Krista Ramesy

I decided to read the column about a reading teacher who wants students to pass a test and love books at the same time.

Summary: Krista Ramsey talks about a third grade teacher who works really hard to tutor and teach students how to pass the reading OAA test. This teacher tries not bore kids with reading but rather incorporates fun activities to get them to love reading.

Column: Krista Ramsey Column

Best Line: I think that the best line in the column is, "For her students, the stakes couldn’t be higher: Pass the 2½-hour Ohio Achievement Assessment or be retained in third grade, at least for language arts." After reading this line in the column, the reader should be kind of intimidated. This line portrays two different spectrums, either pass the test or stay in third grade. One option could make a kid's life better while the other could possibly ruin it. The author uses great diction in this line. For example, she uses words such as "stakes" and "retained". The writing style seems kind of flowery becuase this sentence is very long compared to the rest of the column.

Ramsey's Writing Style: Krista Ramsey's writing style is very unique. I feel like she is kind of formal almost like she is writing an article but she does include some of her own voice which brings out the creativity in her columns. A piece of evidence that supports this claim from the first column, For better vision, kids need time outdoors, "You see it all the time. Your teenager at the dinner table, waiting for his checkup at the orthodontist office, sauntering to his car-continually hunched over his smartphone or iPad." I felt that this line really exemplifies her writing style because at the beginning of the column, she starts off very informal with some examples but later in the column, she starts giving statistics and writes very formally. Based on the above evidence, I feel like this column is written in a very journalistic way. Another piece of evidence that supports this claim from the second column is, "The amazing thing isn't that two super jocks know how to dress well, but that they actually seem to want to." I think that the sentences are very elegant. I feel like they flow very nicely together. This writing makes it informal because she uses the word "jock" and she uses that term very loosely. The last piece of evidence from the third column is, "In her five years of teaching, she’s never retained a single student." The writing style in this column is very solid. The author is to the point and very formal at trying to make her point.

Questions:

• Do you find your inspiration for the columns from everyday life problems?
• How have developed the interest in writing columns?
• Do you get much critisicm for the columns you write?