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Waley Lau

English 133

MrDr. Peters

9/28/17

My Progression as a Writer

My fondest memory of being greatly drawn to a book began at a very young age.

I remember being tucked into bed by my mom as she then proceeds to share

with me a bedtime story. The story she was reading to me was very unlike the

Dr. Seuss and picture books that were being read to us at school. At the time,

my reading comprehension and essay writing skills werent exactly the greatest

but were still yet to develop.

The book that my mom was reading from had a cute graphic picture on the cover

of three men and a dog on a single rowboat. It was titled Three Men in a Boat (to

say nothing of the dog). Little did I know that the book was one of the famous

Shakespeares works and what I can recall from way back then, the storyline was Commented [JJP1]: You might research this a bit further. I
think Three Men in a Boat was a novel by a writer named
Jerome K. Jerome, not by Shakespeare.
about 3 three men and a dog traveling to various places with a small boat being

their main source of transportation. The book contained a translated

versiontranslations of Shakespeares language in into both Chinese and modern

English, making the story much easier to comprehend for the both of us.

Every night, my mom would read to me about a different location that the Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.5"

men and dog would travel to, which I found completely fascinating. The places

they visited in the story werent what intrigued me; the detailed descriptions of the
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characters actions and colorful depictions of the setting are what brought each

scenario to life. It was almost as if I were listening to a movie that was being Commented [JJP2]: Do you remember any of the
depictions? It would be great if you could recall some of the
writing that captured your attention back then
directed by my mom and my own imagination, all played out in my head.

Stubborn and unwilling to put down my new- found interest for reading, I ask my

mom for another chapter to be read to me but she closes the book and kisses me

goodnight.

From that day on, I would ask my parents to drive me to the library for me

to pick out fiction books, novels and even cartoons. I would spend hours at the

library, reading whichever books looked interesting (judging books by their

covers) and looking for new books to check out that would occupy me for the rest

of the week. My enthusiasm towards was reading sparked as I saw it being a

way to keep myself entertained. Many of the books that I was borrowing were
action packed, fictional stories that were filled with suspense.
When middle school came along, my days of writing were changed
Commented [JJP3]: Interesting! Many kids would rather
play video games than ever read a book. What do you think
you saw in books that other kids didnt see?
Commented [JJP4]: You might develop this section of your
narrative more. The essay might just focus around your
parents as your first and most important literacy sponsors.

forever. I remember sitting in English class one day and my teacher going over

writing formats that wed apparently use for the rest of our lives. They were what

my teacher called the essay outline hamburger charts and would essentially be Commented [JJP5]: Explain what in the world this chart is?
Why hamburgers?
provided to us during every quiet writing session for us to utilize when writing in

our journals. We were required to free-write in our journals every day and were

allowed to write about whatever we chose to that was appropriate. Through the

use of the nifty hamburger helping sheets, I quickly became familiar to the

formatting of an essay and within a couple days of writing in my journal, I was

able to fully digest both of the burgers . I continued to use the same formats for
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my writing ventures throughout middle school and without even noticing, I began

to incorporate different aspects of narrative and storytelling in my writing style. I

never realized how big of an impression the books that Ive read have left on how

I chose to write, fueling my essays with strong vocabulary and inspiring me to

write with distinct rhetorical approaches.

However, my years of recess, wall ball and creative writing flew by and

before I knew it, high school crept right around the corner. High school English

has taught me many great writing strategies but it has also showed me that

reading isnt the only factor that allows one to grow as a writer. In order to meet

the schools reading curriculum, students were to be given certain books to read

in a given amount of time and were expected to write about the stylistic and

persuasive elements of the book. In my opinion, this defeats the whole purpose

of teaching students how to evolve as their own writers and not to mention that it

saps out all the fun in reading. Students should be allowed to choose their own

books that appeal to themselves with the books being of the same literary level

that satisfy the schools standards.

I was no longer feeling the urge to read every night because I knew that

what I needed to read was solely for the sake of my grade, rather it being out of

passion or love. Soon, I became occupied with highlighting key components of

the writing of many different authors, leaving me no time to run down to the

library for me to pick out leisure books. Being able to finally close a book had

never been so relieving. I do have to admit that along the way of my countless

nights of staying up and dissecting the works of great authors has helped me
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explore a wider range of genres and diction. My broadened sense of word

choice, vocabulary and writing strategies has shaped me to become a more well-

rounded writer than I was ever before. From Dr. Seuss, bedtime stories, books

with cool graphic covers to Alan Paton, my progression as a writer has all to

thank for their influences. Even to this day, I still continue to weave in the same

expressive characteristics along with the rhetorical skills that Ive been

assimilating over my years of elementary through high school into my basket of

essays.

The strongest part of this essay is the opening sections about learning to read with your

parents help. The essay loses focus, though--and it seems like you are less interested

yourself--when you move towards discussing your literacy development in school. Why

even develop your topic in that direction? The essay wants to be about how your parents

were your first and most important literacy sponsors, because they taught you about the

pleasures of reading in a way that school based assignments never could. Stay in your

childhood throughout, describe those excursions to the library, and the books you

discovered that captured your imagination the way Three Men in a Boat did! And then

reflect on the fact that it was your parents who were giving you access to these books, to

the library, to bilingual literacy, and to a love of reading.

GRADE: B-