Evan Hastings

ENC 1102
Professor Wolcott
8 September, 2015
Literacy Narrative Draft
Throughout my years of learning and education, one person stands out as one of
the biggest influences in my life. That person is my high school history teacher Mr.
Nolan. Mr. Nolan is amongst the most important literacy sponsors of my life along with
my parents. Mr. Nolan was not like many teachers at my high school, he truly cared about
each and every one of his students, he wanted us all to go on and make great strides in
our future. It is because of him that I am here today, and it is because of him that I am
who I am.
I began as a freshman at Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville Florida in
2011. There I joined a fairly new dual enrollment program called Early College. I was
not the hardest working of students in 9th grade, a lot of the time I slacked off and did not
want to do my homework. That changed when I entered the 10th grade and first met Mr.
Nolan. I was put into his college level American history course, which is my favorite
subject. He seemed very intimidating at first, scaring us all with a syllabus full of due
dates and other scary educational references. We were required to submit a critical book
review and research paper each semester for his class. Many of us did not know what a
critical book review was or how to even get started on one and had little experience with
research papers. He took the time to teach us what he would expect and what our future
colleges would expect from formal papers. It felt almost like another English class in a

way. We were learning all about the history of the United States but also learning how to
type a proper essay and learning how to succeed in college.
He taught the class like any other class you would have in college; first a lecture,
next day a quiz, next day a lecture, next day a quiz, and so on. We were all new to this
style of teaching and it was very different compared to the traditional high school
classroom.
Mr. Nolan wanted to make sure every one of us would leave his classroom
knowing how to properly analyze a book and to do research. He taught us organizational
skills that would prove to be helpful in writing his assignments and assignments for other
classes in the future. We were given papers from his former students and used those
examples as a basis for our writing. In his writing workshops, I learned how to cite a
source and how to create a works cited page, how to critique a book, and most
importantly how to write a college level paper.
In the process of becoming more college ready, I had books and computers at my
disposal. I spent night after night reading books and picking key points that I wanted to
include into my papers while also having to study for his quizzes. After turning in my
critical book review and research paper, my papers bled with red ink from his red pen. He
included suggestions and fixed grammatical errors and wrote down his thoughts at the
end of each paper so you could improve next semester, which I did. The next semester I
aced my papers, learning from my mistakes and wanting to improve my abilities in
writing. I felt so excited and determined after receiving great grades in Mr. Nolans class.
Just like Malcolm X who said, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant

craving to be mentally alive (Malcolm X 5) the ability to write for me, awoke a harder
working individual who wanted to prove to himself he can do it.
By the time I entered the 11th grade I felt very prepared in entering my first year of
college. I knew what to expect having experienced Mr. Nolans history class. The
professors at Florida State College were not as entertaining or passionate in teaching as
Mr. Nolan but I was prepared for what they had to offer. Whenever I was offered a
research paper assignment, I thought back to my days in Mr. Nolans class and used my
experience to get me through those long papers. Eventually through hard work taught
instilled to me through Mr. Nolan, I would graduate with my high school diploma and an
AA degree from Florida State College at Jacksonville.
I owe it all to Mr. Nolan for helping me get to where I am today. He asked me
after graduating if his American history class at the high school prepared me for my two
years of college. There was no doubt about it and that was yes, I may have not developed
a strong work ethic without his class or wanted to succeed as much as I want to at the
moment. Being in Mr. Nolans class taught me a valuable lesson in hard work and ability.
Mr. Nolan is not only a literacy sponsor for me but also a mentor and a friend.

Works Cited
X, Malcolm. "Learning To Read." The Autobiography of Malcolm X. 1965. PDF
File.