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Hannah James
Professor Marcum
UWRT 1103

May 10, y
Exploration of Literacy
As I look back on my life thus far, I tend to think about the fond memories had in
elementary school, on and off the playground, memories of friends and good times had in middle
school, and how I will miss high school, but I, like most people, do not often think about
elementary, middle, or high school as being monuments of literacy. Most do not even think to
credit those in their past for their literacy and acquired knowledge. The environment in which
literacy is obtained plays a huge role in how one chooses to use their literacy. My goal with this
memoir is to evaluate the environment in which my literacy was nurtured, and reflect on how
this environment has affected the use and success of my literacy.
My first encounter with literacy was when I was three and a half. My mom and dad
would put alphabet blocks on the table when I would eat and they would say the letters over and
over and I would pick out the letters they were saying. By 4, I knew the alphabet, but I couldnt
write it out. I could only write my name. My mother was so focused on her children being the
best and thriving academically even at a young age. The environment in which I learned my
alphabet was one filled with love, for both reading and writing. As told by my mother, my
brother, who was only 3 years older than me, would read Dr. Seuss to my sister and I at night to
help improve his reading and help us attune our ears to sentences and words. I loved hearing

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words. However, I dont really recall when words clicked for me but I remember listening to
bible stories on CD and being so enthralled by the vocabulary that I needed to know what they
were saying. I distinctly remember one instance in which I was listening to the radio on the way
to pre-school and every single word I heard that I wasnt familiar with, I would ask my mom
what it meant. This went on throughout pre-school and into kindergarten. I yearned to
comprehend. My need to comprehend and understand the words in the world around me makes
me feel as though I identified most with Sherman Alexie as a child. I still remember the exact
moment when I first understood, with a sudden clarity, the purpose of a paragraph. I didnt have
the vocabulary to say paragraph but I realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words.
The words inside a paragraph worked together for a common purpose. [] This knowledge
delighted me (Alexie 4) Through looking back at the more juvenile times in my literate past, it
doesnt surprise me that I was so astounded by words and meanings because I always had to ask
why? to everything.
By my 5th birthday, I could write all my letters and sing the alphabet confidently. Once I
became immersed into pre-school, I decided to make it my goal to teach everyone their alphabet
because there were so many who did not know the alphabet and how much fun it was to sing. I
ended up teaching only a handful how to say their letters, but we would all walk around the
playground singing it loudly. The pre-school had an extremely learning active environment.
There were several teachers, one of which I loved. Her name was Miss Holly. She always read to
us and had us tell her stories and she would have us draw our days and label things which I think
really played a strong roll in the foundation of my literacy. She sparked my interests in reading
and writing stories.

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I went through first and second grade doing fairly well with my writing, but my ability to
read out loud was lacking. I owe most of my ability to comprehend literature and words in
context to my second grade teacher, Mrs. Heinrich. My teachers could all tell I was struggling
with reading, and my parents met with Mrs. Heinrich and addressed it as a serious concern. I
recall sitting in the cafeteria with all of the other kids, and Mrs. Heinrich would call me to a
booth, away from everyone else. She would sit with me and have me read Fun With Dick and
Jane aloud. I remember stumbling and stuttering over the words and forgetting to pause after
periods and commas. The constraint I felt from this experience aligned most with Brandts idea
about sponsorship in which she states The concept of sponsors helps to explain, then, a range of
human relationships and ideological pressures that turn up at the scenes of literacy learning ()
(Brandt 8) At my age, it was entirely incumbent upon my teachers to make sure I was a good
reader, as I spent 6 hours a day in schooling to become a smart and hardworking student. Mrs.
Heinrich was the most solid literacy sponsor I had in elementary school. Through reading aloud
and working on phonics with her, I wasnt afraid of big books anymore. By the fourth grade, I
began reading the Harry Potter series and The Series of Unfortunate Events without any help
from my teachers or my parents. If it werent for her dedicated sponsorship, I do not think I
would have excelled later on in school or put in the effort when necessary.
I feel as though these events in my literate past have shone a certain light on the duties
that my teachers had. As a teacher, one would feel responsible for their class in all aspects
including behavior and learning. The environments that my teachers created for learning and
instruction really helped build on my literacy as well as those around me. This is because, as
teachers in small classes, they had time to attend to the needs of each individual which I have
realized is probably the very reason that I have the literacy I have. If teachers did not take their

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time to help those who are struggling and lift up those who are excelling, what would our
education amount to?
Another major growth spirt in my literacy and writing was when I decided to take AP English III.
This course was very difficult, and for me it was my first taste of college level work. The first
week we were assigned to write a 4 page essay on the character analysis of Daisy from The
Great Gatsby. It was our summer reading, and I had just finished the book a week before. I wrote
the draft and turned it in for peer review. After receiving someone elses essay and reading over
it, I knew my essay was no where near the caliber of the rest of the class. I went to my teacher
for help with writing. I comprehended the book, I knew the characters, but I didnt view from a
meticulous and indirect standpoint and this was where my writing took a hit. I never realized that
the underlying themes and tones that the author chose would ever make a huge difference in
building a character and plot. This discourse community embarrassed the hell out of me at first,
but it was definitely a new found literacy sponsor. Through constant peer review, and analytical
discussions on articles and novels, I began to see myself transform from a literate being to
someone with a strong ability to critically analyze texts and read between the lines. Once I
became fluent in the community, my writing improved, and I could speak the language when
talking about drafting, rhetorical analysis, colloquialism, and complexity. My peers were my
sponsors, and reading their writing helped me improve in so many areas. I grew fond of my new
knowledge and it really aided in my ability to read and write with a rigorous and unsystematic
approach. As my writing improved, my grade went up, and so did the support from my
community. It seems to me that most, including myself, tend to look back and point out teachers,
parents, and elders as their literacy sponsors but fail to recognize that peers are a huge part of
ones literacy. Peers are the people you share your literacy with, wether youve had one class with

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them, or grew up going to all the same schools. Your peers are the people who witness your
literacy first hand. They watch you ask questions and seek answers and they judge your ability to
comprehend material based on how you answer questions and present yourself as a literate
subject. My peers in my AP English III class had such an impact on my literacy, all for the better,
and I cant thank them enough for helping to realize the importance of being a strong writer. I
really align to Rodriguezs feeling that school is entirely separate from most every aspect in life.
Although it makes up a large chunk and the skills brought from it help to further us in the
environments we choose to thrive in, it is a literacy environment from every angle and he does
not ignore that whatsoever when he makes the statement A primary reason for my success in the
classroom was that I couldnt forget that schooling was changing me and separating me from the
life I enjoyed before becoming a student (Rodriguez 7)
Through the reflection of my literacy, I can confidently say that it is vast and thriving and
I plan to use it in any way I can to understand the world around me as well as the people around
me. I never realized until now how important and imperative it is to have a strong understanding
of ones own literacy history. I believe my memoir will help those who read it reflect on their
histories and analyze the major events that helped them become literate beings. In conclusion, I
would dare to say that going back and digging up my past has helped me to create a strong
literate future for myself in terms of both reading and writing.

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Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me." Writing about
Writing: A College Reader. By Elizabeth A. Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martins, 2014. N. pag. Print.
Brandt, Deborah. Sponsors of Literacy. College Composition and Communication 49.2
(1998): 165-85. Print.
Working on citation for Rodriguez