Personal Narrative: Shaping My Literacy Skills

Growing up I never focused my attention on reading and writing. I found alternate interests in playing video games and bonding with my family. My mother always forced my siblings and I to read three novels every summer, to increase our knowledge, and to expand our imaginations. It wasn’t till later in life where reading became native to me. Every event big or small, helped shape my literacy skills that I’ve achieved through my years of education. I remember back in 2nd grade, where the school system required all kids to test on books they’ve completed in the current week. I struggled to finish these assignments due to the fact of my hatred for reading. The quizzes challenged my abilities as well as my patience. I found myself constantly cramming

Horror became the genre I fancied the most out of all, because I loved the sensation of being frightened. The rush of adrenaline pumped through my veins as I flipped through every pages of every book I read. The author, who I always enjoyed to read, was named R.L. Stein. His style of writing made the words seem to pop off the page and make the reader flinch after every line. He was famous for his thriller book series called Goosebumps, that later became a number one best seller. Its audience was targeted at young adults and was later transformed into a television series in the early 2000s. My words flowed perfectly as I read his publications. I was able to retain all the information I browsed through and had the ability to report what I read. Another genre I was affiliated with was Greek/Roman mythology. The Percy Jackson & the Olympian books captured the true image of the concept, of their being different ‘gods’ and ‘goddesses’. The series consisted of five novels and a runoff series named “The Heroes of Olympus”. Every time I would complete a book, it was always leave you with a lingering ending wondering what happens next. As a result it would cause the reader to go out and aquire the next novel right away. As years of studies went on, I wandered away from these styles of writing, due to the fact of my change in belief and views on the value of

In this class we complete daily readings and go over discussion questions about the articles we analyzed the previous night. So far Professor Clark has impacted my views of literacy even more. By assigning me homework on various literacy sponsors, she has made me value my literacy with more depth. Seeing that some citizens were deprived of learning due to their social class or ethnicity, made me realize how blessed I really am. Malcom X, who was a regular thug in the street, acquired literacy in prison. He rose above the standards placed upon him by his peers and people of his background. What I retained from his passage was that literacy is power. Without literacy, one could not go far in life, but anyone can obtain it no matter their lifestyle. We all have certain sponsors or publishings that shape us into the people we are today. Whether your literacy came from books, teachers, or your parents, we all have to remember one thing. Knowledge is