My Memories of Language Arts in School

          When I was in elementary school, middle school, and high school I loved language arts. English was always my favorite subject in school and still is today because I love writing. This is one of the reasons why my second major in college besides elementary education is English. In elementary school writing always seemed to come easy to me because at home I was constantly writing. In the summers I would write stories on topics my mom would give me, and I would practice using descriptive words to make my stories create an image in the minds of the readers. In elementary school my favorite assignments were the ones in which my teachers let the students write creatively. I loved writing poems in school during poetry lessons in first and second grade. I also enjoyed the assignments where I was able to write my own story in class to practice the skills and the elements we were learning that a story consisted of. In first and second grade, I also remember having to keep a reading log. I would read a story at home with my parents, then I would have to draw a picture of something that happened in the story and write about the picture I drew. I enjoyed the reading log because it combined reading, writing, and drawing. In fourth grade, I also looked forward to the assignments where I was given the topic or beginning of a story and I would have to create the rest of the story.
                In addition to writing, I also loved to read in school. I enjoyed reading groups, where the teacher would put the students in small groups and we would take turns reading parts of a story to the teacher. Reading buddies was also a fun activity in third, fourth, and fifth grade, where me, along with the rest of my class, would read to the younger children in a kindergarten or first grade classroom.
                In middle school and high school, I always despised learning grammar. In every English class that was one of the major topics that we covered throughout the school year. I always found grammar to be confusing. But the grammar my teachers taught me, really helped to improve my writing and to eliminate the many errors I was constantly making in my papers. In high school I loved creative writing. I took a creative writing course my senior year and I absolutely loved it. In the class we were able to write poems and short stories on given topics and topics of our own choice. This class increased my ability to show and not tell, and made me enjoy the affect that descriptive words can have on others. I love using words that I have never used before and twisting these words in such a way that they create an image in the reader 's minds and desguise what I am attempting to write about.
                 Reading and writing have always been passions of mine, and the language arts teachers that I have had during my school years, beginning in elementary school, have really helped to increase this passion I have even more. In my free time I love to read and write. When I become an elementary school teacher in the future, I would like to pass on my love of reading and writing to my students. I want them to enjoy reading, and to understand that the ability to read can open their minds to new information, and can transport them to many different places all over the world. My last goal when I become a teacher, is to show my students the joys of creativity and expressing themselves, in many different ways and through different learning styles.