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Luwam Sehaye

Dr. Rieman

English 1103

25 October, 2010

My Most Memorable Reading and Writing Experiences

When I think about my reading and writing experiences in my lifetime, whether good or

not so good, many memories come to mind. The three most memorable moments that have to

choose would be learning how to read in kindergarten, my seventh grade science fair project, and

of course, my dreadful senior research paper. These three events in my life have been huge

reading and writing obstacles I have overcome.

Oddly enough I can clearly remember my year in kindergarten. I attended St. Matthews

Parish Day School and my teacher’s name was Ms. Sharon. I loved going to school from recess,

to arts and crafts, but my favorite part of the day was when we would have reading circle and

listen to Ms. Sharon read. My favorites were classics like Rainbow Fish, Corduroy, and Dr.

Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham. We would also do some type of activity that related to the book.

For example, when we read Green Eggs and Ham we actually cooked and ate green eggs and

ham while we listened to the story. Ms. Sharon would always make me feel excited about school

and I believe that’s why I became so eager to learn how to read. I would read along every night

with my mom slowly sounding out words and pointing to the words I didn’t know, and whenever

I saw my brother or uncle reading a book I would peer over their shoulder and see if I knew any

of the words. I still love to read to this day although I don’t have the time for it like I did when I

was six.
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One of my awful writing experiences was my seventh grade science fair project. It was

the first time I ever had been assigned a research piece and it required me to conduct an

experiment and write a lengthy paper on it as well as create a poster board display with all the

steps and procedures of the experiment. It was miserable I had no clue what I was doing and

never seen a display or how to write about an experiment or science. My project turned out to be

a disaster and my paper lacked some essential requirements like an introduction and detailed step

by step procedure descriptions. I’m not sure why but at the time I was scared to ask questions at

the time probably because I was intimidated by my teacher. Fortunately, my sad excuse for a

project motivated me to do my research, ask questions, and work harder on my eighth grade

science project which I received an “A” on.

My last and recent writing and reading memory is my senior research paper. When I

think about this paper the words draining and burn out come to mind. I remember being a junior

and watching the senior class pull their hair out over this thing. I knew it was coming but I did

not expect it to push me above and beyond my limits. For starters the book that I was assigned

was John Steinbeck’s East of Eden which is not the most interesting book to read, and on top of

that it was nearly eight hundred pages long. The most difficult part for me was trying to write out

the first draft because I simply did not know how to write while taking up ten pages. After

spending some time with my English teacher after class she told me not to think of it as taking up

paper just to complete the assignment but write to fully explain my thoughts on the book while

reinforcing my thesis statement. Once I changed my thought process and put my focus and

energy into the paper it became easier to write, and I received a well earned B on my research

paper. I notice all three of my experiences both good and bad, were learning experiences and

what it takes for me to succeed is my focus, hard work, and effort.

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