Essay on Literacy Narrative

Submitted By Squarah9811
Words: 1743
Pages: 7
Open Document
It All Started With a Diary My past experiences with reading and writing? At first, that seemed like a hard topic to expand on. My natural reaction is “No, reading and writing haven’t had a big impact on my life because I don’t, and never have liked, to do them.” That’s not necessarily true though. Yes, although I know I don’t like reading, writing has been in and helped me more than my natural reaction would lead on. In this paper I’m going to tell you how I began wanting to write and, as I grew older, how writing helped build my confidence; from a Backstreet Boy diary to a teenager in a treatment facility looking for a way to reach out.
When I was young, I wanted to be old; old as in sixteen. Teenagers were the coolest thing around, from their ripped jeans to the pimples on their face. At the time, “a teenager thing to do” was look at magazines such as J14 or People. I would never try comprehend anything I was reading, just looking at the celebrities clothes or the pictures of boy bands, specifically the Backstreet Boys, is what I would find entertaining. So when my mom gave me a Backstreet Boys diary for my seventh birthday I vowed to myself I would use it. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. It was small and came with a key and lock that I carried with me everywhere at the time. I even tried making my friends jealous because they didn’t have one. My theory behind making them jealous was “I have a boy band diary that means I’m cool. I keep my diary locked to make it seem like I write secret things in there and since I have secret things to write about that makes me even cooler.” How rude of me.
As a matter of fact, I didn’t have any secrets to write about. I would draw stick people, rainbows or hearts, and that wasn’t okay with me. I didn’t want my diary to be full of “little girl pictures.” I wanted my diary to be full of illegible cursive handwriting that covered the pages front and back. I wanted people to wonder what I was hiding. I asked my mom what to write in a diary. Her answer was “whatever you feel like honey.” I didn’t like that answer. I was seven and my writing skills hadn’t even started to flow yet so I felt like I was left with nothing. During the occasional times I tried to write, it turned out something like “I had a good day. *smiley face* It was a pretty day outside. *rainbow*” So all I ended up hiding from anyone was a couple sentences about the weather or what I wore that day. After a couple months of trying to get in the hang of a diary, my sacred Backstreet Boy diary was thrown away.
The rest of my years in elementary school went by pretty well. I had a baby brother I would play school with, trying to teach him how to do math problems or read and write, but other than that reading and writing slipped away from me.
I began to act out toward fifth grade and by the seventh grade I had already spent a night in a juvenile detention center. Things escalated quickly. My world was out of control and for years I would shut down any help that was offered. I began struggling with anxiety and depression, which lead me to drugs. For years, it was an uphill battle. I was failing all my classes and getting suspended every few months. My motivation and common sense was gone. I eventually got caught shop lifting and what the police officers found in my bag along with the stolen merchandise landed me in a long term court ordered sentence to treatment. I was not at all happy.
Just as I predicted, treatment was boring. I, just like many others who were there, had bad attitudes that lasted from when we woke up to when we went to bed. Having a bad attitude made it hard for me to be open minded and enjoy my time there (as much as possible anyway). The majority of my first couple months there were painstakingly boring and tedious. We sat in the same room, every day, and colored, every day, and played cards, every day, for months. They did not let us use the phone often. The phones were supervised
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Literacy Narrative

Literacy Narrative

Tag Your It/Literacy Narrative What color should I get this time? Or should I buy a new pen instead? Well, it would just be wise for me to get both, can’t get a new journal without a new pen, it just wouldn’t be acceptable. These are all the questions I ask myself as I stand there puzzled and excited that I have once again completed an entire journal with nothing but my everyday thoughts. All of a sudden my thoughts are interrupted, in walks my mother, rushing me to purchase a journal that I can…

Words 780 - Pages 4

Literacy Narratives In The Classroom

Rough Draft Essay 2 In the articles written by Williams and Corkery each discuss the importance of literacy narratives in the classroom. Williams believes that literacy narratives are about life lessons and previous obstacles the student may have had to face and how it has affected the student/writer they have become today. Corkery’s thoughts on literacy narratives are somewhat similar. He writes about the experiences the student may have also faced, but also how they serve to help the student…

Words 409 - Pages 2

Narrative Essay On Literacy

Literacy Narrative Literacy has been an important factor in my life; it’s helped me understand the creativity that one can put into their work, some of the hidden meanings in literature, and even relating to some works. Literacy is the ability to read and write, but you can’t just write something and be done with it, you have to understand it on a more personal level. Writing is sometimes deeper than words spoken. Literacy is deeper than speaking because of how in depth you can write certain pieces…

Words 1056 - Pages 5

A Literacy Narrative Analysis

A Literacy Narrative by Mattie Pratt When I was given this assignment to compose a piece of writing on a work of literature I felt had a strong connection with, I was faced with a challenge: how will I ever decide on just one? As an avid reader, I have spent a great deal of my free time, when it is available, reading, thus making it challenging to decide which book, poem, or article to write about. Nonetheless, I settled on the book Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, a novel in which I am currently reading…

Words 419 - Pages 2

My Literacy Narrative

My literacy narrative is very much similar to every individual. I was admitted North Penn High School where the teaching style was amazing and the sole focus was on academics. I tried hard to score well and keep up with my peers. I would say that my teachers played a crucial role in rendering me a strong foundation in both writing and reading skills. It was only after I graduated with good marks that I was able to showcase my intelligence to my parents and teachers. It all started when I was a child…

Words 539 - Pages 3

Literacy Narrative Analysis

Literacy Narrative I discovered what I wanted to aspire to be while preparing for my state competition on the gymnastics mats. I tumbled until my legs felt limp. The pain was unbearable and the aches were unstoppable. The Doctor diagnosed me with a lumbar fracture, and sent a referral to physical therapy. The first memory of who I want to be happened as I stumbled in the doors of the physical therapy office. I decided I want to be a Doctor of Physical Therapy. High school started and I was able to…

Words 423 - Pages 2

'Literacy In Frederick Douglas's Narrative'

their distinct emphases on the importance of literacy and relationships, narratives written by men and women share many common characteristics. In all slave narratives, the fugitive or former slaves relate their trials as slaves, their flight to freedom, and, finally, their dedication to helping others flee slavery . As in other slave narratives, Douglass's Narrative makes this pattern explicit; but in addition, Douglass further organizes his narrative around the theme of increasing control over his…

Words 565 - Pages 3

Literacy Narrative Essay

Born to Read The furthest memory I can attain of reading must’ve been when I was around the age of three. I was living in my hometown, Miami, and I was in the guest room of our ranch-style home with my mother. I clearly remember sitting on the bed, propped up against a tower of pillows and reading a worn out Curious George book with a peeling yellow cover. I was always an advanced reader, even at that young age, and encountered limited difficulty while reading the story. Along with being an advanced…

Words 814 - Pages 4

Literacy Narrative Essay

1. My earliest book memory is this children's book about a couple animals who buy candy from a shop run by a bee. I remember the pictures looked good enough to eat! When I was around three or four years old I remembered my dad use to read me a book the little prince. I wrote my first story when I was 6 or 7 years old. I remember getting very frustrated after what felt like a glorious start. Every time I start to write I am so frustrated I don’t know what to write how to start, what to say. 2. When…

Words 621 - Pages 3

Critical Literacy Narrative

At a young age, I completely hated math. I wasn't as good at math in comparison to my peers. I usually received low scores and felt like math took long to process compared to other subjects. Years went on and I still lacked the skills that others in my grade had accomplished. Math was just a negative thing in my life. Starting freshman year I wanted to understand math, I wanted to excel in the subject itself. I was taking an Algebra 1 course all year long. The teacher failed to teach the class the…

Words 520 - Pages 3