Literacy Narrative Essay Example

Literacy development is a necessary phase in the lives of all human beings. It is what enables people to function in a cohesive manner and to improve their society. Literacy goes beyond the ability of individuals to read and write since it encompasses the understanding of all elements of one’s life and learning to interpret them. Thus, beyond reading and writing, one has to be able to make use of all their senses to develop an overall perspective of what is around them. Literacy development is a gradual and continuous process that happens throughout the life of a person since people come across new information every day. This essay shall highlight the major factors in my life that have contributed to my literacy development.

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Literacy narrative essay example

My literacy development process began at home. I fondly remember the many times before bedtime when my mother would read a book to me with the hopes that I would fall asleep sooner than later so that she may begin to prepare for the next day. I could not understand some of what she was saying since my vocabulary was still limited at that time. On Saturdays, I would wake up and find my father reading the newspaper over the kitchen counter as usual. He would read the paper to me and teach me a couple of new words and their meanings. Soon after, Papa bought me my first alphabet book which helped me understand how to pronounce basic words.

Preschool was mostly drawings, paintings, and playing with puzzles. The teacher would read to us three times in one day. These sessions helped me a lot in building my vocabulary. Further, the constant communication with children from diverse backgrounds allowed me to learn new words from them. Words that they had heard from their distinct environments. Also, in preschool, I learned how to tell time. One day the teacher walked in with a wall clock and began pointing to the various hands and explaining what they all meant. I was so impressed I went back home in a jolly mood. On Sunday’s my parents used to take me to our church’s Sunday school program which was designed for teaching children religious songs and literature. I had memorized more about the Bible in song than I could read.

During kindergarten, I learned how to count up to ten, and the teachers taught us how to recite the alphabet and to recognize vowel sounds. I also learned how to develop a rhyme scheme through reciting poems. By the time I was in the first grade, differences in class were mainly based on the sexes where it was always boys versus girls. We associated certain behaviors and games with girls and others with boys. Thus, the learning curve was not only about reading and writing alone. However, the school was not the only place where I developed my literacy skills.

Literacy narrative paper

When I joined second grade, my father bought a Dell desktop computer. Computers were not commonplace back then as they are in current times. My dad used the desktop for his work correspondence, and when he was not using it, I would mimic his actions with the hope of turning it on. Courtesy of the easy user interface I was soon fairly computer literate. In school, an old computer running a Disk Operating System was introduced. Even though it was rudimentary, it taught me how to type since back at home my father would not allow me to touch his computer while he was at home. Soon after, I developed a penchant for writing, and while Papa was away, I would find myself writing comic strips. When he came back, I would switch to my paper diary to draw sketches of the comics.

There was a time in middle-school when our English teacher announced that there would be a writing competition and that the prize was a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K Rowling. There was a lot of buzz in school as most students wanted to get their hands on a free copy of the book. I did not understand why some people were excited about a book that did not have any pictures. I did not enter the competition and mostly ignored its existence. One day my friend handed me the first book in the Harry Potter series which is Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. I begrudgingly began to read the 300 paged book. Soon after, I was hooked to it. I appreciated and admired the author's work. However, I also felt inferior. I looked at my writings and compared them to the author’s work and felt unworthy of writing again. Nonetheless, I learned as much as I could from the Harry Potter book and began to improve my writing style, and since then I have not stopped reading novels and other literary works.

Personal literacy narrative

In high school, I met a diverse group of people who were at a phase of experimenting with various identities. People would hang out with people who had corresponding characters. In high school I found myself switching from novels to movies. Movies contributed a lot to my developmental process because I found the difference between the characters to be distinct. Furthermore, movies made me develop stereotypes about particular individuals. However, I quickly learned that most presumptions were not entirely accurate since I had a diverse group of friends who did not always fit the stereotypes. The cultural diversity improved my understanding of other social groupings.

Reading novels and watching movies have had a profound influence on my grammar since I learn new words every day. Some of these words are not even English words. Also, I have found myself alluding to movies and other literary works while conversing with other people as a way of enhancing my explanation. University life is continuously influencing what I know about my literacy capabilities. It has made me more analytical in that I question why I do things the way I do them. As I reminisce about my past, I realize just how far I have come, and how ignorant I was back then. It makes me appreciate every bit of effort that I have made to be who I am today.