Paper #1

Emily Jernigan

English 101

Literacy Narrative

10/20/15

Ever since sixth grade, reading has never been the same. Growing up my Mother, who is now a reading teacher, encouraged me to read lots of books. I started to love reading because it was rewarding to me. Spending so much time reading and becoming interested in each story made finishing a book and knowing how the story ended was an exceptional feeling. In fourth and fifth grade I joined a reading club at my school, spending my lunches discussing books I read in my free time. I loved to visit the bookstore and looking at the top ten books for young adults, wanting to challenge myself. I also loved to visit the library as often as I could and loved to participate in the summer reading programs. My love for reading was only beginning to flourish when things changed when I entered sixth grade.

In the beginning of sixth grade my teacher, Mrs. Hotchkiss, was determined to get our class to love reading. She told us that for each book we read we could take an Accelerated Reading quiz, my sixth grader self has no idea what it was. Puzzled I raised my hand and asked, “What the heck is Accelerated Reading?” Mrs. Hotchkiss then proceeded to explain that Accelerated Reading, or AR for short, was used to track our individual reading progress. We each would take a quiz on a book that we chose to read, and based on how well we did, we would get points for each quiz. Then at the end of each month the class that had to most AR points would win a pizza party or a prize. I was excited because I loved to read and thought this would be a piece of cake. Little did I know that Accelerated Reading would change reading, something I loved to do, for the worse.

I could not wait to finish my books! Every afternoon I came home excited to start reading, it seemed like I never stopped. I studied each page in depth noticing the complex character relationships and the events leading to the climax. Reading captivated me, it was like I traveled to another world each time I opened a book. When I finished a book I felt accomplished, it was gratifying to see the outcome of the stories. When I finished a book, I would be so excited to see how well I could do on a quiz. I would sit impatiently still until break, the time when we could take Accelerated Reading quizzes, when break came I rushed to the computer to take a quiz. I was doing quite well, my skills were improving, I read so much I started to read at a higher level, and most of all I loved all of it.

Another student in my class, named John, had also been doing well and we both were reading at the same level. At the time John and I were reading the same book, The Hobbit. John was smart, smarter than me even, but you could not tell by his looks. He always had this faint smell of rotten cheese, and the lights of the classroom illuminated his shiny greasy hair. To my surprise we both finished the book on the same day, the day before the count for the pizza party. Our class only needed forty points to place first and win! I wanted the pizza party so bad, everyone would be so happy with me because of how hard I was working. That’s when I realized that it was up to John and I to earn those forty points.

During class John told everyone how he finished his book yesterday, “I cannot wait to get one hundred percent on my AR quiz,” he said to me as I sat, and smelled that rotten cheese when he left me nervously at my desk waiting for break.  When break came John got to the computer first, forcing me to sit and wait for him to finish. He was calm, cool, and collected. He knew what he was doing, then five minutes passed and he finished. He got everything right. “Good job!” I said in shock. How could he get one hundred percent!? The pressure was on. How was I supposed to compete with him? I had to get one hundred percent to get the pizza party for my class.  

I sat down at the humming computer; the monitor was old and distorted. Distracted from the hum I began to take the quiz. I questioned myself on each answer because it felt as if I had never read the book. I clicked the ‘Done’ button with defeat in my eyes. I had failed myself, “Sixty five percent? How is that even possible? I was so close to reaching my goal of one hundred points and The Hobbit is my favorite book!” I thought to myself in shock.

Devastated, I asked to use the restroom; I had to get out of that classroom. As I walked to the bathroom I could feel my eyes starting to water. Entering the bathroom I’m struck with a draft that smells like rotten cheese, which only made me think of John did better than me. How could I have let my class down, now because of me we would not have a pizza party and no one would like me for ruining this. Not to mention how terrible I did on the quiz made me feel worthless. I had spent the last week reading a great book worth twenty Accelerated Reading points, only to receive a sixty five percent on the quiz. John did better than me, it felt like all my hard work and effort that I had put into reading was ruined. I let myself down, I had always done well and I now lost my confidence in my reading ability.

I could not wait to get home and tell my Mother what had happened. As soon as I got home we talked about AR and started to recognize all of the negative side effects of Accelerated Reading. I started to realize that AR was limiting me, I only read the books that were on the Accelerated Reading list. I stopped going on my weekend outings to the bookstore and library that used to be the highlight of my week. I started to skim the books, only so I would be able to read more in a shorter period, just to get more Accelerated Reading points. Focusing on the details of the stories, not the important character relations and the outcomes of the story Books lost their self-rewarding pleasure, I finished books just to get Accelerated Reading points, not to finish a book to find out the ending of the story. After I realized this, my love for reading dwindled. From sixth grade on, reading was a chore, something I had to do.

I wish that I had never done Accelerated Reading. After this reading was never the same for me, even to this day. I had no idea that something related to school, something I thought was so wonderful, would change how I felt about reading for the rest of my life.

Mad Men Questions #1-4

1. Havrilesky's main insight about Mad Men is that the show depicts the emptiness and soullessness of the “American Dream” through the characters and their actions. In every paragraph Havrilesky addresses a different part of how the “American Dream” relates to the show in a negative way. On page 172 she talks about the “American Dream” has negative effects on each of the characters and explains how it all roots back to

2. Havrilesky establishes her authority by showing how knowledgeable she is on the show. Also, in the footnotes, her credibility is established as she is a television critic at Salon. She was able to understand and explain the plot, as well as the characters, and analyze the show.  

3. She appeals to our emotions from the start. In the beginning three paragraphs she uses words like glimmer, powerful, and submitting to capture our attention (170). She also talks about fairy tales, prince charming, and other things that we all can connect with.

4. Before reading this essay I was not familiar with the show Mad Men, from what Havrilesky described I was able to understand the basic premise of the show. Taking place in New York during the 60s, I do not think I would enjoy the show personally because of the misogyny and racism in that time period. Yet because I am intrigued in how the show conveys the time period, I might watch a couple episodes.

Taking Stock of My Writing

1.  What was your main point (thesis)?  “The Moral of the Story”?

The main point of my story is how Accelerated Reading changed my attitude towards reading. From something I love to do, to a chore.

2.  Who was your audience?  What did you assume about them?  What “audience needs” did you have to consider in writing the paper?  How did you tailor your writing to them?

My audience is perhaps someone who wants to know more about my schooling. I assumed that they may not know what Accelerated Reading is. I made sure to explain my setting and how i felt, that is important to knowing why I do not like reading anymore.

3.  What feedback or reactions did you get at various times while composing this paper, and how was this helpful?  What other kinds of input or support did you get from classmates, teacher, tutors, others?  Were you able to make use of it?  How, or why not?

Students in class read my paper and gave me feedback such as you used the word “book,” “reading,” and “Accelerated Reading” too much. Also that I needed to provide more description. It was kind of helpful because I was able see imperfections to my paper and fix them. I did not get any other input or support, it might have been helpful if I did.

4.  What did you find interesting about the process you went through in writing this paper, and what did you learn from it?

I found it interesting write a narrative, since I have only written more formal research papers in high school. I learned that narratives are more difficult to write because it's not necessarily about the facts but about emotions and descriptions.

5.  What questions do you have for me about the paper?  (What part(s) of the paper would you like me to focus on?  What do you see as the paper’s strengths, and what areas are you unsure of?)

Writing has never been my strength, my writing style is also very different than others - something I have noticed over the years. I tried to follow the rhetorical guidelines, by stating the purpose, adding dialogue, very descriptive details, etc. Areas that I am unsure of are descriptions, I need to learn techniques that “show not tell” the story. My strength in papers is usually my voice.

Website Analyzes

Rotten Tomatoes	Plugged In
Very busy layout. Has the top ratings list on the front page which might be helpful.	High quality photos.
Critic and top critic ratings, as well as the audiences rating.	Simple layout that makes it easy to find things.
There are clips of the movie and a link to the trailer.	They have a rating system.
Only a two sentence description of the movie. Along with the basic run time and rating.	The talk about the movies content, who it might affect or be too much for. Also the movies different content, like drugs and alcohol, violence, negative and positive aspects, conclusions, spiritual, and sexual content.
Information is hard to find. Its placed in odd spots. There isn’t much detail. The layout is still very busy with other adds and links that distract the reader.	The layout of review pages is simple and organized. All of the important information is at the top

I think that Plugged In is more useful because of how it is simple and had important information about the movie as all as a description and a review. If I was to change Rotten Tomatoes, I would try and make it more simple, not as busy, and provide more about the movie - not just what people thought about it. Finding the right balance between reviews and content/description and key facts is important to being successful.

Analyze Our Decisions

Decision	Size / Time	Area Affected	Information Gathered
Getting a Betta fish	Medium Week	Daily Life	The responsibility of owning a fish comes with feeding and cleaning. I need to spend my time feeding him 3x a day, and clean his bowl every week.
Applying for a job / Working in the school year.	Large Year	The days I work / Daily Life	Having a job means that I have to manage my time wisely - balance school, chores, and work. I also means that I have less time to do things, because I cannot cancel work.
Getting a kitten	Large Year	Daily Life	Like the Betta fish, I have to spend time feeding them canned food each day, as well as filling the water and dry food weekly, and cleaning the litter boxes on a regular basis. Not to mention, the time I spending playing with her and my other cat, but also giving them both attention.
Running Start	Large Year	Daily Life	I had to consider how I would manage my time, get to and from schools, and realize how well or poorly I do at OC will affect my future college plans.

Overall I had to realize before I chose these things how it would affect my life. Mostly these decisions take up a significant amount of time and require lots of responsibility. Also the overall costs of all these things would add up, so that is also a factor.

Literacy Narrative Draft

Ever since sixth grade, reading has never been the same. Growing up my Mother, who is now a reading teacher, encouraged me to read lots of books. I started to love reading because it was rewarding to me. Spending so much time reading and becoming interested in each story made finishing a book and knowing how the story ended was an exceptional feeling. In fourth and fifth grade I joined a reading club at my school, spending my lunches discussing books I read in my free time. I loved to visit the bookstore and looking at the top ten books for young adults, wanting to challenge myself. I also went to the library often and loved to participate in the summer reading programs. My love for reading was only beginning to flourish when things changed when I entered sixth grade.

In the beginning of sixth grade my teacher, Mrs. Hotchkiss, was determined to get our class to love reading. She told us that for each book we read we could take an Accelerated Reading quiz, my sixth grader self has no idea what Accelerated Reading was. Puzzled I raised my hand and asked, “What the heck is Accelerated Reading?” Mrs. Hotchkiss then proceeded to explain that Accelerated Reading, AR, was used to track our individual reading progress. We each would take a quiz on a book that we choose to read, and based on how well we did, we would get points for each quiz. Then at the end of each month the class that had to most AR points would win a pizza party or a prize.  I was excited and loved to succeed, I thought Accelerated Reading was going to be wonderful. Little did I know that Accelerated Reading would change reading, something I loved to do, for the worse.

I couldn't wait to finish my books, so I spent my breaks and lunches buried in my book.   Every afternoon I came home excited to start reading, I never stopped reading it was my favorite thing. Reading made me feel relaxed, it took me to another world, I felt accepted like I was part of the book! Each time I finished a book I would sit impatiently still until break, the time when we could take Accelerated Reading quizzes, when break came I rushed to the computer to take a quiz. I was doing well on all my quizzes, my skills improved, I started to read at a higher level, and most of all I loved all of it.

Another student in my class, named John, had also been doing well and we both were reading at the same level. At the time John and I were reading the same book, The Hobbit.  To my surprise we both finished the book on the same day, the day before the count for the pizza party. Our class only needed forty points to place first and win the pizza party.

 John told everyone how he finished his book yesterday. “I cannot wait to get one hundred percent on my AR quiz,” he said to me as I sat nervously at my desk waiting for break. When break came John got to the computer first, forcing me to sit and wait for him to finish. He was calm, cool, and collected. He knew what he was doing, then five minutes later he finished. He got everything right. “Good job!” I said in shock. One hundred percent! The pressure was on. How was I supposed to compete with him? I had to get one hundred percent to get the pizza party for my class.  

I sat down at the humming computer, the monitor was old and distorted, I knew that this would distract me. I began to take the quiz, I questioned myself on each answer, I was not sure anymore - it was like I had never read the book. I clicked the ‘Done’ button with defeat in my eyes. I had failed myself, “Sixty five percent? How is that even possible? I was so close to reaching my goal of one hundred points and The Hobbit is my favorite book!” I thought to myself in shock.

Devastated, I asked to use the restroom; I had to get out of that classroom. As I walked to the bathroom I could feel my eyes starting to water. Entering the bathroom I’m struck with a brisk draft, I became cold and lonely. I could only think about was how I let my class down, because of me we would not have a pizza party. Not to mention how terrible I did on the quiz. I had spent the last week reading a great book worth 20 Accelerated Reading points, only to receive a sixty five percent on the quiz. John did better than me, it felt like all my hard work and effort that I had put into reading was ruined. On top of that, I felt as if I let myself down, I had always done well and I lost my confidence in my reading ability.

I could not wait to get home and tell my Mother what had happened. As soon as I got home we talked about AR and started to recognize all of the negative side effects of Accelerated Reading. I started to realize that AR was limiting me, I only read the books that were on the Accelerated Reading list. I stopped going on my weekend outings to the bookstore and library that used to be the highlight of my week. I started to skim the books, only to I would be able to read more in a shorter period, just to get more Accelerated Reading points. Focusing on the details of the stories, not the important character relations and the outcomes of the story Books lost their self-rewarding pleasure, I finished books just to get Accelerated Reading points, not to finish a book to find out the ending of the story. After I realized this, my love for reading dwindled. From sixth grade on, reading was a chore, something I had to do.

The Five Characteristic Features of My Narrative

A clearly identified event: What happened? Who was involved?

As a young student, another student and I were taking an AR reading quiz on the same book. This student, named John Smith, did better on the reading quiz than me! It was very discouraging and did not make feel confident in my reading skills.

A clearly described setting: When and where did it happen?

In my 6^th grade classroom. My strange teacher talking about her love for dragons. John was sitting at the humming computer. We both could see the kids playing outside the window at break, laughing and playing wall ball.

Vivid, descriptive details: What makes the story come alive?

The humming computer, shining computer screen. Laughter outside. The feeling in my heart when he did better than me, I felt defeated.

A consistent point of view: Who’s telling the story?

The point of view is going to be in first person. I am telling a story of my own experiences and how it affected my mindset towards reading.

A clear point: Why does it matter?

The point of this narrative is to tell the story of when reading changed from pleasant and entertaining to competitive. This is what changed my attitude towards reading at a young age.