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Introduction
Throughout my life their have been many people and events that have affected my literacy development. I grew up in a home of two parents, a brother, and a sister. My family outside of the immediate is very large. I have over 15 first cousins on my mothers side and 5 on my fathers side. Growing up around a lot of family definitely influenced my speech and vocabulary. Growing up in rural southern Illinois also had its affects on my speech. -
Beginning of 4th grade
My fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Mcanelly. She was a strict but loving teacher as long as you stayed on her good side. Her husband was the principle of the Jr. High school so she had high expectations of her students. My speech was reflective of my parents and I didn't have much interest in reading and my penmanship was not very good. -
4th grade Narrative
I was suppose to write a narrative paper about something about my life and I wrote it about my dog Kujo. He was a saint Bernard and I loved him so much. We grew up together, both young pups discovering the world. I liked writing about my dog but my penmanship hadn't progressed and my writing skills were not very good at all. -
4th grade Spelling test
I got caught trying to cheat on a spelling test that I hadn't studied for. I sat by a couple kids that were really good at spelling, so in an attempt to sneak a peak at their paper I was caught. My test was thrown away and I was reprimanded. -
4th grade valentines day
All the students were allowed to give valentines to the class and teacher. I remember getting love notes for the first time and writing my own. It was hard to write things that you didn't read after and second guess yourself about, but that's "love" for ya. -
5th grade Writing
Mrs. Brown was my teacher and she had us write everyday. At this time my writing skills were starting to make more sense and I got several A's on my papers. This built my confidence in writing. -
Started to keep a Journal
I started to do my own writing on my own time. This writing included my feelings and personal thoughts that I told no one else. It was a good time to vent and be creative for me. I wish i could find my old journal and read all my crazy young thoughts. -
5th grade Poetry
We were asked to write poems in class. I liked writing in rhymes and it came to me pretty easily. Most of my poems were about sports and my dog. I learned about new types of poems and their structures. -
Big Final Paper of 5th grade
One of the last papers we had to write was a big, at the time, 5 paragraph paper. I learned the structure of how I would be writing in 6th grade with the Introduction, 1st,2nd, and 3rd paragraphs followed by a conclusion. -
6th grade Music beginnings
It was about this time that I started to play the guitar. With that came my music writing. I wrote several songs, a lot of dark ones since I listened to a lot of hard rock, and a couple pretty ones for the girls I dated at the time. -
Not Jeter, Mrs. Jeter
I learned how writing can be used as a punishment this day. I felt really comfortable with my geography teacher and called her "jeter" one day instead of the usual Mrs. Jeter. She didn't like that, in fact, she had me write out the sentence, "I will not call my geography teacher by her last name only because it is not polite." 100 times on a piece of paper. Had to miss recesses till I got it done. -
Hatchet
I read "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen for the first time in 6th grade. I LOVED it. It was the first book that I had read that I couldn't stop reading. That had never happened to me before. I felt for the first time that I was a reader. -
Where the Red Fern Grows
I had never cried while reading a book until this one. My teacher had read this one aloud while the class followed. I won't say I was the only one crying, because I wasn't, but I was probably the most obnoxious. It was the first time a book had got me that upset. It makes me tear up just thinking about those pups now. -
7th grade Journal writings
Mrs. Vaughn made us write journals every week. One whole page a day, which was torture for me. I didn't want to write a page a day, especially when I felt like I was forced to do it. This period in time made me hate writing. -
Passing Notes in School
At this time in my schooling it was all the rage to write notes in class and give them to your girlfriend between class. These notes made you really think about your word choice and spelling. You didn't want to seem like an idiot to these girls, it could ruin you at that age. Oh the power of literacy. -
Doing it with a "Porpoise"
I was out on the boat with my family at the lake of egypt on a sunny day. A boat drove past and I had read on the side of it, or I thought, "doing it with a porpoise". My grandmother heard me and started dying laughing. She had seen the boat and told me after wiping away the tears of laughter that is was PURPOSE. The way I had said it with such confidence is what made her laugh, that and the fact that is was ridiculous. I learned how a few letters can really mess up your message. -
Stairway to Heaven
I did my first research paper in Mrs. Poole's class. It was over Led Zeppelin and it took FOREVER! It was 18 pages. I understood then what it took to write a research paper and I was cool with never writing one again. But I would. -
Cancun
I went to mexico with my family to a city called Cancun. A lot of tourists were their and spoke in different language, slang, and accents. This was the first time I had been exposed to so many different people from different back grounds. My understanding of how important language was broadened dramatically. -
Sports Illustrated and The Rolling Stone
My cousin Luke has a collection of Sports Illustrated magazine covers in his room pinned and taped to cover his walls. The covers had me intrigued and I started reading them. It was the first time I had found a couple magazines that I liked to read. It opened my mind up to reading more, since I didn't that often for fun. -
Song Writing- Thought of None
I had written the first song I felt really good about. It was called the "Thought of None" written about all the rock stars that are remembered and forgotten over time. The music lives on forever while many may not know what happened to the artist. -
8th grade talent show
I sang a song by Adam Sandler that is still my claim to fame to this day. It was called "lunchlady land" and while I played it all the lunch ladies came out and danced. It really showed me the power of song and how it can bring so many people together, and make you feel really cool.
