Lauren Hammers

My Literacy Narrative

I have always had a great relationship with school. I have always been a good student and

been successful within the classroom. During the hours of the school day I am a very literate

person, however that all changes the second the bell rings and school is over. For the past 6

years of my life I have read one book for pure pleasure. Aside from reading, I have barely

written anything for pleasure either. This might seem like a shock to some people, however to

many of my peers that I grew up with this was the norm. I absolutely hated reading. The only

time I ever read was when it was absolutely necessary to either my grades, livelihood or social

life. I would read signs, tweets, instagram posts, text messages, or anything else that helped me

get through everyday life and nothing more. I also read in order to get good grades, not because I

valued the literature my teachers were assigning but because I wanted to get an “A” in the class.

Starting in middle school my teachers would assign hours of reading including text book

chapters, novels related to our studies, Shakespearean plays, or articles to name a few examples.

Assigning reading like this has become a normal aspect of teaching instruction. We are all too

familiar with the process of reading a text and then writing an essay or taking a test on the

content to prove our ability to comprehend. This constant cycle becomes very draining for young

students, mostly because we do not want to read these texts. School is filled with many tedious

tasks and assignments that students are not particularly thrilled about, however this specific task

is particularly detrimental. By this I mean, teachers are turning reading into a dreaded chore

rather than a luxury that allows us to experience alternate realities. When I was forced to read all

of these novels every month that I had no interest in reading, it ruined my relationship with

literature. I can recall that in all of highschool, I only got to choose what book I wanted to read

once. Not to mention, I chose this book from a list of books that were all extremely uninteresting
 Lauren Hammers

and not at all relevant to my life. While some students (not any that I know) may be thrilled to

read ​To The Lighthouse​ by Virgina Wolf, I hated every second of it. Reading an endless cycle of

books that I did not like made me never ever want to read. I was a model student and I even

began reading summaries online to avoid reading yet another stupid novel.

Once I entered college, I had to take a course about children’s literature. I was not

particularly excited for this class considering I hated reading, little did I know this would be one

of my favorite classes I have ever taken. This class showed me the power literature has when you

actually want to read it. I read children’s books that made me laugh, cry, scream, and deeply

reflect on my life which are all things I haven't experienced before with literature. I now

understand that when I choose the content I want to read I can enjoy it and learn/grow from it. I

am no longer dreading reading, I actually choose to read in my free time now.

Reading and writing are essential to being successful in school. Students need to have a

positive attitude about both of these activities and teachers can influence their opinions. We need

to focus on giving students the opportunity to explore literature that they can relate to and learn

from. We need to allow students to use writing as a tool to express themselves, rather than

having them write meaningless papers that are just words on a page that will assist them in

getting a good grade. Like I said, many people in my generation have lost sight of what literacy

should be. I have never seen my little brother read a book that was not for school. I have never

seen any of my roommates write in a journal or diary to express their emotions or record their

memories. I want this to change for the students that I teach. I want them to understand the

potential that literacy has to impact their lives in the most positive way possible.