My first experience to literacy came as a young adult. I have always been reluctant with my education, because of the family problems I experienced growing up. The harsh treatment our family received growing up made it very difficult to study in school, my body was physically in class but my mind was not. The trials and tribulations I went through growing up as a kid continued throughout my teenage years. Dropping out of high school I believe brought upon literacy difficulty. At the age of twenty-three, I finally had enough of feeling undereducated. Living in my mother’s basement with no job and an 8th grade education, the walls started to close in on me as my frustration became greater by the minute.
I knew at some point I needed to make a serious change, so I inquired about a local GED program. One of the biggest challenges for me was finding time to study, or develop a daily study routine. Without an understanding of existing knowledge and abilities, it was difficult to map a study plan. So I first determine the knowledge and skills I already had, along with the ones important for the test. Measuring my abilities would also determine my skills and weaknesses, and identify areas for study. I was afraid of the GED test, thinking it would be too hard. At this point in my life I had a part time job earning minimum wage, my first child was on the way and I did not have time for classes. Plus, I had a hard time in school and was not looking forward to another classroom. In order to pass the GED you need to average 450 points, I took the test and I had mixed feelings about it seeing I did not go past the 8th grade. Math was first it went really well, I felt that I got the majority of the questions right. Writing/Essay (lite...
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...nefited from literacy by the increase in our financial security. I have a long road ahead of me as writing is not a strong subject of mine. For the past eleven years of my life literacy has gotten me far in life, with my current position as a paramedic on Detroit Fire Department. Literacy is extremely important as I document run reports or give out medication. I believe sentence structure and grammar play a vital role as one my job duties. Giving the correct amount of medication also play key roles with literacy, knowing how to read and calculate the proper dosage. My experiences with literacy brought me to a place today where I am proud of my accomplishments, and looking forward to a career where literacy can help me grow. I am aware that the road is long and there’s a lot I need to learn, but without my GED/literacy I would not be in the position I am in today.
My literacy journey commenced at a young age. My story begins with the typical bed time stories and slowly progresses into complex novels. Some points in my literacy journey have made me admire the written word but other times literacy frustrated me. These ups and downs within my story have made me the person I am today. My parents noticed that my reading was not up to par with other children in kindergarten and I was diagnosed with mild dyslexia at the age of five. My parents provided me a reading mentor named Mrs. Mandeville who has shaped my literacy journey in many ways. Events in my childhood have shaped my literacy in various ways.
Deborah Brandt (1998) wrote “Sponsors of Literacy”, a journal where she explained her findings of the research she has done on how different people across the nation learned to read and write, born between 1900, and 1980 (p. 167). She interviewed many people that had varying forms of their literacy skills, whether it was from being poor, being rich, or just being in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
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.
Visualize sitting in a classroom of seven year old children, addressed individually to read a passage aloud from within their reading book. When called upon, a child realizing the words are not right and make no sense, the racing heart, the twitching nerves, a flooding of thoughts wondering how to respond, what to do? Alas, act up and be a clown is an outlet for the embarrassment, illustrated by the warm, flushed face. The consequence of being sent to the office appears a better resolve, when compared to anyone realizing the words cannot be read. A secret kept to oneself. What a horrible feeling for a child to unknowingly bear and not understand how to convey. Does one merely give up, or does one rise up and overcome? Martin Luther King, Jr. once articulated, “Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change”
Early literacy for me was challenging. I started to learn reading and writing at age six. I still remember students from school would make fun by not knowing how to read, but they never knew I was struggling with both English and Spanish reading and writing. My parents are both from Guatemala; they came to the U.S at a very young age. My father was the only one to go to school. My mother did not attend school because it was difficult by her immigration status. When I was little, Spanish was not my mother's first language, so when she wanted to help me with reading and to write in English, she had a difficult time. My mother taught me reading and writing in the Mayan language. My father only taught me reading and writing one hour per week. Whenever my father was through showing me an hour of writing and reading, I had to explain the same lesson to my younger
A mere generation ago, literacy was generally focused around solely reading physical materials. Susan Metros emphasizes that most of the teachers employed in schools are from a generation that was largely based around the written word (106). Literacy was a rather simple concept. As Reardon states, “At its simplest, [literacy] is a combination of word reading skills and knowledge-based literacy competencies” (18). To put it simply, if a person could read and understand what he or she was reading, he or she could be considered literate. A wide expanse of knowledge was not required for literacy. The amount and variety of books that a person had read did not dictate that person’s level of literacy. The requirement for literacy was solely that an individual be able to read written texts. At one time, being able to interpret the words on a page was enough. Catlin Tucker asserts that, "Growing up...I knew that people who were literate could read and write, and people who were illiterate could not...Now, as an educator and parent I find myself revisiting this question of what it means to be literate. The definition of literacy is changing. Literacy means something different today than it did 10, 20, or 30 years ago"
My literacy journey began long before I had actually learned how to read or write. While recently going through baby pictures with my mother, we came across a photo of my father and I book shopping on the Logos boat, a boat that would come to my island every year that was filled with books for our purchasing. Upon looking at this picture, my mother was quite nostalgic and explained how they began my journey to literacy through experiences like this. My earliest memory of experiencing literature was as a small child. My parents would read bedtime stories to me each night before I went to bed. I vividly remember us sitting on the bed together with this big book of “365 bedtime stories for 365 days” and we read one story each day until we had
It was finally time to head to gym class in the afternoon where we were instructed to take part of a physical test. This test would determine how fit or unfit we are based on a system that was implemented by those with greater authority, on which concluded that it was on such a scale society should be based on. So it was that afternoon that I preformed the tasks that were instructed on to me and my peers. I was able to completed them to my utmost potential which can be consider to be something not so distinctive. It was on this day that I was mocked by one my peers of my lack of ability to preform the instructed physical tasks, that was a no brainer to such a fit individual like himself. It
Throughout my childhood, the idea of having a college education was greatly stressed. As a result, it was my duty as the next generational child, to excel in my studies and achieve a life of prosperity and success. Learning became the basic foundation of my growth. Therefore, my youth was overtaken by many hours spent reading and writing what was known to be correct "Standard" English. I first found this to be a great shortcoming, but as I grew older, I began to realize the many rewards acquired by having the ability to be literate.
“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.... Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man,
As I reflect it becomes clear to me that I enjoyed writing my junior year in high school. My English teacher Mr. Duckworth was a one of a kind teacher. His classroom was a normal classroom setting with the desk all line up behind one another. All of his students would face the white erase board that was located in the front of the room. He would typically sit at his desk leaning back in his chair giving us instructions on what was to be done in the class. As we sit in the class, all I can hear are my classmates laughing and joking around as he spoke. he would already have an essay topic on the board that was to the right of us that he could easily see from his desk. This was an everyday routine for all of his classes. As we begin to write, I noticed how different classmates of mine would get up to ask for help with their essay. The students who never asked for help usually would end up with a lot of red markings on their essays.
My relationship with literacy began when I started elementary school and that was the first starting point of my positive relationship with literacy. I really started to grow as a reader and writer throughout my middle school and high school years. Throughout my years of going to school I had many positive experiences that shaped my view of literacy today. My literacy skills have also enhanced throughout my educational years.
Literacy, the ability to read and write, also arguably one of the most important skills to have. Reading and writing, also one of my least favorite topics I have had the pleasure of studying in my educational career. Starting young, just entering grade school, it was sheer enjoyment being read stories, one of my favorites, Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, entering worlds of excitement with pirates and adventure, and drifting off to sleep to the voice of my mother. When the tables turn, this began my life lived struggle. My mother could not read to me anymore, schooling took its course, I had to learn to read and write for myself. I was not the best reader or writer in school. A difficult set of teachers, throughout education, and
Throughout my life, reading and writing were a positive thing because of the support from the people around. I was never really the confident or extroverted type of person back in the day. This then caused me to be anxious when I read or be doubtful of what I wrote. I can still remember breaking balls of sweats and tensing up whenever I had to read something aloud in elementary. It was a pretty big social problem for me but I can also recall many times where I was laughing and having fun while doing something with reading or writing with my mother. Although there have been many things that affected me so far in my literary journey, my mother has been the most supportive and impactful person to me by reading short stories, going to the library, and giving me writing prompts. One of the activities I liked to do before I fell asleep was to read.
There have not been many obstacles that have gotten in my way for me to be a successful reader. I am able to confidently read "Hope in the Unseen" because it keeps my interest. I like the story. I feel for Cedric. I imagine and picture the story in my mind. When a large amount of reading is assigned, sometimes my brain gets exhausted and I have to take a break. Literally my brain gets tired. The reason why I have trouble getting all of my assignments in for "Writing and Being" is because the book does not hold my interest. I find it boring at times. I really like "Higher Learning" because the stories are like short stories, and they are adventurous in a weird way.