My Literacy Narrative

Literacy Narrative

Writing is a form of communication that has changed over the years, whether that is the way it is used or the meaning it has for some people. In the generation that I grew up in, writing has been around in many different ways, such as texting or instant messaging friends. I remember using Facebook at an early age and communicating with my friends and family through a different form of writing. Compared to my elders, the way they were taught and the way they used their writing has changed immensely. Since I grew up in a newer generation than them, my writing experience has been partially different in a good way. My literacy narrative will reflect that difference.

Growing up, I was first introduced to writing by my mom.

I remember taking short writing lessons from her and learning the alphabet. In addition to that advantage, I also observed older siblings and their writing. Art, which I learned at an early age, is a different form of writing. It was something I witnessed my sister create every day. Although many people may argue that art isn’t writing, it made me familiar with a pencil and paper and creating ideas. After that, I attended kindergarten like many other people have.
While pondering about my experience as a kindergartener, I began to file through old pieces of writing that I produced. I came across writings that I made outside of the classroom, such as an old Christmas letter my family created together. My older siblings were creating art and writing poetry, while my little five year old self was writing short stories about the Bible. I also made a drawing of Bethlehem. Looking back on this, I realize the benefit I had growing up and observing my siblings write.
In kindergarten, I expressed my knowledge about the alphabet and began to write even more. We spent countless time fitting our letters together to form words. Information began to fill our tiny heads. I began to develop because of my writing in the classroom and also at home with my family. One piece of writing that was assigned to us had to do with writing the names and ages of our siblings. I easily had the toughest job because of my gigantic family, which includes five girls and four boys, and it doesn’t help that my parents decided to name one of them Lillian. After pushing through this writing milestone, I felt like a writer and that I belonged with my siblings. I was no longer the little kid who everyone looked down upon. I was growing up and flying through elementary school, while picking up different knowledge about writing.
In first grade, my memories had to do with numbers being introduced to me and my classmates; although this wasn’t the first time I saw and understood them. Along with letters, I was shown numbers by my mom and was taught addition and subtraction. I recollect filling out worksheets upon worksheets of math. Although I had some self motivation, I guess it helps that I was getting paid 25 cents for each page I completed. Each grade became a little more complex with writing. We began to not only write and illustrate, but we learned the spelling of different words. In second grade, I was the top speller in my class and participated in the second grade spelling bee. I still am proud of winning the spelling bee and being praised by my teachers and principal. This motivated me to continue working hard with reading and writing.
In third grade, I was introduced to the accelerated reading (A.R) program. We began to read books with at least 100 pages and take tests over the information. At first, I was motivated to read as many books as possible because of the money reward for scoring the most A.R points. After searching for a book I might enjoy, I came across a series called Hank the Cowdog. I absolutely loved the series and reading them began to be my favorite pastime. Not only did I read and understand the books, I started to imagine myself inside the stories. This ignited a flame in the change in my reading experience as a kid, and I began to love reading. My accomplishments began to add up, such as having the second most A.R points in the school. In the beginning, my motivation was there because of the reward, but after placing myself inside the stories, I did it for fun. After experiencing mostly one type of reading and writing, I began to expand into other forms of it.
I began to watch my brother write while playing video games on our computer.

This is an experience that wouldn’t have been available in the same circumstance if I was born earlier because of the lack in technology. I remember watching my brother play an online game called RuneScape and first learning how to type with him. He would teach me the arrangement of letters on the keyboard and how it was used. This was my first experience with instant messaging and I was only in the fourth grade. I communicated with friends on the video games and used my writing skills that I had learned in past years. I was shown internet communication which was different than academic writing. Spelling was not as important and abbreviations took over while playing. Writing became more involved in my home in a way that many people didn’t notice and that was on the computer. Once again, I was no longer limited to school writing but also wrote at

home.
Before I knew it, middle school came along and reading and writing was incorporated every day. We began to reflect on what we read in a more advanced manner. In my English class, book reports became important. We read The Giver by Lois Lowry and we discussed it as a class. I wrote an essay speaking about the importance of color and how we perceive things. This became one of my favorite writing pieces. Although at times I didn’t enjoy writing book reports, I did appreciate reflecting on the books we read. My life became surrounded by reading and writing. My classes began to work together in what we learned. In history, we read about the Holocaust and studied the effects it had. After learning about it, we had to write essays about the Holocaust in our English classes. We also studied different constellations in our science class and used our writing to develop presentations on PowerPoint. Once again, my writing involved the use of technology.
Another aspect of middle school was reflecting on the music and its lyrics that I listened to.

I had a diverse taste in music because of my siblings and what they showed me, and for the first time I began thinking about the lyrics and what they meant to me. Symbolism in the music became important to me and I had a whole new understanding of words. One song that I loved, called Where is the Love by The Black Eyed Peas, spoke to me about spreading love to one another. I analyzed the music and incorporated it into my life. Recognizing symbolism in the music I listened to was an example of my reading and writing maturing. I began to be more descriptive in my writing. I used more writing techniques such as metaphors, similes, personification and symbolism. This prepared me for high

school.
With the chance to take different elective classes in high school, my classmates and I began to spread out from one another. I took drama my freshmen year and this was a whole new style of writing that was shown to me. Looking back, I remember creating characters and writing scripts by ourselves. After spending hours writing our own personal plays, we would share with one another and act them out. We brought the characters to life on paper and also on stage. We felt the emotions the characters felt. We started to understand one another as each person wrote their own personal dialogue. High school writing was also expanded in other classes we took.
In sophomore English, each student had the opportunity to choose a topic that they agreed or disagreed with. We each analyzed different topic ideas, and after choosing one we liked, we wrote debate papers filled with facts and opinions. I researched my topic of summer education for many hours before writing my paper. I finally used my knowledge about organization in an important paper. My writing began to come together and I felt my development as a writer.
` Entering my senior year in high school and realizing that I had spent 12 years of my life learning about reading and writing, I began to think about the different forms that I liked. I thought about the research papers, personal narratives, book reports, debates, scripts for plays, and many other pieces of writing that I produced. I decided that my favorite type of writing was personal narratives. They included the unique experiences and opinions of different people and their thought processes. It became more important to me than a boring research paper. This also made me analyze myself as a writer and the type that I’ve become. I enjoy writing about how I perceive the world compared to others and this worked perfectly for the beginning of College Prep.
My first paper of my senior year had to do with music. We had to choose a song that is important to us and describes who we are as a person. It gave us a chance to partially discover who we are and how we impact one another. I loved going through my music playlist and writing a paper comparing a song to myself. Also, we had the opportunity to discuss the songs with each other and it gave me an idea of how we all perceive things differently.
Reading and writing has affected my life for the 17 years that I’ve been alive. Growing up in this day and age caused different forms of writing to be introduced to me. I was raised into a family that used writing at home and over the years I developed a respect for the art of writing. It will be a part of my future as a college student and an adult and continue to impact my life. No matter what form it is in, writing will be around for hundreds of years.