilities placed on me, its become increasingly more difficult for me to find time to
read books that I enjoy for entertainment purposes but Its still one of my favorite things to do.
I didnt mind reading assignments in school initially because it was simple as picking a
book you enjoyed and then writing a report about it to prove that you read it. I lost that sentiment
in high school where we constantly had to read dry material and overanalyze it instead of
appreciate the writing for what it is and its original purpose. This approach to reading in school
made me dislike older pieces of literature. Instead of reading being a stimulating activity that lets
you discover new worlds and ideas it became a mundane process of finding different ways to
interpret the same ideas and morals brought up by several different authors.
There comes a point in everyones critical analysis skills where they no longer need
guidance or an educational setting to read a book and find the authors intent and literary devices.
In short reading and analyzing texts in school gets repetitive very quickly especially when the list
of readings all have similar styles and ideas. Once the skill is formed and cemented in a students
mind theres really no reason to keep hammering it in, it just makes students loathe reading and
discourages us from doing it in our own time which is the opposite of what needs to be

happening. We should never get rid of reading older texts in schools but I do believe its
overemphasized.
My Feelings About Writing
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with writing. I strongly believe that I can get my
ideas across better through writing than speaking but Ive grown a distaste for over the years
because of how ham-fisted the subject has become in public education. School has a way of
taking the subjects youre passionate about and making it seem like a chore.
I think it goes without saying that wed all enjoy writing more if we were given more
opportunity to write about the things we enjoy. My first thoughts when it comes to writing it that
its a creative outlet that takes talent, skill and dedication. I enjoyed it in elementary school
because the assignments given in that time frame are much more entertaining than say the
inevitable transcendentalism paper youre going to have to write in high school or college.
My mostly negative feelings towards writing because more prevalent during my high
school years, when it became more about endless essays with prompts that ask us to overanalyze
dry reading than improving our writing inventory and skills. I can write a million papers on
theme, symbolism and authors intent but it will never be stimulating and the knowledge never
truly sticks with me. I understand the importance of reading and analyzing older works in school
but there comes a point where enough is enough.
Ive reached a point in my educational career where Ive become so fed up with the style
of writing were forced to do in school that I dont think Ill ever enjoy casually writing again.
Ive had yet to encounter a teacher that has rekindled the passion for writing that I used to have.
My prime reason for taking UWRT 1103 was to reduce the time Id have to spend writing at the
risk of an increased workload.

My Worst Writing Experience

Back in the tenth grade I was enrolled in Honors World Literature, naturally when you
sign up for a course like that you expect for the teacher to have higher expectations and standards
out of your performance. It seemed like a fair trade off initially, extra work in order to prepare
you for Advanced Placement courses but I was in no way prepared for the awful teacher I ended
up with.
My teachers name was Mr. Coia, a skinny balding man likely in his thirties or forties. He
had a grating high pitched voice and barely stood over his students because he wasnt blessed
with great height. His pompous, nitpicky and downright arrogant attitude made it virtually
impossible for me to enjoy the course. He was one of those teachers that thought their class was
important enough to take precedence over all others, he handed out detention slips left and right
and belittled and criticized you every chance he got.
To be frank, almost all of my worst writing experiences are centered around his course.
No matter how much effort I put into my work he would never mark me above a C. I dont
mean to sound overconfident but I firmly believe Im not a mediocre writer like he made me out
to be.
I can recall an assignment where we were supposed to analyze the symbolism in
Candide. I spent the majority of my night working on it an editing it because I had grown used to
his overly harsh grading style and wanted to be sure I was well beyond his standards. When I
turned the paper in the next day I was confident that it was my best piece of the year, only to find
out I received a no points for the assignment. Why? Apparently I spent so much time trying to
perfect the contents of the paper that I put my name on the wrong side of the paper. Instead of
cutting me some slack Mr. Coia just drew a large circle around my header and drew an arrow that

pointed to the other side. When I confronted him about it he told me he refused to grade or even
read it for that reason alone and I wasnt offered a chance to make up the lost points. Needless to
say I came out of the tenth grade with a very sour taste in my mouth for literature and writing.
My Worst Reading Experience
My first thoughts when it comes to reading is that its an intellectual escape, it opens up
many worlds and ideas while stimulating your brain. Even though I dont really have enough
time to dedicate to leisurely reading I still enjoy it and it will always be one of my favorite
pastimes. Reading assignments in school gradually became more stressful and boring. In your
younger years you are often given the freedom to read what you want and your assignments were
usually nothing more difficult than a book report. As you get older your critical thinking skills
develop and youre expected to pick up harder reading and analyze the syntax and other literary
devices. Reading in school became more of an annoyance for me once it became more about
picking out and overanalyzing literary devices rather than enjoying and appreciating literature at
face value and learning from it. Its no wonder that my worst reading and writing experiences
come from the same time frame because of a single teacher.
One of the required readings for my tenth grade year of high school was A Tale of Two
Cities, it goes without saying that its an exceptionally difficult read and it can be confusing just
keeping up with character names. Mr. Coia, my honors literature teacher at the time, made the
reading much more difficult than it needed to be and ultimately caused me to hate the book.
Along with analysis essays he was assigning 60+ pages of reading per night and the quizzes were
ruthless with obscure quotes and passages appearing on them. The book has a brilliant moral but
we were forced to spend so much time chugging through unnecessary assignments that I lost
sight of the true message that Dickens was trying to inform his readers of. Knowing what I know

now, if I gave the book a second chance and read it at a comfortable pace Id definitely be able to
appreciate the piece of literature a lot more than I do currently. The experience didnt deter me
from reading at all, it just makes me more frustrated with our education system and makes me
want to pick up books from certain time periods.
Acts of Sponsorship
My dad has been my literacy sponsor from the day I could read. Hes a firm believer in
education and hes always wanted the best for my sisters and I. Instead of my parents reading us
night time stories, my dad would make us read to each other each night to improve our skills and
comprehension. He had his own version of summer school where wed have assigned reading
and programs on our computer to ensure we never lost information we were supposed to keep
retained over the summer.
I remember lugging around thick hardcover Harry Potter books in my backpack all the
way back in the third grade and staying up until the crack of dawn reading leisurely. My love and
passion for literacy sprouted from a very young age, this mostly due to my dad making my
literacy experience as fun as it was enriching.
Even to this day, my reading comprehension and vocabulary are some of my greatest
assets and this is due to the fact that I was raised on difficult reading and that my sponsor
diligently made sure that I always had a book in hand.
With him being a sponsor and a parent, his lessons stuck with me and I became my own
sponsor. He still frequently checks on me and makes sure Im academically where I need to be
but since his teachings were instilled in me over time, Ive adopted his same work ethic and style
of learning. Its no longer necessary for him to be my sponsor because Ive retained all of what
he taught me and Ill never stray from it. I dont have as much time to dedicate to personal

reading as I used to but my college experience has been made a lot less stressful because of my
literacy sponsor.