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Simone McDougal Miss E. ENGL 1101-062 24 September 2013 Progression or Digression? That is the Question : A Personal Literacy Narrative It was never a secret that reading and writing is a skill that well need forever and ever, and that your skill level can either set you a part from others or put you in line with them. There was a time for me when reading and writing came naturally, when I could read an impressive amount of books in a school years time and have a guaranteed pass on a paper before it was even written. Then, as time progressed, that skill became challenged with complex readings and writing topics and I needed to give effort, which I never had to do before. This is an analysis of discovering: have I progressed or digressed with my literacy capabilities? Back When Literacy Wasnt a Big Deal Boy, elementary school was the best, wasnt it? I mean, we had recess to ease the pressure of classwork; drama hardly existed, so friends were constantly being made, and school got out way earlier than middle and high school. In this level of education, teachers were the most excited about getting us to learn. Teachers would show their creativity by making games to help us better understand concepts and to have fun with the dynamics of reading and writing and we always had delightful incentives like candy and colorful stickers to decorate our folders if we got the answer correct. I can remember my school having an event called a Read In about twice a year. At this event, we would be served the traditional spaghetti dinner that consisted of noodles that were too big topped with a runny sauce that was severely bland and a block of garlic

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bread that was always the first thing eaten to avoid it hardening any further. The night would start off live, with the all the lights on and everyone on the search for that book (or books if you just enjoyed pictures) that would keep your interest all night. I would always shuffle over to the mystery section where I could find my Nancy Drew and my Boxcar Children. Theres just something about mystery books, even to this day, that keeps me from tearing away until Im finished. Once the grueling task of choosing which book was going to pull me in for the night was done, I would jump over and dodge sleeping bags until I got to my favorite spot in the library: the reading corner. I snuggled into the corner where the wall of windows and the bookcase met, and laid on my stomach with my book propped up against my pillow. I would read those books cover to cover back in my Elementary days and now I seem to be relying more and more on spark notes for every last detail of a novel Im assigned to read. Elementary school also gave us our first glance of standardized testing. We took tests on cute little picture books that used real words that we understood, and not those of that tricky wordsmith William Shakespeare that we would later experience. Writing tests came with prompts that became paradise for our imaginative little minds. Topics like What if you woke up as a character in your favorite book, or How would life be with no parents, would always get our minds racing and we would project thoughts and ideas that caught the attention of our readers, which was usually only our teacher. Topics of that nature didnt scare us at all. I can remember looking forward to writing tests and trying to predict what the topic would be with my friends. Elementary school really made me feel like I had a hold on my reading and writing skill, like I was one to look at when it came to who my peers thought of as intelligent. I was definitely progressing as a reader and writer, and I was proud of myself. Unfortunately, that hold

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I had on reading and writing would quickly become nothing but a memory soon after middle school commenced. No One Understands Me We all endure that stage, you know, when we think we know everything and our parents are ruining our lives; that was majority of middle school for me, sorry mom and dad. Its not like I acted out, well once or twice, but I just loved being with my friends and hated being at home with my parents. I literally told my dad once, I hate coming home, I rather stay at school. Ouch, that was probably hard to hear. But reality was I had to go home, I couldnt hang out at school and in my best friends room all of middle school. It was during my middle school years that I really started getting into personal writing. In school I wasnt quite getting the concepts of classroom novels and I wasnt exactly trying to either. Learning how to diagram a sentences and reading colorless stories grew old very quick. It didnt take me long to start doing my own thing. It became a routine for me when I got settled at home to write. I was able to unload any negative thoughts through writing instead of verbalizing them. My journal served as someone I could go to when I didnt want to go to my parents. I would write about how much fun my friends and I had at the lunch table that day and how cute my crush was looking, or how I failed an earth science test and I hoped no one ever asked me how it went, I even wrote about my first Chris Brown concert. I can remember writing every last joke from an episode of the newest Mtv show Yo Mama and taking it to school to make everyone laugh. Writing in my journal is what got me to the next day, when I was at home that was my friend. I believe documenting life experiences in my journal is what helped mold my writing style. I like writing based on personal experiences because thats what I know best and what I believe others can relate to. At this time in life, I wasnt really sure where I stood as far as reading and writing. School curriculum wasnt

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my forte but personal writing was. Was I progressing or digressing? I suppose academically maybe I was digressing but as far as my own writing, I was progressing. Without documenting my feelings and life experiences during middle school, I wouldve been a lost child, not knowing who I was as a person or indiscreetly, as a writer. No Papers Necessary I didnt know what to think when I got to high school. Middle school discussions regarding high school was always about teachers assigning two page papers on the first day, getting lost and being late to class, having your books knocked out of your hand, and who on earth were you going to sit with in the cafeteria on the first day. Sigh, we were so nave. I can only recall writing three papers in all of high school. I hardly remember any of them. But the funny thing is, the most vivid memory I have of writing is in a class that we never had to write an actual paper in, my sophomore English class. That was the class that prepped us for the writing test ironically, but my teacher was so clever in how she prepared us. We of course used acronyms of all kinds that helped us with grabbing the readers attention first hand, we used them for our paragraphs to ensure we were staying on track with our thesis and had enough detail, and we used them for our conclusion to help us end with a bang and tie everything all together. Just like all writing tests, we had no clue what the prompt was going to be, so what my teacher did was give us mock prompts on a work sheet with a couple lines underneath each of them, and there we would practice what our thesis would be, or how we would conduct a paragraph. Such a genius idea. Although the whole idea wasnt put together, having the idea separated into sections put less stress on my mind and made me realize I would worry less if I just focused piece by piece when it came to the real thing. It was then where I felt I was slowly gaining control back of my writing. I thought, maybe I can conquer the intimidating stigma of

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high school writing tests, and at the same time find myself as a more mature writer and develop a style that correlated. I definitely felt progression was prevalent. So now Im in college. And where I dont feel as though I can take off and write a book, I do feel comfortable with writing papers and understanding concepts of assigned readings to then analyze them. So the journey of my literacy is in a comfortable place now. I feel Im learning what it takes to be a successful English student and thats just what I need. I certainly have experienced the bad side of literacy; not understanding a word of it. Progression or digression is no longer the question. Im on my way to conquering this tricky subject of literature.