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Luke Moore

Andrew Pinkerton

English 1510

2/1/2019

From the ABC’s to assignments like these

In my short nineteen years of life language has played a huge role in everything I

do . From my very first word, to learning the alphabet, now to writing college level

papers. Being able to communicate through writing is an immensely import skill to have,

and I’m extremely grateful to have been taught this ability. Throughout this essay I will

be walking you through my literacy journey, of the english language, and how it lead up

to this assignment.

To fully understand my journey we need to start from the beginning. From the

day babies are born parents try to get them to say their first words. For most, Mama or

Dada, I was a dada baby myself. First words and spoken words in general are a child's

first introduction to language. This was the case for me. After I honed my four year old

vocabulary reading and writing was next. As busy as my parents were they made and

effort to get me started before I began school. Before bed every night I would sit at the

kitchen table and go through a stack of vocabulary flashcards. They weren’t too intense

just matching words to pictures, but it was still a great foundation for preschool.

Finally the age of school begins. Preschool is hardly anything more than a

daycare, but was still a step in my journey. Small things like letters and how to spell

your name were taught, in between all the games of tag of course. Here you met other

kids on the same journey as you are and some you will be with the whole way through.
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The preschool days are just the tip of the iceberg in the long journey ahead, and it

doesn’t get any easier from here.

Next came elementary school. Words started getting longer and crazy new things

like sentences were introduced. I remember my first lesson of elementary school,

counting out the syllables in words. My teacher, Mrs. Schwean, would gaze around the

room and pick out one person to count the syllables in a given word. Along with

speaking the word you had to clap with every new syllable. For example, in the word

banana, the ,“ba”, was accompanied by a clap, followed by ,“na”, and a clap, and

finishing it off with ,“na”, and a clap. I would have to do this so often that it became a

habit for many years. Looking back on it, being able to pronunciate words with correct

syllables is a huge part of being a good reader.

Now Let's jump a couple years further in to high school. High school was a

completely different way of learning literacy. I got to high school thinking I can read,

write, and put sentences together what else would I need to know. Well I was sorely,

mistaken . I believe that there will never be a day in my life where I can’t learn larger

more complex vocabulary. Vocabulary wasn’t even the half of it. Sentence structure,

comma splices, and so many other rules of the english language I didn’t know existed.

A lot of high school literacy was also being able to read something and annalyse what it

meant. Authors like, Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe were analysed countless times,

story after story, book after book. It took literacy to a whole new level being able to read

stories and figuring out the meaning behind them. I always found that fun almost like a

rydle. I don’t read often but I do believe i’m a fairly good reader and I’m not afraid to

read aloud.
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Reading always was always one of my strong suits, but there was one thing I

struggled with and still struggle with to this day. Spelling. I have and always will hate

spelling. I don’t know what it is but I have never been good at spelling words. I don’t

know if it’s my general disinterest in writing or if there is something in my brain that

wont click, but I just can’t get the hang of it. I have progressed immensely over the

years but I still am not great at it. I am so grateful for computers and spell check

because without it my writing and this essay would be a mess. I use to have spelling

test back in elementary school and if I didn’t study for multiple days there was no way I

would get an A on it. I use to be so jealous of my older brother who was a naturally

great speller and didn’t have to worry about it. He once did so well of a spelling test

when he was young that the teacher called my mom because she thought he was

cheating. I wish I had that problem, but no I’m stuck with having to force myself to learn

the spellings of words. I’m slowly getting the hang of it though and still work on it every

day.

Being literate isn’t a one dimensional process. There will always be ways to

improve my literacy no matter how old I get . Learning the basics is the most important

part. Lucky for me I learned those in school, but once i’m out of school i’m on my own to

learn more and become a better reader and writer. One thing I love to do is learn new

words. I very much enjoy learning words, what they mean, and how to use them. I get

this from my mother. She is constantly encouraging me to broaden my vocabulary and

use complex words. I don’t always use the words I know,because I don’t want to sound

like a knowitall, but I do love words. I wished I loved spelling too but it’s pretty easy to

tell that I’m not a fan. One take away from writing this essay is that maybe I should
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focus more on spelling and try to get better. Not being a good speller could turn around

and bite me in the ass later in life so I should get in top of it now. I’m in a very privileged

position, it would be a shame if I didn’t perform to my best ability.

Literacy is learned so young yet can be the deciding factor if you make it in the

world or not. Everything has some form of literacy involved and being literate is a great

privilege. People take it for granted, it’s very easy to do. Some people don’t have the

resources that others do as children. Some children can’t afford school, others might not

have access to it. Being forced to look back on my literacy journey has opened my eyes

to how easy it was for me to learn, yet how lucky I was to be in that situation. I would

often complain and fuss about having to write assignments or taking spelling test. I can

see now that It was all for a purpose. I’m going to have a head start in life because of

literacy and I should really be thankful for the people who helped me get here.

Staring with flashcards at home to now writing four page essays, i've come a

long way in my journey. It might not have been the smoothest ride but I made it this far,

and this is just the beginning.