Morgan Robertson September 18, 2013 English 1101-025 Literacy Snapshot Diving Into the World of Literacy Ever

since I was a little girl, I can remember my mom teaching me how to read and write. I absolutely hated it. I wanted to be watching TV or playing outside, but no, I was sitting inside reading. How boring for a little girl. I also remember her reading to me at night. Whatever book I wanted she would make it come alive. I actually enjoyed this kind of reading because she was the one reading and not myself. I remember her reading about Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and the Big Bad Wolf. I didnt realize until later in life that she was just trying to get me ready for when I had to go to school. Now that I look back, I think about what a difference this made in my life. I was getting an early jumpstart into the world of literacy. Without the extra help from my mom, I probably would have fallen behind very early in my life and would have spent a lot of time catching back up. I appreciate all of her hard work teaching me to read. However I do believe most of my time was spent fighting with her about reading than actually reading. She would make me read road signs, menus at restaurants, and names of buildings. She was trying to expand my vocabulary to things outside of books and our house. I remember being so annoyed because we could not get in the car without her asking every few seconds what does that say or how do you spell this particular word. I kept thinking, can we not just get in the car and have a normal conversation. I remember feeling so embarrassed when my friends were
Commented [R5]: Interesting! Commented [R4]: This started with a description of you as a child and transitioned very smoothly into a looking back section. Commented [R3]: Interesting, so you enjoyed stories, you just didnt enjoy having to read them yourself. Youd rather listen to another story (TV) or go outside (a lot of people talk about how going outside was more important for them as a kid, and doing so can create other literacies. Commented [R1]: Excellent MLA Commented [R2]: Intriguing title diving made me wonder if it was about actual diving, but I can see how the common phrase works here.

around and she would do that. They probably thought I was not smart and needed extra help when in fact I was fine.
Commented [R6]: She wanted everything to be a learning moment, but you did not want everything to be focused on learning. I can get that and relate to it. I can tell that you struggled a little with details here. Like you said, you cant remember anything. I wonder if your mother has a memory you can use. Also, some of it could just be enhanced by visual description. For example, when me and my siblings listened to my mom read, we all laid on her bed and she sat in a recliner right next to it. A lot of times one or two of us would fall asleep while she was reading and had to be carried to bed. Where did you two read? I thought the section about the car was great because it gave us a story (about your friends) that helped us see how this situation happened. Commented [R7]: Ha, this is an instantly intriguing sentence. I think anyone would want to read more and find out what you mean here.

Perks of Preschool I remember one day my mom took me to a church and dropped me off. I was only two and wasnt really sure what was going on. Then she told me I was going to start going to preschool. I was okay with it but then she left. Great, other people were going to make me read and write. I was only two; why did I need to go through this? It was not like I was going to be writing papers anytime soon. Everything they were teaching me, my mom had already been helping me with. My mom had just been teaching me the basics, these teachers were going above and beyond that. I was now entering the world of literacy. I was getting a jumpstart over kids who didnt go to preschool. My teachers would read to us every day during circle time. We would play games that helped us learn colors, the alphabet, and, shapes. All of my preschool teachers played such a role in my journey of literacy. They were my sponsors at a very young age. They worked very hard to help me learn the things that I need to know before I started kindergarten. I do not think if I would have did not havehad such great teachers I would not have become the reader and writer I am today. You tend to learn and pick up things better when you are younger, especially when you are learning a new language. Not only did I become literate from books, but I also went on field trips to farms, plays, and parks. Although they may not seem like a way to become literate, they broaden your view of literacy. Going to plays helps you learn different types of literacy. You can act things out instead of talking, which is a different way to communicate. My preschool teachers really loved their jobs and it showed because they tried really hard to help us

Commented [R8]: I wonder if a reader would get caught up on this age and think that a 2 year old cannot have these kinds of thoughts. I wonder if itd be better suited for an older age like 4. Hmmmm

Commented [R9]: absolutely Commented [R10]: great! The discovery center was a large part of my literacy. Commented [R11]: Such as? Commented [R12]: Ah okay, answered my question

learn the things we needed to know. They played such a huge role in my life and I can never say thank you enough.
Commented [R13]: These last two sentences do feel a little repetitive. I know this is a note you made. I think you have to decide what your purpose is for this snapshot. Is it to talk about the teachers (which you do above) or is it to show how preschool shaped your literacy (in which case you can end with maybe a specific example or an image, such as a time you went to a play or how you all learned the alphabet).

Elementary School Boundaries Midway Elementary School was the place I called home for six years. This was thee place that expanded on the basics I had learned at home and at preschool. I finally reached the big kid school. I was excited to keep learning about literacy. One of the main things that got me into reading was the book fair. I remember the book fair coming twice a year and setting up tons of books in the library. My mom would give me money to buy stuff. I would come home with posters, books, and accessories that were once cool but now completely useless. I would always buy the newest Junie B. Jones book and add to my collection at home. I would come home and my mom would help me read or read to me. She would make me read at least thirty minutes every night before I went to bed. Sometimes I enjoyed it but usually not. Getting books from the book fair was a chance for me to pick out the books that I thought were the most enjoyable. If I had to read it might as well be something I like. Even though the book fair played a major role in my literacy growth, something else was even more important in my elementary school journey. In third grade I started falling behind and my teacher caught it immediately. She set me up in a reading group that met pretty regularly. This group was led by an outside figure named Ms. Matthews. She would come in and help students like me who were falling behind. We would read passages out loud, individually, or in groups. This really helped me because it was more one-on-one and we could focus on what I specifically was struggling with. Ms. Matthews was a huge sponsor in my literacy journey
Commented [R15]: Thats what I liked most: having a choice. It seems like your mom let you pick whatever books you wanted to. I used to get the little catalog a week or so before the book fair and sit with my mom and decide which books I wanted. Commented [R14]: I loved the book fair!

because she mentored me and got me back on the right track so I could be where I needed to be. Without this help I would have fallen even further behind and it would have been extremely difficult to catch back up.
Commented [R16]: Interesting, so early intervention allowed you to change the track of your literacy.

Life in the Library Throughout my life, the library was a second home. I went there a couple times a week for a few hours at a time. I went there mainly for books of course but I participated in other activates that helped build my literacy. The library that I went to had a special corner with books specifically for kids my age. They had bean bags, and chairs to sit in while you read your book. Surrounding the library were themed bags that you could rent and each bag contained books to go along with that particular theme. They were filled with things besides books. They contained pictures as well as candy. My favorite part was picking out which bag I wanted that week but that could also be a hard choice because I was so young and I wanted to take every bag with me. While I was at the library my brother and I were involved in other activities. We joined classes that had reading circles. One of the librarians would read the group a particular book that we picked out. We would also go into classrooms and make crafts that went along with the certain book we read. They would also offer scavenger hunts in the fall and spring that would get people in the community involved with the library. One of the coolest things that happened while I was there was a karate class. A karate instructor came in and showed us different karate moves. This was exciting because it was something different from the ordinary reading circles. If I would have not been involved with the library I would not have had all the access I did to books. The opportunity to have access had a huge impact because I was forced to dive in to different books and expand my vocabulary. The librarians played a huge role in my life because without
Commented [R21]: I like how you are obviously understanding your literacy through the conversations weve had in class about access, sponsors, items, motivations, etc. Commented [R20]: I love that you are transitioning to a specific story here. Go deeper with examples. Pick one and see where it goes. Commented [R19]: haha Commented [R18]: Cool! Commented [R17]: Great description giving us a sense of place.

them I would not have had the desire to read. They made every book come alive and it made me want to keep reading.

Leaning on Mom When life gets hard, go to mom. That was my motto in middle school, high school, and now in college. Every time I did not understand something, which was quite often, I would go to my mom. She would always try her best to help me understand even if she was not quite sure. When I entered middle school I was faced with a whole new outlook on literacy. Everything I had learned up to that point was about to come into play. My homework started getting harder, reading passages longer and words bigger. There were a lot of new words I was being faced with. The first person I went to was my mom. She would do her best to explain things and break them down to where I could understand them. She would come up with different ways to associate things to help me remember. One way she did this was through vocab. She would pick a certain example from the definition and come up with a weird saying to help me remember. I also started having to write essays and research papers. When I was done my mom would go through each sentence and proofread and make sure the sentences made sense. She would help me reword sentences to make them stronger or take out unnecessary words. Through this I was able to learn new words and grammar tips. She helped me from being too repetitive and boring. My mom played and still plays a role as one of my sponsors. She helps me become a stronger writer and reader. Even though I am away from home, I will email her the link and I can count on her to read through my paper and tell me exactly what and how to fix something.
Commented [R23]: Do you have an example to share here? Commented [R22]: Great opening phrase.

Without this help my papers would have a lot of grammar mistakes and would probably not make as much sense. Bible literacyLiteracy One of my favorite things to do is to go to church. I have enjoyed it my whole life. Whether it was going to childrens church or youth group there is always something to learn. My parents have been taking me since I was a few weeks old. Some people may not understand how church can play a role in your literacy, but it can. Since I began to be able to comprehend, I have been taught the Bible. When I was little I was taught most of the Bible stories and the people in the Bible. As I got older I started being able to read chapters and memorize verses. This has played a major role in my life because I was taught different morals as well as words. I read about how to live your life as well as how to treat others. I was able to broaden my view of literacy to things besides books in the libraries or writing research papers. I loved reading and learning about different people in the Bible because they were real people versues fictional characters like I was used to reading. My Sunday school teachers, pastors, as well as my parents played a role as sponsors. My Sunday school teachers taught me all the different Bible stories that kids could understand. Without them I would not have grasp the stories as such a young age and took them with me as I got older. My pastors played a role because they taught me all the morals that I needed to know, so I could live the way I was supposed to. My parents played a role because they took me to church every week and helped me memorize scripture. They also taught me other Bible stories that I may not have learned while at church. Becoming literate through the Bible taught me to take the time to read things and reread if you do not understand something. It also helped me learn how to memorize things.
Commented [R26]: This last paragraph could be stronger and could be revised to signal the end. It goes into listing the literacies rather than telling a story about it. Possibly draw out a specific experience to talk through here, like a memorable lesson from youth group. Overall, great paper. As you revise, my suggestion is to pull out a specific example or story/experience for each. You do a great job of connecting your stories to topics we discussed in class, and you show that you have a deep understanding of the things that go into literacy building. Now you want to move it toward memorable anecdotes that the reader can take as examples of these literacies. Commented [R25]: I like how you explained it. Its more than memorizing lines its taking in messages and ways of life. Commented [R24]: You said this was a strong one and I agree. This is probably because you have a lot of examples to draw on. I encourage you to make specific examples when possible, such as giving us a word association or telling about a particular paper she helped you with.

Morgan Robertson September 18, 2013 English 1101-025 Literacy Snapshot During the process of my literacy narrative I hit a few bumps in the road. I struggled writing my first two snapshots. I ran out of detail and could not think of what else to say. I tried to think back on the main points of that snapshot and expand on those. The things that went well were the other four snapshots. These snapshots are the easiest for me to remember. They happened not too long ago so I was able to expand on these easier. My snapshot about leaning on mom was the easiest because she is still helping me with all my papers, besides this one. The snapshot I would like to keep would be the Bible literacy. This one is the most important because it still plays such a huge role in my life. I continue to learn more words and expand on what I already know. I will want to revise the perks of preschool. This one was challenging for me to write about because it did happen so long ago. I felt like I was just talking about the same thing over and over again. One question I have is can you tell I am talking about my literacy journey the whole time? Do I ever get off track while talking about my journey? Do I explain each snapshot thoroughly?
Commented [R29]: Great questions I will address these after reading the entire thing. Commented [R28]: I havent read it yet (Im looking at your letter first), but sometime to consider is asking your mom if she remembers anything. Commented [R27]: Ill look at these two in particular to see if more detail is needed.

After reading they are all very focused on literacy in different settings/communities. Yes, you explain them, but you also want to avoid listing and give more detailed examples.