reading and writing experience essay

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Personal Experience — Reading And Writing Over My Younger Years: My Personal Narrative

Reading and Writing Over My Younger Years: My Personal Narrative

• Categories: Literacy Personal Experience

About this sample

Words: 844 |

Published: Mar 18, 2021

Words: 844 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited:

• Carson, D. A. (1999). The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism. Zondervan.
• Chow, I. (2018). My journey through the valley of the shadow of death. The Daily Californian.
• C.S. Lewis. (2002). Mere Christianity. HarperCollins.
• Keller, T. (2008). The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Dutton.
• McDowell, J. (2017). More Than a Carpenter. Tyndale House Publishers.
• Moreland, J. P. (2014). The Soul: How We Know It's Real and Why It Matters. Moody Publishers.
• Nabeel Qureshi. (2014). Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity. Zondervan.
• Piper, J. (2006). Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. Multnomah.
• Rookmaaker, H. (1970). Modern Art and the Death of a Culture. Crossway.
• Schaeffer, F. (2008). The God Who Is There. IVP Books.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Education Life

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1435 words

2 pages / 1035 words

3 pages / 1282 words

5 pages / 2232 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Personal Experience

What i learned in english class? I’ve learned many things through the course of this class: how to write a good essay, how to get batter at some essays I’ve already written in the past. I’ve learned how to locate my resources to [...]

It never can get better than getting involved in your own community. Just to know that you are helping your community become a better place. One action at a time. From picking up a little piece of garbage to starting a [...]

This is a short story about myself. My essay is particularly about me in third grade. In third grade, my family and I moved to Morgan, Utah. I had to go to a different school, where I knew nobody. I had to make new [...]

In the context of my autobiography essay, it's essential to understand my background. My name is Tharun, and I was born on December 18, 2004, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My parents are Suresh and Karolina. Unfortunately, both of [...]

Wake up! Wake up! The shrieking commands of my now irate mother abruptly awake me. As I strain to open my eyes, I am pierced by the fiery hot coals of the suns rays. I roll out of bed, only to hear more commands barked out by my [...]

From a young age, I saw my dad’s hard work to provide a better life for me. Every time he left for work with his black suitcase, I would sit on top of it to keep him from leaving. As he walked out the door, I would burst into [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Reading and Writing for Understanding

• Posted July 21, 2005
• By Sarah O'Brien Mackey

Secondary school students can benefit enormously when teachers of all subjects integrate reading and writing strategies into their instruction, according to  Harvard Graduate School of Education Lecturer Vicki Jacobs . These strategies, typical of "reading and writing to learn" and "reading and writing across the curriculum," are problem-solving activities designed to help students move from simply knowing a fact to understanding a fact's significance. Helping students make that leap — from knowing to understanding — represents the very heart of the educational enterprise.

This summary is based on Jacobs' article, " Reading, Writing, and Understanding, " which appeared in the November 2002 edition of Educational Leadership .

Reading to Learn

Jacobs explains that students learn and practice beginning reading skills through about the third grade, building their knowledge about language and letter-sound relationships and developing fluency in their reading. Around fourth grade, students must begin to use these developing reading skills to learn — to make meaning, solve problems, and understanding something new. They need to comprehend what they read through a three-stage meaning-making process.

Stage One: Prereading

It's not uncommon for a struggling secondary reader to declare, "I read last night's homework, but I don't remember anything about it (let alone understand it)!" According to Jacobs, "How successfully students remember or understand the text depends, in part, on how explicitly teachers have prepared them to read it for clearly defined purposes."

During the prereading stage, teachers prepare students for their encounter with the text. They help students organize the background knowledge and experience they will use to solve the mystery of the text. To do so, they must understand the cultural and language-based contexts students bring to their reading, their previous successes or failures with the content, and general ability to read a particular kind of text. Based on this assessment, teachers can choose strategies that will serve as effective scaffolds between the students' "given" and the "new" of the text.

Asking such questions as, "What do I already know and what do I need to know before reading?" or "What do I think this passage will be about, given the headings, graphs, or pictures?" helps students anticipate the text, make personal connections with the text, and help to promote engagement and motivation. Brainstorming and graphic organizers also serve to strengthen students' vocabulary knowledge and study skills.

Stage Two: Guided Reading

Students move on to guided reading, during which they familiarize themselves with the surface meaning of the text and then probe it for deeper meaning. Effective guided-reading activities allow students to apply their background knowledge and experience to the "new." They provide students with means to revise predictions; search for tentative answers; gather, organize, analyze, and synthesize evidence; and begin to make assertions about their new understanding. Common guided-reading activities include response journals and collaborative work on open-ended problems. During guided reading, Jacobs recommends that teachers transform the factual questions that typically appear at the end of a chapter into questions that ask how or why the facts are important.

The ability to monitor one's own reading often distinguishes effective and struggling readers. Thus, guided-reading activities should provide students with the opportunity to reflect on the reading process itself — recording in a log how their background knowledge and experience influenced their understanding of text, identifying where they may have gotten lost during reading and why, and asking any questions they have about the text. As with prereading, guided-reading activities not only enhance comprehension but also promote vocabulary knowledge and study skills.

Stage Three: Postreading

During postreading, students test their understanding of the text by comparing it with that of their classmates. In doing so, they help one another revise and strengthen their arguments while reflecting and improving on their own.

Writing to Learn

Writing is often used as a means of evaluating students' understanding of a certain topic, but it is also a powerful tool for engaging students in the act of learning itself. Writing allows students to organize their thoughts and provides a means by which students can form and extend their thinking, thus deepening understanding. Like reading-to-learn, writing can be a meaning-making process.

Research suggests that the most effective way to improve students' writing is a process called inquiry. This process allows students to define and test what they would like to write before drafting. To help students prepare their arguments, teachers guide them through the three stages of writing-based inquiry:

• Stating specific, relevant details from personal experience;
• Proposing observations or interpretations of the text; and
• Testing these assertions by predicting and countering potential opposing arguments. Through inquiry, students discover and refine something worth writing about.

Writing-to-learn activities can include freewriting (writing, without editing, what comes to mind), narrative writing (drawing on personal experience), response writing (writing thoughts on a specific issue); loop writing (writing on one idea from different perspectives) and dialogue writing (for example, with an author or a character.) "Not surprisingly," writes Jacobs, "writing-to learn activities are also known as 'writing-to-read' strategies — means by which students can engage with text in order to understand it."

Reading, writing, and understanding

The relationship among reading, writing, and understanding is clear. Students engaged in reading-to-learn will also be prepared to write well. In turn, students who are engaged in writing-to-learn will become more effective readers. Through both approaches, students will gain a better understanding of material and a greater ability to demonstrate that understanding.

Staff Development

Jacobs recommends that teachers who are considering whether to implement reading-to-learn and writing-to-learn strategies into their classroom first define their own instructional goals. If teachers decide that their goals for students' learning include "understanding," then they might ask themselves such questions as, "What strategies do I use to prepare my students to read a text?" or "How explicitly do I share with students the purpose of an assignment?" As Jacobs sees it, "Only after teachers have examined whether teaching for understanding suits their instructional goals and after they have defined their role in facilitating understanding can they consider how the principles and practices of reading-to-learn and writing-to-learn might support their instruction."

For those teachers who decide that teaching for understanding does indeed suit their instructional goals, the framework offered in Jacobs' article can help them skillfully integrate reading-to-learn and writing-to-learn strategies across their instruction.

Usable Knowledge

Connecting education research to practice — with timely insights for educators, families, and communities

Related Articles

Word Generation at Work

The Bilingual Learner's Journey

A new lens on how teachers can support English-language learners by affirming their identities

The Applied Science of Learning

By aligning instruction with the science of learning, educators can to help their students better absorb lessons in the classroom

Browse Course Material

Course info.

• Dr. Andrea Walsh

Departments

• Comparative Media Studies/Writing

As Taught In

• Media Studies
• Creative Writing

Learning Resource Types

Writing and experience: reading and writing autobiography, course description.

The reading and writing in this course will focus on the art of self-narrative or autobiographical writing. Such writing can be crafted in the form of a longer autobiography or of separate, shorter autobiographically-inspired essays. The various forms of autobiographical narrative can both reflect on personal experience and comment on larger issues in society.

This course explores, through reading and writing, what it means to construct a sense of self-and a life narrative-in relation to the larger social world of family and friends, education, media, work, and community. What does it mean to see ourselves as embodying particular ethical values or belonging to a certain ethnic, racial, national or religious group(s)? How do we imagine ourselves within larger “family narrative(s)” and friendship groups? In what ways do we view our identities as connected to and expressed by our educational and work experiences, including experiences at MIT? How do we see ourselves as shaping and shaped by the popular media culture of our society? How do we think about our ethical and social responsibility to our friends, families and communities (large and small)? Readings will include autobiographically-inspired nonfiction and fiction.

You are leaving MIT OpenCourseWare

• Environment
• Information Science
• Social Issues
• Argumentative
• Cause and Effect
• Classification
• Compare and Contrast
• Descriptive
• Exemplification
• Informative
• Controversial
• Exploratory
• What Is an Essay
• Length of an Essay
• Generate Ideas
• Types of Essays
• Structuring an Essay
• Outline For Essay
• Essay Introduction
• Thesis Statement
• Body of an Essay
• Writing a Conclusion
• Essay Writing Tips
• Drafting an Essay
• Revision Process
• Fix a Broken Essay
• Format of an Essay
• Essay Examples
• Essay Checklist
• Essay Writing Service
• Pay for Research Paper
• Write My Research Paper
• Write My Essay
• Custom Essay Writing Service
• Admission Essay Writing Service
• Pay for Essay
• Academic Ghostwriting
• Write My Book Report
• Case Study Writing Service
• Dissertation Writing Service
• Coursework Writing Service
• Lab Report Writing Service
• Do My Assignment
• Buy College Papers
• Capstone Project Writing Service
• Buy Research Paper
• Custom Essays for Sale

Can’t find a perfect paper?

• Free Essay Samples

My Experience in Reading and Writing

Updated 25 October 2023

Subject Learning ,  Books

Downloads 63

Category Education ,  Literature

Topic Reading

Reading and Writing Experiences in High School

Reading is an important aspect that brings about happiness, courage, and pleasure. Writing, on the other hand, enables an individual to learn diverse ways of self-expression, develop writing skills, and improve on vocabulary. Since High school, I have had different experiences in reading and writing especially in my English class. Some of the experiences were inspiring while some were embarrassing, but all incidences increased my motivation to learn and practice a lot. In High School, we had an English lesson four days a week, but each day at home, I would study English three to four hours daily. I enjoyed my classes since we did a lot of reading and writing exercises. The teacher included discussions on grammar, article, and essay reviews, writing formats, for example, the MLA formats and essay structures. The most memorable moment was when we had to do essay reviews. I did three peer reviews on my classmate essays. I had never done the exercise before, but I read other students' essays and tried to correct grammar mistakes using the knowledge I had acquired through reading. The second memorable exercise was when I successfully made a presentation of the book Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. In the presentation, I managed to outline five elements of fiction that include point of view, theme, character, setting, plot, and the author's purpose of writing the piece.

Expectations and Learning Improvements

When registering for this course, I had little idea about reading, however, in writing, I had no idea that an essay had structures and the formatting styles in writing. While reading, I just read texts to finish and grab little knowledge I could get. I had little expectations that are to learn reading fluently and reduce grammar mistakes in my writings. My expectations were not only met but exceeded in this course. I realized that reading has a lot to it, I now critically analyze a passage to understand things like plots in narratives, the point of view, themes, and motifs that help me know a lot about a particular story. In writing, I had numerous grammar mistakes, subject-verb agreement, and tense agreement, but a lot of reading, writing exercises, and working with a tutor in college have helped me reduce the mistakes I made.

Preferred Study Environment

I do all my homework at home; however, sometimes I find it hard to research when I need books and other materials like old newspapers. I would love to do my assignments in a library; researching on the internet at home sometimes is distracting. I find myself watching movies, reading other articles hence I take a lot of time finishing my assignments. In most cases, I do my homework in the evening due to school activities that take much of my day. During this period, I am either tired or overwhelmed with the day's events. Thus, I take a long time to focus, and I find myself easily distracted. The ideal time to do my assignments is in the morning; I am more alert and focused in the morning since I have had a good night's sleep.

Texts Covered in Class

This semester we have led numerous texts in class. For instance, 'An Army of One: Me' and iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, Chapter 4 'Insecure. The new Mental Health Crisis' by Jean M. Twenge, 'Note to Selfie' by John Dickerson, 'In the Beginning was the Word' by Christine Rosen, 'I Tweet Therefore I Am' by Peggy Orenstein, 'Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment' by Frank Luntz, and 'The Language of Advertising' by Charles A. O'Neil. I love the article by Frank Luntz, 'Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment'. This article has improved my writing as I have learned that to persuade a reader, one has to use credible and numerous examples in their article. My reading has also improved as I analyze the text to look for information that convinces me.

Essays in My Portfolio

I have included several essays in my portfolio, and the first one is 'Technology is a tool for self-expression'. The thesis of the piece states, "I believe social media has decreased education and literacy culture but has become an essential tool for self-expression since it captures moments in a better way than words would do." In this easy my arguments asset that technology has reduced education and literacy culture. People prefer to watch videos and read a summarized version of books and articles than learn a whole book. Individuals can no longer read due to the distraction and attention-seeking behavior that occurs online. However, technology has developed the self-expression aspect of individuals. For example, it is easy to capture moments as they happen without any form of editing. The instantaneous feature of technology aids individuals to express their ideas, perceptions, and moments through features like videos and photographs. Applications like Twitter allow people to write what they feel in the least words possible as many times as they want in a day. The paper was a little bit difficult since I had to read three different articles and synthesize the ideas of the writers. The good points in my last draft include the opening statement, the topic statements in starting each paragraph, and the conclusion that captured my understanding of the articles and the arguments presented. While writing this essay I learned that it is possible to synthesize ideas from different writers and use them to make original discussions about a particular subject.

My capstone essay was about the Nissan Advertising Campaign. The thesis statement posits, "I believe that Nissan Motor Co. Ltd successfully uses advertisements to entice their potential consumers and grow their profit margin. The company uses nature-themed images and catchy phrases to arouse the interest of the viewers to seek more information about their products." In the paper, my arguments affirm that the Nissan advertisement campaigns have played a significant role in the success as a motor company and led to growth in profits, revenue, and expansion to different countries. The paper was not difficult to write since all information was available. I aced several challenges with the accessing the Toyota financial statements that I had to compare with that of Nissan. The Toyota Company did not reveal some of their financial statements making it hard to make a comparison of sales and profits. Some of the good points included the writing the thesis statement and the arguments in each paragraph. I need to work more on connecting ideas throughout each section to create a cohesive flow. While writing this essay I learned a lot about the importance of advertisements and the language of advertising. I learned a lot about Nissan Motor Company and that while writing about a company I need to connect all ideas to my thesis statement.

Strengths and Weaknesses

My reading problem was reading too quickly without taking the time to grab the essence of the writing. My strength is writing short notes while reading. While reading the article 'Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment' by Frank Luntz, I wrote short notes to help me get the primary purpose of the reading and the message the author was trying to pass. My weakness in writing is grammar mistakes tense agreement and subject-verb agreement. My strength is in my researching skills. I conduct in-depth research about a topic before I write, for example, in the Nissan Advertisement essay, I did a lot of research from the background information on the company, previous advertisements, and financial statements to ensure that the information I write will be credible.

Memorable Activities and Challenges

The most memorable activities this semester are reviewing articles and writing exercises. The activities have helped me improve my writing skills and reduce grammar mistakes in the papers. The article review exercises have helped me develop a critical approach in analyzing and reading texts. While reading, I try to find out the main arguments the writers present, the target audience, and the information presented.

The challenges I encountered were incorporating the new information I learned in class. However, the regular exercises and individual reading at home ensured that I retained the information and learned how to integrate the ideas into my reading and writing. Learning to write and write papers free of grammar mistakes is the greatest satisfaction I have had from this course.

Future Plans

In the future, I hope to be a good writer and write blogs, articles, and books. Reading and writing skills will play an important role. I will be able to write, I will provide facts and examples in real life that will persuade them to a particular course. Finally, I will help other people behind me who have difficulty in reading and writing as a tutor.

Deadline is approaching?

Wait no more. Let us write you an essay from scratch

Related Essays

Related topics.

Find Out the Cost of Your Paper

Type your email

By clicking “Submit”, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy policy. Sometimes you will receive account related emails.

• Our Mission

5 High-Impact Writing Strategies for the Elementary Grades

Simple, effective exercises can help elementary students develop the foundational writing skills they need for their academic journey.

When considering writing as part of the instructional day, teachers may think only of the type of writing where students engage in storytelling or informational pieces. While the ability to leverage student choice and produce fiction and nonfiction text is beneficial for all grade levels, it’s important to consider how writing can be incorporated and layered across all content areas, as well as develop the deep foundational understanding to prepare young writers for authoring texts.

For us as teachers, it’s vital that we share a common language and understanding about the types of high-impact writing strategies that students can engage in and how to effectively implement them in the classroom. 

1. Handwriting in the Early Grades

In the digital age, prioritizing handwriting education during phonics instruction remains instrumental in nurturing well-rounded learners and sets them up for success when more stamina is required of them. The tactile experience of handwriting establishes a profound connection between language and sensory perception, contributing increased cognitive development .

Teachers can adopt a common path of movement language (language used to describe how to form the letters) when teaching the letters. In addition to that, providing students with multisensory ways of forming the letters helps create a strong understanding of the letters’ features.

A practical example of this type of instruction is having students trace a lowercase a in a tray full of salt, repeating the path of movement language, “over, around, down.” Then, students practice writing the letter using a pencil or dry erase marker. As the teacher models the directionality, it’s important to ensure that students know what “over,” “around,” and “down” mean and look like and that the teacher is using on-the-spot intervention for correction.

2. Dictated Sentences

Utilizing dictated sentences in elementary phonics instruction holds profound importance in nurturing early literacy skills. This strategy serves as a powerful bridge between decoding individual phonemes and comprehending them within a meaningful context. 

For example, in a phonics lesson where students are practicing decoding and spelling words with a short i vowel and have practiced reading the high-frequency words they and the , the teacher may end the lesson with students writing the dictated sentence, ”They will fill the big bin with wigs.”

This method encourages the application of phonics knowledge in real-word scenarios, promoting fluency and automaticity. In addition, dictated sentences provide a valuable opportunity for students to hone their listening skills, enhancing their ability to discern and reproduce distinct phonetic elements accurately and to authentically apply irregularly spelled high-frequency words in context. This practice benefits students of any grade level working on phonics skills.

3. Writing to Read

Another foundational type of writing that prepares students for more demanding types of writing in later grades is writing to read. This is an interactive approach to early writing instruction where the teacher models early literacy and print concepts starting as early as prekindergarten through early kindergarten. Through collaboration with the students, the teacher models drawing pictures and sentence creation.

Teachers can start by engaging students in a conversation around an event in a book or nursery rhyme they read together. Then, the teacher offers a prompt: “In the story, the characters went to play at the park. That gives me an idea for a story. What kinds of things do you like to do at the park?” Students can share multiple ideas for the story, and the teacher chooses one to model. 

While the teacher explicitly models drawing and develops a sentence about the drawing, the students offer ideas on where to start writing, count the words in the story, identify the sounds they hear as the teacher spells out each word, and notice where spaces will occur. The more that students engage in this type of instruction, the more responsibility we can hand over to them, and they can write the story along with us. As students are given more opportunities to apply early writing principles and rereading strategies, they begin to understand the reciprocal relationship between reading and writing.

4. Reading to Write

When the foundations for early writing have been established, students can quickly move into another layer of high-impact writing, which is writing about the texts that they’re reading. 

Even starting in kindergarten, encouraging students to write and/or draw in response to reading across multiple content areas is a valuable strategy that helps deepen comprehension and understanding of a particular topic, as explored in Linda J. Dorn and Carla Soffos’s book Teaching for Deep Comprehension .

These “writing about the reading” prompts require students to analyze, synthesize, and connect ideas, fostering a deeper understanding of the material. For example, if first-grade students are working on story elements, after reading a story, a student might write, “The character in the story is a bear who lives in the forest. The problem in the story is that he is sad, but he solves his problem when he learns to be happy.” 

This expression encapsulates comprehension, language reinforcement, and academic vocabulary. As students progress through grade levels upward to 12th grade, the scaffold of giving the students a prompt for writing about the text should decrease as they develop enough self-regulation to write about their own thinking.

5. Writing About Learning

Similar to reading to write, this strategy is solely focused on writing about what the student has learned, why the learning is important, and when to use the learning. This type of writing can happen as early as kindergarten, but in a highly scaffolded manner that mostly focuses on articulating why the learning is important.

Students up to 12th grade can benefit from writing about their learning because it keeps the purpose of what they’re learning in various content areas relevant and promotes quick retrieval of the information.

This strategy also promotes metacognition , because it helps learners organize their thoughts and reflect on their learning process. For instance, a second-grade class could collaboratively study the nature of bees in a nonfiction text. Then, because the teacher focuses on the skill of identifying and explaining main ideas and details, a student may write, “I learned the main idea by using headings and key details. Knowing main ideas helps us understand the most important information in a text.”

As literacy lags nationwide, Purdue researcher highlights ways to enhance reading and writing in young children

Written By: Rebecca Hoffa, [email protected]

A text message from a friend. A product label at the grocery store. A street sign. Even in the most basic elements of day-to-day life, reading is everywhere.

Cammie McBride , professor in the Purdue University Department of Human Development and Family Science and associate dean for research in the College of Health and Human Sciences , has dedicated her career to taking a global approach toward understanding how children learn to read, exploring literacy across English and Chinese languages, among others.

“Children need to learn to read and write because it helps us navigate our environments,” McBride said. “If we can’t read, that’s more difficult. If you look worldwide, illiteracy is correlated with gross domestic product and the learning of a country’s people.”

Cammie McBride

From contributing to a massive open online course (MOOC) titled “Teaching Struggling Readers Around the World” to developing new resources and screening capabilities, McBride’s developmental psychology approach toward literacy ranges from cognitive linguistics, or how the brain processes language, to the relationships among parents, children and teachers and how those influence reading and writing.

McBride also serves as a co-lead on a $1.5 million grant to strengthen literacy preparation for Indiana teachers using science-based methods.

“My whole career, I’ve tried to look at how children read in different aspects,” McBride said. “I’m really interested in: Does reading develop from birth or before birth even? There are lots of aspects that go into reading that start at the very beginning. I’ve always been interested in those developmental models.”

McBride noted that one of her most interesting research findings has been enhancing understanding of a new cognitive-linguistic skill that has a direct impact for reading in Chinese as well as vocabulary in English, Dutch and other languages. The task requires children to put together morphemes, or the smallest unit of meaning in language, in ways that make sense. For example, if a teacher or parent gave the example that the sun going down in the sky is called a sunset and then asked the child what the moon going down in the sky would be called, the expectation would be the child would answer “moonset.” They’re putting together smaller units in ways that make sense.

“I think this task is really useful because we can test vocabulary to improve vocabulary, but this is another way, which is a focus on morphemes and how they come together,” McBride said. “If you understand how to put these together to make new aspects of meaning, you tend to be a better reader in Chinese, but also, this is a really good way to test for kids’ vocabulary development over time in every language. It’s a fun task — kids love to do that.”

McBride uses cognitive-linguistic skills like the example above in her research to understand methods for assessing children’s literacy and training teachers and families in what children need to learn to read. In order to read, McBride explained children must develop both oral language, such as vocabulary and forming sentences, as well as an understanding of print, such as understanding letters and their sounds. She explained that assessing children’s literacy skills early is important to keep them on track in their reading and writing development.

“These cognitive-linguistic skills are things we use in assessment and training,” McBride said. “Most 3- and 4-year-olds cannot read, and it would be weird to try to test them with reading materials before they can read, but you need to catch them quickly so that they don’t have a sense of failure and are always trying to catch up. If you test them at 3, 4 or 5 on cognitive-linguistic skills, this often can be a good way to determine if they’re at risk for reading difficulties and then give them some tools to help them improve.”

McBride mentioned dialogic reading is an effective tool parents can use to build up their child’s language skills. Rather than simply reading a book and looking at the pictures or testing the child on knowledge presented in the book, dialogic reading turns the process of reading into a conversation. Parents can ask open-ended questions, such as what the child thinks will happen next or if they’ve ever had a similar situation happen to them. The goal is to encourage two-sided communication.

If the child is struggling with reading, McBride’s go-to piece of advice is giving them more practice. While the same learning methods still can be effective with students who have a learning disorder, such as dyslexia, they may need to put more time and energy into practicing the reading process. McBride suggested literacy-based video games as a great tool to help children master literacy skills they may be struggling with. The important thing to keep in mind is to avoid burning the child out on reading.

“Keep it light because the other part of reading besides oral language and print is motivation,” McBride said. “You don’t want to get kids to feel like they’re being tested early; you want them to get interested themselves.”

After various nationwide setbacks toward literacy resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, McBride is currently looking to take her research one step further by making literacy tests, which screen for children’s risks for reading problems and often are expensive and require a licensed educational psychologist to administer, more accessible. Her most recent work is focusing on the development of affordable online tests for children and families — a significant step in continuing to improve children’s reading preparation.

“If we want to understand if children are maybe at risk for reading and writing problems early, it’s good to have tests that can help us to determine that,” McBride said.

How to Travel and Write an Essay

T raveling to new places and having new experiences can provide wonderful inspiration for writing essays. Immersing yourself in different cultures, interacting with new people, and exploring unfamiliar terrain engages your creative mind. Using your travel adventures as essay topics allows you to share your insightful reflections. Reading reviews of essay writing services can give you ideas on engaging writing styles and techniques to make your travel essay compelling. Here are some tips for traveling and gathering material to write a compelling essay.

Pick a Focused Travel Goal 

Rather than trying to do everything, pick a particular aspect of travel on which to focus your essay. This could involve food, architecture, nature, art, history, or interacting with locals. Choosing a specific emphasis will help shape your travels and give your essay direction. For example, if you want to write about regional cuisine, plan your itinerary around visiting iconic restaurants and food markets. Or if exploring national parks is your priority, design your trip to hike various trails and take in diverse landscapes. Picking a travel concentration spotlights what matters most for your essay topic.

Keep Detailed Notes and Media

Be sure to keep notes about your travel experiences, as memory alone is unreliable. Use your phone or a notebook to write descriptions of key places and events. Capture telling details, snippets of overheard conversations, interesting quotes from people you meet, and your personal reactions. In addition, take ample photos and videos to add visual elements and jog your memory later when writing your essay. Gathering detailed sensory information, verbatim conversations, and media will enable you to vividly convey your travels.

Get Off the Beaten Path 

While tourist hotspots yield common experiences many travelers share, explore lesser-known areas for fresh essay material. Wandering side streets and alleys or chatting with shop owners away from crowds provides unique perspectives. Hiking secluded trails showcases wilderness most never experience. Seeking out locals’ haunts and hidden gems exposes you to rare sights, sounds, and people unlikely to appear in standard travelogues. Venturing off the predictable beaten path unveils captivating topics to distinguish your essay.

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone 

Challenge yourself on your travels by trying things outside your comfort zone, which will give you intriguing insights to inform your writing. Sample exotic cuisine with ingredients you can’t identify. Learn basic phrases in the native language. Navigate public transportation on your own. Talk to strangers from very different backgrounds. Accept an invitation to an unusual cultural event. Pushing past familiar habits and fears boosts opportunities for uncommon experiences, stimulating reflections to share in your essay. Facing uncertainty and discomfort allows you to access a fuller, richer range of travel moments.

Reflect on Your Interior Journey 

While cataloguing external places and events, also focus inward on your inner terrain. Note how travel affects you emotionally and psychologically along with the physical destinations and activities. Record when you feel wonder, irritation, joy, sadness, connection, isolation. Analyze what triggers these responses. Ponder how unfamiliar surroundings surface unanticipated reactions, or how you apply filters and assumptions unconsciously. Consider if this self-discovery challenges or reinforces your worldviews. Examining your interior shifts alongside exterior impressions provides deeper insight. Reading an Academized review reinforced the importance of weaving together outer and inner dimensions to craft a multi-layered essay.

Find Themes and Connections

As you travel and gather essay material, look for overarching themes that emerge. Do certain ideas or patterns recur as you journey? Do you keep learning similar lessons? Find common threads to tie together diverse experiences for a unified essay focusing on key themes. Or spotlight thought-provoking contrasts revealed through your travels. Additionally, consider connections between your voyage and broader context. How do your observations reflect historical, social or cultural phenomena? Can you compare and link your individual trip to larger collective issues? Identifying meaningful themes and links helps shape a compelling, impactful essay.

Craft a Strong Essay Structure 

Once you return from travels filled with observations, memories, artifacts and inspiration, it’s time to organize everything into a structured essay. First, revisit all your travel documentation and media, inventorying the best highlights to develop your central idea. Craft an introduction hooking readers’ interest while overviewing essay themes. Use each subheading to structure key travel experiences into engaging sections reinforced with vivid details, quotes, and examples. Analyze how these experiences interrelate and what insights they reveal associated with your themes. End with a powerful conclusion synthesizing main points and their significance. Edit carefully to refine language, verify facts, streamline structure while intensifying descriptions. Follow this process to translate your travel discoveries into an engaging, insightful essay.

Adding organization through focused subheadings provides natural breaks allowing readers’ eyes to rest while you emphasize key sections. Incorporating variable sentence types creates welcome rhythm and pacing variation. Contrasting longer complex sentences with shorter punchy ones, and trading sentences brimming with adjectives for straightforward construction alternates language patterns to maintain reader interest. Using low perplexity sentences when suitable enhances comprehension. Integrating these creative writing techniques keeps your travel essay lively, clear and compelling from start to finish.

So captivate readers with an essay unveiling your travel adventures and realizations. Immerse in cultural curiosities, venture off script, expand beyond your comfort zone and analyze what you uncover. Then organize intriguing experiences into an engaging essay emphasizing unforgettable impressions that reveal broader insights. With planning and attention, your travels can form the basis for a memorable, meaningful essay.

The post How to Travel and Write an Essay appeared first on Sunny Sweet Days .

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

I’ve spent a lifetime dreading the loss of a parent. And now it’s finally happened

I am shocked at how shocked I am. Why are we so unprepared when the inevitable comes to pass?

R ound at my mate’s house, one Saturday morning when I was 17 years old, something astounding appeared on his television. This was 3 November 1984. I know this for sure because I just looked it up. It was the day Indira Gandhi was cremated. Laid out on a sandalwood pyre, her head clearly visible, her body – her actual body – was in plain sight as her son lit the pyre to see his mother, in the words of most newspaper reports, consigned to flames .

I was aghast, horrified. But my friend’s dad said a thing that made me think again. It went something like this: “No, I think it’s very healthy. Death’s too hidden away in our society. I was in my 40s before I saw a dead body, and it was my father’s. What preparation did I have for that?” These words stuck fast in my mind.

And in the blink of an eye, almost 40 years on, last week it was me finding myself with a dead body for the first time, and it was my dad’s. Where was my preparation for this moment? I’d picked up precious little since watching Gandhi’s mortal remains disappear on that wide-eyed morning half a lifetime ago. Would this moment have been any easier if I’d spent the intervening years in a society less inclined to hide away its dead, in a world of public, coffin-less cremations or wakes with open caskets? I don’t know. I asked a couple of close friends with experience of both, one of Punjabi heritage, the other Irish. They didn’t know either. Both winced at some challenging childhood memories.

I tried to compute what was in front of me. I was surprised at how sure I was that the body itself was now irrelevant. His soul, his consciousness, his – how can I put it? – his himness had vanished. It wasn’t him. This was reassuring insomuch as it rendered what I was looking at kind of meaningless. But that’s not to say I will ever be able to unsee it so, again, I just don’t know.

I remain shocked at how shocked I am at his dying. After all, he was 86, we knew it was coming and it was a mercy to him – to all of us – that it came when it did. And though I loved him greatly, I’m surprised and even a bit guilty about being so terribly upset. It feels not far short of self-indulgent when I share the news with those of my friends who lost parents, let alone siblings and children, way before their time. It’s these tragedies that consume our attention, which is quite understandable, and as it should be. But I for one had slightly lost sight of the fact that standard, common or garden, had-a-good-innings-type deaths of aged parents remain bloody awful.

So, if you don’t mind, herewith, in no particular order, some thoughts. Just stuff that’s occurred to me since my dad had a fall (dread phrase), fracturing his shoulder, on 20 January. He was discharged from A&E that night, and a few days later a rehabilitation bed was found for him in a rural community hospital nearly an hour’s drive away. He died there six weeks later.

Here’s a thing: in the 10 days since, I’ve typed that word died hundreds of times, yet I’m still shocked every time I do so. Just when I was starting to get used to it, I got a text referring to my “dad’s death”. I’d not seen it expressed like that. Death. Death rather than died. It floored me. Odd that. Dying, too; I flinched as I typed that above. Wow. If even the most basic nouns and verbs lie in wait, scattered on this Via Dolorosa like shards of glass, how are you supposed to negotiate any of it?

This little hospital was a nice place, with kindness available to him day and night. But it slowly became clear he wouldn’t be coming out of there. I suppose the thing about a deathbed is that you don’t want to be on it for too long. For a while it felt as if he was stuck between a life he didn’t want to live any more and a death he didn’t want to die. The notion of life being thrown into reverse, into “the whole hideous inverted childhood”, as Larkin put it , turns out to be devastatingly, almost farcically accurate. Of all the many indignities involved there was one that finished me off: seeing Dad reduced to drinking from a sippy cup. A sippy cup, for fuck’s sake. Enough. I just looked up that poem and couldn’t even get past its title. I can’t even type the title here. I may well never read it again.

As the end rushed towards us, I realised that there are two types of people in the world. There are those who are familiar with dying and death, and there are those who aren’t. In the former group are doctors and nurses, emergency service workers, clerics, undertakers and so on. These people, and thank God for them, know what to expect and what to do. In the vast majority are the rest of us, who are woefully – mercifully? – short of “hands-on” experience of the dead. And still less of the process of dying, of the hours, minutes and moments before the end comes.

Initially, alone with him, I veered wildly between fear, gratitude, horror, grief, patience and impatience. I sat, stood or paced around. I did a Wordle, read a Jack Reacher novel, ate a scotch egg. Everything felt a bit wrong. Once the rest of the family were there it felt better. All the above still applied but now a little laughter found its way into the room. And so the moments passed.

And then it happened.

All my life I’d worried about my dad dying. Other close family too, obviously, but mainly my dad. I’ve no idea why. Here I was, around half a century after I first started worrying about this very thing happening. And it had happened. I couldn’t, and can’t, get my head around much at all. About the only thing I am sure of is that 50 years of worrying about it was properly pointless. Because imagining – let’s call it pre-feeling – this pain turned out to be no preparation at all for the real thing.

Peter John Chiles. Born 18 February 1938. Died 9 March 2024.

Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

• Death and dying
• Parents and parenting

Most viewed

Best Reading Tablets: Get the Right Tablet for Your Books and Comics

Get reading done, but without a book.

Reading your favorite books on the go can be a difficult thing to do, especially if you’re already carrying about a million things with you, so turning to e-books may end up saving you from a backache. Whether you prefer an actual e-reader, like one of the best kindles or if you'd rather just read on one of the best tablets , that’s up to you – there are advantages to either.

TL;DR - These are the best tablets to read on:

• Kindle Paperwhite 2021
• Kindle Fire HD 8
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite
• Boox Note Air3

To have a great experience when reading an e-book, you need a tablet with a good screen that's easy to handle. While dedicated e-readers are fantastic, you can simply install apps to read your e-books on a regular tablet as well.

1. Kindle Paperwhite

The best kindle and best reading tablet.

• Great illuminated display and battery life
• Water-resistant
• No wireless charging

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is king among e-book readers. It's small enough that you can carry it anywhere, with battery that'll last for days. The Kindle Paperwhite features a 6.8-inch e-Ink screen with a 300 ppi resolution, which is ideal for reading since there’s no glare to speak of and little to no blue light. Even better, the Paperwhite has 17 LEDs to light up the display from the sides, making it super comfortable to read in any condition.

The Kindle Paperwhite is one of the best ways to read books, allowing us to focus on the book and eliminating all outside distractions such as app notifications, emails, calls, and so on. It’s just you and your book. If necessary, the Kindle’s browser gives you access to anything you need to research.

2. iPad Mini

Best ipad for reading.

• Fantastic display
• Compact and portable
• Screen glare due to glossy screen

If you’re caught in the Apple universe, then you’re going to want an iPad mini to read your books. It’s a smaller tablet, measuring just 8.3 inches, but it’s still an iPad. It has a Liquid Retina display, which is gorgeous and you can adjust the screen brightness to match whatever you need when reading. Thanks to the True Tone technology, the iPad will automatically adjust the display’s color temperature based on the ambient light conditions, which is always great.

At the same time, the iPad mini features Apple’s A15 chipset, which means it’s quite a powerful device, being able to run any app you want, from social media to streaming to games. This is also a super light tablet so you can easily carry it with you anywhere you go while also holding it in a single hand when lying in bed and trying to get through another chapter. The only downside is battery life – at least when compared to an e-reader – because you’ll need to charge the iPad mini pretty frequently. Apple boasts that it has battery life of about 10 hours, but if you watch videos and so on, you’ll get much less than that.

3. Kindle Fire HD 8

Best tablet for reading comics.

• Long battery life
• Lower resolution

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly tablet that will also serve as a great platform to read comics on, then the Fire HD 8 may be a solid option. Not only is this Amazon tablet compact enough to carry anywhere you want to go or to hold in one hand when you’re trying to finish another issue, but it’s also super affordable. Since you can get this one for as low as $65 during sale events, you can’t expect it to be a speed devil with a fantastic screen and fabulous battery.

So, while it may not be the best tablet out there, you can launch the Kindle app to read your books or comics, use Alexa to control various smart home devices or scroll through TikTok while still reeling from that one scene you just finished reading. The Fire HD 8 even has a decent battery life, so you’ll do just fine using this tablet for reading.

4. Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

Best Android Tablet for Reading

• Large and bright display
• Comes with an S-Pen for note-taking
• LCD screens could tire your eyes easily

If you want an Android tablet, then the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is a great option. While it’s slightly larger than other tablets on our list, we picked it over other models for its screen quality. With a resolution of 2000 x 1200 pixels, you’ll get crisp and clear letters even if you do go for a smaller font size.

The Tab S6 Lite also comes with an S Pen, so you can easily take notes based on what you read. What’s more, since this is an Android tablet, you can do everything you do on your phone – watch movies, doomscroll through social media, play games, and so on. You also get a wide range of e-book and audiobook apps to choose from.

5. Boox Note Air3

Best Reading and Writing Tablet

• Large E-Ink display
• Allows note-taking

The Boox Note Air3 is a bit more expensive than other tablets for reading, but it will easily cover all your reading and writing needs. This is an Android tablet with an E-Ink screen, meaning you get the same fantastic reading experience as a Kindle. There’s no glare and your eyes will be less tired than when reading on an LCD screen since there’s no blue light to speak of.

The Boox Note Air 3 will also replace your notebooks because you can use the stylus to write down your thoughts, make lists, and so on. You can install whatever Android apps you want to, but keep in mind that the E-Ink screen has loads of limitations when it comes to watching videos or playing games. So, while the tablet does have the power to do everything else an Android tablet can do, not even setting the maximum refresh rate available will help this screen deliver a decent video.

How to Choose the Best Reading Tablet

Choosing the best reading tablet requires careful consideration of several factors to ensure that the device meets your specific needs. Whether you're an avid reader delving into novels, a student reviewing textbooks, or a professional keeping up with all the files your boss keeps sending, selecting the right tablet can significantly enhance your reading experience.

One of the main things you have to look into is the display's quality. The screen is where your eyes will spend most of their time, making display quality paramount. Eye comfort is also crucial, especially for extended reading sessions. Tablets with blue light reduction features or e-ink technology, which mimics the appearance of paper, can help reduce eye strain. E-Ink screens are easier on the eyes, but LCDs are more versatile if you want to use the same tablet for multiple purposes.

Long battery life is essential for uninterrupted reading, especially when on the move. Looking into tablets with a solid battery life will ensure that you can enjoy your books, magazines, or documents without constantly worrying about finding the next power outlet.

Lastly, size and weight affect how comfortably you can hold the tablet for long periods. While larger screens provide more immersive reading experiences, they should not compromise the device's portability. A lightweight, slim design makes it easier to carry your tablet in a bag or even hold it with one hand.

Best Tablets for Reading FAQ

What is the best tablet for reading?

If you want a device that’s fantastic for reading, then the Kindle Paperwhite is the one to choose. It has a great screen, it’s comfortable to use for long hours, has a great battery life and it’s even IPX8 waterproof. If you’re looking for a device that can help you multitask, then you’re going to want to get the iPad Mini or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, depending if you prefer iOS or Android.

Are tablets good for reading books?

Sure they are, but you’re going to be well aware that regular LCD screens will tire your eyes much faster than an e-Ink model. Battery life is also something you’ll want to keep in mind because tablets don’t last as long as a Kindle, for instance, since their hardware is more demanding.

IGN Recommends