Tayler Green Ms.

Caruso ENG 1103-003 14 January 2014 Literacy Memoir My literary history began before I could read, when in preschool I would sit in the teachers chair and explain what was happening in picture books to the other kids. My mom taught me how to read in before we learned it in school, and from there on, I read constantly. Throughout school, I always loved my English literature courses for both the reading content and opportunity to analyze the text further. A lot of the classes throughout my education consisted of self-teaching methods for the honors students, which allowed me to come to the conclusion that I must not be a very good teacher because I did not learn anything. I despised peer review in high school, mostly because they expected the kids who knew how to write to teach the kids who did not. As for communication, I developed mostly from my yearbook-journalism class that I took for three years. It forced me to talk to people when I normally would not, as well as learn to communicate effectively; I had to learn to not monopolize the conversation and understand how to explain information in a clear manner. With writing, I was blessed with a handful of great teachers in high school that molded me into the writer I am today. My senior English teacher provided every student with hardcore corrections, actual experiences grammar lessons that we did not receive at any other point, and an exposure to literature in a variety of genres. He was very critical on corrections in essays, but provided a lot of great feedback. He valued student input and opinion, and while strict, offered many opportunities to be creative within prompts. Best of all, he always knew when students

Green 2 were lying their way through writing, and named his method of teaching how to effectively bullcrap our way through essays. Another teacher in tenth grade, however, was not as great and told us that when writing essays that we should use metaphors at the end of every introductory paragraph, and to use the word quintessential in every paper. Needless to say, my writing now is a quintessential example of how I did not take every piece of advice my teachers gave me. My literacies beyond reading, writing, and communication are relatively limited. Because I danced for 15 years, I could a conversation fairly well in my expertise. Beyond reading in the academic context, I feel competent in easy-reading fiction and arguing over that. As for what I strive to be literate in, I am still learning Spanish and how to draw. While there are likely more things that I could become literate in, I am either unaware of what they are or will pursue them when I am not procrastinating. When I begin research, I try to begin the day it is assigned by beginning to find some background information on the Internet to perceive a general idea about the direction I can go in a paper or project. It is very necessary to find a topic or argument that interests me so that I will be motivated to write a paper. After I have an idea or thesis, I will then go online, find books, and head to the library. I try to avoid Internet sources, simply because attempting to keep up with the citations becomes somewhat confounding. With the books I usually open a word document to begin copying quotations and citations that I find interesting, relevant, or believe that I might be able to tie into my thesis. Once the latter step is complete, I finally begin to write my paper. Despite forming a thesis and finding that general direction in the beginning of my research process, I rarely end up with the same ideas in which I began. Once I have sources and begin to read, I always find ideas that I thought were original, and I am then forced to create a different

Green 3 perspective on the topics. Sometimes the research does change the direction of my paper, but it is not always the same in every case. I recognize that my writing habits are probably not the most logical, but they tend to work. Depending on the topic and my interest within it, I might begin my paper when it is assigned by forming a thesis or beginning to look at sources. However, more likely to occur is intense procrastination until I begin to feel the pressure from deadlines because I apparently love to place myself under unnecessary stress. I have also found that in order to focus on my paper, I write more efficiently at night and with music. I try to print out a hard copy to revise my paper, but it is difficult to recognize my mistakes, and I rarely can find someone to edit sufficiently. One aspect of my writing that I would like to work on is making sure that my paper does not stray away from my thesis and makes the point that I am trying to make in a clear, concise manner. Having essay prompts that leave room for personal interpretation and feedback before the final drafts would be wonderful and make writing easier for me. I am absolutely thrilled to have received a place in English 1103, provided that originally I was stuck in Academic Writing in the Contexts 1, and I knew for sure that I would be completely and utterly bored. I believe that this semester holds a lot of room for improvement and exploration in both my writing skills and academic discipline. I see myself approaching this class with an open mind and willingness to be critiqued. I am a mixture of excited and nervous about this class because while I do want to learn, it is always a bit scary to share my writing. My only concern for this class is that I might not be able to give every assignment its due potential simply because I just transferred and I am trying to adjust, while balancing a fairly demanding schedule.