Reading Response to Other Text

In The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook, one of the literacy narratives I read was titled, “Proficiency” by Shannon Nichols. In this narrative, the author described her adventure of taking the standardized writing proficiency test. Nichols had to pass this test in order to graduate high school.

            Nichols extensively prepared for this test. After she finally took the test, she was almost positive she passed. As it turned out, Shannon Nichols passed every part, except writing! Nichols kept trying and decided to take the test again; unfortunately, she received the same results and did not pass. When preparing to take the test for the third time, she did not try as hard. She thankfully passed after three attempts but never felt the same about writing.

            The theme of this literacy narrative was that in life, sometimes unfortunate happen. We will not succeed at everything. This theme was sad and a bit harsh, but life itself is a bit sad and harsh. 

Five Minute Experience

Last night two of my friends spent the night. As we were driving them home to drop them off this morning, my mom pointed out a reoccurring thumping noise! Every few seconds, we heard what sounded like someone beating on a bass drum. THUMP-THUMP-THUMP! My worrisome mom became concerned, and we pulled over immediately to figure out what was causing the noise to occur.

            The countryside road we were on was quite curvy, so we had to pull over in someone’s driveway. After my mom stopped our car, we hoped out onto the black concrete of the driveway and checked all of the tires. On the front left tire, I noticed a stringy piece of rubber unattached to the rest of the tire. It reminded me of the peel of an orange rind that was not attached to the rest of the orange. It turned out the noise was created when the piece of rubber  hit against the rest of the tire. We drove to one of my mom’s friends who conveniently lived close by. Even though it was humid and hot outside, he changed the tire for us. 

Reading Response

This past week, I finished reading That Summer by Sarah Dessen. This high school romance was a great story.  The theme of this story was that even the people that we place the most trust in can hurt us. The main character, Haven, realizes this when she finds out Sumner, her sister's sweet old boyfriend that she adores, cheated on her sister, Ashley. This is important message in life that everyone, especially young people, should learn. We are all human and we all make mistakes. The mistakes we make, though, can have a big impact on the people in our lives.

            My question for this story was, “Why is Sumner so important to the Haven?” Throughout the story, Haven was struggling with the many changes that were going on in her life from her parent’s divorce to her sister’s wedding to the dramatic change in her best friend’s personality. Then Haven runs into Sumner, Ashley’s old boyfriend. Sumner was definitely her favorite of all of Ashley’s boyfriends; he was the nicest. I feel that seeing Sumner reminds Haven of time in her life before the crazy life changing events were taking place. Haven does not want to let go of her old life in which Sumner was a part of. That is why it is so hard for her to let him go.  

8/21- 50 pages of That Summer in an hour

8/24- 78 pages of That Summer in an hour and thirteen minutes

Reading Log One

20 minutes- Assignment for class on thinking about the optional summer reading book.
1:40- Read 78 pages of That Summer by Sarah Dessen.

My First Driving Experience

Last week, I turned fifteen! Because I already took the classroom section of Driver’s Ed, this weekend I was able to take my first driving lesson. I was so nervous. It went well though. I am so excited for my next one on Monday!

When I first got into the car with the instructor, another student was already driving. As I rode in the backseat with her in control of the car, I realized that she was doing quite well. This spiked my nerves even more! Once it was my turn to drive, I did pretty well. Changing lanes was the hardest part for me, but after a few tries it became easier. The instructor was nice but stern. He helped a lot. I can’t wait to drive again at my next lesson!

Reading Response to As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth

           As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth was one of my reading assignments this summer. It was interesting, but the some of the events and situations in the story were not realistic. For example, when Ry and Del were looking for Ry’s parents on one of the many islands in the ocean, Ry just so happened to see them. The chance of that was so slim; it seemed very unrealistic. Also, when Ry was first stranded off the train, he was able to walk to a small town. When he finally got there late at night, he happened to see a man working outside.

Even though the story was quite far fetched, it was entertaining and held my attention. I liked how the author illustrated the growth of maturity Ry developed throughout the story. Also, Del was such a “good Samarian” to Ry, and that was nice to read about. His kindness was actually key to this story because without Del’s help, Ry would not have been able to find his parents.