Personal Narrative: Goodnight Moon By Margret Wise Brown

Literacy memories and events began at a young age for me, and while teachers and family members all impacted my opinions and preferences for reading, every book I read and writing assignment given to me helped me form my literacy story and come to enjoy reading. Many literacy moments came from when I was young, like my mom or dad reading to me before bed or teachers reading to me at school their favorite books. All of these memories were accompanied by everyone saying how great reading was, and for a while I didn’t believe them. I had so many forced experiences with reading that it was almost painful for me to pick up a book. But as time went on and the reading I was still forced to do intensified, a better relationship with reading and writing

I have acquired many literacy opportunities throughout my literacy life my parents, grandparents, and teachers ,I hold them very close to my heart because if it wasn’t for them pushing and encouraging me to read and write I wouldn’t be the literate person I am today. I bear a huge family so there are always many voices going through my head so it wasn’t long until I started speaking, as well as comprehending what all these strange words meant recognizing the words was very difficult before I started practicing them. My parents always encouraged me to read and write in a way no child can resist with toys and candy who could say no to that. Every chance they got to help me read they would read with me. I wasn’t forced to read on my own because I didn’t know how.

My first experience to literacy came as a young adult. I have always been reluctant with my education, because of the family problems I experienced growing up. The harsh treatment our family received growing up made it very difficult to study in school, my body was physically in class but my mind was not. The trials and tribulations I went through growing up as a kid continued throughout my teenage years. Dropping out of high school I believe brought upon literacy difficulty. At the age of twenty-three, I finally had enough of feeling undereducated. Living in my mother’s basement with no job and an 8th grade education, the walls started to close in on me as my frustration became greater by the minute.

My literacy journey had begun earlier than most kids, according to my mother. I started reading in kindergarten, with help with the BOB books and the PBS show Between the Lions. I don’t know when I had started writing exactly, but I remember clearly writing short stories about my cat Stormy in 3rd grade. At that time we had to write weekly short stories, and I only ever wrote about my cat. In 4th grade, I had started exploring writing more; I would write plays for me and my friends to practice during recess. Most of them, I’m happy to say, were actually educational, so my teacher had even let my friends and I perform one about early-American settlers in front of our whole class.

Mrs. Wilson instilled a love for reading in me. In first grade this didn’t seem like much, but as the years went on I saw her impact on my life in many different ways. In fifth grade I was given the opportunity to be “student leader”, presented the opportunity to go to the young grades and read to the kids. I of course chose to read to Mrs. Wilson’s class. This

Growing up in elementary school every day presented a new obstacle that needed to be overcome. Most of the time they were reading and writing challenges, and most of the other students at my grade level didn’t have the difficult time I did.

Reading and writing has always played a vital part in my life. From toddler to adult, pre-elementary to college, I’ve managed to sharpen both skills to my liking. However, even though it significantly helped, schooling was not what influenced me to continue developing those skills into talent. Many different things shaped and influenced my learning, and now reading and writing have become the safety net of my life. I know that even if I have nothing else in the future, I’ll still have my talent and knowledge. To ensure my success, I hope to further develop those skills so that I may fulfill my wishes.

Challenges in life are inexorable. However, I found that such barriers often present benefits. Currently, I am facing a plethora of arduous tasks. My whole life I have been plagued with poor literacy skills; furthermore, my English grade in high school reflected this. When I became a senior I realized how salient writing and critical reading skills were, however as most students are a step ahead of me I often felt helpless. At the same time my AP English IV teacher understood my situation, and provided after school hours to help hone my English skills. At length, I began to improve gradually, soon I was turning C’s and B’s into low A’s. However the teacher found her hands full with UIL and photography, I understood that now it was my turn to improve myself without an outside source.

I might’ve been the same way, had I not had the feelings of success and accomplishment through my experience. My experience changed my outlook on what books were and the importance of reading in my own life. I learned after that reading can be a great source for entertainment and knowledge, and can even be an escape sometimes. I’ve learned a lot from all of the reading I’ve done and hopefully I’ll have the drive to learn more as I read more complex and sophisticated works. I gained a love of reading from an experience I was embarrassed of at the time, but that taught me all that books had to

Written commcation has always been difficult for me. I have always struggled with reading and write, spelling was the worst. I have a mild learning disability, which made writing hard even though I enjoyed writing. Since I was young, I have been embarrassed to read out loud or to have someone look at something I wrote, not because I thought it wasn’t good, but because I knew there were misspelled words everywhere. Growing up I was always placed into lower level reading classes and had to take after school classes to help me improve. I didn’t like reading because of this reason, so I never picked up a book and read it though until I was in 5th grade. The very first book I ever read was “Because of Winn-Dixie.” My friend at the time knew I struggled with words and wanted to help.

It's there in the blackness, deep within the gloom of the shadows, poised just beyond the charcoal line that separates the night from the dark. If you listen you can hear the growl that rumbles deep down within its throat, and imagine the bared razor teeth, the drooling saliva, and those blood red eyes that can penetrate and discern the very fears of men. It lurks, cloaked in the murkiness of the night just beyond the perception of the human eye. It lays in wait; loathsome, poised, hungry.

Growing up, I was always at higher reading levels than my classmates, and was able to write very well. When it came to basic literacy, I was golden. But I had to understand a higher level of literacy, something that would change my life forever. I had a challenge to face that no one else my age had to deal with. Because of the medical condition I was born with, I had to understand literacy on an entirely different level. I had been born with insulin resistance and the doctors were always explaining what this meant, and I had to understand

"Taylor why can't you read this. This is so easy," I remember my younger sister Ashley saying to me. My path to literacy started in Kindergarten when I struggled to learn how to read. We had just moved from Kennewick, WA to Denver, CO a couple weeks before my first day of kindergarten. I had always been into playing school with my two sisters and pretending I was the nerd that knew everything when it came to reading and math. The real shock came to me when I started Kindergarten and everyone could read but me. I felt stupid. I would come home and try and do my reading homework with my mom and my three year old sister could read things that I couldn’t. I tried my absolute hardest at school and I just couldn't read. I could do everything else such as adding and subtracting and could even writing my name 26 times in a minute but it felt impossible for me to be able to read.

While I attended Black Diamond Elementary School, my mother, had asked one of the teachers, “When will you start teaching my daughter how to read”? Their response was of something that did not impress my parents. They had told her that I could just look at pictures in the books or have others read to me. Just as I begin to make good friends, I find out that I have to move to a different elementary school. Reading used to be difficult for me growing up until I received extra help.

Learning to read and write, or getting an education in general, is something that is easily handed to us in the world today. Imagine living in a world where you were expected to be uneducated, illiterate, and stupid. In the texts “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie and “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, these young boys grew up in different worlds where they were looked down upon and were expected to fail due to the standards they grew accustomed to. Although Douglass and Alexie underwent contrasting hardships on their educational journey, they both shared the realization that learning to read and write was both a curse and a blessing. With those shared