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Anthony Lott
Dr. Jizi
College Writing UWRT-1101
September 16, 2015
Writhing Through the Years
Writing has always been a challenge for me even in the early years. I had little to no will
to write for such prompts that were passed down and assigned to me. First grade would be the
first true test of writing. The teacher would assign us a topic to write about and off we go;
doodling in a little picture with a hand etched caption depicting the visual. Large lined paper with
plenty of space and an area for you to illustrate a picture; these were the characteristics of early
elementary writing.
Elementary writing taught me the basics of how to portray your information into words.
From here I learned how to combine ideas with the flow of writing in terms of basic punctuation
and common grammar rules. These early learnings set the foundation on how to write a good
essay as well as mastering it. The fundamentals, such as where to place a comma or which words
need to be capitalized, were taught early on and are still within my memory even to this day. As a
matter of fact, I still remember the faces of those that taught me whenever I think of such
grammar rules. I often associate my first grade teacher, Mrs. Wortha, with the rule of placing a
comma within a list. Although I had learned the basics, I still never had the opportunity or
teachings to master the skill of writing. The truth is any educated kid could write, whether that
writing was worth anything or not was based on pure writing skill.

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Reading would be its own separate entity in the early years of my education. I can
remember reading way back just before kindergarten. I feared that I would be far behind the
other kids in terms of intellect, so I began to read. My first readings were in the form of
SpongeBob. I had a small stuffed animal of the cartoon and on the back was a short story that
was in the shape of a backpack. This would be my true first memorable reading which I fell in
love with. As the years progressed my reading skills plummeted and so did my desire to read.
The reason as to why my desire to read deteriorated was due in part to the fact that unappealing
books were assigned to me. This caused me to dislike reading to such an extent that I would
often get disgusted after reading just a few short pages. I felt as if there was no such thing as a
pleasant book to read. Then, everything changed in fifth grade with my teacher assigning us a
book called Hatchet by Paul Gray to read. A book about surviving in the wilderness, this book
would change my life in terms of my passion towards reading. Action packed and full of
suspense, I quickly became obsessed with the book and read other books by the author. I read the
entire book in two weeks after it was assigned. Hatchet opened my eyes to the reality that
interesting books do in fact exist.
With the foundation in place, it was time to excel in those basic teachings taught to me.
Eighth grade would be the year where my reading and writing skills would be tested to there
limits. The word on the street was to not be assigned Ms. Ensly as your English teacher. It turns
out fate would land me in here classroom for my final year in middle school. A stern and robust
teacher, Ms. Ensly taught me how to excel at reading and writing with hard work and dedication.
She laid out the basis for a good essay that would be used throughout my career. Her way of
teaching good writing was assigning a ten page paper with a topic that was assigned to each
student. My topic, The Manhattan Project, was not only a challenge for me as a writer, but also

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as a reader. I was to formulate important facts and broadcast them in a way to show how the
development of the first nuclear bomb changed the world. One of the highlights of her teachings
to me was her emphasis on the fact that writing is essentially talking to someone. This changed
my entire perspective on how to write and allowed me to write with purpose rather than garbage
reasoning. She furthered my will to read after assigning a book called The Pigman. We would
be placed into small groups and communicate our ideas about the readings. Our communication
would be graded upon as a group. This allowed for me to share my desire to read a well
formulated book with friends and peers further enhancing the reading experience. It turned out
that the dreaded teacher would be one of my best teachers of all time. She laid the path for me
of becoming the reader and writer I am today.
Today, reading and writing is no longer a chore, its a lifestyle. Anyone can simply read
an article, but very few can analyze such words and make connections. These connections help
create the foundation for a more enhanced education in which this skill has been acquired by me.
I have to thank the road that has been laid before me for it has brought me to this very place
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.