Ian Johnson

September 15, 2015

UWRT 1103-025
Malcolm Campbell
Literacy Narrative
Sitting on the chartreuse colored green sofa listening to my whole-hearted, caring
mother read books from Dr. Seuss and The Rainbow Fish were the first memories of
understanding how to read. She would read very slowly and precisely and show me exactly what
she was reading. I remember my mom showing me pictures of green eggs and ham, a variety of
vibrant colored of fish, and the red and white of the striped hat on the cat. I also remember the
reflectiveness of the rainbow colored scales on the big blue fish and the act of kindness that he
demonstrated by giving them away. My mom would finish reading and talk about what
happened to make sure I understood what was going on. She would then make me write out any
feeling I had towards the story and what it was about to make sure that I had an understanding
for what was going on. Those are the first vivid memories I have of learning to read,
comprehend, and write out my thoughts.
When I started kindergarten, I was quick to realize that composing detailed sentences
and telling stories were not my strong point. However, throughout elementary and middle school
my writing improved significantly. I took several writing classes with many old, educated
women including Mrs. Daily. I spent hours upon hours in dark, cold, plant-filled classrooms
looking over how to structure a sentence and how to correctly write a story. I learned that a thesis
statement was to be a part of the introduction and the conclusion should have certain parts of
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your introduction within it. I finally knew what the parts of speech were and the grammar rules
that go along with writing. Grammar and parts of speech took a lot of practice and a lot of time
to comprehend but they eventually taught me the basics and the structure for writing.
My experiences in high school are my most vivid of memories I have when it comes to
reading and writing. My sophomore year of high school I had an English teacher named Mrs.
Fields that had the biggest personality and made English class interesting and often
unpredictable. An English class that was interesting and unpredictable was something that I had
never experienced before. She was the first teacher to peak my interest in reading and writing.
Mrs. Fields was a Mormon and never seemed to have a bad day or have conflict with anyone.
She was the most kind-hearted individual I have ever met in my life and she would have done
anything to help improve your learning skills. Her door was always wide open and she was
always willing to help. Sophomore year was also a turning point for my writing because of the
fact that I had to write a lengthy research papers which is something I had never had to do
before. My history teacher, Mr. Wesney, was a Wake Forrest graduate that made me write more
in the first week of his class than the previous 10 years of my life combined. His room was
always musty and dark. There was always a feeling of nervousness and anxiousness to get out of
that classroom and move on to the next one. He had pictures of old dead people all over the
walls. They always seemed to be peering down at you and looking at you when you were about
to fail a test or quiz. The first week of his class we were assigned a four page research paper and
a two page paper on who were are as a person and what made us who we are today. Mr. Wesney
and I were not on the same page some of the time which ultimately led to conflict. There were
multiple times where I was upset with him because of the fact he didnt explain something he
should have thoroughly or because he graded a test too strictly. Ironically, Mr. Wesney is still the
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best teacher I have ever had. He taught life lessons that needed to be taught rather than just facts
out of a book. He opened my eyes to new experiences and brought my writing up to a more
professional level. He taught me that I had trouble staying focused on my thesis at times and my
wording can often be awkward. I was thankful for all of the drafting that was involved
throughout the class and my final paper was a huge improvement from the start of the first one.
Junior year was a great year for my interest in reading because I read The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which was a great book. Reading the Great Gatsby made me realize how
important interpreting is. It also made me realize that rereading the text may be necessary if you
did not pick up a good understanding the first time you read it. Senior year was interesting
because of the fact I learned so much without even realizing it. One of the hardest things I
participated in was writing a group essay and having to do my senior project. When we started
writing the draft it was discovered that we had different opinions on the topic. Communication
was key and we had to figure out a compromise so that we could all get our point across. High
school had a huge contribution to my reading and writing and communication skills. It taught me
how to structure a sentence, time management, and how to effectively write a research paper. It
also taught me that writing was not as hard as I was making it out to be. If I had an open mind
and the ability to be creative beyond my comfort zone, I would be able to write anything.
Over the years I have learned that I comprehend text well but have trouble staying
focused and getting my point across clearly which are aspects that I would like to improve on. It
is my goal to improve my skills of focusing on the thesis and introduction statement. It is also
my goal to be able to state my thoughts clearly without beating around the bush. I have come a
long way throughout the years but there is always room for improvement.