Cunningham

Cody Cunningham

Professor Lynn Raymond

University Writing 1104

22 January 2017

Writing Prompt One

From a young age kids are taught how to read, write, and speak. Kids are taught through

their school systems or their parents, or a combination of both. One way or the other they

develop the basic knowledge of how to read and write. For myself, I think I can attribute the way

I read and write primarily to my Mom and how she raised me.

My Mom loves to read. I, on the other hand, do not. Ive never been the best or fastest

reader so I have generally avoided it. I feel as if my parents werent huge proponents of the read

a book to your kid before bed. I dont think it wouldve done anything to help develop my

reading ability. I remember from an early age struggling to read and to learn how to read and

when going into the first grade this became a problem. I struggled with reading to the point that I

had to get a tutor. My Mom made sure to get me the best tutor she could find and she drove me

to the local library every week for my lesson. She kept the tutor until I knew how to read and

until she knew I would stay caught up in every grade. Throughout the rest of my schooling my

Mom never forced me to read unless it was required by one of my classes. Im very thankful for

that, although now that Im looking back and thinking about it, it probably wouldve helped if I

had read a couple more books.

My vocabulary and dialect stem from listening to the way my Mom spoke and the words

she used. As infants and toddlers a lot of the words that are learned and retained come from

hearing, whether it be direct conversations or listening in on others conversations. My Mom was

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very well educated and demonstrated this through her use of vocabulary. Just listening to the way

my Mom spoke to me and my siblings and father helped me develop the way that I spoke to

others. My Mom used a lot of big words when I was a kid and although they dont seem very big

now, I can attribute me learning and using them to her. My mother also taught me to speak

formally and with purpose. The same principles carried over to my writing.

I like to think that Im a good writer. I dont always enjoy it but I do get it done and I try

my best. I feel like my Mom had the least influence for me in this category. Im a firm believer

that writing skills comes naturally. Bad writers can be taught how to write well but the best

writers are born with it. Im certainly not saying Im the best writer or even close. What Im

saying is that my writing ability was more naturally developed over time. My Mom did,

however, help when it came to proofreading and improving my grammar and word choices. She

proofread almost every paper that I, and my two sisters, ever wrote and made punctuation and

grammar fixes. Im extremely thankful for that because without that help I probably would not

have done so well in some of my English classes.

Now I wont credit all of what I know to my Mom because, obviously, school and

teachers played a role in the development of my speech and grammar. My Mom does deserve the

majority of the credit, however, because she constantly was there to help and develop my

reading, writing, and speech skills.

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Cody Cunningham

Professor Lynn Raymond

University Writing 1104

28 January 2017

Writing Prompt 2

One of the most profound events that helped shape me as a literate person was when I got

my first job. I got my first job my freshman year of high school. At the time, I was only 14 and

just barely allowed to work. My first job was at a bowling alley hosting birthday parties. At this

point it doesnt sound like this job could have had any impact on my literacy however it did.

My job had me working with a lot of adults and people much older than myself. Most of

my coworkers were adults that had either graduated college or were currently in college.

Working alongside these individuals helped increase my vocabulary and the speed at which I

learned new words. I remember one of my coworkers, who at the time was attending North

Carolina State University, was a strong advocate of the word copious. He would use this word

any chance he got and slowly I picked up on it and started using it myself. Instances like this

where someone would use a word that I didnt and hadnt learned yet helped to expand my

literacy.

Another way my job that helped to shape me as a literate person was that, as a party host,

I had to work closely with the parents of the many kids I was watching over. As a 14 year, old

you must make the parents of the party kids trust you and trust that you will watch over them and

keep them safe during their party. One of the best ways to gain their trust was to talk to them in a

mature way. For me that meant to speak politely and with proper grammar.
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Getting my first job was the most influential event, literacy wise, in my life. Although my

job didnt have much of an effect on the writing portion of my literacy narrative but it did help

me to be more literate. It did help me better understand how to speak to different audiences in the

appropriate and respective way.

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Cody Cunningham

Professor Lynn Raymond

University Writing 1104

3 February 2017

Writing Prompt 3

Since I discovered the cell phone and the internet there has been a profound effect on my

life and my literacy narrative. The internet opened a new realm of learning for myself and other

people. Most of what I learned and how I learned was from or with the use of the technology.

My earliest memory of using a computer was in pre-school. I remember learning all the

letters and some numbers on a computer a couple times a week. As I progressed through the

years of school the use of technology became more prominent. Teachers started using projectors

and computers to teach lessons and eventually started requiring students to use computers for

homework and projects. Just about everything Ive learned had some computer component

attached to it.

In middle school, all my English teachers required that we write rough drafts of papers

before the final draft. They also required that the rough drafts be hand-written and that the final

drafts be typed. The overall base of the writing was the same across both platforms however the

one thing that the computer had that I lacked was spell check. Microsoft words spell check

feature has helped and hindered my literacy narrative. Its helped me on my papers to make sure

Ive spelled words correctly and put commas in the right places but its probably done more bad

than good. For the most part I can spell just about every word I know but there are some

acceptations. I know spell check isnt entirely to blame for this but if I had just taken the time to
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learn the words in the first place and not have relied on spell check I could probably be on the

world spelling bee circuit. The same thing applies to the cell phones.

The invention of the cell phone brought with it a whole new dialect. People can say entire

sentences with just a couple of letters. Ive fallen victim to the trend. I am guilty of using lol,

and lmao, as well as many others. Abbreviations like this have consumed my personal

conversations with others on the phone. I talk to all my friends and my family like this. I do

however keep my school and any other more important writings separate from this text typing.

When it comes down to it growing up with all the worlds technology available to me has

greatly helped my literacy narrative. It has had a few negative effects on my literacy narrative but

I have been able to keep those negative effects out of any important writings or conversations

that Ive ever had.