Werner 1 Literacy Memoir My interpretation of the word literacy has expanded over the course of my life.

I used to believe that the word literacy had one meaning, and one meaning only: to read. Despite the fact that being able to read is a big part of literacy itself, over time and many experiences I have come to learn that literacy is much more than that. Literacy is a journey that involves learning how to read and take what is written and internalize it to what it actually means to you. Literacy also involves the ability to express ones opinion and feelings through written words and symbols, which is a very powerful thing. Literacy is an ongoing thing, it is something that will continue to grow and evolve. To this day, my gift of literacy continues to grow with every experience I come across, dating back to when I was a child. Different rules and areas of literacy are constantly being discovered every day and therefore there will never be a time where literacy will stop growing. There will always be a time and place where you will continue to learn and experience something new. I can still here my moms voice as if she was talking to me right now. Most kids remember their mom reading them a short, enjoyable bedtime story to help them fall asleep. Well, my mom claims that she read me bedtime stories but I only remember her making me read random short stories during the summer before school started. After I read each story all I could remember was the title, and the worst part was my mom would quiz me on each one I read. The moment my mom would ask me What was the book about? my mind would go blank and all I could hear was my heart beating like a marching band was inside my body and the sweat pouring down my forehead. I got so nervous when she put me on the spot like that, I couldnt tell if it was just nerves or if I really couldnt remember. I hoped I would remember, but I literally had no idea what I had just read. My mom would test me quite often to see if I was just nervous or if I had a

Werner 2 problem; she later told me that I had no reading comprehension. This problem went on for many years. Looking back to these moments from the perspective of the person I am today, I am so thankful to my mom for doing what she did. At those moments I hated my mom for making me read so many times over and over again and then quizzing me. I thought of her as my worst enemy while I was in the moment I could never understand why she did that to me, but looking back I realize that she was just looking out for me and she was just trying to help me. If it wasnt for her, I dont know where I would be today because clearly I could not read and comprehend what I was reading on my own. I would not be able to move on to the next step in my childhood without her pushing me. As I entered the later years of elementary school, the amount of reading that was assigned increased dramatically. I was thanking my mom deep down for all that practice she made me do. However, with all of her practice something still was not clicking when I was reading. Every day in class my teacher would go around the room and pick on individual students to read a different part of our book out loud, followed by a discussion question to answer out loud as well. As the student would read aloud to the class, each one of us who were not reading would follow along. I noticed that when the question was asked I would not know the answer. I came to the realization that unless I was the one reading out loud, I was unable to comprehend the reading. It was only a matter of time before my teacher realized the same thing that I did. One day during a class reading I randomly got taken out of the classroom. It was so embarrassing having all the students stare me down as if I had something on my face. I remember it like it was yesterday. A random teacher took me to an isolated room where there were only two other kids. When I got in the room I met the other kids, and it turns out we all share the same problem; none

Werner 3 of us could remember anything we read. Every day during this time period we would get pulled out of class to this room and we would have to read silently and out loud to each other and then take individual tests to improve our reading comprehension. I never felt so dumb and worthless before. All I wanted was to be normal like the rest of the kids. This turned me off to reading so much knowing that I never had good reading comprehension, because I would have this memory in my head of having to do this as a child and it would bring me back to that exact feeling in my stomach of being stupid and worthless. This brings me to my later years, where I entered my last year of middle school. Eighth grade. My first few years of middle school were very typical and boring. They were very reading and writing heavy. I can literally re-write my essays from seventh grade, that is how many times we wrote the same prompt over and over almost every single day of that entire year. My English teacher taught us how to write proper persuasive essays, and going into my later, more advanced English classes I wrote the essays how I was taught. My teachers basically told me that they hated how it was written. The style of writing I was taught was so uniform it made me despise that type of writing to this day. However, upon graduating Eighth grade we were assigned to write a leaving paper on our experience in middle school, and how we transformed ourselves within these three years. I took advantage of this writing assignment as an opportunity to finally say what I want and not have to write like a programmed robot. By the time I was done with my paper, I was not sure I was completely satisfied with it, I was just happy I got to let out my feelings and write about my incredible experience at my favorite school. When we handed it in to be graded, and to later be put in our scrapbook my teacher asked me to print out a second copy. My teacher told me that she needed to keep this copy as an example of the best essay shes read so far this year, and the most improved writing out of every single student she has.

Werner 4 Nothing beats what I felt at that very moment. I have never felt so honored in my entire life. From that point on, it changed my outlook on writing as a whole. I worked extremely hard on that paper, and hard work actually does pay off. Now I do see the beauty in writing. Whether you love to write or not, there is a time in your life where you can connect to literacy. I felt that literacy finally became rooted in me once I started high schoolJunior year, in fact. Junior year was the year my writing made a move for the better, and went through the roof. That year I had the most amazing English teacher I ever had in my entire life. Not only was she an amazing English teacher, but she was just a beautiful person in general. We just clicked. The bond we had made me love English even more. She gave me a whole new outlook on reading and writing, and what it means to actually be a writer. It is not all about the amount of words or how big your words are, its the thought, beauty and emphasis behind the words your putting on that paper. If there is no meaning or love in what you are writing, there is no you. This was the year I made Advanced Placement on the reading section of the New Jersey State Placement Test. I know I did all of the work but I feel like I could not have done it without Ms. Heaney. Almost every single one of my essays that year made it onto her Heaney Hotshot wall, which is an award wall for the best essays. I have never felt so proud or motivated to actually write in my entire life, because I know that someone is actually reading and appreciating my work. Ms. Heaney gave me the motivation to look further in the meaning of literacy. It is much more than what people see on the outside. If I were to name one place were my literacy took off to a whole new level, it would most certainly be October 2012, my senior year of High School. When October of my senior year came around it was all about applying to colleges and writing our college essays. Which in my eyes, had to be the best essay I ever wrote, or I was not getting into college. My initial feelings

Werner 5 toward this essay were that there was nothing I could possibly write about in 500 words that is all about me and has to stand out in a pool full of thousands of applications. Discussing it with my guidance counselor, one of the most influential people I ever met, proved me wrong. We found something to write about, something absolutely amazing. I could not wait to get home to write it, and I am not one to get excited to write, but when it came down to this topic, I knew that this was it. Dating back to my freshman year, I had the hardest history teacher of all time: Ms. Murphy. Ms. Murphy put me through hell. She made me hate writing more than life. The awful dreaded Murphy thesis as my friends and I would call it had to be 10-15 pages. Immature, inexperienced freshman are in no position to write 10-15 pages on the Russian/ Vietnamese Revolution, but I sure did. My blood, sweat and tears went into that paper, only for her to tear it apart. I was scarred for the next few years. However, not too long after that I actually talked to her and asked for help, I was tired of the whole dj vu feeling of repeatedly looking at the letter F on my paper. Communicating with her actually went pretty well, communication is all it takes. By the end of the year I could not stop the As from coming. By senior year I realized that I never had a class hard enough to compare to Ms. Murphys freshman History class. Looking back now, what I loved so much about her class was that she taught us about the real world. Ms. Murphy taught us how to read real novels, she taught us how to write like adults, she actually treated us like real people. I could not thank her enough; as much as I hated her, she really prepared me for what is to come in the near future. My college essay was all about her, my experience as a freshman and how I grew in high school to be the mature, intelligent person I am today and how I could not have done it without that push from her. My motivation and drive could not be any stronger than it is today. When I was done with that essay and the revisions were complete, I was never so proud. To have written such an incredible paper about myselfI

Werner 6 normally hate talking about myselfbut looking back at all I accomplished, it felt unreal to look at all of what I had accomplished in four years. All of it happened within the beauty of literacy. Literacy is a form of self-expression that enables people to show the type of person they are, but more importantly it is to show their inner self; the person they think about being, along with who they are when no one is around. The type of books one reads and the essays that are written give the ability of self-expression. People do not need to hide themselves in writing and be someone they are not. It is true that writing is something I do not always prefer but I am so appreciative it is a skill I am able to pull out of my back pocket whenever I need it. My literacy memoir is one of the major times in my life where I learned to appreciate literacy, and learned the deeper meaning behind it. Many of these efforts involved a reading a novel followed by a discussion and questions to answer. Also, several of these literature assignments asked us to assemble life lessons from the books we read. I realize that, had my teachers taken the time to make us really internalize these pieces of literature, my personal literacy identity would have been greatly enhanced. I feel like reading a piece of literature without internalizing it is like reading a book upside down. Starting from my early childhood, creating my identity as a literate person, I was greatly influenced by my own desire to become better. This dates back to the very beginning; Where did I get that desire? Having reflected on this question, I feel that my desire began from watching the people around me: my parents. My parents are very educated people, which has also passed on to my older sister. All of them had literacy drilled into their heads. It was quite clear why I had aspirations to become literate. The people who surrounded me helped shape my identity, as well as the people who taught me. I could not have been where I am today without the amazing teachers I had in the past that had the patience to teach me and introduce literacy

Werner 7 into my life. This brings me to the thought of people who dont have literacy sponsors like parents, older siblings, and teachers to encourage them to become literate, like Malcolm X. Even though Malcolm X had no one, he knew what he wanted and he found it within himself to learn in any way he could, and he taught himself to become literate in every possible way. It didnt take much time before Malcolm X held the power he once wished to obtain like everyone else. This goes to show that it only takes a little bit of motivation for someone to make a change in his or her life. A person like a literacy sponsor is not required to be literate, although it helps. Without one, it is not impossible, as Malcolm X has proved. In todays society, reading and writing are essentials to get by in life. I could not be more proud to say that I hold the ability to perform both of those skills. Not only because it holds power, but also because I see the beauty in it. I know that literacy will continue to grow, and I will continue to practice and expand literacy further into my life as I proceed to grow.