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Cameron Harrison

Professor Raymond

UWRT-1104-055

29 August 2019

Learning How To Read And Write

Learning how to read and write is such a valuable asset in today’s society. I remember

learning how to read as early as kindergarten learning site words and reading pop up books. In

elementary school we learned grammar, new vocabulary, and how to write a paragraph. In fourth

grade I learned all about poetry and the finesse of writing a poem. We are very fortunate to have

the luxury to go to school and learn how to read and write.

One of my earliest memories of learning how to read and write would be my 3rd grade

english class. This class was the first time we wrote poetry and also learned how to write

paragraphs. These cornerstone steps of writing are essential for one to learn and I vividly

remember my first experience. We had to write paragraphs for the first time. I didn’t know how

to use periods so, I wrote a paragraph with one long run-on sentence. She read my paragraph out

loud to the class and I heard my classmates so “how can someone be so stupid”. My teacher kept

asking who wrote this but I was too embarrassed to raise my hand and claim ownership. After

class I told her it was me. I was really embarrassed but I knew something must be done. I

decided to stay 30 minutes everyday after school to get caught up on my writing. I never wanted

to experience embarrassment like that ever again.

One book that really inspired me to learn to write more and read more was 1984 by

George Orwell. We read this novel senior year. Many classmates thought it was so boring. I
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found the dystopian genre to be very interesting. Also the way George incorporated the novel

within the novel talking about political ideology was simply brilliant. Another person who

affected my reading skills was my sister. She was always a passionate reader and usually would

read books way above what I was reading. I felt it as a direct threat and the summer before my

junior we had a challenge to see who could read more books. After about two weeks she blew

the competition opened. However, I learned a lot about myself and it really opened my eyes to

reading and how important reading is. I’m very excited to read and write this year.
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Works Cited

“George Orwell.” ​Biography.com,​ A&E Networks Television, 16 July 2019,

www.biography.com/writer/george-orwell.