Kikerpill 1 Jonny Kikerpill Mr.

Patterson ENGL 1101 12 September 2013 Literacy Narrative There are many things that shaped my life, but some have a larger impact than others. Some examples of things that influenced my literacy are: movies, people, moving, and social networking. Social networking has become more prevalent throughout the past years and is a large part of the technological society. The reason for it being an impact on my literacy is that I am around it so much. I have different influences from different social networking sites. It is very different from the literacy you see in literature books at school. I would not say it has a bad effect to my diction but it can have negative affects. Social networking does not hinder my diction but rather put in a different direction. It has an affect on how I communicate with people. The way I talk to my friends differs greatly from how I talk to my teachers. One reason is because my friends are very intertwined in social networking too, rather than my teachers. There are always exceptions to fit people into these categories, however. I sometimes talk to my parents as I would talk to my friends and use acronyms or slurs found in the social network realm. As anyones diction enhances when they grow older, mine does with social networking too; however, many think it hard to believe. Some claim it to stunt learning growth while others say it can improve literacy. It is not smart to always trust everything you read, which could help with literacy. Literacy is built on what

Kikerpill 2 you read and write, and your experiences with your literacy influences. Sometimes social networking sites can present false information as books do. The influence of what shapes literacy comes from what you choose to believe. Another large influence of the formation of my life and literacy is movies. I have watched a lot of movies ever since I was a kid. I always enjoyed mysterious movies and especially, movies that made me think. Movies like Inception and Shutter Island really made me think about the way I perceive things. They use very good plot and characters to display interesting ideas that I still think about to this day. These ideas go beyond daily thoughts, which help me in writing about certain topics. All the deep and critical thinking type movies think outside the box. I tend to analyze books or daily decisions due to the critical thinking ideas I encounter in movies. I like to think the way they do in movies during my daily life. Movies that bring up life questions intrigued me into questioning experiences in my own life. People are my largest influence on my literacy. They shaped me to who I am today. My parents, who will be brought up in the next paragraph, have taught me many life lessons but they have also become a part of my personality. I would say I am a very optimistic person because of my dad. He has always been optimistic and I have noticed it ever since I can remember. I really take it into account how well optimism can better my life. I never go a day without thinking of the optimistic side of things. Optimism made me easy-going as well. This is something that really shaped my character. I worry about small things sometimes and being optimistic puts things into perspective. I put myself into the shoes of people that live in third world countries to realize my problems arent as impactful as theirs. They definitely have an impact on my literacy, but do not hinder

Kikerpill 3 my health, family, or quality of life as much. I always think of my grandfather, how hard his life was, and how he overcame his obstacles. My grandfather was very optimistic like my dad was, which makes him an influence as well. My grandfather also had many amazing war stories. They influenced me to never give up and realize how easy we have it compared to other people. Another person who shaped my literacy is my teacher Mr. Jennings. He was my anatomy teacher in ninth grade. I have always liked science and he made it very interesting. After taking that class I knew I wanted to stay in that direction. I am now in the Kinesiology major and Mr. Jennings has a part to do with that. Moving also shaped the person I am today. I moved from California to North Carolina two years ago, which was a big change. I had to become accustomed to the lingo and adapt to the new lifestyle as a whole. If I hadnt have moved, I would not be here at UNC Charlotte. One motivation I have for being at this university is that my parents never went to college. It makes me think about the life I will have when I am older compared to theirs, (not saying my parents lives are bad.). Being the first generation in my intermediate family to go to college makes me feel privileged and blessed, and ultimately has an impact on my literacy. I think going to a different school would have definitely affected my literacy. Moving put new perspectives and thoughts to mind that actually changed me. I have different friends and influences from the different places I have lived. I would say I am more exposed to diversity by moving. All these things have shaped the way I read and write; moreover, the way I perceive and analyze experiences. All these different influences affect each other in a way. There could have been a different turn of events in my life that would have shaped

Kikerpill 4 me differently. These people and ideas helped my literacy grow as it is now, and more importantly, separate me from everyone else.

Kikerpill 5 Reflection I started my paper off with a few ideas, each of which shaped my literacy in a different way. I thought about social networking and the impact it had on my life. It seemed to be a very large influence on me compared to some of the other ideas I started with. For my first draft, I started with social networking and it seemed to fill in the pages. I noticed it wasnt enough to write about for the quality I wanted to write. I changed a lot in my second draft and did more than just social networking. I added a few more ideas in my second draft: movies, people, and moving. I focused on these because I realized they had a large, if not, larger impact on my literacy than social networking. My parents were one of the largest influences because they were my teachers as a child. My morals are the result of the good parenting they had on me. What differs the most in my second draft from the first is perception. I wrote about these new ideas and how they helped me perceive the world around me. I focused a lot on movies because they produce interest and intrigue me. They make me think differently and in deeper ways. Moving shaped my literacy and helped me perceive things differently as well. One example is diversity. I did not have that much of a knowing of other cultures as a kid. I moved not too long ago and it has been a big change. Now that I live in North Carolina, the way I see people is different. It is so diverse here at UNC Charlotte that I have learned to connect with people of other cultures, religions and lifestyles. My third and final draft was not a big change from my second. I added and took out a few small things to tweak my paper and get it at the length I want. Other than that I would say it was just a clean-up draft.