Writing Prompts

Adam Carpenter
UWRT 1103
9/3/15
Like many people, learning to read and write is not a single memory that I have. It is a
collection of memories that helped form me into the literate person that I am today. My first
memory of anything resembling literacy is of my older sister and myself sitting on our couch.
She would write out a word and I would attempt to rewrite the letters that she wrote down. Soon
after that I began using Hooked on Phonics, which taught to read whole words and understand
sentences.
Going into kindergarten, I was already reading full picture books. This led to me
believing that I was smart, but as soon as the paragraph was introduced, I was completely lost. I
began going to a reading and writing coach outside of school to help catch me up. This coach
taught me tricks on how not to get lost while reading long sentences and paragraphs. Having the
supplemental reading and writing coach truly boosted my confidence as a reader and writer.
However, at the end of first grade I was tasked with reading in front of the entire elementary
school, and I choked. I could not form a complete sentence, and almost the entire auditorium
erupted in laughter. Needless to say, I was extremely embarrassed. I ran off the stage to my
parents, and told them that I would never read again, which would have been a lot harder than I
realized at the time.
It took years for me to get over my fear of public speaking and reading aloud. It was not until
middle school that I truly became confident with my reading proficiency. Writing has been a
much less stressful realm of literacy to say the least.

Adam Carpenter
Ms. Raymond
UWRT 1103
September 8, 2015
The Art of Description
When I was the seventh grade, I came to a new school where some of my friends were
already attending. My language arts teacher was a petite woman who was shorter than me, which
gave her this approachable presence. We were given an assignment to tell a story from our past,
while using in depth description of the scene. I completed the project to the standards that I
assumed would be satisfactory. However, my teacher felt that I had not fully described the scene
in its entirety. She sat me down during a lunch period to help develop my descriptive skills. We
sat for the lunch period while wrote out almost every adjective that could be used to describe
climbing Mt. Fuji in Japan.
I rewrote the assignment using my impressive list of adjectives, which took much more
time than I wished it had, and turned in my assignment. However, my teacher found that I had
described too many things within the story, and it was nearly impossible to read. I was then
tasked to rewrite the paper once more. I had an immense amount of trouble pinpointing the
perfect amount of description, but after a few days I felt that the paper was at its best.
If my teacher had not truly walked me through the process of deciding what details are
important, and which are not, then I would not be the extremely eloquent and talented person that
I am today.

Adam Carpenter
September 14, 2015
UWRT 1103
Ms. Raymond
Technology Changed My Words
Although the internet had been around for a few years when I was learning to read and
write, it was not as developed as it is today. When learning to write, I was taught to use correct
grammar and syntax. However, when I created my first instant messaging account all of that was
thrown out the window. I was bombarded with new IM lingo that broke all of the rules that I
had been taught in school. An entire new dictionary came with this new world of instant
messaging. We decided that words needed to be shortened or entirely replaced with letters and
acronyms. This led to a lot of people, myself included, making mistakes when writing in
professional settings.
When I first began my experience with writing online, I felt a bit lost. It was as though I
had to learn a new dialect or else I would be banished from the chat rooms. I quickly learned the
rules of instant messaging, and was welcomed with open arms into the virtual world of
conversation. However, this came at a cost. I started using incorrect grammar in my school
essays, which brought my grades down a lot in middle school. Every time that I had to write I
had to make a lot of effort to not use the internet lingo, which proved quite difficult for me. It
was not until I was in high school that I really was able to easy switch between using internet
lingo and correct grammar.

Adam Carpenter
Ms. Raymond
UWRT 1103
September 29, 2015
When I was younger my father would tell me about how my grandfather was a self-made
man. At first I did not understand what that meant, but as I grew older I began to understand the
travails that he had to overcome to reach where he is today. He went from living in a home with
more people than he could count to owning the top floor of a condominium complex.
My grandfather, Jerry Carpenter, spent his first decade in a small house about a hundred
miles from Chicago, Illinois. When he was ten he moved to Gilbert, Arizona, a small suburb
outside of Phoenix. He went to school at Arizona State University while working at Motorola to
pay his tuition. It was while he was working Motorola that he found his interest in electrical
components. He moved up the ladder at Motorola due to his contributions to the semiconductor
industry, which allowed him to travel to various parts of the world. He oversaw much of the
construction of the underwater telephone cables throughout Asia.
He left Motorola to work for a company that specialized in semiconductors, International
Rectifier. He was given a management position there, and was tasked with managing production
plants in various countries. He was sent to Xian in China, Prague in the Czech Republic, and
Tijuana in Mexico. He became quite important within the company by his own efforts, which is
why he is a self-made man
Adam Carpenter

October 1, 2015
UWRT 1103
Ms. Raymond
Many families have practices when naming children, but my family does not. My parents
were given complete freedom when naming me and sister. My last name, Carpenter, comes from
one of my ancestors being a carpenter. My family hails from many parts of northern Europe,
including England and Scandinavia. Many families in these parts of Europe have traditions when
naming children.
In many parts of Scandinavia the first born son will have the same name as his
grandfather, and have his fathers name as his middle name. This practice is very similar to the
naming traditions within the Islamic faith. This is strange because the people of Scandinavia had
very little if any at all contact with Muslims. I do not have an answer for why naming traditions
are so similar between two very different cultures, but I do know that these traditions will
continue for quite a long time.
When naming my children my wife and I will have full control over the names of our
children, but I plan on naming one son Luke and one daughter Leia.

Adam Carpenter
UWRT 1103
October 8, 2015
Ms. Raymond
Although my family originally came from England and various areas in Europe, I have
no claim to citizenship in any of those countries. This is because my family came to America
before the United States gained its independence. I could become a naturalized citizen in those
countries if I was so inclined, but that would be ridiculous because I am already an American
citizen. However, there are multiple ways that I could become a British citizen.
Unless I married a British citizen, I would have to live in the United Kingdom for six
years before I could take a citizenship test. If I was married to a British citizen I would only have
to wait three years before I could take the citizenship test. I am not inclined to become a British
citizen though.
The flag of the United Kingdom changed over the many years that the United Kingdom
changed. However, it has had the same design since 1808. I feel no pride when looking at the
Union Jack, but many British citizens do, so I respect that. I much prefer the American flag,
because it has more stars than the British Flag, but thats just me.

Adam Carpenter
UWRT 1103
Ms. Raymond
November 5, 2015
Talking Motors
While spending time with my roommate, Zach, in our suite, I decided to ask him what he
thought of the topic of internal combustion engines. He said that he did not have any knowledge
about them. He asked me how they worked, which made me realize that most people do not fully
understand how the motors that move their cars work.
My roommate asked many of the same questions that will be covered in the project, but
he seemed interested in the fuel efficiencies of the various types of engines. This made me
realize that society as a whole has become focused on fuel efficiency. Zach seemed less
interested with the history of the engines, but appeared to be quite interested with how internal
combustion engines may evolve in the future.
Throughout my conversation with my roommate, I felt as though there was too much to
cover within a single conversation, which made me think that the topic may need to become
more focused. This will serve to give the project a less broad topic to cover.

Adam Carpenter
UWRT 1103
November 12, 2015
Ms. Raymond
While conducting the research for the semester-long project, I was surprised to find
myself distracted by so many aspects of the internal combustion engine. I found that I would be
researching one aspect of engines, then have a question that takes me away from the research I
was doing. This makes research a very time consuming process.
When researching information on the standard four-stroke engine, I found myself looking
into the various applications of the engine. This would be useful information to have, but I spend
entirely too much time gathering it. I spent multiple hours comparing the uses of four-stroke
engines to the uses for two-stroke engines. This time would be better spent doing pretty much
anything else.
I found that two-stroke motors can be made smaller than four-stroke ones. This makes
them better suited for uses like chainsaws and leaf blowers than four-strokes. I already knew this,
but the science behind it was new to me. This then sparked a new interest in various fuel to oil
ratios and how that affected the performance of the engine, which is too specific of information
to be put in a brief presentation on internal combustion engines.