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Ms. Caruso
UWRT 1101
20 May 2014
Literacy Memoir
My experiences in life with reading, writing, and communication have been very
sporadic. I started reading at an earlier age than most and really excelled in school. Reading for
me was very enjoyable up until about fifth or sixth grade. I believe that this change in my
attitude towards this was swayed by society in a way because I started to care what others
thought about me. It just wasnt cool to be the kid ahead of everyone in reading and writing!
As I continued to advance through school I found myself really struggling with writing
quality papers. I had a very hard time putting my thoughts into words on paper and found myself
very discouraged when it came to writing. Reading however had started to peak my interest
again as I began to find other subjects that really interested me.
I have decided to save communication for last because this is the one thing I have
struggled with for as long as I can remember. I have never been comfortable with speaking in a
group setting and I do realize that it has held me back in life. An example of this would be telling
a teacher that I forgot to do an assignment just so I wouldnt have to present it to the class. I have
tried to grow out of this over time but when it comes to public speaking its just no use. Even as
Im writing this I am laughing at myself at how crazy it may sound to someone who has never
struggled with this.
I will now discuss literacies outside the normal fundamental ones and begin with sports. I
have been playing sports since I was five years old. Basketball has been a huge part of my life
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and that continues to this day. At a young age before reality kicked in and I had to get a job, you
would find me in my driveway playing basketball from sunrise until sunset. I played in many
different leagues over the years and have a room full of championship trophies to show for it. I
would say that when it comes to basketball literacy you could most definitely classify me as
expert status.
At age ten my parents bought my brother and I dirt bikes. When I wasnt playing
basketball I was riding on tracks we had built back in the woods. We challenged each other to
get better and even took the time to learn how to do our own maintenance on our bikes. With that
said I would say I came away with an intermediate literacy when it came to not just riding but
also mechanical work.
On my twenty-third birthday I woke up and started my day like any other but something
was off. I wasnt happy with where I was in life and so I jumped in my car and drove to the
nearest military recruiting office and signed up on the spot. This decision ended up being one of
the best Id ever made. I met people from all different walks of life and got to see places and
learn things I would have never even imagined I would see or do. I believe this experience really
helped mold me into the person I have become. I met my wife in just my first year in the military
and we have since had two wonderful kids who are my life. People often say that being in the
military is not only a sacrifice for you but also your entire family. I like to look back now and
reflect on what a blessing it was to not just be a part of that life but to also now be blessed with
the opportunity to enjoy the rewards of serving by being able to make use of the GI Bill.
My current literacies I am working on in no particular order are writing, programming,
calculus, raising kids, and business. Being able to finally be in a position to return to school has
been a blessing for not just myself but also my family. I will be able to continue to grow and
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even discover new passions beyond what I currently have interests in. Starting with this first
Summer I session I plan to give school my second highest priority behind my kids of course!
I generally approach my work in a very systematic way. I like to have a set goal in mind
as well as different points I would like to discuss along the way all laid out in order. I have found
that if I dont stick with discussing the key topics in order then I will veer off and often times not
remember to come back and finish up the ideas I started. I think that if I could learn to get my
thoughts organized better I would be able to write papers with much higher quality. A key
for me in writing is definitely having a topic that interests me so that I am able to write
with more passion instead of just throwing facts down on the paper.
This class has honestly given me a bit of anxiety the first two days. Im not sure if its
just because of all the group discussion we are going to be having or its just getting back into
school after fourteen years out. Overall I am very excited though because I know this class is just
one of many stepping stones I will have over the next three years which will lead me to being
able to finally be in a career Im passionate about and to enable me to provide a better life for my
family. I look forward to developing into a much better writer!

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Greg Miller
Ms. Caruso
UWRT 1101
23 May 2014
Literacy Memoir Critical Self-Assessment
The literacy memoir that I constructed has an overall genuine feel to it. I probably could
have shown it a bit more in the beginning when discussing my fundamental literacies. I may not
have shown it equally throughout my writing but I felt very excited about the assignment. I really
enjoyed reminiscing about those past experiences in my life. I dont feel that I approached this
assignment haphazardly in my mind but I may have done a poor job of translating that onto
paper.
The initial approach to this assignment was very frustrating. In the past I have always
started brainstorm in my head and would then start typing away. This approach proved to be
impossible to manage in the beginning following technical difficulties with my choice of writing
program. Open office just didnt have the options required to properly setup MLA format. I did
finally decide to purchase Office 365 and that was a great decision. Looking back now I realize I
should have just taken out my journal and began getting my ideas down on paper. Listening to
others approaches to writing in class has opened my eyes a bit. The only way I feel that I could
better my writing is to properly plan out my paper. Gone are the days when I could just start
typing and come away with an average passing paper. If I were to continue this approach in the
future I dont feel I would truly see an improvement. From this point forward I would like apply
the deep learner mentality to all that I do and not just the things Im very interested in.
In the past I was very much a strategic learner. I would set aside just enough time to
manage a grade I wanted. I would never go above and beyond because it just felt unnecessary.
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The strategic learner in me definitely showed when discussing my fundamental literacies. I gave
just enough information on the topics that were not interesting to me in order to just meet the
requirements of the assignment. I am a very dedicated person in life when it comes to my family
and hobbies that I get the most enjoyment out of. I feel that in life this is very common with
everyone. I would however like to work to correct this now that I am more aware of it. Things
that may not appear important to me by themselves could end up being valuable when combined
with other interests.
I feel this paper is around a C level. While I didnt go into depth with all my literacies
equally I do feel I put in a very good amount of time to making sure I covered everything that
was required. I believe I showed that I did put a fair amount of work into the paper and tried to
display that to the best of my ability. What keeps this from a B paper for me is the fact that I did
not maintain the same level of detail while talking about each literacy. There is obvious room for
improvement in not just content but also the general flow of the information. With proper
planning and dedication in the future I know I can improve this to a B and possibly an A grade
starting with this assignment.
I approached this assignment much better in my opinion. I took extensive notes in my
journal before even turning my laptop on. I re read over my original paper and peer review and
took into consideration all the information we have learned in the classroom. I set aside plenty of
time to really focus on my work uninterrupted. I got the kids fed and set them up with plenty of
things to keep them entertained. I decided to move my working space to my bedroom with the
door closed and the blinds on the window open to let in some natural light. This setup allows me
to remain completely focused on the task at hand. This step out of my routine comfort zone will
help me to improve not only my writing but my life in general.
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The video by David Foster Wallace helped me to realize all these things. I dont want to
continue to remain in my comfort zone. I am in school now to better myself and to provide a
better life for my family. I am going to approach school with this new mentality and refuse to
settle for mediocrity. It obviously did not get me to where I wanted to be before so why should I
expect different results without changing something about myself first. I am not saying I want to
just do this for the simple answer of getting good grades. I want to start a new work ethic of
giving everything I do my best and not just settling. There is always room for improvement in
everything we do.
If I could go back and write my literacy memoir again, I think I would be able to show
these changes in mentality with some effort. I wanted to paint a clear picture for my reader and
really guide them through my past to present literacies. As I was reading back through my work I
was disappointed with the picture I painted. I feel that after explaining a literacy the reader
should be able to determine expert status without me having to spell it out for them. I feel the
paper is almost robotic in a way because the reader cant feel the emotion. In the future I will
need to share more detail about my experiences and work on transitioning into new topics.
You may be thinking now that I sure have been negative on my assessment of my work
but I think it has been necessary. I am overall unhappy with the end result and this review has
done a good job outlining it. At some point I would like to return to the original literacy memoir
and give it the effort it should have received in the beginning. I would like to go back and let the
reader know who the people were that influenced me in each literacy. I would like to share how I
was introduced to these people and what I did to try to become like them. I even completely left
out my interest in computers which is the whole driving force behind why Im actually back in
school now.
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It all started many years ago when my grandpa had us over for dinner. He was excited to
show my brother and I his new computer and game he had installed on it. I had never used a
computer at the time but it looked awesome. He booted it up and with a click of the mouse on an
icon he launched a game called Doom. My brother and I were all excited as we huddled around
him to watch. It was the coolest thing we had ever seen! We immediately ran to our parents and
told them we wanted one for Christmas. It was this moment that I began to not only love
computers but all technology in general. Over the years computers became a side hobby of mine.
I would take them apart and put them back together. I basically taught myself everything I could
about the hardware. As I got older I became interested in how programs worked and how to
create them. I started off with small automated spreadsheets in excel and eventually made some
small programs for people. I did however find it almost impossible to land a good job in the
computer field without that little paper that comes from graduating college. I believe this
information is valuable to understanding more about me and why I am currently back in school.
It also shows that I am motivated under the right circumstances and I felt the need to add this to
my assessment so you could see this.

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Reader 15
Ms. Curuso
UWRT 1101
May 21, 2014
Literacy Memoir Response
I would like to begin with offering some advice on setting up your MLA format. Make
sure you check the box that says, Dont add space between paragraphs of the same style. I also
noticed that there was no header present. Other than those two things I didnt find anything else
off with the format of the paper
When I read your paper I was left with a lot of questions as to what your actual literacies
are and how you became proficient in them. Instead of giving the reader a Little narrative you
have given a broader Master narrative. Perhaps instead of telling the reader about your love for
sports and how you played them you could have gone into more detail about the sports you
played and the experiences you had with learning and improving to the expert level in said sport.
Were you good at football, basketball, gymnastics, etc.? If you would have been more specific
with telling about your experiences the reader would have been able to possibly relate and
possibly feel like they are getting a glimpse into your past.
I see you as possibly a hero archetype. It was a struggle for me to really pin one down
with the limited content. I have come to this conclusion after reflecting on what you said about
wanting to actually improve and the fact that what might motivate you to be a better writer is the
ability to write about things that interest you. I could also see a bit of the victim archetype in
your writing since you had some success with writing in the past. Perhaps over time while going
through school and not being able to choose what to write you began to lose interest in writing.
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Without the motivation your writing ability maybe started to falter and you ended up losing
confidence in your abilities.
I believe you are valuing writing as a whole because you realize its importance to your
future and various career fields of interest to you. I do however think that opening up your mind
and starting to take more risks with your writing will help you out in the long run. Perhaps
finding things you can relate to while writing about topics that arent necessarily of interest to
you would go a long way.
The fact that the memoir was very vague in conveying your literacy experiences leads me
to think that you may have not put as much thought into it as you would have if the assignment
had been to write about something you enjoyed doing. I also struggle with this same issue in my
writing and have to constantly remind myself to add more depth. We both could benefit from
putting more thought into what we actually want to get across to the reader and with that said, I
hope we both come away from this class improved writers.