Reflecting on all of the learning experiences of life, it is difficult to pick out the moments that were most important to my journey through literacy. I believe that to start with my personal definition of literacy will bring some clarity on the important points deserving of discussion, as they fit into my definition. I would define literacy for myself as the skills that I have learned throughout my life that enable me to navigate the oral and written world, and write and read in different formats about the things that I enjoy. From this definition it is clear to me the moments of my life that stick out as learning experiences to this literate end; the first book I ever truly loved became a huge part of my journey through literacy, learning different contexts of language helped me to understand situationally appropriate language, and, as unrelated as it may seem, my mother’s cooking brought me into an entirely different sphere of literacy than I thought I would ever be in.
I enjoyed reading from a very young age. My mother would read to me every night before I could read myself. Once I could read on my own, I spent a fair amount of time reading silly things likeCaptain Underpants. I thought books were a fun way to spend quiet time in class, or something to do while I was often grounded. Now, I really liked most of the books that I read, but it wasn’t until I received a particular book that I found myself with a real obsession for reading.
When I first received Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone I was enthralled before I even opened the book. The cover displayed a young boy in round glasses speeding through the air on a broomstick past a large castle, a unicorn, and three growling dogs. It looked like none of the Judy Blume books I had been reading, and for the better! Once I got started I was absolutely hooked. The first few pages introduced me to a boy named Harry, who lived in a small cupboard under the stairs with his aunt and uncle, who disliked him immensely. As I read on I learned more about Harry, where he came from, and the magical world into which he was headed. I found myself reading faster and faster until the pages blurred together and the words on the page were like a film in my head, revealing all of the color and detail of this fictional world, feeling as real as any memory of my own. I read for hours, though I hardly noticed. When it was time for sleep, I hid the book under my bed until I was certain my parents were sleeping, and then I read through the night under the covers with a flashlight.
Over the next few weeks I read Harry Potter every time I got the chance. Each time I opened the cover I was thrust into a world of magic and excitement, ready for another journey with Harry and his best friends, Ron and Hermione. Soon I finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to be left feeling a mixture of triumph and grief. I was astonished that this story had captured my attention so, but what was I to do now that it was over? Luckily for me, J.K. Rowling would go on to write six more books in the Harry Potter series, each of them as thrilling and enchanting as the last.
As I grew, the story grew with me, becoming more intricate and gaining a certain darkness. Over the course of the next six books, the characters faced a multitude of challenges and obstacles, and taught me so many great lessons. These characters became my friends; I laughed at their antics, cheered at their successes, and cried in their times of struggle. Harry, Ron, and Hermione taught me the value of friendship and loyalty through their unwavering support of each other through the toughest of times. Harry taught me the value of being true to oneself, even when it may be easier to follow the crowd. The death of one of my favorite characters, Sirius, reminded me to not take my loved ones for granted, and to cherish every moment I have with them. But most of all, Harry Potter opened my eyes to an entirely new world of reading and writing.
Without a doubt, I would not be here writing this paper if it weren’t for the Harry Potter series. Even then, I was perplexed about how simple words on a page could spin this elaborate web of a story and hold my attention so closely. This series of books enlightened me to the wealth of books available, and turned me into a voracious reader. I realized that books could take you anyplace, anytime. I found books that interested me, more stories that had me reading under my covers with a flashlight. But not only did reading Harry Potter turn me into a reader, it helped to shape me into a writer as well.
J.K. Rowling was, after all, a normal woman who wrote a story that came to her in a daydream. Her stories were rejected by 12 different publishers before one finally printed them. This story of struggle taught me to persevere in my own endeavors, which now included writing thanks to Rowling’s inspiration. I was not, initially, a good writer. I struggled finding the correct words to express my thoughts, organizing my ideas proved to be more difficult than it looked, and my grammar was atrocious. But, with time and practice I became proud of the growth I saw in my writing. My vocabulary was growing exponentially due to all of the reading I was now doing, and I found more words at my disposal to articulate my ideas.
My experience with Harry Potter made me patient through my academic career; Harry didn’t master the patronus spell overnight, and I certainly wouldn’t become a prodigious writer in a flash. Over the years, my grammar and organization improved, and my love for reading and writing continued to grow. This love grew to be such a large portion of who I am that when I entered college, it was to pursue an English degree. I truly do not think this interest would have arisen without the first spark that was Harry Potter.
Throughout my college career, I have continued to expand on my reading selections, and the things that I chose to read have greatly influenced the things that I like to write. In particular, I love Charles Bukowski’s work. I came across his poetry in my first semester of college and absolutely fell in love. It wasn’t some lovey, rhyming, heart sick ballad poetry; it was raw, raunchy, funny- it was real life. His style of writing really spoke to me, and it became something I tried to emulate in my own writing. This influence is a much more recent one, compared to my years of learning to read and Harry Potter, but that’s just the thing- literacy is never ending. I still love to read Harry Potter, but I have also found other genres of writing that I dearly enjoy, and want to incorporate into my own writing. Whereas when I was a child and teenager I wanted to write fantasy, I now enjoy writing about my own life and experiences, and those of the people around me. While my initially developing literacy influenced me to enjoy reading and writing, my continued literacy pushes that love further and into new directions.
Reading and writing are very important to literacy, but my definition of literacy also includes skills related to oral literacy. Being able to use appropriate language for different contexts of life is incredibly important for navigating through life. I have one very particular memory of being a child, about 6 or 7, and using a phrase that I had heard my dad say. Now, I realized very quickly that the phrase that I used did not mean what I had taken it to mean when I heard it, and that it was not an appropriate phrase to use in the place I used it, or for me to say at all. This is a memory that I still look back on and cringe, although it was just a normal process of learning what appropriate language consisted of, and how to interpret language used by others.
The memory goes like this: my mother and I were in a Macy’s shopping for shoes. We were just browsing, having a girls day, when I spotted a woman who I thought was very pretty. I had heard my dad comment to my mom on women who were very pretty before, so I figured that was just something that you did. I nudged my mom and said “hey mom, look at that tall glass of water over there!” just like I had heard my dad say of a pretty woman. I had no idea what this phrase actually meant, but the woman heard me, gave my mom a weird look, and stalked away. My mother then explained to me what my dad had meant by that statement: a phrase said by a man about an attractive woman who is very tall. Needless to say, I was very embarrassed and tried to forget what I had said. However, this served as a big learning moment for the development of my language. I learned that, one, things that my parents or adults said were not always appropriate for me to say. And, two, that especially things that my dad said were not appropriate when said by a girl. Now of course, I hadn’t understood the sexual undertones of the statement at the time. But I learned that there are different types of speech that are appropriate for different people, and in different places. I learned more about this through my further life experience, but this was the big moment of realization about appropriate language for me.
One way that my literacy has been evolving as of late has a lot to do with my interests outside the world of reading, writing, and speaking. Growing up, my mom always cooked dinner every night for my family. She was an amazing cook; she never followed a recipe or even looked one up, and she always made wonderful, healthy meals that you would never know were good for you based on how delicious they were. It drove her crazy for me to ask her questions while she cooked, but I always watched her in the kitchen. I paid attention to how she used a knife, what kind of seasonings she used for different things, and how she put different foods together. Over the years, I learned a lot about cooking from watching her. When it came time for me to move out of my parent’s house and into my own, it was then my own responsibility to cook for myself. I found that I absolutely loved being in the kitchen and experimenting with different foods. Like my mother, I never used a recipe, but just threw things together on a whim.
This love of cooking expanded into literacy for me when I started my own food and gardening blog. My passion for gardening grew out of my love for good food, and I decided it was high time that I share my passion with other people. Now, I have a blog that I try to update at least weekly. I share recipes for different things that I am making, and progress about my garden. This is a different type of literacy than any I have had before. When I was young, I read fantasy novels and wrote the same, through my early college years, and still now, I read and wrote poetry and short stories, but making and recording recipes is an entirely different area of writing than I have ever done. It takes time and attention to the writing to make it clear and concise, and it also takes a technological literacy to format things appropriately that I had never had to learn. This is a type of writing that simply wasn’t available when I was younger, but that now is flourishing. On my blog I have had readers from 38 countries around the world! This new form of writing that I have taken up has given me access to a larger audience than any I have ever had before writing in journals or classrooms. In today’s world, being technologically literate is just as important as anything else, and not just when it comes to news or job applications, but writing in general is taken to a whole new level of availability with technology than with any previous forms available.
I think that there are stages of becoming and continuing to be literate; initially, you just learn how to read and to write, and the rules of the social world. From there, you find things that interest you, and explore those areas to find a passion for something. After that, you go with the flow of time, embracing your passions, continuing to learn new technologies as they come along, and become more literate all the time. Through my experiences of learning, I think that one of the most important things is to find a love or a passion. A grade or gold star is not enough motivation for lifelong literacy. As a future teacher, I think it is important to find something kids are passionate about, and help them learn through that. Without finding the things that I loved in life, I’m not sure if I would have gone to college or had high aspirations.