1

Praveen Jayakumar
Mrs. Eaker
UWRT 1103
29 September 2014
Literacy Narrative: Discovery Session
Writing. It is something some seem to struggle with, and others seem to be able to do so
easily. Writing is easy. Doing it well is not. But, I believe everyone has a message to convey it's
just a matter of finding their own beautiful way of conveying it to everyone. All have the ability
to construct words in a professional, intelligent, and analytical manner; it just comes down to
whether or not they put the effort into finding the author within themselves.
Everyone's literacy journey contains various factors that have been both beneficial and
detrimental. Mine starts primarily with my middle school English teachers. No one was more
deleterious to my belief of my ability of writing than them; which in turn was also harmed my
writing skill. With constant negative feedback I never seemed to be able to please them. Despite
fixing the small things they told me to in papers, and when I asked them, my writing was never
good enough. This caused me to sway towards the idea that I was born to be good at math and
terrible at writing. This idea carried over into high school and I myself could tell my writing was
not up to par. I was starting to believe that maybe not everyone can be good at writing.
For one I could see my lack of vocabulary that I failed to gain. Whether it be due to the
lack of teaching by my teachers or, because I lived in an immigrant household in which English
was not the primary language, my vernacular lagged behind my fellow students. I felt that was
the primary barrier that held my writing at a line under than those of my peers. To this day I
believe the language that you utilize in your writing makes a huge difference in

the perceived perceived quality. Readers automatically assume a higher level of intelligence. But
only later did I learn, that writers can have amazing skills regardless of the terminology they
know. Another reason I came to realize my literacy was lacking was that my ideas were not
flowing. As a very sporadic thinker, it is difficult for me to write in order of the things I want to
say. More often than not, I tend to think of things I wanted to say or new ways to convey a
message. This causes my writing to sometimes fall apart as a whole piece, and just makes its a
collage of bits and pieces of something that should come together.
So after middle school I took me and my lagging writing ability to high school. There I
got lucky in getting a kind teacher. She instructed and aided our writing. I think she was the one
that help me start turning around the idea that I was doomed for eternal second rate writing.
Which transitioned me into sophomore year of high school. there in the duration of the class I
thought we were doing too much. But, my teacher introduced me to so many new ways of how to
analyze literature. Before and during this class, I dreading trying to go deep into the novel and
attempting to take out more than what the author even intended. However, in retrospect, I
realized the importance of doing this and how it is imperative to at least realize and understand
the symbolism that the author has intended. I think in terms of literacy those metaphors are more
able to be understood by those who have a strong literacy knowledge so that they can look at it
critically.
Junior although I did not get lucky in terms of a good teacher, I was fortunate enough to
have very important events. Theory of Knowledge was a philosophy class which I had to take for
the IB program junior year of high school. One of the major assignments for the class was a
paper. We were provided with the a list of 5 quotes which served as a prompt and we had to pick
our favorite and write an analytical paper on it. Only seeing general patterns can give us

knowledge. Only seeing particular examples can give us understanding., was the quote I chose,
and my prompt was to what do I agree with these assertions? In my life, this was the easiest
paper I had ever written for school. It just flowed off my fingertips and before I knew it I was
done. Writing the paper, and reviewing it was not the primary gain in literacy for me. But rather
after I turned it in. Soon after my IB teacher graded this paper, he immediately pulled me aside
before class and told me that this TOK paper was one of the best he had ever read. This
gratification I received from my teacher, who has taught some of the brightest students that have
gone through my school, was invaluable. I went home that day and reviewed this paper and tried
to pick a part what I did so well on it, and why it received that reaction. At the moment, it did not
really come to me. Although I was unsure of why my paper provoked my teacher to respond they
way he did, I did find some things that I found positive. For one of the first times in my academic
writing, I maintained elegant prose, and vocabulary. With vocabulary being something I always
lagged behind in, that was monumental for me.
And I knew the reason I was able to do so, was all the SAT studying. Later I started
going to an SAT tutor, who is an English Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, for my reading and
writing and he asked me a question one time. He questioned if I had ever written a paper where I
did not struggle with the content and I easily spurred words out into the essay. At once, I was
reminded of my TOK paper and decided to show him that paper. My tutor saw it and was
astonished as to why I was not doing this same thing with all the essays I had written for him.
Promptly, he ordered me to write my future essays for SAT and in general in the format that I
used for that one. He pointed out my excellent structure in the essay. In SAT writing, because of
the time limit, and the drilling of the 5 paragraph essay there is a certain style that is often
utilized by students. This idea that you must start with an introduction that only introduces, and

body paragraphs that only talk about their respective topics and a conclusion which is basically a
regurgitation of the introduction was proven wrong. Mine kind of strayed away from this format.
To be honest it didn't follow any format at all. I just wrote. The most important lesson I have
ever learned. To just write and to never wait for plans and to fit your writing to some
preconceived format that is supposedly successful. I think this was an important lesson in
literacy in and in life for me. Another lesson I gained from the essay is the ability to incorporate
things I am passionate and/or knowledgeable about in to my essay. I think when writing about
things you are interested in, the level of writing automatically increases. Since the topic is so
well known to you, it is just a matter of conveying it correctly rather than doing both. After this
experience was when I really learned that anyone and everyone can write well, if they put their
minds to it.
My senior year I was once again graced with the luck of an excellent English teacher. She
was the best I had ever had. She introduced me to the idea of analyzing literature in such a way
that it was applicable to life. Lessons learned in literacy settings can be applied to various aspects
of life, and without Mrs. Achenbach I would not have been able to understand this. This aided
my fondness of writing. Although I did not despise it, writing was not one of my favorite things
to do beforehand. But when I learned how applicable it is and how imperative it is to human
communication my mind changed. It helped me get a voice, when previously I often felt I had an
insignificant one. The various competitions that we were forced to enter in, and that I had mild
success in also solidified my idea of my literacy, gave a self esteem boot for my writing skill and
reinforced to me that all have the ability to convey their ideas in an articulate manner.
Writing well seems impossible. But, really it comes down to a few simple things. You
have to integrate topics that you educated in, disregard premade formats, and just write. I think

many when faced with an essay to complete see it as a daunting task when they start; and that
then just progresses to "bs-ing" it. Although, they have the ability to express themselves in much
more intelligible form. Anyone, can write well and it is not determined by these superficial
words that people utilize, often sounding more pretentious than intelligent. Writing is about the
writing. At the end of the day writing is about, each paragraph, each sentence and each word
coming together beautifully to form a holistic message that could be understood by someone
else.