Literacy Memoir For some of us, it is a must that we have something to read when eating cereal, while others

must read a newspaper daily. Some of us have to keep a daily journal, while others only write down their daily shopping list. Why? I couldnt tell you why exactly, but I am pretty sure it has something to do with their upbringing. We all dont experience the same things in life; therefore, every life story as it relates to literacy will always be unique. Depending on what you like, my literacy history could bore you or be quite entertaining. My literacy journey first started with learning the alphabet. Its composed of twenty-six letters, but at the time it seemed like one hundred letters. I can recall my parents making me recite the alphabet, but in my case it was more singing the alphabet song while I danced. After I learned the alphabet, the next step for me was learning how to write my name. Of course you cant expect a two year olds penmanship to be great, but my writing was really terrible. Almost every day was filled with trying to write my name correctly. I would write the J backwards, add a curved stem to the A, and write the L in cursive. I had no idea what cursive was at the time. All of my first writings were done with my parents. As I got a little older, my parents went back to school to finish their degrees; subsequently, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and great-grandparents. Whenever I was with my grandparents, it was mostly all about fun. When I was with my great-grandparents, there were strict rules set in place. It was with my great-grandparents that I first began to read with understanding. How? Well growing up I definitely wasnt a saint. I got into all kinds of trouble. As a punishment, my great-grandmother would make me go into the den and read the

encyclopedia. Unfortunately, she had the complete set. Aside for reading whenever I was in trouble, I read a lot of Sunday school lessons with my great-grandmother. That was something we did daily. We were finished with the book before the entire church was. Whenever I was watching television, my great-grandfather would come in and say Instead of watching this on TV, you need to read the book series. Id reply, But you dont have the series, just the encyclopedias. Hed laugh and walk off. The very next time my greatgrandparents had me over, they had books for almost all of the shows I loved to watch. He brought the series for The Berenstain Bears, The Magic School bus, and several other shows I loved. I couldnt believe my luck. It looked as if there would be no TV for a while. Im certainly grateful for my upbringing. By the time I reached first grade I was entering into competitions for the books I had read. I received a poster and one hundred dollars all because I read three books that were far more advanced than what my peers were reading. In second grade, I was formally introduced to AR Reading. AR reading was composed of a system of books and points. The more books you read, the more points youd have. To me, AR Reading was a competition. As I began to accumulate a lot of points, I was allowed to purchase different items from the school store with those points. The person with the most points would ultimately be recognized in a ceremony at the end of the year. That was all the incentive I needed. By the end of the year, I had accumulated over two hundred and seventy-five points. I finished first in my class and third in the entire school. After elementary school, reading wasnt really a focus point in my education. I attended a magnet school, so we focused mainly on science and mathematics. I was also in

the schools AIG (Academically Intellectually Gifted) program. It is believed by many that the programs main focus is reading and mathematics, yet that is not entirely true. In my experience everything was tied into the mathematics. So the time at spent at the magnet school really didnt help when it came to taking English courses in high school. High school was a whole different ball game. Upon entering into the classroom, the teachers expected you to have a pretty good foundation in reading and writing. My first day in English class, during my freshman year, was probably one of my worst days ever. My English teach, Lynn Young, gave us an assignment. She wanted us to write about our summer. I had spent the summer back home in Chicago, Illinois. The only thing that was wrong with my paper was the spelling of Illinois. I assume that in order to finish writing on time, I sped through and forget one of the Ls in the states name. When everyone had finished, Mrs. Young took up the papers so that she could read them all aloud. I enjoyed hearing about the experiences of others and what they did during the summer, but when she began to read my paper the only thing that she was really interested in was my misspelling of Illinois. The teacher made my mistake known to the entire class. Although I was embarrassed, I used that as a lesson to always proofread my writings no matter how perfect I think they are. I personally would rather read my own writings aloud so that I can catch the mistakes, but that is not always possible. What I learned freshman year only helped me during my next three years of high school. As I progressed through high school, I would say my writings improved a lot. I cannot say the same about the readings that I did in my free time. Just about every book that I picked up was related to some type of research I was doing at the time. Basically, I

never read during my free time. My sophomore year of high school, I attended the S.H.O.T.S. (Students Hot on the Sciences) program which was held at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University. While there I did research on myeloblastic leukemia. Most of the writing I did was in lab reports and an essay on the causes of myeloblastic leukemia. Some of the articles that I read along with my research were written by the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Near the end of the program I prepared for the presentation of my project. This not only gave me the opportunity to present my research to highly educated professionals and professors, but it also allowed me to realize my passion for public speaking. At the beginning of my junior year in high, I founded my high schools history club and forensics club with the help of three teachers as sponsors. When I became engaged with the work that comes with overseeing club operations, it enabled me to learn much more about history. I really wanted to share this new found knowledge with others, so we as a club began to hold events at historical sites throughout the county where we spoke on the landmarks significance. Of course everyone couldnt get to the events, so I wrote different articles that would often appear in the local newspapers. I lead this role until I graduated from high school with hopes of having a greater impact with something I am passionate about. Am I achieving that goal? Well, its a work in progress. Im still in college with you guys, but Im taking the strides that I believe are necessary to accomplish my goals. How? Well for starters, I have doubled my major into Political Science and History. Not only that, but I am taking English. This particular English course has given me the opportunity to see

the importance of people of different cultures coming together and discussing how literacy relates to them and their life. The discussions that we have in class have given me the chance to see how someone else takes an approach to different things. Theres more than one way to do everything. So with this English course, we ultimately learn of a variety of options that are present in different situations, we take more risks, and we grow to become more literate in several aspects of life. Every story is unique, but the greatest thing is that you are a part of my story.