Taylor Davison s Literacy Memoir1

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Taylor Davison

Jan Rieman

English 1101

September 14, 2012

Literacy Memoir

When I first thought about my literary history, nothing really came to mind. I just

couldnt think of anything that discouraged or encouraged me. But when I finally thought

of one event, I start remembering all these significant moments of my literary history. All

these events in my life have shaped my writing to what it is today. Those events even

led me to the beliefs I have about reading and writing. As we grow up, we never really

think about how these events will affects us in the future. But when the future is actually

here, thats when we realize that those events have affected us and shaped us to what

we are today.

I cant remember the first book I ever read, but I do remember reading the

newspaper with my dad. I never understood what the words meant, but I would always

sound the words out and get help from my dad. We would even read picture books

together at night before I went to bed. Soon I was able to read most of my books easily

because my dad helped me. I even learned how to sound words out and pronounce

them when I was reading the paper with my dad. In kindergarten, we had a reading long

to complete every night. It didnt matter how much we read, all that mattered was that

we were reading. On nights when my dad worked, I would read to my mom or my baby


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sister. I enjoyed it because I liked how I felt when I read. I was independent; I didnt

have to wait for my parents to come help me, I was reading on my own.

I guess you could say that my family was my motivation to learn how to read. I

was also motivated by pleasure. Once I learned how to read, I started to read the

picture books that my mom bought me. Dinofours was a book series that we owned.

We had about 20 of those books that were simple to read and really good for a young

child to read. I enjoyed these books not only because i was learning to read more, but

they also thought me other lessons like being respectful, sharing, not to be bossy, etc. I

read these books to my little sister because she liked when I read to her. I even tried to

get her to read some words as well.

When I was in 3rd grade, I attended Winding Springs Elementary. My teacher,

Mrs. Eckert, would take our class to the library every week to check out a new book or

to get a different one. On this particular trip, a few of my friends were reading a book

from the series Goose Bumps. They said the books they were reading were good and

were pretty easy to read. I decided that I would get one of those books to read as well. I

figured that if I had trouble with it, I could always ask my parents for help or just get a

new book next week. I waited in line to checkout with my friends, but when I gave my

book to the woman, she looked at the book, looked at me, then back to the book. She

then asked me what a young girl like me was doing with a book like that. I told her that

my friends were reading those books and that I wanted to read them too. She shook her

head and told me that these books may be too advanced for [my] young mind and

made me go and get a different book- one with lots of pictures and fewer words. I was

so confused and upset; I couldnt figure out why the other kids my age could read that


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book but I couldnt. It made me think that I wasnt smart enough to read chapter books.

In the following weeks, I would stick to reading the easier books rather than challenging

myself.

When I think about this event now, I just get confused. It doesnt make sense to

me that someone would discourage a child from reading a chapter book- or any book

for that matter. She should have been glad that I wanted to challenge myself to reading

a larger book than what I usually read. The woman never knew this, but what she said

and did affected the way I thought about myself for a few years. I always thought that I

wasnt as smart as other kids or that I couldnt understand things as well as they cou ld.

But in reality, I was just as smart as them.

For the remainder of elementary school, I always stuck to small books that were

less than 150 pages. I didnt think that I could handle reading the bigger books so I

never tried. But as I went into middle school, I started to challenge myself more. I would

read books that were a little larger than what I usually read, like (insert book names

here). I remember in 7th grade, I read House of the Scorpion. I was really challenging

myself by reading that book because it was like 600 pages! When I first started reading

it, it was on a Friday. I remember not liking it but I didnt want to stop reading because I

would be curious as to how it ended and I wanted to stick to my challenge. As I read

more into the book, I started to enjoy it. I liked it so much that my parents couldnt get

me to stop reading it. I spent all day Saturday reading and all day Sunday reading until I

finished it Sunday night.


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When I finished it, I was really proud of myself because I stuck to my challenge

and proved to myself that Im not stupid. I got over that fear that I wouldnt be able to

comprehend what other kids my age comprehended. My parents were shocked at how

fast I read the book; they even decided to get me my own library card so I could have

access to hundreds of other books. The next day my dad took me to the library and I

checked out two new books. I read those books pretty fast too. 7 th grade was a very

important year for me because thats when I realized that I loved to read . Most kids

wanted new videogames or toys, I just wanted books.

After 7th grade, I moved to a different city- Waxhaw, NC. I started my 8 th grade

year at Parkwood Middle School. My English teach, Mrs. Hentz, was very helpful to me

that year. She gave us weekly vocabulary and writing exercises and tested us every

week. We even had to write book reports, but those were fairly easy for me. One time

we had to write a paper about a subject that I cant remember, but I remember turning in

my rough draft for her to grade. When I got my rough draft back, there were a good bit

of comments. Some were saying how I had a good idea and I structured my paper well.

But other comments told me how I could make my sentences stronger or how to

incorporate my idea better in the paper. It helped me because I learned how to write

stronger sentences and make my writing flow better.

Also in 8th

grade year, our English class started to learn about poetry and all the

different types of poems and writers. Mrs. Hentz made us write multiple types of poems

to be turned in and graded. I never wrote anything before this, but I started writing

poetry more often and enjoyed it. I showed my parents and they were really pleased by

it. They even showed my neighbors who were really impressed. Soon I was writing


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every day and thinking of new ideas for poems. This was a way for me to express my

feelings in a more creative form. I really enjoyed it.

I kept writing during the summer and into the start of my freshman year, at high

school. During that year, our school was having a poetry slam. Everyone who took

English that first semester was required to write a poem and present it to the class.

When it came time to present, I was really nervous but was able to present. My poem

was about the beach and how relaxing it felt to me; it even got voted to the second

round. I was really excited but I didnt go to the second round because I didnt want to

read my poem in front of 300 students. I was just pleased because I wrote something

that everyone liked. It encouraged me to keep writing but I never shared it with anybody

except my parents. But as that school year went on, I started to get more homework

and hung out with friends more often. I had less time to write so I eventually stopped. I

write occasionally now, but not like I used to.

In 11th

grade, I had a terrible teacher for English, Mrs. Zvanut. When she graded

papers, she never gave any good feedback. She always responded with hmm, okay,

uhh, and other phrases like that. She never gave constructive criticism so I never

knew what I needed to improve on or what I was doing right in my writing. On one of my

papers I got back from her, she wrote this couldve been written better. I had no idea

how to respond to that or what to think. I thought to myself How am I supposed to

improve my writing if she doesnt give me any advice or tips?

Since I really didnt know where to go from there, I went to my online class

facilitator, Mrs. Englert, who used to be an English teacher. I asked her to read my


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my audience. All this proves to me how past events in my literary history have shaped

me to be the writer I am today.

Documents

Taylor Davison s Literacy Memoir1