Throughout high school, English class has always been about reading and writing. As a kid, I would read the Goosebumps books, the Harry Potter books, and other fantasy/fiction books. I never really had a passion for reading (I would always rather watch TV or play video games) but fortunately I was lucky to have some good required reading books throughout high school such as: The Cather in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, Fences, The Great Gatsby, Beowulf, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. But of all the books I had to read in high school, my favorite has to be The Lord of the Flies. I read this book during my freshmen year in high school, and I really enjoyed everything about this book. The characters are believable, the story is unique, and the author creatively portrays the classic theme of good versus evil, through the eyes of kids stuck on an island without any parental supervision. I think that because I enjoyed reading many of the required reading books in high school, I have gained more motivation to actually read books and not read because I have to but because I want to.
As for writing, I would say that I have written many essays, reflections, (very) short stories, and short poems. I have never been too fond of writing (to nicely put it) and I repeatedly been reminded of the introduction, three body paragraphs, and conclusion structure. The eleven sentence body paragraph structure was engraved in my mind for the first couple years of high school. As high school progressed, the teachers became a bit more lenient about the number of sentences or the length of the introduction/conclusion paragraphs and just allow us to write however we best conveyed our message and supported our thesis. Of course we still had to follow the basic structure of an essay, but we had more freedom to write the way that best suited us.
I read a lot of those books too! Goosebumps was a great series but when the movies started being made, I decided I much rather watch scary movies than try to read a scary book. Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby and especially Lord of the Flies are books that changed my view of characters in other books. The characters in all of these books were relatable, making the books unpredictable; most books are mostly full of characters that one would never meet in the real world. I think Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby and Lord of the Flies are the types of books people should be required to read at least some point during their formative years.
ReplyDeleteThe five body paper, consisting of the three part thesis, had also been etched into my brain. But once junior year started, I learned there are many ways to write a good paper without following a strict formula. True order is needed, but there are a lot more creative ways to do so.
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ReplyDeleteThroughout my high school English career, I have also read such classics as Of Mice and Men, The Catcher in the Rye, and Beowulf. I did not have to read Lord of the Flies, unfortunately, but I have heard from others that it is truly fantastic. I also read a few of the Goosebumps books in middle school, but I wasn’t an avid fan. Instead, I preferred to read the Animorphs series. I think the paper-writing experience you had is quite universal; I also have a strong memory of those papers with the introductory paragraph, the three body paragraphs, and the closing paragraph with the “zinger” to leave a good impression with your reader. I also noticed that as I progressed through the different levels of English, the teachers either became more lenient on the requirements for such papers or had us write our papers in a slightly different writing style. (ENGL 106)
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