Smith 1

Isaac Smith
12September 2014
Professor Lynn Raymond
UWRT 1103-E03
My Literacy Narrative
Almost every story begins with background information to let the reader catch up to date
with the character inthe story. My story is no different. I was raised in Greensboro, North
Carolina where I learned to read at the age of three. I learned to read with the help of my mom,
~~V\~
dad, . sister. According to the National Education Association, "Twenty-six percent of children
who were read to three or four times in a. week by afamily member recognized all letters of
. . '.
the alphabet. This is compared to 14percent of children who were read to less frequently"
(NEA). Throughout my years, I became more and more capable of being able to read and fully
understand what the words meant. At the age of three, I could read books such as Cat in the Hat
fv, ~ I:~I~hoO~
and Ten Apples up on Top. __ pfteen years later, I look back at.dOli and wonder "Where
exactly did I learn to read?" InElementary School, my teachers would have "Carpet Day~ At
that time, children could grab abook and sit on the carpet and read for an hour or so once they
had finished their other schoolwork. I used to rush through my work so that I could find aseat on
the carpet and begin reading in my own little world. My teacher would tell me to slow down and
focus on my other work, but I thought that I already knew how to count and I wanted that special
time to read very badly.
The community I grew up in was an oral community because everyone was so friendly
and willing to talk to each other about events that were going on in their lives. There were also a
Smith 2
few news teams in Greensboro, so the community was able to figure out what was going on in
the world. J ust like the news on TV, many people relied on the printed text of newspapers and
magazines to understand their country as a whole. When I was little, I remember not being able
to comprehend what people who read were doing. All I saw was the person looking down at
symbols on apage and sometim aughing at what was on the page. Discovered by the Pew
Research Center, "Newspaper advertising revenues continued their long slide in 2012, with print
revenues dipping yet again. Online grew by 3.7% in 2012 and is now about 15%of the total"
(pew Research Center). From this, I can see that technology is becoming even more powerful
and is able to slowly take out the paper industry, which can have its pros and cons.
The new age technology is simply amazing, frombeing able to talk to your friend two
thousand miles away to sending apicture to your grandmother down inNew Orleans. They have
new ways oflearning to read anq.coming from achild growing up in the 90's, I can say that the
technology we had was far less advanced than the children of today. I use many different types
tet\"llOlo~
of' to communicate, however they all have different uses. For instance, I use texting
to talk to friends and family, E-mail to talk to professors and business officials, Instagram to see
what is going on in other people's lives, and the telephone for parents and business. Some of
these@.~.0~an be used for two different groups of people, but others should just be kept to
their main audience. For example, I would not text business officials or professors because that
can be seen as informal. However, emailingmygrandmotherwouldbetooformal.soIwould
use texting in this case. According to Pew Research, "As of J anuary 2014, 74% of online adults
use social networking sites" (pew Research). From this, I can see that more adults, including
business officialsJ have adapted to learning about the computer. My favorite book was Captain
Underpants. Captain Underpants was acrime fighter who took down the bad guy while rocking
Smith 3
the Tighty- Whitey underwear. Because my parents saw that I enjoyed reading these books, they
would purchase them for me to keep me motivated in reading.
When I was younger, I learned to understand the meaning of what is communicated with
the help of pictures and videos. I used to play computer games such as J ump Start. Inthe
game, it would have apicture and you would have to type out the name of the object. Stated by
researchers fromUniversity of Michigan, "video puzzle games that exercise children's working
memories can enhance their abstract reasoning and problem-solving skills, which can have a
iSVu.c~
direct impact on future educational and occupational" (ESA).Also, whenever we finished reading
abook in elementary school, the teacher would bring the movie the next day and we would
watch it. This helped us fully comprehend what happened in the story. When I began to think of
how I learned to read, I thought of how my parents learned. So, I asked my parents about their
literacy narrative and they told me that when they were little, they had books called "Baby
Books" which were books with aword and picture on each page, which helped associate aword
with apicture. Compared to my literacy narrative, they learned how to read frombooks, where I
learned how to read by playing computer games.
As you can see, different generations have different ways of learning to read, from
picture books to software programs. People are also having to become more and more capable of
working with computers because if they fall behind on technology, they might never be able to
catch up and fully understand what is happening. With the technology becoming more ~~ore
intelligent, I know that down the road, my children's literacy narrative will be much more
technology-based than mine ever was. I know that one day I will help my little child learn how to
read with the ways my parents helped me: reading to me each night, playing computer games
with me and buying me books at the school book fair.
Smith 4
Work Cited
" cts about Children's Literacy." Rss. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Aug. 2014.
<http://www. nea. org/grants/facts-about -childrens-literacy. html>.
r---
"The Entertainment Software Association." - Games: Improving Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 14
I Sept. 2014. <http://www.theesa.comlgames-improving-what-matters/education.asp>.
\ "Newspapers: By the Numbers I State of the Media." Newspapers: By the Numbers I State of the
Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 14Sept. 2014. <http://stateofthemedia.orgl2013/newspapers-
stabilizing-but-still-threatenedlnewspapers-by-the-numbers/>.
"s6ctal Networking Fact Sheet." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS.
V--- J c
N.p., n.d. Web. 12Sept. 2014. <http://www.pewintemet.orglfact-sheets/social- fltfI-l ~
networking-fact-sheet/>.
(\ \ kOVJ t) pX(J t
~1~OJI 'd
15
:J )v'~
.---;)