Wetherington

1
Wade Wetherington
Lynn M. Raymond, MA
English 1101
11 September 2014
My Literacy Narrative

My literacy narrative was shaped and formed by so many people, places, and

things to whom I owe so many thanks to. Though I am sure I would have still
learned how to read, write, talk, and compose in another way, these things were so
important to my personal literacy narrative. So today as I write this essay on my
literacy narrative they will get the thanks and recognition that they deserve.

The people that helped to form my literacy narrative were probably the most

significant things that shaped and formed me into the literate person I am today.
Naturally, my mom was very important to me as a young boy. What ever she was
doing I thought was important and wanted to be able to do it to. Like every other kid
when she told me a story I listened as pointed out when Derry Koralek and Ray
Collins wrote about How Children Learn to Read and Write. (Koralek, Collins 1)
Lucky for me she would read to me all the time. Day, night, or whenever I wanted to
hear a story she was there to read to me. After a couple years of her reading to me I
got to the point where I wanted to read some stories instead of her reading to me.
When I first started reading with my mom there were three books I just loved to
read. Those are Clifford books, Little Critter books, and of course Dr. Seuss books. My
favorite of these three books had to be the Little Critter books. They had fun little
stories that I seemed to have such a great connection with. The Clifford books were

Wetherington 2
the first books I read because they were so much easier to read, such as, big letters
and easy word sentences. Once I got pretty good at reading on my own I was reading
those mysterious Dr. Seuss books. I really owe so much thanks to my mother for
getting me into reading at such an early age because if not for her I would probably
know how to read, but would not like it as much as I do today.

Though my mother had a big impact on my reading skills, it was my

grandmother who had the biggest impact on my writing skills. My grandmother

lived literally right across the yard so I spent just about every day with my grandma.
The reason she was such good help at teaching me how to write was she was
actually a middle school teacher. But she really knew how to work with younger
kids. She would always help me with my homework, which was such a big asset to
my writing skills. She was able to explain to me, in a way I understood, how letters
went together to form words and how to put words together to form sentences.
Once I got a little older we would write letters. Not to anyone in particular, we just
wrote to be writing. Truthfully, it was actually pretty fun. You would just write
whatever was on your mind seal the letter and throw it away. Looking back now I
believe that it was just a way for my grandmother to get her thoughts and anger out
in a discrete fashion. But I always had fun writing those letters. She would always
proofread it and show me what I was doing right and wrong. Today I know that I
was one of the luckiest kids around to have such and amazing grandmother that
wanted to help me in my literacy narrative.

The last people I would like to talk about are all the wonderful teachers I had.

Though I had all that help at home from my mother and grandmother, my teachers

Wetherington 3
are the ones who gave me the materials and the resources it took to advance my
literacy narrative. Though some kids feel kind of forced to go to schools it is actually
a great thing to be in a country where every person has the right to school and learn.
I know I am very thankful for this because I love having the knowledge that I have
gained from my teachers. I was always one of the best in the class when it came too
creative writing. I could write such an imaginative story about kings and magic, or
anything else along those lines. Once I became a certain age the teachers I had were
the only ones helping me. But this was my decision because I felt that I was old
enough to do things on my own and I knew that I had to listen to my teachers for
this to happen.

The Four places that had the biggest impacts on my literacy narrative are my

town, elementary school, middle school, and high school. These places have really
shaped my literacy narrative by the ways I talk, write, and the way a perceive things
when I read. Every single person is different in the way they perceive things by the
place they grow up. Personally I grew up in a place where life revolves around
hunting, fishing and playing sports. In my town you were weird if you didnt do
these things. So this also affects the things I know and the way I talk. Since I have
been in charlotte people have said that I have an accent, though I cannot tell it I
know that I have one. People learn writing styles from the schools they go to. Every
school is a little bit different, with different teaching styles and different
atmospheres of learning. Even the people in schools vary; some people learn fast
others learn slowly and there are so many different styles as shown in the article on

Wetherington 4
this website (Learning styles 3). So each person is different which causes different
literacy narratives.

Finally there is all of the technology today. Today we have computers,

texting, twitter, Facebook, instagram, and many more things that I cannot even think
of. All of this new and amazing technology, but is it really good for us? In most ways
this technology is so amazing and helps us in a lot of ways. But when it comes to our
well-being and our literacy, I am not so sure. Though computers are great and help
humans in almost every aspect in everyday life, I believe it is causing people to have
less critical thinking skills as explained in the essay by Stuart Wolpert (Wolpert 2).
People dont try to learn anything anymore I do not believe. People when they cant
do something they just look up how to do it and never worry about it again. But the
real bad thing I think is the texting. Texting is making the youth, our future in
America, so illiterate it is nuts. Kids when they do not know how to spell something,
its just no big deal they just spell as close as they can and there you go, good enough
for a text. Then when it comes time to wright papers and things it just carries right
over. It is almost sad that kids cannot spell some of even the easiest words. Today
they do not even have to memorize phone numbers because all you have to do is
plug it in your phone and there it is. Though this seems like nothing what happens
when they get in trouble and dont even know their own parents phone number. It is
very important to know even these simple little things. Also the social media is not
helping anyones literacy. Social media is just about as bad as texting when it comes
to the words that people use.

Wetherington 5

So all being said I think that all of these things have, not only an impact on my

literacy narrative, but every single persons literacy narrative in the world. Though
mine is a little different than the next person that is what makes us all different. So
thank you to all my family members and teachers who have helped me gain the
literacy narrative that I have today. Also a big no thanks to all of the texting and
social media that we all use today.

Wetherington 6
Works Cited Page
1. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-most-children-learn-read
Ray Collins, Derry Koralek, How Kids Learn to Read and Write, Reading
Rockets
2. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/is-technology-producing-a-decline-
79127 , STUART WOLPERT, IS TECHNOLOGY CAUSING A DECLINE IN CRITICAL
THINKING A ND A NALYIS , JANUARY 27, 2009
3. http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview
Overview of Learning Styles