A Personal Essay: The History Of My Literacy

My relationship with literacy has been a journey all on its own. From learning how to sound out letters and words, to reading my first sentence , I have developed quite a valuable foundation and platform, that will eventually guide me to success. I have had the pleasure of experiencing a love that just continues to blossom. A love that will never fail, nor will I fail it. This love that I speak of is my passion for reading, writing and literacy as a whole.

All my life, I was always told that I was so smart and advanced for my age. Everything came easy to me: math, writing, reading, sports, and even playing many instruments. All this came with little work. So I seldom ever had to study or practice for anything. This occurred all throughout elementary and middle school. I was even placed in honor classes, yet those classes still turned out to be quite easy for me. I had nothing less than an A, but that was all about to change once I got to high school.

I should have been opened up my eyes to reading and writing because I want to be a teacher, assistant. I always liked working with kids, and I will like to be a great assistant. Since there's no way to become a teacher assistant or even a teacher without having reading and writing skills, I will have to read and write more often. It is like King says "If you want to be a writer, you must do to things above all others: Read a lot and write a lot" (72, 73). If I want to be a teacher assistant or maybe a teacher one day I must ameliorate my reading and writing. I will do everything I need to do in order to get to my

Literacy has applied over the course of my education and my life. As an education major, I believed that literacy was an ability to learn how to read and write. Furthermore, literacy has been a part of my education. I have come to an understanding that literacy is a lot more than what it seems. It’s about expressing yourself that includes your opinions and feelings. As a college student, I still feel like my literacy is evolving with every essay I write. But, through my literacy autobiography and literacy experiences. I have gained through the process of “growing up” as an educator. I 'd like to capture the hearts and minds of readers through my journey and experiences with literacy. As I take you back into the past of how literacy has grown inside me. I would one day like to show how these experiences will influence my teaching strategies.

I was never truly an avid reader when I was younger. I was the oldest of five siblings and left in charge of taking care of my younger brothers and sister. I was more prone to spending time outside than reading a book. Of course, I did find myself enjoying a good mystery novel, but playing ball would always trump even a good book. All through school, I would find myself actively participating in one sport to another. I loved being active and thinking only of what I wanted to do. Life has a way of becoming a reality. The choices I made during my younger years have followed me to my current years. The busyness of work, family, and children have restricted my own freedom of time. Reading has become my favorite way of personal freedom without having to leave home. My favorite author at this present time is Beth Moore. She meticulously portrays God’s word and opened my eyes to the strength and power of God’s word for me today. God created me and has a specific purpose for me to fulfill. In order to begin this process, I need to accept and believe in

When most people tend to think of being literate they think of being able to read and write. Until last week I thought the exact thing. I learned that being literate was not is not just reading and writing. It is a plethora of things that you can be literate in. My literacy is a thing that I have been doing for a long time. Trust me it did not an easy process to get this proficient in it either. I love to

Children covered in glitter and glue is a sight to witness. Scattered around the room are broken crayons, uncapped markers, and torn paper scraps. This image at the end of the day at a preschool means that it has been a good day. When the day had just begun the sound of feet pattering and bouncing down the hallway was perceptible. The teachers knew that when all the children entered the room and saw the table aligned with crafts every student’s eyes would light up with excitement.

Through most of my adolescent years, reading books and writing my thoughts took patience that I lacked and a desire my mind could not want for. But as the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. I know now that we are fortunate to have the opportunities to learn to read and write at such a young age. We are willingly and eagerly taught by our families, friends, neighbors, and teachers at school. But I find myself wondering, what about those that were not so lucky? People like Frederick Douglass, a slave in the 1800 's who had to use unusual means to learn the standard education that is awarded today. Even though we grew up worlds apart, in time and place, I come to find I have much more in common with him than I would have ever expected.

Reading and writing is a tool everybody needs in their lifetime the basic reading and writing skills are used on a daily base no matter what field you plan to study. Reading and writing are taught at a young age. I personally was taught by preschool I noticed on how I grew with my writing and how I became a better reader and writer throughout my life I personal love reading and writing it’s a way for everyone to express themselves through their choice of words.

During my elementary years, I don’t recall being interested in reading, but I do remember the first time I fell in love with it. I was in my 7th-grade reading class. I just completed a quiz when my teacher realized that I had nothing to do after. She offered me a book that I will remember for the rest of my life because it is the book that basically started my reading journey. It was called Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper, I loved the book so much that I read the whole entire series. When I first met someone who didn’t like the book I was beyond shocked. Right at that moment, I realized that reading has its own effects on me. Reading has changed my writing skills, it has improved my knowledge and lastly, it has helped me manage my stress while going through hard times. Without reading I wouldn’t be the person that I am today.

My development for literacy has always been a struggle as I have spoken about before. I had a speak impediment when I was younger which used me to go into different classes which took me away from formal English classes. This continued into middle school where I was put into a special English class to work on our writing skills. During my duration here I saw very little growth if any, so I was entering high school with a reading and writing level of a 6th grader. I was then

My experience is similar to what Brandt wrote about in “Sponsors of Literacy”. Brandt lists teachers, priests, parents, and relatives as the literacy sponsors that have guided others to learn how to read and write (73). All of those examples were the ones who made me literate. As I look back at my life before now, I see the purpose in all of that. It wasn’t just to get me through school and know what I am doing, but to allow me to understand the world around me. Without literacy, my knowledge of the world would be so small. I wouldn’t have been able to experience what I have experienced. Literacy holds power as it gives you a new window to see everything that is going on around

As I began the journey of returning to school, one of my biggest fears, was the writing aspect in the classes. The fear of reading and writing has never been a strong quality; however, I have never able to successfully be creative in the way I learn. I understand my weaknesses and when I need to focus on my strengths. I am constantly learning new ways, skills, and tools to utilize to continue to grow as a writer.

Since I was young, I have been passionate about lending a hand, to a person I felt needed support and this passion helped shape what my future may hold. An event happened that has been instrumental in developing my character and guiding my choices ever since. It was a late summer night and it was almost midnight when my soccer game ended, After the game, I ran into the washroom because I was dying to ease myself. I took an excessive time and missed my ride home; they must have thought I had another ride home. My situation made me become bewildered at what to do next then, I thought to myself on giving my mother a call. My bag was by my side so I reached into my bag for my phone and tried turning it on but, it was unresponsive so I figured my phone battery was dead.

As I explore my experiences with literacy my most vivid memory comes from a very late age. While most people draw their memories with reading, writing from a young age, I get mine from my eighth grade year. As a student up until this point I had done just enough to get through the courses and move on to the next year. My eighth grade year seemed to be extremely challenging, and this was due to various factors whether it be the demographics of my school since I was one of three white people in my grade, or my home life where I was adjusting to a new house with a new step mom, but my English teacher had spent the whole year causing me a great deal of agony. Every paper I turned in, I failed, and every effort I made to step up my writing was not