Ivan Ramirez
Draft 2
There have been many things and people that have influenced both my writing and
reading skills. I have traveled to many places and met many people that have had a huge impact
in my writing and reading. I used to be one of those kids that was never really confident in his
writing ability along with his reading as well. It all went away during high school after I got
much advise from friends, teachers and constantly practiced. It took me a while to get
confident but after long hours of putting in the work I am content with my writing ability. There
has been many teachers that have contributed to my writing ability today and have had many
friends that have had a huge part in it as well.
The biggest teacher that I have had so far that has had the biggest influence in both my
reading and writing skills has to be Mr. Roman. Mr. Roman was my English teacher my junior
year of high school. He taught me so many skills and tactics that comes to do with my reading
and writing that I still use today and plan to keep using. They aren’t huge skills that
automatically mad both my writing and reading better, they were little skills that are crucial
when it comes down to write a paper. He taught me how to properly plan an essay before I
write it in his own different way. A lot of teachers have taught me how to plan essays but the
way he taught me was the easiest and came more naturally for me to do. Most teaches wanted
me to go through this whole process on planning my papers, but he taught me to just write
down a list of potential things I am willing to write about and just bullet point main ideas that
will go in my paragraphs. He told me not to go into specifics when it comes to planning, just to
cover some main points. He also taught me not to follow the five paragraph motto that so
many kids are attached too. I will never forget what he told me, he said “Just write until you
think it’s enough”. He also taught me many other things but those are just some of the ones
that have stuck with me over the years.
Many of my friends have also had a huge contribution to my reading and writing. My
friends have had more of bigger part when it comes down to my reading and annotating
abilities. I would always forget what I read and would always struggled to find important quotes
I read when It came down to doing a paper on a book that I read. I would always complain
about and wined to my friends about it in many occasions. It wasn’t until my friend Kaylie
McGrrady taught me the techniques that she used when she read that I actually started
annotating readings correctly. She told me to underline important quotes and events that I
thought were important. She also taught me to write down little notes after every page I read
to help me out when finding things when I would have to write papers about. I also learned
from her to write a little paragraph summary after reading every chapter to help me remember
the events that occurred in every chapter. I had many friends that gave me plenty of good
advice but she helped me out the most because I started using the techniques right after she
taught them to me.
Overall I am thankful for all the people that have helped me over the years with my
reading and writing. I only mentioned two people in my paper but there have been many other
teachers and friends that have taught me very important skill sets. I would have to write a ten
page paper if I included each and every one of them. I am not saying that my writing is perfect,
not even close. I know that I still have a lot of skills to learn and a lot of work to put in if I want
to be at the writing level that I want to be at. Right now I am content with my writing ability,
but I want to be happy about it. Hopefully I meet many more great teachers and friends that
will take me to the level that I am pursuing.
