Language Arts Memory

I distinctly remember language arts as a dominate piece of my school curriculum no matter what grade level I happened to be in. One of the most memorable moments I've had of this subject area was during my junior year in high school, when  I decided to take AP English Language and Composition. My teacher assigned us a book, that surprisingly is now and probably forever my most favorite book: The Invisible Man. This book really demonstrated to me what professional writing really was. Reading that book and doing the assignments that went along with them really helped me proficiently understand what it meant to analyse a piece of literature, respond to the author's work, and to evaluate the validity of a statement, concept, or idea within a written text. In elementary school, language arts consisted of literature, English grammar, spelling, and presentations. I'll just go on and say it; language arts was my least favorite subject back in elementary school. No matter how many times the teacher tried her hardest to drill the lessons into my head, grammar concepts never made any sense to me (too many rules and exceptions to the rules), spelling was my weakest spot, and verbal presentations were horrifying because I stuttered as a child. So truly, it wasn't until high school, junior year in that AP English Language and Composition class did I ever appreciate Language Arts for its advantages. The purpose of Language Arts is to teach children to effectively communicate their ideas to another human being, whether on paper or by oral presentation. Thus proper grammar, spelling, and writing skills must be perfected.