Lewis !

Noelle Lewis

Professor Whitney

ENC 2135-08

17 January 2017

Since I was born until I was three years old, I lived in California with my mom and dad;

My earliest memory of that time includes crawling around on our soft green carpet in the living

room. It was quite ugly, but definitely distinguishable as a kid. When it came to adventures, my

family lived ten minutes from Disney Land, so we had annual passes. My favorite ride was the

Dumbo ride where I felt like I could soar in the clouds. One time when my mom and I went,

every ride was closed except the carousel, spinning tea cups, and the famous dumbo ride. I had a

fantastic time that day. On the ride back home, music was always necessary. This memory

strengthened my belief that listening to music and trying to hear certain words is one of the first

times I began understanding literature.

Every night when my dad was home, because he traveled a lot with his job, he would sit

with me in bed and read me a book to help me fall asleep. I could not understand much or

pronounce the words on my own, but my dads tone of voice for each character always made

bedtime interesting.

We moved to Pennsylvania when I was three and right away my parents bought me

Hooked on Phonics to get me to start reading on my own. There were many levels you had to

complete before reaching the end of a session. In each level, there were vocabulary words and

even a book at the end which you had to complete without messing up before moving on. These

gradual steps definitely helped enhance my reading skills. The first book I remember reading
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afterwards was Cat and the Hat and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. Dr.

Seuss was popular in my family and rhyming made reading easier and more enjoyable.

As I started to move up in literature, my favorite books became Junie B. Jones. I am

almost positive I read every book twice and always told my friends about them. I would spend

hours reading in my backyard treehouse until it got dark and cold, then I would go read on my

bed inside until I fell asleep.

Reading was also huge at my elementary school in once I moved to Florida. There was a

point system called Accelerated Reader (AR) that detailed a certain number of books you could

read then take a quiz on it to check your understanding of it. The harder the book level you read,

the more opportunity you had for points. This became a huge friendly competition for my friends

and a great way for me to meet new people. Some of us would even prefer to sit on a bench at

recess to read rather than run around and play tag.

In middle school, I transferred to a small, private Episcopal school that was very fast

paced. When it came to English, I was reading books that my friends in public high school were

reading at the same time. Books such as A MidSummer Nights Dream and Night were

expectations in the course material. I specifically remember my eighth grade English teacher

making us stand in front of the classroom and act as the characters with different voices for the

play A MidSummer Nights Dream. It was a fun experience, even if most of the people my age

were embarrassed to act like a donkey or fairy. Learning to understand those books at a younger

age than most helped me improve my knowledge for more complex books in the future.

When I was ninth grade, I had one of the best English professors ever. Ms. McNutt was

my last period teacher, so I always ended the day on a good note. When I walked into her class,
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music was playing to stimulate our minds before we would do writing discussion. On the

whiteboard would be a question, usually about us and our writing or about the topic we would

introduce that day. It was an easy class because, ironically, we read A MidSummer Nights Dream

and I was able to reflect on everything that I had already learned the previous year.

In eleventh grade, English went downhill. I was taking AP Language and Literature with

a teacher who had never taught a year in her life. She did not have a good handle on things. We

spent the first half of the semester studying for a school given test that was eventually cancelled

right before the end of the first semester. We, then, had to cram readings, analyzing activities,

vocabulary words, reading concepts, and so much more into one semester, which we should have

spent doing the whole year. Many people were discouraged by this teacher and over half the

entire grade who took the class, failed. I did not, but it certainly made me feel less confident in

my knowledge of reading and writing. It almost made me dislike reading and made me not want

to do it anymore.

However, passing the AP exam luckily got me out of ENC 1101 when I early admitted,

but not ENC 1102. When I took ENC 1102 at a community college my senior year, the professor

was one of the most amazing professors ever. Unlike most teachers who have a set way of

thinking about reading and writing, she was more open to suggestions and to our own personal

views. When we analyzed a story for her class, there was no right or wrong way to interpret it.

This made the class feel more comfortable discussing the material, knowing that the teacher

would not shut us down. We went in depth about MLA format and learned how to cite sources

properly. I truly learned how to write in her class after feeling discouraged my junior year.
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Having all of these impactful experiences truly shaped how I read and write today. Each

one, which I remember quite vividly, showed me the type of writer I want to be. Today, I am

focused on improving how I write even more. I hope to make my essays stronger and more

professional. When it comes to reading, finding time can be difficult in college with all the work

we have as students, but it still is important to focus on reading when time permits.