Hunckler 1

Cover Letter
While writing this draft I had no issues with content and things to write about. I tried to include
feelings and memories which I think I did well.
The only challenging thing about writing this draft was finding the time to finish it due to the fact
that I am juggling several assignments this week.
I honestly would like to keep all of my paragraphs.
I may want to revise my third paragraph and try to use more examples of literacy development.
How can I better intertwine my paragraphs to allow my paper flow?

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Anthony Hunckler
Professor Agosta
UWRT 1101-007
7 October 2016
My Literacy Journey
Throughout each day my life has presented itself with challenges and opportunities to
grow. Over the last nineteen years, my existence has consisted of a cumulation of physical and
mental growth. I have experienced situations, learning opportunities, people, ideas and emotions
that have all played a vital part in my progression as a person. Looking back on the past years of
my life there are certain instances in which I can recognize the origin of my literary growth.
Literacy is something that is continuously being learned and changed due to the multiple ways
that people communicate and interpret information or language.
My desk and I sat in the back of the class while my third grade teacher proceeded to
instruct the day's lesson from the front of the room. Two massive windows allowed UV rays to
pour into the room which made looking at white paper almost unbearable. Mrs.Lankford was
teaching my class how to write checks, keep track of spending, and how to add or subtract

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numbers with decimals. This was exciting for me because I had always associated writing checks
with being an adult. I recall how surprised I was with this new concept that I had learned and my
ability to perform it with minimal assistance. I believe that this instant stands out to me after all
of the years which have passed simply because I was a third grade kid who longed for a sense of
adulthood. By learning this new literacy, a way in which one communicates by using money, I
felt a sense of accomplishment and maturity.
As my literacy journey progresses, I cant help but think back to good times when my
family and I would make those ten hour car drives to Indiana in order to visit my huge family.
The way the earth changes with every state is something that I will always remember vividly. As
we passed through the mountains of West Virginia, rolled down the highways of Virginia and
sped down the flats of Indian, a sense of eagerness engulfed my body with every passing minute.
Finally we were there, we could see Grandmas tree. A truly beautiful piece of property with a
massive red barn that can be seen from a mile away is where my grandparents call home. My
family, a very hard working one at that, is never satisfied with remaining stationary. I remember
as a child riding the golf cart over to the garden with my grandma. She taught me how to tend to
the pants, check them for insects, how to plant them and what they looked like when they were
ready to be picked. My sweet and gentle grandmother taught me those things which no professor
or friend ever could. Though I am 800 miles away, I can still hear her soft and calm voice in my
head. She speaks with such sincerity and love that it is impossible not to love her. After Ive
finished up chores with grandma I will usually head over grandpas way. Even though he is
eighty-seven you can usually find him at work in the barn still to this day. A strong, burley, and
loud man is my grandpa. By listening to him I learned things that one could only learn from a

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man in his barn. He taught me about tools, tending to animals, respect and faith. I can hear him
saying By God Ive been working my whole life. Pa use to keep me from school and take me
with him to work! The was in which my grandpa carries himself and always seems so strong
even at eighty-seven years old is something that will always have an influence on me. Indiana
taught me more about lifes literacy more so than anywhere or anyone else.
As the summers of Indiana faded away, the gridiron came to sight. My life, my passion,
and my game, football. Football is what I have lived for my whole life. The feeling of scoring,
trucking someone, or jumping over a receiver for an interception is indescribable. My coaches
have instilled values in me that have affected my literacy. They trained me how to listen, respond
to them and use what they have taught me to be successful. This carries over to my daily life as
well. Football is actually a game that requires the ability to understand and use different
literature. Lets say that coach wants us to run the ball to the right but he doesnt want the other
team to know the play. Often times code words, phrases or hand signals will be said or
performed in order to execute the play with success. As a defensive corner Id look at coach
Devericks in oder to get the play call. Mike pop twenty-four, lighting cover 3! he and other
coaches would yell while using hand signals at the same time. Each code word and signal would
tell a certain positions on the field what to due in order to stop or cover the other teams players.
This demanded an incredible amount to detail. One misconception of the call could ruin the
entire design of the play. When I would receive the call, a rush of urgency would take over my
body due to the fact that I was concerned with executing the play fast and precisely. Football
literacy is completely different from any other literacy that I have ever had to learn and use.

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The feeling of parting from the earth while pulling back on the yoke of a Cessna 152
single engine prop plane in order to increase altitude is possibly the best and most exciting
feeling that I have ever experienced. All my life I have been obsessed with planes and aviation.
My dad has always been an aviation enthusiast so I grew up leaning about planes. In middle
school I went through ground school and began flying a family friends plane with a pilot. There
are two sets of controls in the plane so which allowed me to control the plane by myself and
when I needed guidance or help the instructor was on the other set of controls. Looking out over
the land and seeing everything from a different perspective was so gratifying for me. I felt a
sense of relaxation and satisfaction overtime I went to the air. In order to effectively and safely
fly a plane one must know how to use the controls while communicating with nearby planes and
traffic control towers. Before taking off and landing one must ask for permission by saying
something along the lines of Foxtrot 4168 on runway 2 are we a go for takeoff? which is then
followed up the air traffic control responding youre a go!. This literacy is used to identify the
plane, the takeoff path and to see if departing is safe at that moment. Once my flight instructor
and I took off and increasing altitude, we communicated by headsets while using keys words to
identify our every move. Whether he told me to hit a left bank, more right rudder, pull back on
the yoke, or head east by eighteen degrees I would be able to understand and comprehend what
he was meaning. Aviation literacy is exciting and complex. I still don't know many of the terms
used but I do understand enough to be able to successfully communicate while being 8,000 feet
in the air.
When people think about learning more complex literacy they usually don't think about
football, aviation and especially not Indiana. They think about school, particularly high school

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and college. The development of a soundly literate person in middle school to someone who can
apply complex ideas or lessons while communicating their opinion through effective and precise
writing bring me to high school. Long mold infested hallways filled with camo wearing, dip
spitting Mocksvillians housed the classroom of ninth through twelfth grade classrooms. Davie
County High is a tight knit community where everyone knows everyone. It is here where my
teachers guided me on my literacy journey in order to further develop my literate state. Through
studying literature that demanded careful examination and deep thinking, I gained the tools
necessary to think past the evident. This transformed my level of literacy due to the fact that
understanding more complex texts or ideas allowed me to advance my understanding of literacy
and its purpose. High school was like a new world when I entered as a freshman. Students and
friends would cuss, talk about sex, drugs, drinking and other harmful activities while roaming the
halls. This was something that I hardly experienced in middle school. I picked up on it all not
even realizing that the conversations included content that was unlike anything I had ever talked
about before. High school propelled my level of literacy in several new ways which pushed me
to grow and develop as a person.
My family is a very close, hardworking and resilient. I am truly blessed to be lucky
enough to have supportive parents and great siblings. My parents own and run a business called
Hunckler Fabrication. We produce a product that my dad invented for RVs called Magne Shade.
The product is a sunshade material that blocks 95% of the harmful UV rays which the sun emits.
The patent is on the way in which it installs. Using very strong magnets the shade can install in
seconds from the ground. I have grown up in the business by working day in and day out
alongside of my parents and siblings. Ive learned so much by discussing with my parents,
talking to customers, and preforming almost every job there is to do in the business. Naturally I

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have acquired the knowledge of several business terms and how they are used. This is important
so that when I conduct business people are confident in me and believe in what I am saying. We
also have two cutting lasers and a CNC machine that we use in out business. By using adobe
software I have learned how to operate them. This requires a type of literacy for the software to
tell the machine to cut on an x and y axis. Working with my family has taught me literacy that I
never even knew I would need to know.
Throughout life people progress in many different ways. An important part of developing
myself has been establishing multiple literacies. Each literacy means something different to me
yet they are all important and crucial to my life. Literacy goes beyond the classroom walls.
Literacy involves real life experiences and lessons that one builds upon in order to reach a
literate state. I cant wait to see what the future literacy I will encounter next.

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