What Does it Take to be a Good Reader and Writer?

     As a freshman last year, I had a great English teacher, Mrs. Davis. She would always drive into us the importance of good grammar and having a wide vocabulary. She also instilled in us the importance of being good, active readers. When I think of English classes that I had in the past, I think of writing and memorizing vocabulary. Mrs. Davis helped me to see that there are many ways in which being a good reader is the most important part of being a well prepared English student. First of all, being a good reader includes understanding and synthesizing what you read. A good reader is able to take what they just read and explain it step by step back to you. Another way someone is a good reader is annotation. Annotation is when you make notes and underline important parts of a reading. This was, and always will be, a huge part of Mrs. Davis' class. She would stress to us every day that you can't just read, that you need to understand. Even when she would read in class, she would want us to be active readers and underline key words and ideas.
     Back in middle school I took a class called creative writing. At times, this class was very challenging for me because I never really understood how to master aspects of writing that were key to my success. My teacher wouldn't teach us how to use "elegant sentences" and how to use different writing devices in our creative stories. In 9th grade I finally understood what it took to become a good writer. A good writer will engorge their stories with descriptive words and "elegant sentences" as Mrs. Davis says. A good writer will paint a vivid picture for their audience. A good writer will give the characters and setting of the story a specific name, time, date, and place. Also, a good writer needs to have a creative imagination. I remember writing a creative nonfiction story last year in English 1. Our goal was to write about an important event in our lives, but to make an alternate ending. This is a perfect example of how you need to use the tools I listed. I needed to add descriptive language to the story so my audience would be able to visualize what actually happened. I also needed to have a creative imagination, because I needed and alternate ending. I will always remember this project because I can always look back on how it transformed me into a more creative and imaginative writer.