Personal Narrative – Literacy Essay

Timeline

Born in August 1994

Father’s Day, June 1995 – My very first word was “Dad”

Every night before bed my dad would read me bedtime stories because my mom worked at night…we always read the same books, Little Bear, Curious George, Go Dog Go and No Jumping on the Bed

December 1999 – My little brother was born, I was 5

My dad read to us both, even though my brother couldn’t understand the books yet

Around this time my Dad and I had been reading the same books for so long that while he was reading to me I would say the next sentence in the book before he could say it.

That’s when I first remember reading being fun because when I would tell my dad the next sentence in the book he would laugh and that made me happy

2^nd grade – I read Charlotte’s Web for the first time

I checked it out in the library and I brought it home and for a few weeks, every night before we went to bed my dad would let me read to him

4^th grade – I had a teacher who was from Germany

She didn’t speak English in a way that little kids could understand her because her accent was so thick

This was the first year I felt discouraged about school but my parent’s always encouraged me to keep working hard

6^th grade – We were required to read a certain number of pages every quarter in school

This is when I first read Monkey Island although now reading felt like a punishment

8^th grade – I took an aptitude test in school that was meant to determine our placement for high school classes

I scored very high in the reading and writing categories so I was placed in Honors English classes

9^th grade – Looking back now, I had the best English teacher I could have ever asked for when I was a freshman in high school

He was a tough grader and he was particularly harsh on my essays and at the time I didn’t understand why

Now I realize when I was in ninth grade I wasn’t as focused on school as I should have been

My teacher, Mr. Szymanski, realized my potential and always expected more from me

I believe this was a shaping year for my literacy history because even though I didn’t see it then, I realize now my teacher didn’t let me give up and be mediocre, he challenged me so that I might challenge myself

*Mr. Szymanski made every student that took his class not fear reading Shakespeare

I remember we spent months on Romeo and Juliet, reading, writing, listening, acting and watching it, so that when we left his class we better understood Shakespeare as an author and the story of Romeo and Juliet in its entirety – theme, meaning, purpose and all

10^th grade – This year I left the Honors English program, to Mr. Szymanski’s disappointment

I regret the decision sometimes

I’m also thankful for this decision because I was in Mrs. Grossman’s English class and she left an impact on my life, both personally and academically

Mrs. Grossman was an elderly lady, one year away from retirement

She loved her job, and loved American literature and transcendentalism in particular. (Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson)

She rekindled my love for books that I hadn’t felt since the days when my Dad would read to me

She brought Fahrenheit 451 and the Crucible alive

Funny memory: Mrs. Grossman had a crush on Arthur Miller and so she would always talk about the Crucible and relate things back to that, she loved when you made those references in your essays

When we would read in class she would read the book aloud with such fervor, emotion and excitement that I looked forward to hearing her read the next day – even the boring short stories from our outdated literature books were intriguing and worth-while when she read them

I know it sounds silly, being read to when you’re 15 and even though I wouldn’t have admitted it then, I miss the days of hearing Mrs. Grossman read those novels and I often think about trying to get in touch with her - to thank her for changing the way I looked at English literature, mainly transcendentalist authors, and for the kind words she spoke on the last day of school before summer vacation

11^th and 12^th grade – I started taking English classes online and I didn’t read a novel for two years

The stories I was supposed to read for my class didn’t make sense because I couldn’t understand them and I didn’t take the time to “un-pack” what I was reading

The transition to this college English class has been difficult so far because I haven’t been in a formal English class with essays in 3 years