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Caleb Joseph Harvey Ms. Emilia Fuentes English 1101-9 27 August, 2013 Literacy Memoir The world as I see it is full of two kinds of people; those who have a more logic based mind, giving them an advantage at topics such as mathematics and science, and those who have more of a creative based mind, who have an advantage in topics that are more literacy heavy. Unfortunately I have been blessed with one of those logical minds giving me the disadvantage when it comes to any form of literacy. Ever since my earliest memory of literacy, I have struggled to understand why there is so much emphasis on spicing writing up so much. Why print this big elaborate picture in order to get a simple point across? Though I feel this way, through my experiences in life so far I have learned that the points made by these elaborate pictures are just as important as the numbers that I would much rather work with. I once had an English teacher in high school who told me, writing to the math student is like your first drink of hard liquor, at first you have to hold your nose and fight through it, but its something that gets easier in time. My first hurtle jump into literature was accomplished in the first grade. Up until this point in time I was able to read and understand only simple picture books with maybe a sentence or two per page. Not being enrolled in a pre-school had set my literacy skills back when compared to my fellow peers. This would often cause me to become disheartened when I would hear my friends being praised for reading more

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word intensive pieces. The real challenge was presented when my parents were called and I was given the ultimatum of beginning to read a chapter book or repeating the first grade. With this, the next time my class went to the library I walked over to a section of the library that was very unknown to me and I found a chapter book with a cool picture of a tree house on the front. Later that night while going back and forth between the book and questioning my mother as to the meaning of certain words, I began to understand the plot. Even though this book had only one picture throughout the whole thing and it was on the front, I began to imagine the setting and create images of my own within my small mind. This learning process did not come without challenges of its own, I would often have to read a page five or six times before fully understanding it. But, in the end I finished the book and passed a small test given on it. I will never forget the feeling of accomplishment I obtained after completing this daunting task. I believe this small event in my life set in motion a drive to overcome any challenge set before me. This drive that was instilled within me that year carried into my second grade year of elementary school. This instance of new literacy understanding came in a math class. Working with numbers has often come easier to me that most so, as you can imagine, I was often bored in most math classes. After completing my work for the day I picked up my English book and discovered that it had a cursive alphabet in the back. I knew that in my school we didnt learn how to write in cursive until the third grade but I thought I might get a head start on the other kids. So, every day in math I began copying small pieces from books and other forms of writing into cursive then in English I would take these to the teacher and have her read these and give me pointers. After a

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while I began to form my own sentences in cursive. This, I would realize later, played a key role in strengthening my writing skills, not just in cursive but as a whole. When I finally reached the third grade, I felt like a monkey at the circus, the teacher had all of her attention set on me and my cursive skills that I had obtained before my fellow classmates. After being behind my class in the subject of literature, it filled me with much needed pride to finally be seen as an equal. My final literacy event took place in my sophomore year of high school in an English class. This came from a teacher named Mr. Eller and even though me and him did not get along so well he did teach me one thing, how to write and format a paper. From the early point in the year when I learned that Mr. Eller and I didnt agree I had this idea set in my mind that everything that came out of his mouth was merely an attempt to make my life harder. It was for this reason that I spent most of my semester in the in school suspension program. I felt that Eller was determined to fail me so I was thrilled by the opportunity to contradict him in any way possible, even if that involved actually doing my work. Each day in ISS after doing my normal sentences I would begin working on English papers. The first couple of papers that were returned to me by Eller werent the greatest and while handing them to me, he always had this stupid looking smirk on his face. This only made my thirst for perfection even greater. Then around the fourth paper assigned, as Eller made his usual rounds, he stopped beside me with an actual smile on his face! He handed me a paper that had a giant red A on the front and said, I knew you could do it if you just apply yourself, and continued on to the next student. It was at this point in time that I realized that all of the times Eller was writing me up, he was actually teaching me how to write. He realized early on that I could not learn

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anything in the classroom setting with all of my friends whom I had to show off for so, by placing me in ISS, Eller removed me from that environment to one of isolation allowing me to concentrate on the task at hand. This has proved useful in many aspects of my life from then on and though Mr. Eller and I still arent friends I have respect for him for teaching me this important life skill. To wrap it all up, each of these events in my life have played a key role in my literacy skills and other skills today. Though some lessons were learned the hard way, I have come to appreciate each of these instances and use them to my advantage. Whenever I am faced with a literacy challenge today I just look back on these experiences and work hard to overcome it, knowing that some of this nonsense that I am having to do might actually prepare me for what is in store ahead in my life.