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Rob Hall
Ms. Weaver
Rhetoric
November 19, 2013
Literacy Narrative
My literary identity can best be described through two domains – home and education.
Both of these domains have shaped the way I read and write. When I think about my ability to
read, I can look at my home life because I was pushed by my mother, who loves reading, to try
and read as many things as I could, even if I hated it. My ability to write, however, developed
though all my years in grade school. To be completely honest I have never really enjoyed
writing unless the topic was about whatever I chose to write about. Unfortunately in school the
prompts I was always given were never fun. Only one time in 4th grade was I given a fun writing
topic. As I moved from elementary school up to middle school and even into high school, my
ability to write got better and better. High school was where I got the best advice on writing
papers and how an ideal paper should look. As I am writing this literacy narrative, I am looking
back and reflecting on how my mother and my teachers in school helped mold me into the
literary identity I hold today.
Reading for me has never really been enjoyable. I will admit, however, that I loved
reading with my mother when I was a child or when she would read books to me. I can vividly
remember some of my absolute favorite picture books that my mom would read to me. Books
such as: Pole Dog – by Tres Seymour, Red Light, Green Light – by Margaret Wise Brown,
Choo Choo – by Virginia Lee Burton, and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel – by Virginia
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Lee Burton. Books that tended to deal with animals and cars and trains were what I loved to read
as a child. As I got older I tended to read books that were centered around action and adventure.
My mother found an amazing book series called Warriors. The reason why I loved this book
series was because I could literally picture everything going on as I read it. I think that is what
really brings out the best of me when I read. Any book I pick up, no matter if its Hamlet or The
Hunger Games, I can produce images of what I think is going on. I feel that this is a special
talent that I have, because even if I have to read the most boring novel in the entire world, I can
still see the events unfold in my mind as I read them on the page. Even though I don’t pick up a
book and read every day, I’ll come across one every now and then that grabs my attention and
looks interesting. I recently bought a biography called Killing Pablo which is about the rise and
fall of Columbian drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar. I ended up buying and reading this book
because I saw it on the T.V. show Breaking Bad. One of the characters in the show was in the
DEA and recommended the novel to his nephew. My ability to read comes from when my mom
used to read me those children’s books and when she would push me to read books that were
required for school. I could have chosen to ignore her and pretended that I read the books, but
instead I actually sat down and tried to read them. I feel that if it wasn’t for my mother nagging
me all those years, I wouldn’t be able to read some of the books I read today.
Writing has always been a love/hate relationship for me. Over the last few years I have
discovered my talent for writing and I decided to put it to good use. High school was where I
really started to find my writing potential. After finishing my sophomore year I signed up to take
AP English instead of honors English, which I had taken the previous 2 years. Looking at how I
did in honors English during my sophomore year, people would think I wouldn’t be fit for an AP
level of English. Luckily for me AP English was 90% writing and 10% other things such as
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vocabulary words. My teacher for AP English in my junior year was Mr. Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins
was an extremely smart man and a very good writer. He taught me how to write analytical,
synthesis, and argumentative essays better than anyone else in the world could have taught me. I
look at Mr. Jenkins as having the biggest impact on how I write. He took my average style of
writing a paper and showed me how I could make it 500 times better by adding a powerful thesis
to grab people’s attention. He was also the first teacher to tell me that my papers didn’t have to
be the cliché format of an opening paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, and a closing paragraph. For
the first time in my life I could create my own format of writing a paper. Mr. Jenkins also taught
me how to get my main idea across in a paper faster and write quicker because we had timed
prompts on my final. We would have 30 minutes to write a good quality paper and by the end of
the year I was able to do this perfectly. I have never really enjoyed the act of writing, mainly
because my hand cramps up badly and I start to slow down. If was told to write about whatever I
wanted to write about, however, then I could literally sit and write a 20-page paper without any
problems and I wouldn’t get bored of writing. Sometimes I’ve actually thought about writing my
own book; sadly, I wouldn’t know what to write about.
The other teacher who had a huge influence on my writing was my senior AP English
teacher, Mr. Tarr. Now Mr. Tarr was an older man who had a bit of a different view when it
came to grading papers. That didn’t stop me from learning something from him to improve my
writing though. Mr. Tarr showed me how to detail my writing and make it more appealing to my
audience without making them bored to death. This is a key part of how I write my papers
today. I want to make my papers physically appealing to my audience and not bore anyone to
death if they read it. I am extremely happy I chose to take AP English for 2 years. Even if I
didn’t make the highest grades in the world I definitely learned some of the most helpful writing
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advice I have ever learned. I owe it all to Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Tarr for helping me polish up my
writing. If it wasn’t for them I would not be as good of a writer as I am today.
I have learned a lot about my literary identity over the last 13 years. I’ve also discovered
that I am a much better writer then I used to give myself credit for. I used to think that I was not
a good writer and that my papers were all terrible. Even my mom would tell me that my papers
were good but I wouldn’t listen to her. Nowadays I actually like to read my finished papers and
see just how far I’ve come as a writer. Even though reading isn’t my favorite thing to do in my
free time I still find ways to enjoy it. If it wasn’t for my loving mother I would probably find
books boring all together. My hope is that as I continue to push my way through college my
literary identity will continue to grow and grow. I hope to learn new words and new terms from
new people that I meet. I also hope to continue improving my writing and make it even better
than it is now. Hopefully when I graduate I can look back and see how much my literary identity
has grown from my first semester here at Lees-McRae College.