My Memories from Language Arts (EDU 307)

The thing that first popped into my head was SSR also known as Sustained Silent Reading. Everyday we were given about thirty minutes of SSR. Everyone would be reading the book they checked out of the library that week and there was absolutely no talking. I enjoyed this time for reading, but at the same time out of the thirty minutes I probably read for about fifteen. I would sometimes write notes back and forth with one of my friends or just become distracted with something. I don't think I ever read for the entire thirty minutes unless I had a really interesting book. Another thing I remember about language arts was learning to write essays. We had to learn how to write essays for the state tests. I remember the essay was very structured and outlined. At first we learned to write and intro, middle, and end. Then we learned how to do an intro, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. We learned how to make different outlines to make our essays better. I am struggling to remember more about what I learned and did during the language arts period of the day. I know we were able to go to the library once a week to pick out books which was always exciting and a nice break from class. Also there were always reading competitions. Every few months you had to write down all of the books you read. At the end of the contest the person who read the most received a prize, the class that read the most received a prize, and the grade level that read the most was recognized. We also had to read over the summer. Summer reading was always such a nuisance. We were assigned books to read which were never interesting and we didn't get to choose which books we read until high school. Language arts was never my favorite subject which could explain why I chose not to minor in English for my Liberal studies major.