Boyd 1 Michael Boyd January 18, 2014 Leslie Wolcott ENC 1102 Literacy History

Diversity and Progression Growing up, my mom did everything for my brother and me; cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, taking us places, etc. Originally, my parents agreed that my dad would work and my mom would be a stay at home mom to homeschool my brother and me. My first memories of reading and writing are learning the alphabet. My mom would use little handbooks, sit me down, and make me recite the alphabet sounding every letter out until it was perfect. It was not enjoyable at all to say the least, and definitely made me dislike reading and writing at first. Later, my parents divorced which resulted in my dads pursuit in sending me to an educational institution for middle school. My family was very religious growing up, so by culture, the Bible was read quite often. My Mom would have my brother and I read it consistently which contributed to my literate progression. Due to my background and growing up in a Christian home, I was drawn to a certain series of books called Left Behind. Its a fictional story about the end of the world but takes the ideas of Christianity and creates a story out of it. This has definitely been a reason I enjoy end of the world types of movies and stories now. These books were a huge sponsor and change in my literate history because it was the first series that I really enjoyed. My Mom has been the greatest sponsor of my literate experiences growing up. Until the eighth grade, my only English teacher had been my

Boyd 2 mom. My eighth grade teacher ended up teaching very advanced topics and material that was not even touched on until my Junior year again; parenthetical citations, rhetorical analysis, etc. It definitely was a great influence on how I looked at English and writing for the better. Up until eighth grade I had a lot free time growing up while I was homeschooled, so I put my efforts and learning into other activities. Piano was a sponsor of a different type of literacy, how to read and write music. Starting at the age of three, my parents had me start taking piano lessons weekly. I would practice about an hour to two hours a day as a part of my regular schoolwork. Music will always be an enjoyment for me, whether it is listening to it or playing. Literacy is often only thought of as words on a page that tell a story, but other forms of literacy like reading and writing music shows how literacy is much more diverse than a research paper or news article. There are often stories communicated through music, especially classical music, that show how diverse literacy can be. This diversity that I learned of through the piano progressively changed my outlook on reading and writing as a whole. Beyond the piano, I often spent my time on the computer at home. I would do certain activities on the computer that would help with schoolwork. For instance, my mom had me use a program called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing that led to my ability of being able to type so well. I also remember doing certain math activities and games that helped make me faster at solving equations and would also make math enjoyable to learn. The computer has always been a huge sponsor in my literate history. Practicing reading and writing on the computer so often, and using it as a research tool and learning experience has led to my desire to learn and understand in depth how computers work.

Boyd 3 Now, I am able to program in two different languages and have created my own business repairing computers and many other technological devices. As technology evolves, I feel that one must consistently keep up with it in order to have a grasp on societys ever changing literacy. The ways we communicate and the sponsors that influence our literate history will always be a fascinating piece of society to me.

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Bibliography
Brandt, Deborah. "Sponsors of Literacy." College and Composition of Communication. 1998. 165-185.