Brandon Kang- Journal # 1

       I first learned how to read and write, when I was in kindergarten. Although my memory of when and how I learned is a little vague. I still remember sitting in class, while the teacher played songs that corresponded to each letter of the alphabet. These memories probably still linger due to the repetitive style of learning alphabet I was exposed to when I was young. The lessons at school merged with lessons I was given at home. At home, my parents would review the alphabet with me and help me read through books together. The initial process of learning to read and write was very repetitive, but fun because the people around me made learning to read and write in to a fun process. The progression of learning how to read and write through primary school built the foundation of my knowledge of how to read and write.
     I do not have any favorite books, but as I read books I found that some of the books I read were very enjoyable. In high school, I was assigned to read books for class. I found that many of them did not peak my interests, but I learned that there were some classics that I enjoyed such as, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. During the time that I attended middle school and high school, I did not enjoy English class. I found it to be difficult and tedious to write good papers. I did better on things that required me to read or memorize material. I had difficulty writing papers, because I had a hard time grasping the rules of grammar.
     I initially thought that writing was simple, but it turns out that writing has a lot of rules and require some time to make a good and understandable paper. Writing was like putting a difficult puzzle together, as opposed to my other classes such as, math and history. Math and history seemed to have a more visible set of rules and was easier to understand because there were generally one way of answering a question correctly. Over the years, I have improved writing a little bit by spending more time on writing. The SAT test for college required me to spend more time on the writing section, because I was having the most difficulty with it. By spending extra time studying and correcting sentences, I gradually started to improve on grammar and writing. I also think that writing college essays helped me improve on writing due to the fact that I had to revise my own essays several times and search for mistakes. Although I have improved in writing over the years, I wish to continue to improve my writing skills in writing in college.