Personal Essay Sample about My Reading and Writing Skills

Contradiction. That's the word that comes to my mind when I think about reading and writing. Some people love it some people hate it. All differ from Individual to individual person to person. But one thing is for sure these two activities are very enforced and demonstrated throughout our daily lives. It is also a necessity to a greater / higher education and whether you're aware of it or not reading and writing are introduced in multiple ways in our life through television, family members, school, social media, among other influences. With that being said the individual’s perspective or relationship with reading and writing can be affected by their past or initial exposure to it. As for me, I would probably fall under the category of people who don't favor reading and writing but I do know the importance and have had some type of good experience attached To these two skills sets. For example, I could tell you about my earliest experience with reading and writing where it began,  who was involved, and how I continue to grow and improve on my reading and writing skills. 

This repetitive sequence of affairs all started at a very young age. The first time I was introduced to reading was when my mother would read bedtime stories with me as a child. Helping me catch the flow and rhythm/pattern of the words that were coming out of her mouth, repeating it and identifying it with letters, fragments, and statements/words on the page. As I started to go to school I proceeded on navigating what kind of books I liked and decide which ones didn't work for me whether it was the font size or the spacing, the vocabulary, or even the placement on the page. Which let me to a further understanding of my struggle with reading and writing my mother even was once convinced that I was dyslexic. But we never got it tested. So that led me to try to figure out books that I could read and enjoy where I was still learning and processing the information that I was reading about. At that time I really gravitated to a lot of comic books and poetry for me it was the easiest to read and understand. Plus I love the artwork/ pictures in it which made it more fun and prevented the worst from taking up all the space on the page making it less attractive to read. When it came to writing my first experience took place in school where all of us learn things like identifying letters and how to write a name. The most enjoyable writing experience I had was probably in eighth grade when we had to write a poem. During this process, I  was able to captivate all my creativity, ideas, thoughts, feelings, in perspective on a topic or situation of importance or interest.

Both of these experiences with reading and writing quotes involved family members and teachers. For they were the ones that I spent the most time with and were the driving force behind my growth and education. I remember earlier in life my mother was in the process of going to school, studying for her nursing degree and would always take me and my sister to the library with her as she studied; Encouraging us to give her alone time and go find a book for us to stick our heads in. With the understanding that was all that we could do at the time due to the computers being occupied buy kids playing games and printing off papers work and essays. We figured out it was the only logical thing to do to save us from boredom. So we look around and rest assured after some excessive digging, aisle to aisle, fiction to nonfiction, science to fantasy, comics to biographies, Mysteries to history and politics. We found something we could relate to and started reading. But my mother wasn't the only one pushing me to read as previously stated my teachers were involved in this process as well. Providing me and my classmates every year with summer logs. Which was a paper with a graph of numerous spots where you would write down the books you would read and how long you read them for. In the following school year, you would turn it in for a prize, which was usually a coupon to a fast-food restaurant or colorful pencils and smelly stickers hysterical. Writing was kind of freelance, I remember learning about Comas, complete sentences, capitalization, similes, metaphors, onomatopoeias, irony and compound words. But as for the evolution of my understanding of writing it was pretty stagnant.  I was taught the information wasn't always in detail/depth and some of it I didn't process or understand fully. Still when we did papers if I got something wrong I would ask about it and they would tell me; But I would end up doing the same thing in a different way or another issue would show up on my papers/writing. So I would know I did something wrong because they would cross out or underline it. But it was never fully explained so I can never learn or grow from it and continue to get things wrong and do things incorrectly. 

Fast-forwarding to now the ways I plan on improving upon my reading and writing skills are taking notes in class. By doing this I'm not only developing good muscle memory but seeing face to face and visually connecting with pieces of information/examples that I can refer back to and use; Receiving feedback from family members or friends.This involves me revising and proofreading my papers in writing or reading comprehension with family members and fellow peers to elevate and transfer my thinking or perspective; Researching my errors on the internet from professionals, or just general information given about my mistakes and how to fix them; Sometimes you are given a specific method or exclamation/ example of information that does not fit/work for you and is more effective if you try to learn the information on your own and in your own way. Expanding on my vocabulary. Using intellectual mature and varied verbiage/wording to expand your description, communication, and knowledge of any given topic,object, or situation. Lastly, incorporating more reading and writing into my daily routine. Which contributes to the idea of practicing in moderation your improvements  and little twerks, twicks, or results in your progress that are helping you grow in reading and writing.