Personal Narrative: How Reading Changed My Life

Reading today is a lot different then it was in the year 868 AD; when the first book was published in China. You know a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers. Society today is so advanced that everything we do is constantly changing whether we realize it or not. For example, the book, before people would go to a bookstore or library to get the books they were interested in. Today society is making fewer trips to the bookstore and library, and making purchases of novels on their e-readers in the comfort of their own home. With these e-readers you can simply purchase any book you would like, some books being under a buck or even free, saving you a trip to the bookstore. E-readers

From my experiences, I have learned that effort and dedication are the key factors needed to gain magnificent literacy skills. Even though, I had to start from the bottom all over again, I was able to succeed in a new language.That’s why, I feel that it is extremely important to keep expanding our knowledge in order to develop our understanding, imagination and language. Although, I feel that I have improved my literacy throughout my 19 years, I know there is much more to learn.

My childhood was filled with literacy and I didn’t even know it. When I was 6 years old I read books like The Cat in The Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? All of which were good books while I was growing up. These books taught me a lot when I was younger and I didn’t even realize it. I would enjoy reading them many times,as I grew older I got into heavier books. My literacy improved a lot throughout my childhood.

My understanding of literacy has expanded over the course of my education. At the time, it came to my understanding that literacy was just an ability to learn how to read and write. Although this has been a part of my education, over time I have come to understand that literacy is a complex journey that involves learning how to take the written word and manifest on what it means to express yourself through writing. It also involves the ability to express your opinions and feelings through the written word. Clearly, this is not something that is mastered in elementary but, over time I got better. As a college student, I still feel like my literacy is evolving. The reason for this slow assimilation is greatly tied to my mistakes. As I will demonstrate through this autobiography of my literacy, experiences gained through the process of “growing up” really do inform a person’s literacy acquisition. In this

A literacy narrative is quite often thought of as a personal account as to how the written word has affected one’s life. My literacy narrative, however, embodies my passion of art to define who I am and how it has determined who I have become. Photography has been a dominant part of my life since I was born; my mom loved to take pictures of me playing and she would get in pictures with me wherever we traveled. She would buy these cheap, disposable cameras in bulk and just let us kids play with them or she would take enough pictures of us that we felt like her little models. Sometimes, she would even develop the film she thought might be promising and add the photos to our baby albums she cherished so deeply. My mom was my budding inspiration for photography, and she is still my biggest supporter today. I have to thank the twenty-first

What started your desire to read? I bet that it was not some government issued reading program. How bad, did those programs bore you in school? It was different for me. Have you ever heard of the accelerated reading program? Well, the accelerated reading program began my love with reading.

As a child, my ability to read developed around the house. I was a sickly child, so an early experience I recall is being able to read different medications. Of course the first book I remember reading is the classic Cat in the Hat. I find it amazing how quickly I became obsessed with reading. In preschool, I was always in the "library", a little corner of the room. I loved playing and interacting with others, but at a certain point in the day, I just wanted to be left alone to read. I even remember trying to learn how to read Spanish (my teacher and a majority of my classmates were Hispanic and spoke Spanish in class). I felt out of place, as any kid would be when everyone else seemed to be speaking a different language. However, preschool is where I gained a certain

My mom signed me up for the community library when I just turned 6 years old. Even if I did not know how to properly read at the time, I had to go there every afternoon to keep myself busy as an only child. Being opened to books at such an early clearly has had a major impact on my life and personality. From the local tales of my beloved Senegalese society to the deep and sophisticated French literature, I have traveled through cultures and generations. Whether it is Emile Zola’s collection of novels or Albert Camus’s philosophical texts, these books raised me and taught me about life, love, and resilience. As times went by, reading was no more a regular pastime but a detrimental part of my existence. The lessons and morality I gained from each story always pushed me to challenge the status quo, to be curious, to be adventurous but most importantly to be a problem solver.

When I think about moments that have defined my education, a few particular moments come to mind. These include when I learned to count, when I mastered multiplication, and when I memorized the quadratic formula. But perhaps the most important moment in my education was when I first learned how to read. However, being able to read almost became something I hated and dreaded doing. Luckily, one moment prevented that misfortune from happening.

I’m sitting within my petite Barbie dollhouse when suddenly I hear a slam at the door. I immediately stand up from my pink chair and sprint to the front of the house; it’s my older sister who has arrived from elementary school. From the second she would step foot in the house I would yell at her, “It’s time to read!” after a few eye rolls she would finally squat beside me and read a Dr. Seuss book. The way the words would just roll off her tongue so smoothly made English look so effortless, however, when she handed me the book for me to read I didn’t know where to begin, all that came out of my mouth was gibberish. I would make up my own words, not even knowing what they meant but for some reason, it was satisfying. As I continued to

Throughout my childhood I enjoyed reading a variety of books as a method of escaping my troubles and delving into someone else’s world for a short time. But it is my belief that being an avid reader also helped me become

When I turned seventeen years old I started my own blog website. Due to this website I'm free to express myself to a audience around the world. I've always had a strong passion for literacy even from a young age. When I was younger I would write short stories to entertain myself . Having that outlet in my life gave me a chance to explore my imagination into a new depth.

As a little girl my understanding of literacy began with the alphabet soup. I vaguely remember that my mom would place the soup in front of me and I move the letters with my finger attempting to form words. My mom sat with me and spelled my name out I was so excited because I was learning. From that moment on my curiosity for literacy began. When my mom took me to the store I would ask for books even though I couldn't read but the letters fascinated me. The pictures weren't bad either. My adventure with literacy continued as I began kindergarten.

When I was a small child my mother had a book about letters and tried to teach me about letters before I was even in school. I can barely remember the book but it had letters you could trace and sound out. It was all fine and dandy till my mother took the teaching to extreme levels. I didn’t really like learning from my mom because every time I was trying to pronounce “ou” and “ow” she would pinch me. Eventually I grew tired and decided I needed to take action. Because of her brutal teaching ways, I finally decided I did not want to read and write so I hid the book my mom used for teaching. The problem was solved for a little while though after a long time I felt like I was missing out on everything so I decided

Have you ever had to do something that you absolutely hate, but have to do it anyway? That is how I feel about reading. It is not that I hate to read, I just have a hard time finding time to read. As well as, I have a hard time finding a book that grabs and keeps my attention. I love the idea of curling up with a good book, but it reality I just cannot seem to make it happen. To me, reading requires time, effort, and discipline.