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Adam Williford

Professor Rebecca Agosta

UWRT 1101

6 February 2017

Literacy Memoir

Literacy is introduced to everyone, if even introduced, at various ages. Some people are

granted the opportunity to learn literacy at the start of their learning career, while others struggle

with literacy for many years into their lives. For myself, I recall starting my track to literary

success at about five years old, around the first few weeks of kindergarten. Although I had some

previous literary experience before entering grade school, the introduction to real books rather

than just childrens books, played a huge role in my posterior love for reading.

Entering grade school, I was equipped with very little literary experience. As most

kindergarteners do, I started off reading a multitude of childrens books, but that seemed to pose

minimal challenge to the developing brain. Soon within the next few months with the help of my

kindergarten teacher Mrs. Lipp, I was reading short chapter books at a first grade level which

surprised many people. My parents never seemed to push reading at home, so when I took an

interest in reading a few people were surprised.

In kindergarten every week my teacher, Mrs. Lipp, would take each individual out in the

hallway to practice reading. Each week I went out into that hallway, I was so excited to read and

notice the progress I made with each little story we read. As the school year went on, I started to

develop a real liking for reading, and actually was better at it than most subjects that one endures

in the American education system. Being a young boy, no one ever pushed me to read, and many

boys my age werent big on reading. After getting acquainted to the reading given in a
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kindergarten curriculum, I was hooked and had to learn more. Instead of reading the assigned

books to every kindergarten classroom, I wanted to venture out and read books that were actually

interesting. My five-year-old self aspired to read chapter books like The Box Car Kids and Harry

Potter Series. So, instead of just sitting around listening to my teacher sit around and repeatedly

read to me, I took some initiative. My mother recalls me coming home asking to go to the library

for some big kid books and she was shocked. Neither her, nor my dad, had much faith in their

sons ability to read, but I intended on proving them wrong.

As the school year went on I invested more and more time into learning how to read,

going to the library weekly, and checking out books that posed a challenge. I read books like

Magic Tree House, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and The Box car kids to get introduced to chapter

books. By the middle of the year I was already reading at a first grade level, surpassing many of

my kindergarten colleagues. This innate motivation to impress my teachers and parents with my

improved reading skills played a huge role in my success in literary subjects, and continuing my

motivation to read even in my life today.

This keenness for reading has stuck with me throughout my education, and has helped me

to prosper in many subjects. In school I always did my better in subjects such as an English and

History class, because the reading attracted me to actually try in those classes. This subjectivity

for reading showed in my grades as I always struggled in math, especially when letters were

mixed into the equation. As reading plays a huge part in the education system today, I did not

limit myself to only what the system allowed me to read. While in school, my frequent trips to

the library eventually always got geared towards a certain genre. Growing up when Harry Potter

was popular, I became more inclined to gravitate toward the fantasy genre books. After spending

almost all of elementary school reading the Harry Potter series, I then moved onto Percy Jackson
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and the Lightning thief. My ever-lasting love for the fantasy genre has persisted as I am still

reading books that fit into this genre today.

Today, I continue to read books such as the Game of Thrones series, and articles for my

classes. If I never was taught to read, and motivated to impress the people around me I wouldnt

be the person I am today. Literacy is something you cannot ignore in life, so to start at a young

age and be so motivated, I helped myself in the long run. Now when I read for classes, even if I

am uninterested, I find a way to make the reading connect to my life, or something I enjoy to

proceed in the learning process.

Literacy has ever-lasting effects on peoples lives. For me, it was my elementary school

teacher who sponsored my kindergarten-selfs newfound love for reading. If it werent for those

experiences in elementary school, I may not have developed a love for reading, done well in as

many classes, and continued reading as an adult. Every little experience shapes us into the

people we are today, while some hold bigger impacts than others, without literacy my life would

feel lifeless.