8 Writing Assignments I Hated as a School Kid

Source: Bryan McDonald, Flickr
Source: Bryan McDonald, Flickr

8 Writing Assignments I Hated as a school kid

Book Report on “A Tale of Two Cities” – This was probably one of the worst assignments for me as a student period. As I got older I definitely learned to appreciate Charles Dickson’s work, but as a middle school girl more interested in music videos, reading this book was the pits. On top of that I had to give an oral book report to the class for a grade. We were instructed to make outline notes on index cards….well I used at least three packets of index cards to cover all the points in the book! By the time I was halfway through, half the class was asleep and the teacher rushed me to finish up my report. I guess she was bored too.

Essay on what I did over the summer vacation – In my opinion, there was nothing less stimulating for a writing assignment. Who cares what I did over the summer? Why did we have to write about it every year when school started? Most summers were spent babysitting my siblings, attending summer camp and Vacation Bible School. Boring!

Book report on “Lord of the Flies” – I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. This book freaked me out the first time I read it. The boys killing each other was shocking, and the pig head statue gave me nightmares. Discussing it in English class was horrible because the teacher really wanted to get deep with the pig head. Ugh.

Interpreting Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” – After reading it for English Advanced Placement (Honors) class over the summer of senior year, the teacher was so eager to discuss it once class started. She was also looking forward to our written insight on the book. I wasn’t. Morrison’s work was slow to grow on me so reading such graphic scenarios and having to write about them grossed me out.

Responses to math word problems! Ugh!!! – Not exactly literature, but those word problems were definitely a writing assignment! I dreaded any question that started with “Two trains leaving different stations at the same time…” I could never figure out who arrived first and how!

Drills on subject and predicates – I was pretty good at these assignments, but after a while they really started getting on my nerves. I guess the teacher wanted to make sure everyone mastered it before moving onto the next lesson. So annoying….

Prepositions and adverbs…another ugh!

Diagramming Sentences – What made this so crappy was how the teacher would be so lively and into these exercises! I definitely wasn’t by myself on this one. The entire class groaned when it was time to diagram sentences. It just seemed so much more complex than it had to be!

 

Looking back I am definitely grateful for the English teachers I had growing up. They were serious about their job, they loved the students and they made my life miserable!  🙂 All for good purpose though because they taught me to have pride in my writing and the beauty of literature.

What about you? What writing assignments made you cry out in despair?

 

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