Meghan Riddle

Professor Knudson
UWRIT 1102
03 March 2015
Literacy Memoir:
How My Literacy Came to Be
The basic definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. With that simple
definition literacy seems so easy to achieve, however; after focusing on my literacy past I
realize how broad and difficult it can be. Literacy is something that began at a young age
and continues to influence me to this day. Literacy is a major skill in life and something
that is much needed. Reflecting on my literacy past, I know there were a lot of events that
have influenced me positively, however; at the time I did not think anything good could
come from some of them. The events that occurred were all related to a literacy sponsor.
Deborah Brandt an English professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison wrote the
article Sponsors to Literacy; her definition of a literacy sponsor is, any agents, local or
distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit,
regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy- and gain advantage by it in some way (Brandt,
Deborah). To me this means someone who will help guide me through things and push
me to become more knowledgeable in a certain subject as well as influence me enough to
where it will follow me throughout life. This is exactly what my literacy sponsors did.
Literacy is an interesting thing because after everything I went through earlier in
my life I find that I still do not know everything about it. I struggle with things I
struggled with from the past, I still do not understand things, and overall, I am still being
influenced in literacy today and that will continue throughout my life.

Lately I have been focusing on just a few of the literacy events that have occurred
in my life. The events I chose allowed me to remember how I felt at the time and relate
that to how I am today. I focused on what I believe to be the major events and the ones I
felt I learned the most from to hopefully allow others to learn something from them as
well.
Literacy had a very positive effect on me at first because how I was introduced to
it was enjoyable. My grandmother was my very first literacy sponsor. She was a
kindergarten teacher; she loved to read. She read to me all the time. I was so excited
when she read to me because she read with such enthusiasm and confidence; it almost felt
as if I were actually in the book when she read to me. I would even go to her class some
days just to be there while she read to her students. Knowing I would have my own
kindergarten teacher one day made me very excited. When I was old enough to read I
loved to read along with her, I tried reading with the same amount of enthusiasm and
confidence as she did. I believe I did a good job because eventually I loved to read even
when I was not with her; I just had to make sure I read like she did and I knew I could
make it enjoyable.
I would love to say reading is just as enjoyable than it was before, however I find
it less enjoyable. Today, I am forced to read specific things from school and sometimes
even work. Reading with enthusiasm when there is not a good story behind the words on
the page is not something that came easy to me. Reading in general did not come easy to
me anymore either because my confidence level was shot within my first year of being in
public school. My kindergarten teacher explained to my parents that I was very far behind
on my reading skills. I was devastated when I heard this. At the time this had a very

negative effect on me, however; overtime I realize something good did come from it. I
just had to focus on the big picture instead of how I felt during the moment. My teacher
was another literacy sponsor in my life even though at the time she did not have a
positive effect on me. I was so excited going into kindergarten because I grew up
watching my grandmother being an amazing teacher. I had such high expectations for my
own kindergarten teacher and sadly my expectations were not met. Hearing her say how
far behind my reading skills were came as a shock to both me and parents considering the
fact that I loved to try and read just like my grandmother. That enjoyment was quickly
lost though when my teacher told my parents the bad news.
Although this event had a negative effect on me at first, it actually introduced me
to another amazing literacy sponsor that helped my literacy improve tremendously. After
contemplating what they should do my parents signed me up for a tutor I would go to
once a week. I went to her every week for six years. My tutor ended up being one of the
best literacy sponsors Ive had, however; it took me a while to realize that. Telling my
friends I had to go to a tutor was embarrassing. I did not want to make it seem like I
needed extra help I wanted to look smart but going to a tutor and having my teacher
explain how far behind I was made it really hard for me to look and especially feel smart.
Although my confidence level has risen, at times I still worry about making myself look
dumb in front of other people.
When I first began to read I learned from my grandmother that it is important to
have confidence with whatever you are doing. That confidence was lost when my
kindergarten teacher told me that I needed extra help because I was so far behind.
However, an event in my life that I thought would have nothing to do with literacy had

one of the biggest impacts on my literacy and still impacts me today. This event brought
back my confidence and forced me to keep a positive mind on the big picture. The event I
am referring to is gymnastics. I was a gymnast for most of my life. I began at a very
young age and I continued doing it until I was around the age of sixteen. The coaches I
had influenced me in a very positive way, they taught me how to be confident in myself
no matter what. They were not just normal coaches but they also were sponsors in many
aspects of my life including literacy. Gymnastics was very important to me and doing
well at competitions and at practice was something I took very seriously. I learned
quickly that I could not go out and perform if I always doubt myself; I had to be
confident in what I was doing to truly succeed. I remember second guessing myself a lot
on simple skills I knew I could conquer if I just faced and tried to do them. My coaches
would encourage me to face my fears and keep trying. At the time I hated how they
forced me to keep trying because I wanted to just give up but I was thankful when I
eventually did try and succeeded. The coaches I had were not all about winning when it
came to that sport or even about things in life, they liked to see us try our best, have a
positive attitude, and be confident enough in whatever we are doing. They trained us to
always do our best at whatever we do in life. The outlook of our futures was the most
important thing. They focused on our futures by teaching us life lessons such as
confidence and trying our best as well as enforcing grades on us. It was required we had
at least a B in every class; if we dropped below a B we had to receive help. This helped
me because I felt as if I had to put all my effort towards school whenever I was not in the
gym, it allowed me to gain confidence as well because I always put in the most effort I
could in my work. At the time I remember people telling me how my confidence level

was rising. I could feel that for myself as well. I could easily go out and perform my
routines in front of hundreds of people and be completely confident in what I was doing
because I knew I had worked my hardest to be able to perform. During school I felt more
confident in my work that I was able to spend a lot of time on because I knew I did my
best at each assignment. Whenever I second-guess myself at something such as I did with
reading, I remember my coaches encouraging me to just try my best until I succeed.
Trying my best until I succeed and gaining confidence is one of the most
important skills I learned when it came to literacy. Growing up having to constantly have
help with reading at first had a very negative impact on me. I remember thinking that I
will always just be considered dumb and there is nothing I can do about it. Once I gained
confidence and knew all I needed to do was try my best until I succeed was when things
began to turn around. Today, I volunteer to read in front of my church. Reading in front
of anyone gives me a very satisficing feeling because I know I overcame a big barrier in
my literacy history.
Literacy deals with both reading and writing. I went through the struggles of
reading early in my life, however; I faced the struggles of writing in my life a little later.
Similar to reading, I did not realize how much I struggled with writing until I took my
first S.A.T. Going into my first test I was nervous, ironically though I was confident in
every part on the test especially the writing section. When I received my results I was so
upset. I remembered thinking that there was no way I could get in college. My overall
score was in the thirteen hundreds, writing being the lowest of all the sections. Once
again I had to receive tutoring for something. This tutor was another literacy sponsor in
my life and helped me realize that I could conquer that test with a decent grade. This time

I focused on writing and vocabulary. I was not as self conscious about the tutoring this
time because I knew what to expect. Remembering what I had learned in gymnastics I
tried to stay confident, I knew all I could do was keep trying until I finally succeeded.
Succeeding almost seemed impossible for me though. I always felt so rushed during the
SAT. When writing a paper I have to space it out. One of the first passages we read in
class was Shitty First Drafts explaining how everyone should have a bad first draft before
the final draft is ready. I never understood how during the SAT, the test that colleges
would look at, expected us to write a good essay in the matter of twenty-five minutes.
During tutoring they taught me short cuts and told me to quickly outline my ideas for the
essay. This confused me though because I already struggled with the time if I just sat
down and began to write the essay. Going into the next test I was still nervous because I
knew what to expect. I knew how rushed I was going to be. I look the advice of my tutor
though and outlined my essay. This ended up really helping me. I was surprised while I
was writing my essay how easy it was to get my thoughts across after I already planned
out what I was going to say. Everything that my literacy sponsors taught me helped me
throughout this test and end up helping me in many things in life.
Today, I find that I am still influenced by many people who potentially could be
considered literacy sponsors. Sponsors in general are great when it comes to learning
because they guide and teach you many things that will always help you throughout life.
In college I experienced another literacy sponsor with my 1101 UWRIT professor. He
was very helpful when it came to any of the projects and college in general. Going into
college was a very nerve racking thing for me because I did not know what to expect; all
I knew was I needed to do very well in all my classes. One of the major projects in 1101

was the online website we had to make. I am not very good when it comes to computers,
therefore; this really scared me. I went to my professors office and he offered me a great
amount of help. He guided me through it, however; he also sat down and helped me out
with my other classes. I become very anxious about my schooling and it tends to stress
me out more than it should, with his help and guidance though it really calmed me down.
Knowing that a professor had enough time to help out students was a satisficing feeling.
Sponsors are people who guide you through things and help you out in the long
run. Throughout my life so far I have encountered a lot of sponsors, the ones I mentioned
today are just literacy sponsors. Although it was difficult for me to understand at the time,
all of my literacy sponsors so far have helped me out in a positive way. My grandma
introduced reading to me, my kindergarten teacher forced me to receive help in reading to
benefit me in the future, my coaches teaching me the importance of confidence when it
comes to anything I do such as reading and writing, my other tutor helping me succeed
on the SAT, and just recently my UWRIT professor guiding me throughout my first
semester in college. As I grow older I realize that everything I encountered in the past
somehow plays a role in my life today. I also realize after focusing on all the major
literacy sponsors in my life there is a lot about literacy I still do not understand whether it
is things about writing or reading or something more along the lines of being literate in
confidence or another topic such as politics. When hearing the word literacy many people
only think about the ability to read and write, therefore; when one knows how to do those
two things they are considered literate. In our book Everythings a Text Eugene Provenzo
in the passage Definitions of Literacy argues that being literate means having knowledge
of complexity and diversity (Porvenzo 2). This passage also argues that being literate

means being able to understand how outside forces have shaped your own literacy
history. These outside forces for myself would be my literacy sponsors who have helped
me along the way. This text alone gives multiple definitions behind the word literacy.
Throughout my life I am sure there will be many literacy sponsors that will influence me
just like the ones I have already had in my past.

Works Cited
Brandt, Deborah. "Sponsors of Literacy." Literacy and Learning: Reflections on Writing,
Reading, and Society. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2009. N. pag. Print
Melzer, Dan, and Deborah Coxwell-Teague. "What Is Literacy." Everything's a Text:
Readings for Composition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2011. 1-4. Print.