Hannah Adams English 1101 9-24-13 Dr.

Rieman Literacy Memoir When I think about my literacy my mind automatically jumps to writing. Writing has been a big part of my life mostly in school, but there were times where I would write outside of school. As I was growing up I was exposed to many different types of writing. My view on writing changed as I grew because of the schools I went to or the teachers I had. Elementary School Throughout elementary school we were preparing for the 4th grade writing test. This was something we had to pass to move on to the next grade. We were given a prompt and had to respond with three paragraphs a beginning, middle, and end. The type of prompts we had to write made us use our imagination. You can see examples here. At a certain time of the school day we would get our writing

binders out which had all our practice writings in it, and would be given a prompt and told to write. Now that I think of it our writing binders were like a portfolio which showed how we progressed as writers. We were timed because thats how the test was and my teacher wanted us to be prepared. I was taught to brainstorm before I wrote I would be given a blank piece of paper and would write down ideas I had about the prompt. There wasnt a specific w ay to do it we would just write things that popped into our heads. I did all my writing at school but then I started to like writing so much that I decided to try to start writing in a journal at home in my room. This lasted for few a weeks then I started to get bored and would forget so I stopped. Middle School In middle school I began writing poems. The only kind I had ever written was the famous roses are red violets are blue on valentine cards. I had never had to turn them in for a grade. It wasnt until my 7th grade English class that I had to write poems for grades. My teacher Mrs.Faile was by far my best English teacher. She made class very enjoyable and made me love writing poems. I definitely consider her a literary sponsor. Not only was I writing poems in class, I began writing them at home about how I
Commented [VA1]: If you could remember one (or still have one) try to include it. Id like to read it

was feeling, what I was doing, and just about random things. At the time I loved sweet tea I even had a poem about it. Mrs.Faile would tell me about contests I should enter because she thought I was really good at writing poems. I never actually entered one because after that class I lost interest in writing. I think it was because I didnt have Mrs. Faile as an English, and because my friend who also enjoyed writing poems moved away. My friend and I would write poems and share them with each other we both enjoyed writing so we would brain storm together and help each other come up with ideas to write about. Not only did we write poems but we also wrote short stories, Mrs. Faile would read them and tell us what we needed to work on and what she thought was good. I did almost all my writing in my room at home I had this old school desk that was right at the window in my room so when I would write the sun would shine in and create the perfect environment to think. When we started preparing for the seventh grade writing test I began to lose interest in academic writing. My friends and I started to write in a different way, we would write notes to each other about different things like what we were doing this weekend or what we thought about

Commented [VA2]: Sentence feels random to me. Try to combine it with previous sentence: random things such as: sweet tea, etc.

Commented [VA3]: Tell me more about your friend and how they got into writing

the latest drama and pass them to each other between classes. Now that I think of it this was how we communicated when there wasnt texting which most of us didnt get until high school. High School

In high school I began writing essays. Almost all of my classes except math required an essay at some point whether it be about a book, or on a test. In 10th grade I wrote my first speech, it was about poverty and how the world would be if we didnt have it. Before we started writing our speeches we had to brainstorm, I mentioned brainstorming in elementary school but this teacher gave us a certain way to do it. We were given a blank piece of paper and were told to put our main idea in a big bubble and then from that make smaller bubbles to support that idea. We would write down as many as we could think of and then choose the ones we thought we could explain the best. Once we brainstormed and began writing our paper we would go to the library and break into groups where we would share our speeches with our peers and get feedback on what we should work on. When we had our final draft finished we had to present our speech to the class. I was terrified because we had to stand at the front podium and look at our classmates and present our speech. This was the first time I had ever presented my writing to a class. This speech was getting us ready for the tenth grade writing test. This writing test was totally
Commented [VA5]: how did it [the speech] go? And lead more into the writing test Commented [VA4]: I had to do this too (for exams)! Then at other times I was feeling way too busy to write down bubbles and stuff

different than the fourth grade or seventh grade on you can see the prompts here. Like the others we had to pass this to move on to the next grade. Facebook and Twitter where main places I did writing, and where I still do it today. I would write down how I was feeling, or my opinion on certain issues. These social media websites are like an online journals the only difference is all your friends can see. I would communicate with my friend on here also. College and Future
Commented [VA7]: about topics like what? Commented [VA6]: Lead more into social media sentence. Part seems random coming right after a sentence about exams

When I started college just 7 weeks ago I was very overwhelmed with the amount of writing we have to do. So far I have mostly just written essays, but in English class we do all kinds of writing. One that I really like is our daybook w riting. Its like writing in a journal, I give my opinion on certain topics and just keep them to myself I often go back after class and reread what I write and even add onto it sometimes. Something different about my writing in college is I do most of it on my laptop before college I would always write my drafts on paper and then type them up, but now I do everything on my laptop. The environment I write in is different too I used to always write in my room, but now I write in different places like the library, and outside. Growing up my view on writing has changed many times I liked and then didnt, but now Im starting to like it again. I mean Im not a fan of
Commented [VA8]: This is the same kind of transition I had to go through

long reports but I do like expressing my feelings in my writings and sharing my opinion. I see myself writing more and more as I get older, and writing continuing to be a big part of my life.

I really liked this writing. You had a completely different writing literacy than I did when I was growing up! But I would clearly define those that were my/your sponsors of literacy (your teacher/friend/social media/etc).

Only two places where I think you went from one topic and jumped straight to another with no clear transition

I dont know if we are supposed to cite our sources (I havent yet) but I would just so you dont receive a lower grade than you deserve