Personal Narrative: My Literacy In High School

In today’s society reading is essential to function. Everywhere people turn they are required to read directions, labels, books, what’s going on in the news, or mandatory rules they need to follow. Just think about if a majority of the world couldn’t read how chaotic society would be.

My palms were sweating, my heart was racing, I had no idea what to expect or who I was going to meet. I was never the type of girl to embrace new situations, I hated change and I wasn’t very good with meeting new people. I figured once I got to high school it would be my chance to start all over, turn the page in my book of life, and flip over a new leaf. I wanted to finally be the girl that fit in with everyone. I had imagined myself going to parties with big groups of my new friends, having sleepovers and doing all of the things cool high school kids normally do. I was certain that my high school career would be just like one of those really corny teen movies and I would live happily ever after with the homecoming crown and the boy of my

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

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.

I believe that my literacy past has affected the reader and writer I am today. There is a lot I can talk about that has has an effect on me being the reader and writer I am today. One being the country and environment I lived in as a kid. In Gambia teachers don’t take reading seriously as they should. We as nursery students, focused more on learning how to spell and doing the math and also writing. We weren’t giving much books to read, maybe one or two books the whole semester. And because of that, I wasn’t a fond reader. Regardless of us not given books to read, we were giving many writing exercises so that really helped. My family however thought that reading is very important and because of that, they bought my siblings and I lots of book

Diving into past memories is something I am never found of. There is a lot of pain hidden behind some of my past experiences, but also a lot of triumph. It is always interesting to force yourself to retrieve some of those hidden memories. Sometimes the things you remember can be very surprising. Things that seemed long forgotten, can abruptly come back in a flash. The farthest memory I can recall about my own literacy experience is when I began first grade. At this stage, I remember feeling very confused about the whole purpose of going to school. I felt as if I was the only one not being able to keep up with the other children. I didn’t know what was cool, how to make friends, or even know how to play board games like “Candyland.” I was just not exposed to certain things that the other children in my class were aware of prior to beginning first grade. Most of all, I did not like learning. I liked doing things

I had just started my junior year of high school which in the past I have heard it was the hardest school year. Going back I would say they were correct. I was taking the regular English class throughout the year, but on top of that, a writing class. Usually people take this writing class their senior year to get them ready for college. But no, my parents said “You need to sign up for this class; it will help you greatly.” When the first day came, I went to this writing class with many seniors. I have not been the greatest writer, so I agreed with my parents that this class could help me. But the fact that I was a junior and not going to college the next year like everyone else in my class did not help me. So

Growing up, I was not a child who had interest in sitting down to read a book, like my mom. I am very grateful for my mom because she has pushed me to my limits with reading and writing. As a four year old child, the last thing on my mind was learning how to read. Every night, my mom would sit down with me and read for 15 minutes. She bought me a zebra finger pointer that I put on my index finger that guided me to follow along so, I would not lose my spot. Having my zebra helped my get through those dreadful 15 minutes.

4K, my earliest recollection of learning to read and write. “Find your line, it’s story time!” I sat on the blue line, closest to Mrs.Drone. She would read many books from various authors and after she would have a short lesson on a particular letter. A different letter each week. After learning about the letter we would head over to the tiny tables and practice writing and identifying the letter.

My wonderful and unpleasant experiences with literacy have taken place throughout my education. For example, one of my positive experiences with literacy was in high school with my senior project. I was able to overcome barriers as I worked on my senior project for my English class. I researched my topic and wrote a twenty-page paper and after presented the project to a panel of judges. After all the work was done I felt very proud of myself. In pushing through the editing process with every revision. Taking the time to do the research and implementing it into the project. I definitely felt like insider in doing the whole senior project from beginning to end. On the other hand an unpleasant experience with literacy would have to be WEPT at

A life lesson that I have learned over the course of my high school years, is you need to choose wisely which crowd of people to hang around. I’ve learned that not everyone is your friend, even if they tell you they are. There are people out there who will claim to be your friend, and will stab you in the back when you least expect it.

Dr. Seuss books were my absolute favorite in her class, and I was so proud when I finally could read one myself, I have no idea what some of the words were, but that is what was so much fun about his books. The words he made up would just make you giggle to yourself after saying them. You would think that since I loved his books so much, that I would enjoy reading but unfortunately that ended quickly once the school year ended.

I never really knew how I felt about starting high school. While I was so nervous and dreading the new environment. Also, I don’t know how to open up to new people. By the time, I thought I am going to fall into a big hole and never get out of it. However, the time has gone by so fast, I did not realize that I have so many friends. I’d give to an incoming San Marcos High School freshman some advices from own experience that I gained during the start of school are as follows. First thing, you need to remind yourself, you aren’t alone because there are hundreds of teens experiencing what you are experiencing this very moment ! Next, don’t be afraid to make new friends. There are many people who share the same interests as you and are seeking

My time in High School was made difficult from the constant strife and conflict between my parents. This made my home an unstable environment not fitted for learning or growing as an individual. As I got older and closer to graduating High-School, I began to find my own voice with the help of my mentor Rahn Fleming, which occurred at the end of my junior year. As a result, I came in control of my life and the constant feuding started to die down. No longer did I have to worry about the next scheduled court date, or the next time I would come home wondering what may await. I felt like I was always walking on broken glass for the longest of time throughout my life, until I began to voice myself and what I wanted. My parents came to realize this

Through the years of elementary school, I excelled in reading because of the comprehension I had and my love for books. We were always required to read a book, because we needed a certain amount of accelerated reading points each month. My favorite books were Junie B. Jones and Captain Underpants. I enjoyed reading during these years because it came natural to me and I admired the fictional aspects of books and the way they could make my mind run wild. The teachers I had I credit some of my success to because they helped me succeed in reading during elementary school.