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Jason Wilkie
Ashley Marcum
February 1, 2016
UWRT 1103
A Change in Literacy
In modern times, as children grow up, literacy demands are constantly
changing throughout society. Think back to elementary or even kindergarten
when all you were taught was how to read and write. You spent hours or your
day just practicing how to perfect letters and form somewhat grammatical
sentences. That is one of the forms or literacy. Another could be reading. Just
picking up a book, newspaper, reading an email, or even texting someone.
All forms of literacy. We are constantly influenced by literacy in all the things
we do throughout the day. The way we talk; the way we read; the way we
write. Everything and everyone around us could be a literacy sponsor and
could help or destroy our literacy knowledge. So Im going to share some
experiences with my literacy that could have helped or torn down my love
for literacy.
Ive been writing since kindergarten or even before that, trying to write
my brothers name on the walls in my house with crayon and then blaming
him (he wasnt even a year old yet) for the drawings. With all that time
writing I have had a lot of feelings as time went on. I used to love writing. I
trying to convey my opinions to parents as a kid to show them I was brilliant
or even writing notes to this girl I liked in third grade. However, writing has

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changed for me since then. Although I find it absolutely necessary to literacy
today, I personally dont like to write that often. When I am given a writing
assignment in school, the first thing that comes to my head is, Ugh, a
writing assignment. After that, I immediately jump to thinking about how
long this writing assignment is going to be and how long it is going to take
me to do. I just dont seem to think positively about writing. I also dont like
to write about specific subjects. I always hated taking the SAT because of the
writing prompts. They were very critical of your writing no matter how good
you thought it was. When a teacher also asks to write about a topic that
doesnt interest me or has no personal value or meaning to me I generally do
very poorly on the assignment and wait till the last minute to do it. However,
if there is a topic of interest or a topic that I can put my own emotions and
thinking into then I will have a better attitude writing the paper and the
paper will seem more real. I also dont like writing for how people are so
analytical of all the small grammatical and spelling errors. I like doing more
informal writing, so I dont always know how to phrase some things or when
to use a semi colon or a comma. I just remember that the bulk of my English
classes were to help students understand when to use different grammatical
structures and how they can make a difference when using them in
sentences. I always hated having to do those trivial exercises to work on
grammar and punctuation as I still dont use them in my writing today, and I
still dont know how to use those grammatical processes correctly. The only
time that I think I have felt happy or good about writing was when one of my

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English teachers in High School told the students to write about something
that really evoked emotions in the students. This was the only paper that I
was really passionate about and the only paper I actually enjoyed.
Also as Ive grown up, Ive learned to write many different ways. Ive
been told several times that you should start with brainstorming and then
get a general outline of your paper. After that you can finally start your draft.
I feel that the process taught to me just takes too much time. So I created
my own writing process that I am comfortable with. I would consider my
writing process to be improvised. My writing is typically random and just
comes from the top of my head. For example, this entire paper will probably
just be from the top of my head and I will write the first things that come to
my mind. I typically dont plan out or strategize how to go about my writing.
There isnt much brainstorming other than picking topics to talk about and
what my thesis or opening statement should be. Otherwise all of my writing
just seems to flow. Since I only like typing emotional papers or personal
paper I dont think about the research and the facts about the subject. If I do
have to make a research paper, then I will typically pick out all of my topics
and decide how they fit and flow best in a certain order. After I finish a draft, I
will usually give my draft to my Mom because she always gives me good
feedback. I will then create a final and then turn the paper in. My writing
differs between school, different subjects and home. When I write school
papers I usually have to follow a rubric and meet certain criteria. I also tend
to pay a little more attention to pay more attention to the grammar of the

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paper to make sure I dont get any points off. In comparison, when I write
papers at home, usually jus to present an idea to a group of friends or an
informal writing, I just write how I feel about the subject. Most of the time, I
am given a subject to write about. I very rarely just write to write because, as
I have said before, I really dont like writing. I also find it difficult to write
different things. Formal papers, for example, are the hardest things to write
because they require more thinking and planning than say a text or a
personal blog. Emails are easy for me because you just have to make sure
that you arent being rude or using slang. Every email should be structured
like it would be for the president. All in all, my writing process is very
unorganized and mostly personal, whenever I do write that is.
Although I talk about writing like I hate it, there is only one thing that I
really hate more than writing. That would be reading. I have been reading
even longer than Ive been writing, and dont get me wrong there are several
books and series that I have really enjoyed reading. However, reading as a
whole does not excite me in the least. I have many feelings about reading,
but when someone asks me about reading, the first thing I always respond
with is Im not a big reader or I dont really read. Its true I dont really like to
read as I feel there are better ways to spend my time than just staring at
something thats written in a book and, most of the time, isnt even real.
When Im given a reading assignment in school my first thoughts are to
figure out the easiest way to complete the book and gain an understanding
of it without actually having to read the book. Throughout all of my schooling

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there is only one book that I actually enjoyed and continued the series with.
That was the book Enders Game. I think that I feel this way mainly
because I just get so bored with reading unless it is a genre or a series that I
truly like. I generally spend my time outside playing sports or inside playing
video games. I dont see how reading really helps me in life applications
other than learning the meaning of a couple of bigger words and increasing
my vocabulary. As an engineer however I need to create something that
everyone can understand, not just the people with a large vocabulary. I dont
specifically remember the first time that I didnt enjoy reading. However,
there was a time when I loved reading. The only reason that I really loved
reading was because of how competitive I was. I always wanted to be taking
the most advanced classes in middle school to show that I was smarter than
everyone. Also, in elementary school, every week there was a reading
comprehension test that students had to take. I always wanted to score the
highest and take the test the fastest so I practiced my reading to make sure
that happened. After all the students started to level out in reading skill I just
got bored of reading and didnt care as much as I used to. I still believe that I
am a good reader and have a pretty expansive vocabulary, I just dont care
to spend my time free reading books anymore.
So now that Ive shared my dislike for reading I feel it would be
necessary to really talk about when that first started. It was probably the
worst reading experience Ive ever had and it honestly wasnt too long ago.
One of the worst reading experiences that I had as I was growing up was

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probably reading a required book for one of my English classes in High
School. I hated the book so much that I really dont remember what the book
was. I just remember that I never wanted to do the homework and I always
tried to get the homework from one of my friends instead of doing it myself.
The experience was negative just because the book didnt interest me and I
couldnt find any motivation or need for reading the book. I didnt understand
how reading this boring book benefited me at all. The genre and the material
that was being covered by reading the book was supposed to be covered in
the curriculum, however, it just took so long to cover the material I began to
grow weary of the book. Whenever we were asked to talk about the book as
a class, I never raised my hand or participated in the group reflections. When
the class would get put into groups to talk about the chapters that were
assigned the night before, I would usually either say I didnt get to finish and
not participate, or I would talk about how boring the book was and that I
really just didnt care about sharing my readings or discussion. This negative
experience taught me bad habits as a reader. As time went on, if there was a
book assignment for a class I would always try to look for a summary of the
chapters or borrow someone elses homework to copy it down really quickly.
The experience mainly taught me how to do as little work as possible and
still understand and be able to talk about the book when there was a class
discussion. I also think that this experience developed a negative
connotation towards reading as I became less and less enthusiastic about
books and reading in general, unless it was from a series that I really enjoyed

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or a genre that kind of caught my attention. After this experience I dont
think Ive taken a reading assignment very seriously.
Like my writing, I have created my own reading process. I was never
really taught a reading process so I just did what felt was right. Open the
book and start reading. It is as simple as that. So when I read, which is not
very often, I dont typically do any background research on the author or the
book to see what its about. Half the time I dont even read the little
summary they provide that tells you a little about the book. When I come
across something I dont know in a book like a large word I dont really look
up the word unless I cant understand the sentence without the word. I can
usually figure out the meaning of the word just from some context clues. I
also dont really talk about the books that I read unless Im required to in a
class discussion. I will sometimes use the book as a point of conversation if
someone else has read it and I really liked the book. Otherwise I dont really
talk about the books that I read, the very few that I have. I dont think I have
ever annotated a book for the fun of it. I dont like dissecting books and
trying to interpret all the different things the author is trying to say. I take
what the author says for its literal meaning and then I create a picture and
play out the entire book in my head as I read. My reading process is
extremely different between school and when Im reading for fun. In school, a
topic is forced upon me and I end up almost always hating what I have to
read. When I read for fun I can read at my own pace, I can sit in a quiet place
and I know I will enjoy the book because I wouldnt read it on my free time

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unless I enjoyed it. I like reading by myself because I can create that imagery
and picture everything the exact way that I want to. I dont find books to
read easily, but I came about a genre I liked just from reading a random book
and I stuck with that genre. Ever since then, I have tried to find other genres
that I would appreciate and be just as entranced with, but I could never find
a certain genre that I really enjoyed. Thats kind of why I just stopped
reading over all. It just seemed like a waste of time to me.
So if I dont enjoy reading or writing I have to find another way to
explore literacy and grow that knowledge as a person. I have found that the
most important way to expand your literacy without actually reading or
writing is through communities. I found one community in particular which I
enjoy and think will really help propel my knowledge. Coming into college
there were several communities that were open for joining. During the Week
of Welcome, several groups, organizations and fraternities would open
themselves up to talk about what their organization does. I found one club
that sparked interest in me; the Paintball Club. There is a specific language
among the paintball club and I quickly adapted to it throughout the many
practices that I had with the team. Most of the words pertaining to the club
deal with the competition of the sport. Like most sports there are certain
phrases for positions and tactics that help propel the team to victory. So
there are some terms that are used to communicate while playing paintball
such as: D1, S1, 50 Snake, 50 Dorito, September and December, my mirror
and finally 100g. All of these terms refer to an enemys position on the field.

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100g is a term for an enemy being shot and called out. It means that there is
1 person dead. Everyone on the team gets to speak their part and practice
this communication on the field. There isnt just one person who calls all the
shots, thats what being part of a team is like anyways. Anyone can enter
this community as the community is open to everyone. There isnt any racial
prejudice and there arent any specific requirements to join the community.
The only thing that would keep a person out of the community is if they
werent active and they didnt treat to other people in the community with
the respect that everyone deserves. This kind of community is something
that people should get familiar with. A community that doesnt have any
boundaries or any prerequisites to being part of the community. As soon as I
joined this community I felt at ease and at home. I felt that I would bond well
with all the people in the community and I knew that their literacy and their
form of communication would carry onto me as we grew as a community.
As one develops through time, there are several people, places, and
things that sponsor your literacy. From my experiences, coming from an
upper middle class family, in a good neighborhood, and having all the
opportunities in the world, I dont see a specific way to improve your literacy.
Literacy can improve or be influenced through everything in life and through
all things around you. So why not just go out and explore the world? As a
college student with little knowledge of the outside world I have found it best
just to find something that made me happy. To improve my literacy, I have
just found a group of people that I know would help me become better than I

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was before. Literacy is all around us. So no matter what you do or how much
you hate to read and write, it will always be something of importance. So
learn it, and use it to the best of your abilities.