Amy Doty 

ENGL- 1010 

14 July 2018 

 My love of reading. 

            My earliest memory of reading was in the 4th grade,My 4th grade reading teacher Mrs.Bryant was my favorite teacher she always made learning to read fun,she would make it into a game and we all would laugh when it became our turn to read.Mrs.Bryant was from Polland and she enjoyed telling us stories of her childhood during World War 11,I remember her telling us how she her 3 brothers and her parents seen the German soldiers invading their small town  from her living room window,they saw them  getting in and out of  jeeps and hearing the loud noise of  the big tanks and the airplanes flying over head.The very first book she gave us to read was a book called,The Hiding Place which was very near and dear to her heart because it told the story of a little girl and her family during their imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust in World War 11,Although our teacher and her family were never imprisoned she identified with the lead character because she herself had very similar experiences as the lead character during that time(Example) They both remember how hard it was to go to sleep due to all the bombs going off,the gun fire,yelling,glass breaking all around them and most of all the loud crying coming from the small children clinging to their mothers,our teacher told us she could hear herself crying in her sleep at night and hear her stomach growling from the lack of food,at other times she said she hoped she would wake up from what she thought was a very bad dream only to wake up and see everything she hoped was a dream turned out to be very real,there was one particular time I remember as clear as day of her telling us with tears in her eyes how the soldiers came in their house and took her father and 2 older brothers away leaving her mother her younger brother and herself  to fend for themselves,she said they never seen or heard from her father and brothers again,she said after two years or so her mother met and fell in love with a German soldier who helped them escape by ship to America.Each day Mrs.Bryant would start first reading a page from the book and the student next to her would read the next page and so forth till all of us had a turn reading and it always seemed like we had 15  minutes or so to talk about what we read before the bell would ring ending that days class,this went on everyday day till we finished the book and the next day she would have a new book for us to read(Expand our horizons as she would say).This was the beginning of my love affair with reading.over the years I've read everything from the Three little pigs to The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois,The Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth,The Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath to Darwin's theory of evolution and everything in between.When I'm reading it seems like everything else around me becomes non-existent I get lost in the characters the destinations the who's,what's,where's and when's,For me reading offers me a chance to get away and do some of the things I want to do,some of the things I think I want to do but sometimes end up not being for me,It offers me a chance to see the world a chance to travel the world to explore different cultures,meet different people and have different opinions,I do my best to keep an open mind because to me it's the only way to see things from a different point of view,I do my best to encourage everyone to read regardless of the book,   Todays high school students grade 9-12 are reading on a 5th grade level which in my book is unacceptable.I think if everyone started out with a reading teacher like Mrs.Bryant our children would enjoy reading more which in turn would raise the reading level of our high schoolers.    

Amy Doty 

ENGL1010 

17 September 2018 

Final Reflection 

Let me start this by saying, When I first started this class I had no clue as to how or even if I was going to finish it, but just by the mere fact that I'm at this point (Final Reflections) give me a great feeling of accomplishment knowing I made it to the end and I can hear my dad in my ear saying ‘at uh boy’. 

Writing by far was my biggest struggle, I have never been big on writing which is why this class terrified me in the beginning, but now that I have gotten over my own initial fear I know that I am now better equipped to handle a writing assignment, now this is not to say that I’m going to end up on someone’s best sellers list but I do know enough to get by.  

This class made me think more than I had to think in a lot of years, I hadn’t had to set down and ponder anything as much as I had to in this class in a long time, this being said it felt good knowing I still had it in me to get the work done. 

My biggest triumph was turning in my first paper and seeing that A+, I almost passed out it was like the joy I had when I first seen my son after he was born...nahhhhh not even close lol, but I was happy because I kind of thought I did ok but i didn’t think I was going to do that good, it showed me something I have always known and that is if you put in the work you will get the reward. 

I really enjoyed working with my classmates, all of them were easy to work with and they all were and are great people that’s willing to offer help in any way they can, and I liked how each of them were willing to offer feedback, however Nate made the biggest impression on me because he would go out of his way to offer me help and did his best to make sure I understood what was being asked of me, I remember asking him what was his major and he said respiratory therapy, I know he’s going to be great at that job because he really cares for people and their wellbeing.  

In closing, I know there’s no way I would have made it through this class had it not been for my biggest supporter and inspiration (Amy Doty) I really appreciate you being there for me and taking the time to help me better understand the importance of being a better writer, I admire your patience, persistence, knowledge and since of humor, I can easily see you being a role model to young up and coming writers, each day I came to class I could see the passion you have for your job and writing and you very well should because both fits you like a glove. If I had to take this class over again (and I hope I don’t) I would definitely want you as my instructor because you’re great at it, and the only reason I didn’t drop this class is because I didn’t want to let you down and as I reflect back I'm really glad I didn’t drop it, so thank you Amy for not letting me give up on myself and most of all thank you for not giving up on me.   P.S. I’m looking forward to addressing you as Dr. Amy Doty someday.  Don’t be surprised to see me when I stop in your office to see you sometimes..... Remember those old VO-5 shampoo commercials' lol