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Ian Dickerman
Professor Ingram
UWRT 1101
September 9, 2014

Literacy Narrative
Starting from the beginning I wanted to know everything about everything there ever
was, out of shear amazement. Unfortunately this is something that fades as childhood ends and
you develop an interest in usually a few, but sometimes a vast number of specific subjects. My
Literacy as I grew older grew larger but more specific and just started expanding back out when I
got to college here at UNCC. My literacy journey could be accurately described using diagrams
and bar graphs but not any of that really means anything in terms of how I came about
developing the way that I did. Curiosity and passion are my two driving forces leading me to my
different stages of literacy.
I didnt speak as early as most children learn to, but I was incredibly adept at body
language. I was so close with my sister, who was two and a half years older than me that simply
the way I acted towards things or the way I pointed my sister was able to tell what I wanted to
say and was always there to speak for me. Of course when I did start talking it went from first
words to full-fledged sentences in a matter of days. It shows that I didnt have difficulty learning
to speak I just didnt see it as necessary because I could get exactly what I wanted without
having to use words. I was literate before I could even express it, in terms of English, and chose
to represent it by my literacy in body language. This type of development is very common for the
younger of two siblings if they are very close. I still see signs of this in my everyday life. I am a

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very extroverted person but sometimes I try to express my opinions and feelings without using
words. Im also sometimes afraid to just come out and say what I want if I am close enough with
a person, or I expect them to just know without me telling them anything.
The first thing that I actually remember on my literacy journey as a young boy in the
suburbs of a major city in the south, was memorizing my mothers phone number and our house
address at least a year before I started preschool. In preschool we were read stories and asked
questions on the moral of the story. This was our first development in reading comprehension
and it was a great time to start. Reading comprehension to this day is still my highest scoring
subject, all the way up to the SATs. The reading continued into kindergarten where we were also
learning how to write and read on our own. First grade we jumped straight into spelling tests
which actually helps a young child a lot with learning how to pronounce the way certain words
are written. I quickly learned how certain sets of letters always make the same sounds, and how a
lot of words with similar beginnings and endings have meanings that are closely related.
My first exposer to a musical instrument was the third grade recorder. I loved that thing
and it actually prompted me to start piano lessons with my school music teacher, Mrs. Rehorn. I
started those in the fourth grade and that was the spark that started my musical curiosity and led
to guitars banjos and mandolins. Through my total experience with playing music I no longer
hear the same things as other people while listening to music. The best way I can describe it to
people is like a dissected orchestra. I hear everything together at the same time as Im hearing
just the individual instruments or track line. Learning how to do this wasnt just the byproduct of
playing almost every common instrument. What really gave me the ability to hear things this
way was playing with other musicians and having to distinctively hear my part to make sure I
was playing well as well as everyone elses part to make sure we were playing together and

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listening to each others cues. Musical theory is a whole other set of literacy that cannot be
explained to a person who doesnt play multiple instruments. It comes alongside learning how to
play and reading and writing musical phrases. This was by far the hardest type of literacy to
acquire and it definitely took the longest amount of time to acquire. I still havent fully grasped a
fraction of it.
I have recently been emerged in an entirely new sub culture of college, and that is the
Fraternity and Sorority system. The Greek university system has a vast collection of different
organizations and all are named by their own Greek letters. My organization is the Kappa Alpha
Order. The process of becoming a new member has educated me on a vast majority of subjects
such as the civil war, the history of the Knights Templar, and the values of a modern gentlemen.
I have been educated on how to dress myself, how to speak to a lady, and how to act in a variety
of places and in different company. Learning more about how I am supposed to act has made me
a much better person and has opened a world full of opportunities for me. Learning the entire
Greek alphabet has allowed me to read the names of all campus organizations. There are many
different terms for councils and governing bodies of the Greek system. This has also given me
insight into how budgeting and financial matters go, which would also help me gain knowledge
on running a business. I feel as though I am almost entirely literate on how to run a company and
address certain financial matters. I can head a meeting and maintain purpose throughout as well
as preform a disciplinary hearing. The Greek system at this point has contributed much more to
my education in terms of business matters than actual classes have.
The Journey of literacy never ends and I will constantly be learning new things and new
ways to communicate with people. As far as how I have developed so far I wouldnt have wanted
it any other way, and couldnt imagine so because that would make me a different person all

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together. Learning music has given me an appreciation for most kinds of arts and is honestly
something think every person should do sometime in their lives. If I could change one thing, it
would be learning French or German as I was growing up, so that I could travel to Europe and
communicate there. But theres only more to come, never less and I hope I can grow even further
into a successful person.