writing and reading experience

Reading and Writing Assignments

Reading and writing are essential components of education and knowledge transmitting through communication. We are taught the basics of proper reading and writing through numerous lessons during our academic careers. Some assignments tend to be more difficult than others, and the student in question can struggle in those situations. The below is a summary of one of the most difficult reading and writing assignments I’ve ever had. The definition also includes some of the prevention methods used to completely address the problems.

My Love for Literature

Literature has always been one of my favorite topics in both elementary and high school. Most importantly, I had grown to develop a robust liking towards the subject. Literature, in general, encompasses all forms of art, which are designed to convey a hidden or open meaning to a targeted audience. The description implies that there are myriad creations, which can be termed as literature (Hewings, Prescott & Seargeant, 2016). Notably, while at school, our studies on the subject solely revolved around written works such as set books and story books. The tasks bestowed to us as students entailed reading an assigned text and completing some exercises such as writing a report on it, analyzing various aspects such as the theme or plot and noting down character traits based on actions. In fact, the book report formed twenty percent of the total literature marks at the end of the semester, which amounted to one hundred percent.

Struggling with Shakespeare

Writing book reports and analyzing text from various perspectives was no major issue for me. The problem developed when we were assigned a book from medieval times a text which whose language context is quite different from the modern language. Shakespeare’s works were a real bother for me since the author used Middle English mixed with Early Modern English. According to Kroll (2013), today’s English Language shares some marked similarities with the early variation although it is dissimilar in some standards. My problem was on reading the texts based on this early variation of English and interpreting them. Shakespeare’s texts often employed the language which replaced common words such as ’You’ with ancient synonyms such as ’thee.’ Another variation of the word which is ’your’ is also replaced with ’thy.’ Comprehending these common words differently became an issue for me. Moreover, when reading, I often confused the replacements not knowing which stood for what, the result was an often disorientation from the flow of the story hence I barely comprehended it. Writing a book report let alone analyzing the text hence became an issue for me. Analyzing and interpreting Shakespeare’s writings and similar works written in language different from the modern context was and to some extent, and still is, a reading issue for me.

Seeking Solutions

I was forced to look for summaries and variations of the works written in more simplified language. The problem seemed to be centralized to me since my classmates and peers never seemed to have any problem reading and comprehending and the texts. As a result, the encumbrance exempted me from enjoying works of early history, which had compelling plot lines and interesting styles. The fact that Shakespeare’s works are still deemed to be some of the best and earliest forms of literature attest to this fact (Kroll, 2013). Despite the apparent issue, I tried various mitigations techniques, which helped to some extent but did not fully alleviate the problem. For instance, I found that talking and interacting with friends using such language made me grasp the meanings and usages of the various medieval Early/Middle English words. For instance, whilst texting, I often wrote thy instead of your and thee instead of you. This technique allowed me to grasp the instances in which the terms were used and therefore my mastery of the language variation flourished. In addition to the above, I also discovered that reading a variety of works, which employ the same language style, helped.

Significance of Details

The above episodes and issues have made me uncover multiple things concerning life itself and education. First, education is charged with creating open-minded individuals. As a result, it goes on to put them in situations, which deviate from normal happenings, and occur on a daily basis. The issue at hand, which has been described above, has hence helped me to become more open minded to expect the unexpected and to be more prepared than ever to handle what may come one’s way. Best of all, the experience has allowed me to be aware of the fact that not everyone is perfect, since each person has weaknesses and we should work towards reducing their effects.

Conclusion

Reading and writing are indeed important portions of the school curriculum. Additionally, they also assist in communication. Since the above two concepts are widespread everywhere, it is quite possible that individuals will develop issues on certain areas. The best thing to do when faced with such a strife is to work aggressively and try to get the root of the problem since no problem can exist without a solution.

References

Hewings, A., Prescott, L., & Seargeant, P. (Eds.). (2016). Futures for English Studies: Teaching language, literature and creative writing in Higher Education. Springer.

Kroll, J. (2013). Creative writing and education. A Companion to Creative Writing, 245-262.