1

Griffin Gowdy
English 1001
Jean Coco
9/24/15
High and middle schoolers
Preface
I added paragraph about Grendel, I also listed some of my teachers and the way
the pushed me, I also completely changed my conclusion .
These revisions helped me strengthen my paper and give specifics.
I considered I did not want to add another paragraph because I did not want to
have it drone on and on.
My biggest concerns are: t does it have value? Is it clear? Did I edit my paper
enough? If i was specific enough in my paper.
Cozy Corners
1 . Reading. The horrific word most highschoolers hate. Our current generation isn't
interested in reading as they should be. In our generation efficiency is key, so then you have time
to binge watch that show on Netflix. Things were different when I was in grade school.
Different even though elementary school wasn't that long ago for me.
2. Where I went to school there was a huge emphasis on reading. Reading was key to
everything. We were brought to the library in class every week and were able to go during lunch.
Our teachers also made us do book reports every month and larger reports once a year. Despite
these deadlines I never felt as though I was being forced to do something. I enjoyed reading, I
would even venture to say I savored it. Soon I started to go to the library everyday instead of
playing outside during recess and started to devour book after book. Books like The Boxcar
Children, American Girl, The Tale of Despereaux, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E.
Frankweiler -all these books held value to me.
3. My teacher Mrs. Dodgen had all kinds of incentives for us to like reading as well.

There was this awesome place called a reading corner in a few of my classrooms. This was a
place we could go after we finished our work for the day and read a book. I could bring my own
or there was a shelf where I could pick one. Some days there would be candy if you finished a
book. I considered accelerated reader to be the BEST thing ever. You got points for the books

you read and got awards if you were in the honored top ten. There was never a lack of praise
either; we were bombarded with positive reinforcement.
4. There was something special about those reading corners though, something that stuck
with me. It could have been the jean bean-bag chairs or the shelves of books all perfectly in a
row waiting for me to read them. they each had a story they wanted me to know. You felt like the
coolest kid in town when you finished your worksheet first and got to waltz over there, plop
down with your book and chill while others were working. As kids do, we of course made it a
competition though. I would work swiftly and efficiently to get my preferential bean bag seating.
5. These special moments were created by our teachers. They fostered our abilities and
taught us how to love literature. Reading was never boring with them, it was always fun. My
teachers were my foundation or anchor in a sense. These teachers gave me the tools and I took
off. Reading and writing became fun and desirable. I wanted to read all the time. staying up late
under my covers reading book, well past my bedtime. Reading aggressively all the way into
middle school.
6. As I started to get older school became more difficult and reading for pleasure became
less and less. Students were required to read but no one ever really wanted to because we felt
pressured. We were developing more and more opinions, taste and what we enjoyed reading was
not always an option. Most people can agree that they don't like being forced to do anything, but
unfortunately that's a part of life.
7. One of my teachers in high school made us read Grendel, at the time it felt like the
most awful books ever. If Im totally honest it kind of was but looking back now I learned so
much from that experience. Grendel is not necessarily a pleasant experience, it's pretty crude. It
is a really strange and confusing book that can be really complicated. Through the help of my

teacher I started to understand the literature and I had an amazing sense of accomplishment.
The teacher's name was Mrs. Carpenter and she changed my life! She pushed me in new and
amazing ways. Our teachers wanted to push us. They accomplished this by making us read books
we didn't like and attempting to make us broaden our taste.
8. My reading experience was a special one. I was blessed to have teachers like Mrs.
Dodgen and Mrs. Carpenter that cared so deeply about learning and cared about me. They lit a
fire for literature and I took off with it. So to all those students out there feeling weary: it gets
better; One day you will have a teacher like me and they will radically change your outlook of
literacy.