Lindsay Garmon Ms. Fuentes English 1101-9 October 15, 01!

Midterm "e#lection $ ha%e en&oyed doing all the reading and 'riting assignments in and out o# class. (ome 'ere long and tedious and others short and more en&oyable. )ut $ truly did lo%e doing them because they ha%e contributed to my reading and 'riting education 'hich is %ery im*ortant to me. +'o assignments, one 'hich 'as 'riting and the other reading, ha%e stood out to me, the Literacy Memoir and ,Learning to "ead., $n ,Learning to "ead,, it #ocuses on Malcolm -, born Malcolm Little, and his struggles to becoming a literate .#rican-.merican male in a time 'hen .#rican.mericans 'ere loo/ed do'n u*on as an in#erior *eo*le. $ *ersonally li/e reading about *eo*le0s struggles, not because $0m e%il and en&oy it. 1o, $ li/e it because it is relatable and o*ens my eyes to all the things $ ta/e #or granted on a daily basis +here are *eo*le out there that ha%e had it 'orse than me. $ learn that through reading. .t the time this reading assigned our discussion in class 'as all about literacy. 2hat does it mean to be literate3 2hat are the de#initions o# literacy3 4o' do *eo*le become literate3 .ll these 5uestions #uel my brain and made me thin/. Malcolm had to teach himsel# to become literate 'hile in a &ail cell. 4e 'as im*risoned #or a #e' years and his #ace 'as al'ays in a boo/ during that time. 4e started o## 'ith a dictionary. 4e 'rote do'n e%ery single 'ord out o# a dictionary so he could become more literate /no'ing 'ords and their meaning. )y doing this, Malcolm #ound it easier to read.

Malcolm became literate com*letely on his o'n. 4e taught himsel# ho' to read and 'rite. $ thin/ that is incredible. Later on in his li#e Malcolm became a 'ell-/no'n acti%ist #or .#rican-.merican rights and 'as /no'n #or his strong and asserti%e s*eeches and *ersonality. 4e says in the story that 'hene%er he had #ree time, he 'ould be reading a boo/. .nother literacy assignment, the Literacy Memoir, stood out to me because one, 'e s*ent so much time on it, t'o, $ got to tal/ about mysel#, and three, *eer re%ie' 'as in%ol%ed. +he #ocus o# the Literacy Memoir 'as to gi%e my bac/ground on ho' $ learned to read and 'rite and certain e6*eriences that sha*ed the 'ay $ 'rite today. .lso, 'e 'ere to tell about the s*ecial *eo*le that hel*ed us along the 'ay, our ,literacy s*onsors., $ thought that this 'as a great to*ic to 'rite about. $t ga%e me and the other students a chance to tal/ about oursel%es, and 'ho doesn0t li/e to boast about themsel%es sometimes3 +o be able to tell *eo*le 'here $ come #rom and 'ho the s*ecial *eo*le in my li#e are is cool. 2hile 'riting my memoir, $ had to /ee* in mind that my *eers 'ere going to be reading it, so $ 'anted to ma/e it as *ersonable as *ossible and not li/e $ 'as 'riting a #ormal letter to the *resident. $ 'anted them to #eel li/e $ 'as tal/ing directly to them as i# 'e 'ere #ace-to-#ace. 7eer re%ie' is something $ li/e doing because it can o*en my eyes to ne' o*tions and 'ays $ can change my *a*er to ma/e it better. $t allo's me to hel* others ma/e their *a*ers as 'ell. 4o'e%er, $ #elt li/e $ couldn0t be as honest 'ith my grou* members as $ 'anted to be. $0m one o# those *eo*le 'ho are brutally honest and not being able to be 1008 honest irritated me. .nother thing that 'ould ha%e been cool is i# 'e could ha%e s*ent one-on-one time 'ith each o# our grou* members.

O%erall, $ thin/ this class is aimed at teaching us that 'riting ta/es a huge amount o# *ractice and then some. 2riting ta/es re%ision and you could *otentially 'rite #i%e dra#ts be#ore it0s as good as you 'ant it to be. Letting a #e' *eo*le loo/ o%er your 'or/ is im*ortant because that0s more o*inions and a better *a*er.