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Rohan Patel Miss E. ENGL 1101-062 6 December 2013 Literacy Narrative A persons writing is created by their previous experiences or memories. Ones previous writing helps develop their concepts and thought process by not creating similar mistakes on future papers and reports. For instance, my past experiences about writing started with reading. Many people who Ive spoken to have always told me how important it is to read. Most of their examples pertained to expanding ones vocabulary. Although it is beneficial for a broad vocabulary, reading can also help develop ones writing. In writing, reading provides an infinite amount of examples for ones paper. If you do not read, then the writing will have no structure. By having no past experiences in reading, ones writing will have no logical flow or form. Continuous reading or even occasional reading helps one expand their comprehension of writing and the use numerous writing strategies. For example, when I was young, my mother, who encouraged me to read, would always take me to the county library once every week, which I loved. I would check out stacks on stacks of books to last me until I went to the library the next week. Throughout the span of the week, my mom would assign reading sessions every day. These sessions were broken up into sections. I would have to read four hours every day and log my reading, but it was my choice on when to read those four hours. After I finished an entire book, I was supposed to do a book report, which was only a paragraph, on the main idea of the book. It gave me a more clear and concise picture as to what happened in the book and how I was able to understand the book. Since I began this routine at an early age, reading became an

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easy task. Much of my writing format in the past came from books I have read before. For instance, on the SATs everyone is required to write and organize an essay in 30 minutes. Most of the prompts refer to general ideas that can be found in all sorts of reading genres. One prompt dealt with betrayal and I used examples from the Harry Potter series. Reading also gives me great examples to use in my writing in school. Although the routine gave me little insight about my writing, receiving feedback on ones writing is an excellent way to improve it. Ones writing requires constant revision and editing in order to deem it acceptable. Receiving feedback helps one to improve their writing. For example, In my senior year of high school, my English teacher, Ms. Lynch, taught the class how to peer edit and give advantageous feedback to the writer. At one point, Ms. Lynch returned our essay drafts for our novels and placed the class in groups of two. Each person had the others essay and we were instructed to read the essay twice, then mark the essay for grammar mistakes and writing errors. After revision we gave the essays back to the other classmate and told them what they did wrong and how to improve their paper. I also learned how to take feedback, whether it was from a peer or my teachers. All my English teachers in high school gave a one on one session for our rough drafts. It was an advantage for me to ask any questions I had about my paper. During the one on one session in senior English, we were free to ask Ms. Lynch anything about our paper, even if we had questions about how to writing a particular sentence. We were called one by one to her desk. Once my name was called, I slowly walked up to her desk and sat down. Well alrighty! Lets take a look at that paper, shall we? Ms. Lynch said. Oh yes, Of Course! I replied, nervously handing her my essay. She quickly skimmed my essay, marking different sections of my paper with her intimidating red pen. After several minutes, she told me my mistakes and how to improve my paper.

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Well thats it! Do you have any questions for me? She asked. This was the opportunity I was waiting for. What can I add here, after this paragraph? I calmly asked. She proceeded to tell me what to add and how I should implement the main idea of the paper to the sentence. Feedback from my peers and Ms. Lynch helped me do considerably well on my essay. Receiving feedback helped me to improve my writing to the next level. All thats left now is to include meaningful examples in ones writing to provide understanding. The origin of these examples can come from anywhere, such as: movies, TV shows, assigned reading in school, or even free reading in ones spare time. Despite the fact, that free reading can help one provide examples in their writing, what about those who dont read as much? This is where assigned read in school comes in. Throughout school in general, Ive always been assigned a book to read and create an essay. All of the books Ive read for my classes have provided me with all sorts of examples to utilize in my writing. For instance, in my tenth grade writing test, the prompt was similar to a section of The Great Gatsby I remember reading about. Since I read the book before in class, I was able to get a clear picture of how that part in the book related to the prompt. Excessive reading allows a student to add an array of examples in their writing. It also allows more flow and structure to the writing. My trips to the library, receiving feedback, and assigned reading in class all contributed to my writing strategies today. The amount of reading I do in my spare time and in class assists me to easily create examples in my writing. Allowing negative and positive feedback helped me to improve my writing form. All of my past experiences contributed to my writing, but these three contributed the most to reach the next level of writing.