Charles Barkley's 'Diary Of A Wimpy Kid'

At this point in my life I find myself in an interesting predicament regarding my attitudes toward reading and writing; more so towards reading. Years ago I used to love reading books for pleasure but nowadays I find myself reading things that little to no effort to digest. This includes the very basic posts on facebook expressing one’s opinion on something or articles and threads on reddit discussing topics I find intriguing. Perhaps it’s the severe senioritis that has overcome me as I enter my last semester at Chapman University. As I’ve gotten lazier I can see it start to reflect in my everyday life. Deep down I still love to read but I rarely find myself getting truly invested into the action unless it relates to something I am very

Additionally, what people read influences how they perceive the world. In turn, this influences what and to whom they like and are sympathetic towards. I once needed to write a nonfiction essay for a school assignment, and I choose to write about video games, specifically about their artistic potential and about esports. I choose that subject since I love video games, and have amassed a wealth of knowledge about those topics over many years worth of

I now know that I am capable of writing anything I set my mind to, before I used to struggle coming up with a topic to write about and now the topics are quick to come up with which is great because it means less time being wasted doing absolutely nothing when most classmates are already on their final draft. What I thought about reading before entering college and what I think now about reading is still the same, I still don’t enjoy reading as much as I should in order to succeed in college. Strategies that i’ve learned and improved in writing are many, as

Ever since a young age I’ve enjoyed reading. My mother even read to me while I was in the womb. When I started kindergarten I was so eager to learn how to read. After I learned how to read my reading level was always significantly higher than the others in my class. I was reading chapter books in first grade. Similarly I was very excited when I learned how to write. Ever since then I have enjoyed writing and do it in my free time. I have been told and

For example, when I was not helping my mother or riding my bike, I spent my time reading. I averaged around three books per week by the time I entered 8th grade. In high school, my love for reading took another turn. I fell in love with literacy analysis. Uncovering hidden meanings and viewing a work of literature from a critical point of view made reading The Awakening and Beloved more entertaining and meaningful than ever before. When I graduated high school, I was voted “Class Bookworm.” My love of reading has continued to this day, and I believe that my passion for critical thinking is one of my skills that will help me succeed in law

I was always a creative child; it was something I just Reading was the new outlet for my imagination and the stories I read fascinated me. They weren’t too unlike the scripts of computer games or the own stories I came up with on my own, but books actually had the action and emotional aspects written out. And again, while my peers were reading things about growing up, things that had morals and would teach valuable lessons (I remember one book about a shoplifter who had to do community service at an animal shelter), I read real fiction: Jurassic Park, Dragonriders of Pern, Lord of the Rings… Stuff of fantasy and science-fiction that let my mind stray from reality. Stuff that kept my imagination alive while I was being forced to learn multiplication and the names of countries. Of course, my teachers encouraged me to keep reading, as long as I wasn’t doing the reading in the middle of their lectures. But it wasn’t because of their influence, however, that kept me interested in books. It was because I loved it. It put pictures into my head and made me think. So I kept reading. But even then I knew reading wasn’t enough… Yes, the stories were fascinating, but they weren’t what I wanted. Back then I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but as middle school came to a close, I found it.

In elementary school, I loved to read. Writing was not a big deal either due to the fact that we did not have to write four page essays. It was in first grade when I started to like reading. Reading has just been freshly introduced, considering we had only completed one year of school. My teacher always read to us and I wanted to read those books as well. Throughout elementary school I started to read Junie B. Jones books, which were my favorite. All of the books were about a first grade girl and her different adventures. I had always enjoyed reading those books. Each book had a different topic which I would always relate to in some way. Although I liked to read, I did struggle with reading comprehension which made me dislike writing as well. I hated having to read and then go and write about it. To this day, I still do not like reading comprehension, but my feelings toward reading and writing have changed.

I chose the article “Disliking Books at an Early Age” by Gerald Graff. He is a teacher of literature and states his advantage as a teacher since he hated and feared books while growing up. Graff discovered something that provided reading to be more appealing. He engaged himself into the text where reading became fun. Growing up Graff was raised in an ethnically mixed Chicago neighborhood where he feared that if he had anything to do with books, he would get beaten up. Graff, however, would sit down and try to read novels, but he could not relate to any of the text, he would just stare blankly at the pages. Later Graff’s fear developed into flunking college. Graff then discovered a new way of reading finding a way to make reading fun. Graff put himself into the text, a sense of personal engagement.  The main point in Graff’s article is to read at an angle and keep an open mind while being patient.

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School” is a novel by Jeff Kinney about the many setbacks of Greg Heffley who is in middle school. He comes across a lot of issues in the book one is his grandpa moving in also attempting to live without technology while he was

3: Increase vocabulary and reading amount. This will help later on during the SAT test as they are important to achieving a high score in the reading section.

As a young child, I can vividly look back on the While my love for reading sprouted, I soon became obsessed with writing. My passion for reading only helped my writing skills to prosper. In fifth grade, I had a teacher who very well understood that reading and writing were important. Every day, we had a half an hour to write about whatever we wanted. Boy, my imagination ran wild. I often wrote fiction stories. My favorite part was when the teacher allowed us to share our stories with the whole class at the end of the week. This one activity really sparked the beginning of my love for writing.

At this point in my life, reading would definitely not make a list of my favorite things to do, but this wasn’t always the case. Some of my youngest memories involve reading, and many of these memories are enjoyable. Every night before bed my mom would read to me, and I remember begging to read just one more before she tucked me in almost every night. This is when my love for reading sparked. Throughout grade school, I continued to read frequently and never found it to be a chore; however, once middle school hit I no longer included reading as a past time or found it pleasurable. Looking back now I realize this was when English class included more forced literature, and school consisted of reading extensive pages in textbooks. Reading

The Importance of Reading and Writing Reading and writing are both important; you can’t have one without the other. They are skills that are increased constantly due to little things that most times are not noticed. Whether it is from a book to a poem, there will always be a way that it helps out your school performance. Reading and writing in general only helps absorb information, and enhance leisure or school related writing tasks. It has also made life itself so much easier because reading and writing are so beneficial for school and for life. How much you read and write today, will somehow affect your future job, family, position, or even your salary.

There were so many life lessons reinforced and relearned. Not to mention I could relate with the main character, Charlotte Stirwater, a stubborn, independent, hardworking woman, who looks at the world realistically and logically. Besides her character being relatable, unfortunately I also related to the villain Jack Spinner/Rumpelstiltskin as well. He was just a lost soul looking for justice for his son’s death, and that obsession and hate consumed until he was no longer the same man he was before he died. The themes/lessons in the book that influenced me were:

All throughout my life, I have had an interesting relationship with writing. As a child, my interests were more focused on reading than writing. In elementary school I fell in love with books. Initially I read simple children’s books, much like everybody else in my class, but it did not take long for my passion to drive me to read more difficult writings. Fiction books quickly became a replacement for any childhood toys. Instead of blocks or stuffed animals I would ask my parents for books. Since they were aimed at young readers, they tended to be short. I found myself going through them within days, and then soon several hours. Towards the end of elementary school I was reading series like Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. I was captivated, and reading truly opened up a whole new world for me.