Kayla started out life with a love for words; it's a running joke in her family that her first word was "helicopter". With her already mature vocabulary, she began reading and understanding small chapter books at the age of four-sometimes being read to by her parents but other times choosing to read independently. Kayla would read every night before bed and sometimes even try to squeeze in a few chapters before school; her childhood was filled with frequent trips to the public library, and her summers filled with reading programs in which she always exceeded the book requirement. But by the time middle school came around, Kayla had less and less time to devote to books. She did not enjoy reading as much, as she did not have time to devote to anything besides homework, sports, and various club meetings anymore. When it came to reading for school, Kayla will admit that she "fake read" her way through many books in middle school and high school to avoid failing assignments and quizzes because of her lack of time. She no longer read in her free time, and she definitely does not choose challenging books to read anymore, as her lack of time and dedication is no longer prevalent and often does not finish the books she starts anyway. She is not currently reading a book, and admits that she has not read a book in full since the beginning of high school, including the books required of classes. Kayla's favorite author is Sarah Dessen, but when she does read a book, it's almost always at random or a book that has been recommended to her without further investment in other books by the same author. She does not enjoy reading books that are required to read by classes, or are not based off true stories or non-fiction. In Kayla's home, she has an estimated two hundred books, but most of which she read in her childhood when she was a more avid reader, so they're not books that she'd currently pick up and read. She does, however, have a stack of ability-appropriate books in a stack under her bed that she has yet to start reading, but plans to as soon as the craziness of the beginning of the school year winds down. She is not a huge fan of literature or books written with old English vocabulary, which may pose a challenge to her as she begins her AP Literature adventure. She definitely has not grown as a reader over the past four years, which she regrets as she plans to attend a college in the future where she will probably be expected to read many pages per week. Overall, she is someone who has lost her spark for reading and has not yet figured out how to get it back.
Kayla's love for writing developed on the opposite side of the spectrum as her love for reading. For her whole life, she found that her ability to write was something that came easy to her, which probably stemmed off of her extensive vocabulary from an early age. That being said, Kayla would consider herself to be a writer, but not in the same way as she would've considered herself one when she first began elementary school. In the beginning of her career as a writer, she would often write stories about imaginary characters and events that she created in her mind. She loved having the ability to control the plot, picture the characters, and twist the story line any way that I wanted to. Now, though, Kayla has picked up writing again in the form of journaling. She loves being able to express her thoughts and ideas in a place where she's the only reader, mostly as a type of debrief from her busy life. Before she picked up journaling, she had a blog, which consisted of her thoughts and feelings in a more publicly accessible form, which she got very positive feedback from but failed to keep up as she got busier. Kayla believes that people generally write for the same reasons that she does; to debrief on the thoughts, feelings, and struggles people may experience in their everyday lives. Writing is kind of stress relief and therapy, sometimes in the form of a rant, which is why Kayla believes it to be more effective for her than sitting down to read a book. In order to write well, people only need to have a minimum knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, and an imagination or lifestyle that promotes the writing of interesting or impactful writing pieces. That being said, writing comes in many different forms that may not include proper grammar and an extensive vocabulary, but would still make a large impact on the readers. When Kayla decides to sit down and write, it often comes from whatever events come to her mind for the day. She doesn't necessarily think about what she'll write before she begins, but let her mind go where it wants to go. Kayla journals daily and loves the affect it's had on her lifestyle, and her writing style has developed into something entirely different over the course of her childhood.
Kayla's love for writing developed on the opposite side of the spectrum as her love for reading. For her whole life, she found that her ability to write was something that came easy to her, which probably stemmed off of her extensive vocabulary from an early age. That being said, Kayla would consider herself to be a writer, but not in the same way as she would've considered herself one when she first began elementary school. In the beginning of her career as a writer, she would often write stories about imaginary characters and events that she created in her mind. She loved having the ability to control the plot, picture the characters, and twist the story line any way that I wanted to. Now, though, Kayla has picked up writing again in the form of journaling. She loves being able to express her thoughts and ideas in a place where she's the only reader, mostly as a type of debrief from her busy life. Before she picked up journaling, she had a blog, which consisted of her thoughts and feelings in a more publicly accessible form, which she got very positive feedback from but failed to keep up as she got busier. Kayla believes that people generally write for the same reasons that she does; to debrief on the thoughts, feelings, and struggles people may experience in their everyday lives. Writing is kind of stress relief and therapy, sometimes in the form of a rant, which is why Kayla believes it to be more effective for her than sitting down to read a book. In order to write well, people only need to have a minimum knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, and an imagination or lifestyle that promotes the writing of interesting or impactful writing pieces. That being said, writing comes in many different forms that may not include proper grammar and an extensive vocabulary, but would still make a large impact on the readers. When Kayla decides to sit down and write, it often comes from whatever events come to her mind for the day. She doesn't necessarily think about what she'll write before she begins, but let her mind go where it wants to go. Kayla journals daily and loves the affect it's had on her lifestyle, and her writing style has developed into something entirely different over the course of her childhood.