LMMS Student Discusses Value of Reading, Writing

Special to Patch by Krista Slifka, Lower Macungie Middle School 6th Grade Student

In my 6th grade Language Arts class at LMMS we did an interview project. Each of us had to find a person to interview. But, it could not be in your immediate family. Then once we found the person to interview, we used technology to record the interview. For example, some students their used iPods, phones, flip cameras, etc. It was a lot fun. Also, in class our teacher got special permission to use Skype in class to interview some more people.

I learned a lot from the  community member interview interview project. One of the main things I learned was, it does not matter what someone's occupation is they will always need and use reading and writing skills. Also, I think that reading and writing is really important, even outside people's jobs. People use reading and writing pretty much their whole lives. For example, when students are in elementary school through high school, they write essays, read textbooks and just read for fun. Then, if someone would want to get a part time job, while in school, he or she would need to make a resume. Similarly when people go to college, they have to apply for acceptance. At college they do a lot of reading and writing. After that, someone might want to apply for a more permanent job. In that job, they will use reading and writing as well. To sum it up, reading and writing are very important skills to have.

In class, we interviewed two men via Skype with totally different careers. Then, I interviewed another man myself. The first person we interviewed as a class worked for an adhesive company, the other one for a well-known radio station. The man who worked for the radio station uses reading and writing constantly. One way he uses reading is, he has to read a lot of articles that reporters wrote, then edit them. Similarly, he uses writing when he rewrites some parts of the articles that the reporters originally wrote. Also, sometime he gets to be a reporter himself! I think that would be a cool thing to do.

The other man works for an adhesive company, uses reading and writing a different way in his job. He uses reading when he reads emails and reports from other companies if the adhesive is not working properly. Outside of work, he sends emails to parents of a sports team he coaches and he also reads for fun.

Finally, I interviewed my uncle. He is a national sales manager for a company. He uses reading and writing in some similar ways as the other men, but in other ways too. For example, he reads and types a lot of emails everyday. But, he sometimes uses long-hand when he writes speeches. Outside of work, he reads the newspaper. Similarly, he types and reads emails to and from his siblings and friends. Obviously, all the men have different careers, but they all used reading and writing.