Final

Draft

Personal Literacy Journey

Most people refer to literacy as the ability to read and write. However, there is much

more to being literate than meets the eye. It is the backbone and overall structure to learning

any type of information. Without literacy, our world would struggle and crumble to the very

dust from which it rose. Literacy is something so active that it is constantly being influenced and

can be accounted for through different literacy sponsors. Such sponsors are newspapers,

books, the internet, television, family and many other sponsors. Deborah Brandts article,

Sponsors of Literacy, defines a sponsor of literacy as, any agents, local or distant, concrete or

abstract, who enable, support, teach, model as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold

literacy--and gain an advantage by it in some way, (Brandt, 1998). During this essay I will

personally talk about my literacy history and describe how my mother and her books have

shaped me as a reader/writer.

My literacy journey began in my very home. I was 5 years old when my family decided

that I should start kindergarten. I was not able to join kindergarten because I was one month

younger than the minimum age required. Luckily, I had one more year to enjoy life before my

thousand miles journey begins. At first, I was very happy to just stay at home and have nothing

to do but to play video games and to watch TV. Then, I felt a bit jealous because my cousin who

is one year older than me and was able to join kindergarten. I remember sitting next to the

window waiting for him to come back and tell me everything that he learned. I needed to do

something interesting so that I can have something to tell him after he comes back. Because my
cousin would discuss with me what he read and learned in school, I decided to start reading so

that I can also share with him what I read. At that age, I did not have my own books so I decided

to use my mothers books as a source to fulfil my purpose.

I remember going through my mothers set of books. I noticed that most of her books

were ancient historical books. Her books were mainly about the Islamic Golden Age. My mother

loves reading about ancient history to see how people used to live and what kind of

experiences and situations they went through and what were their acts regarding these

situations. Because I adore my mother a lot, I wanted to read about something that she enjoys

reading, so I decided to read historical books as well. Since my mother had taught me how to

read and write from a very young age, I was able to read her books, but I couldnt fully

understand them. The opportunity for my literacy to take a major turn for the better had

arisen.

I cant recall the name of the first book I read. In fact, I remember that I was not able to

understand a full sentence in that book when I first started reading it, yet I enjoyed the fact that

I am doing something that only mature people do and it was my choice to do it. My mother was

very proud of me and was helpful with explaining every sentence I read. Upon moving forward

in my life into kindergarten I was presented with multiple sponsors now, rather than just my

mother and family members. Now all of the sudden I was surrounded by fellow students,

teachers, and faculty members that I never had met before. I was shocked by having this

number of people around me, so I decided to stay away from anything that relates to school

such as not doing homework and not memorizing the order of the alphabet. My mother

decided to take away her books so I would finish my assignments. She used to encourage me to
do my homework by telling me that I could read her books after completing my homework.

Reading about history opened my mind to different understandings and beliefs. History is

enjoyable. It often defies our imagination. We get Inspired from historical events and legends

for a better and satisfied life. It also serves as a warning. When we dont pay attention, history

may repeat itself. We learn from the great mistakes of humanity in the past so as not to repeat.

Although I never had a joy for writing during my childhood I do remember one instance

that started to swing my feeling from absolute hatred of writing to a more relaxed dislike for it.

During my first year of elementary school, my mother used to encourage me to practice writing

by summarizing what I read from her books and writing my summary down on a piece of paper.

She then would read my summary and give me feedback on my writing regarding what I did

right or wrong. Because I was nothing less of a perfectionist, I would go over my mothers

feedback and try to rewrite my summary to make it more understandable.

Several years passed by and I am in my first year of secondary school. Unfortunately, it

was the year in which my view of history and historical books has changed to the worse. It was

because of my history teacher who used to force me and my other peers to memorize every

word we read in that class word by word. It was impossible to get an A in his class. I loved

reading historical books when I had no restrictions, but after having to memorize each word I

read, my love to historical books was unfortunately turned to hate. After that year, I just had to

stop reading about history because every time I would open one of my mothers historical

books, the idea of not being able to get an A in a class for the first time in all of schooling years

just comes to my mind and make me feel discouraged to read more about history. In fact, I
decided to stop reading books in general which was a decision I do regret because it had a

negative impact on my reading abilities.

To sum up, literacy is the ability to read, view, write, design, speak and listen in a way

that allows you to communicate effectively. It is a key piece of helping people achieve their

goals and develop their knowledge and potential. Peoples understanding to literacy can be

influenced by different literacy sponsors. Different sponsors such as school, family, and digital

media can have both positive impacts and negative ones. Growing up, I became literate through

many different means. I had a great passion for reading. Especially, reading about ancient

history which was a habit that I developed due to my mothers appreciation to this type of

books. I remember once my mother told me that The books that you read affect how you view

the world. Reading history books helped me with developing important study skills. From my

experience, reading a history book gives a common basis on which the process of reading,

analyzing, outlining and summarizing can be mastered. Sadly, as I mentioned earlier, literacy

sponsors can also have a negative impact on people. I went through a situation in which my

view about reading in general has changed completely. I am not saying that I hate reading, it is

just that I do not appreciate it as much as I used to. Looking back, I would love to have a chance

to change the decision that I made regarding reading and carry on with what I used to do which

is reading ancient history books.