Alyssa Rankin

Laura Knudson
Uwrt 1102
March 9, 2015
My Growth through Literature
With the beginning of any educational journey comes learning the ability to read and
write. Writing is the most effective way to convey a message to any audience. Additionally, it
has many practical everyday applications, from writing grocery lists to writing in a personal
journal. It is vital to any society and most forms of communication. Literacy opens so many
doors and new possibilities, Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. (Fredrick
Douglass) For these reasons, the importance of literacy is stressed to children very early.
Emerging literacy describes the gradual, ongoing process of learning to understand and
use language that begins at birth and continues through early childhood years (Koralek). I was
introduced to literature when I was a toddler listening to my mother and daycare teachers read
books out loud. Some of my favorite books included Winnie the Pooh, Rainbow Fish, The
Giving Tree, and Dr. Seuss books. I would become captivated by all of these stories and would
beg to hear them again. I could not wait to learn how to read so that I could read all of these
books myself.
Once I got to kindergarten I was incredibly eager to being reading. Although, I was
excited, I remember learning to read was a very stressful process. It seemed almost like a contest
to see who the best and fastest reader in the class was. Although my reading comprehension
skills were excellent, I was never the best, or the fastest; so from that point forward I considered
myself a poor reader. This feeling followed me into high school and made me terrified to read a

passage out loud in front of the class. I began to dread going into my middle school and high
school English classes because of this fear.
As I went through elementary school the assignments began to get longer and more
difficult. Everyone was also instructed to read a chapter book, or long novel, of our choice.
This was a very big deal to my classmates and I, because it symbolized a more mature sense of
reading and allowed us to read a wider variety of books. My first chapter book was Charlottes
Web, I felt the biggest since of accomplishment after finishing this book and began to read more.
After this, I began to read book series, like Nancy Drew and The Boxcar Children series.
Up to this point, my writing skills were very limited and mainly consisted of small two
paragraph journal entries and small in-class writing assignments. In third grade, the literary
focus shifted from reading to writing. I was taught how to construct a basic five-paragraph
essay, which consisted of and introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion
paragraph. This tool really help me organize all of my thoughts and ideas and became the
framework for most of my writing assignments.
The following year, I had my first state-graded standardized writing exam. I had heard
that if I failed this writing exam, I would fail the course, no matter how high my grade in the
class was. Standardized tests have been around for many years, yet now they are mandatory
every year to project student growth due to the Accountability Movement that has defined
U.S public education since 2002.(Layton, Washington Post) This made me extremely nervous,
because my teachers made the grading process extremely mysterious and anonymous. I was told
that I would be given a random topic and with no preparation was expected to write an essay that
would be graded by a random educator in Charlotte. I was worried that the person grading my
paper would have extremely high expectations and think that my writing style and skills were not

where they should be for my grade level. When I got my results back, I was very pleased. I got
almost a perfect score. After receiving this news, my teacher placed me into the schools
writers guild which was a school organization of gifted student writers. Every other day I was
pulled out of class and taken into the kindergarten and first grade class rooms to help some of
their struggling writers. I would read over some of the writing that they had done, give them
advice, and help them organize their thoughts. I did this for the remainder of my time in
elementary school and truly enjoyed helping and teaching these students to better their writing.
Once middle school began, I was introduced to many different genres and even subgenres and began to figure out what kinds of literature I personally enjoyed the most. One of my
favorites was poetry. I loved the challenge of deciphering the verses and finding an underlying
meaning, theme, and idea. I also found my love for history and I enjoyed reading poetry with
political and historical topics and references.
In my last year of middle school I was assigned my first research paper on the topic of
my choice. There were only three restrictions, it had to be at least 5 pages, I had to do over one
hundred notecards with color-coded facts, and I had to include at least ten resources. I remember
spending hours in the library after school reading Al Gore books and looking up articles online. I
felt like the research was endless and interesting. I genuinely enjoyed writing this paper and
could have written a ten page paper if there were not any restrictions. When I turned in my paper
it was so proud of the work I did and even received one of the highest grades in the class. I still
enjoy writing research papers, and prefer them over any other type of writing.
In high school, we began to read famous pieces of literature that have influenced the lives
of millions of readers over several decades and generations. Books are very powerful and can
take the reader on a personal journey that may even changes their perspective on certain aspects

of life. All readers can recall a book that has changed their outlooks on certain topics or even
made them alter certain behaviors they exhibit. These powerful books are rare to find; but once
you read them it almost ignites a certain spark and sudden newfound interest in reading.
The first piece of literature I read that had a lasting impact on me was, Romeo and Juliet.
It was the first of many large works we read my freshman year of high school. The plot and the
style of language was so interesting to me and made it easy for me to get lost in what I was
reading. The plot was dramatic, romantic, tragic, and even whimsical at times. This was the first
time a piece of literature has had such an impact on my emotions and influence on book choices.
After reading this I began to read more Shakespeare plays as well as romance novels that I
continue to read today.
Another book that had a lasting impact on my life is, The Kite Runner. It is set in the
Middle East and follows two children that are best friends, one has a wealthy family, while the
other comes from a servant family. After a horrific incident, they become separated and it shows
the two dramatically different lives they lead. This book taught me so much about myself and
showed me how grateful I should be for my life and never take friends or family for granted. I
think about this book often and reflect on some of the tragedies and obstacles the main characters
had to endure and connect them to my own life.
Books can also have a negative effect on the reader; poor, uninteresting plots and ideas
may leave the reader less enthusiastic and possibly dread reading. This can be especially
dangerous if the reader becomes uninterested at a young age. For this reason, education systems
should stop assigning required reading assignments and push personal interests and let students
have a choice in what they read.

I have had dozens of reading assignments throughout my academic career, most of which
I have considered boring and a waste of my time. I felt this way, because there are certain books
I couldnt relate to. For example, in my sophomore year in high school, we had to read a
nonfiction novel called Things Fall Apart. It is set in West Africa in the 1700s. It is about the
horrors of the colonization of African tribes, told in the point of view of the leader of the tribe. I
felt little connection to the story and could not apply the reading to anything in my personal life
or any of my interests. It also had information about tribal rituals and ghosts, which has never
been an interesting topic to me. After reading this assignment, I started using online websites
that summarize the plot and character information to complete my assignments. This began a
cycle of getting assigned uninteresting books, and not reading them, but reading their summaries
online. This made me read so much less of what I was assigned.
When given the opportunity to choose what I read, I am much more likely to read it,
because it is on a topic that I truly enjoy or am interested in. This is another reason why I feel
schools should give more freedom to students and allow them to read something of their choice.
It makes students more likely to actually read the whole book and get truly involved in what they
are reading.
The same can be said about writing assignments. When given at least a little personal
freedom when writing, it increases creativity as well as the quality of work. It also makes it
easier to find a writing style and voice. My junior year in high school, I was assigned a fortyfive page market research paper. I was given a basic outline and the company and market I
chose to do my research on was completely open. This allowed me to pick something that I was
actually interested in and genuinely curious about. This curiosity fueled my research and made
the entire writing process very enjoyable. Later, I had to present my paper and ideas in front of a

judge at a state marketing competition and I became a finalist among dozens of other
competitors. This gave me so much confidence in my technical writing abilities and since
writing this paper I much prefer writing factual research papers over narratives and journal
entries.
It also gave me confidence to present my writing to my peers and judges. My senior
year, I wrote my first speech, which is a very different writing process from any other. It is
easier to write a speech, because it is written how I speak and made presenting in front of judges
much easier and kept my presentation on topic. Although at this point in my academic career I
was confident in my writing, when I began writing in college I was a little more insecure.
I spent so long on my first college paper before it was peer edited, because I was terrified
of what my classmates would think. I was worried my writing would not be up to par with the
rest the students in my class. After peer editing, I realized that my skills were equal to my
classmates. This allowed me to write more comfortably and confidently. At the end of the
semester, I compiled my first writing portfolio and was proud of my progression and growth
throughout the course.
Reflecting over my literacy journey shows me how all of these small actions and events
have given me the writing voice that I have today. All of these things have molded me as a
reader, writer, and a student. I know that many events in the future will only continue to change
the kind of writer that I am. I am excited to see my writing style continue to change through
college and my working experiences.