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Hunter Ballard 11/23/13 Professor Raymond English 1101 The Process Computer games, video games, and cell phones were all the start to my literacy narrative. As a young child these were all the things that I thought about doing in my free time. Parents would always say get outside and play but I think these things helped shape my literacy narrative in many ways a long with school and soccer. The older generation always says that the younger generation is glued to their cell phones, or video games and they need to get outside like they used to do and make up games. I agree with this to a point but I also disagree because there is good and bad that comes out of every situation no matter how you look at it. When I was a young child I loved to play outside but I also loved to play video games. The new gaming systems would always come out or new games and I always wanted them like almost every other child did. I didnt always get them right away but they were always great Christmas presents. I feel that these games enhanced my brain to learning new stuff even that has nothing to do with the game it made me think in a different mindset. When I received my first cell phone in the fifth grade I learned to use it within hours of getting it. I knew the basics of technology and I feel that this tied in greatly to my learning abilitys in school. I always played games but I also played outside a lot I was never obsessed with video games like some children are. In games you have to read the instructions to what you

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are supposed to do and also I would hear words that I had never heard and learned what they meant. I was never allowed to play rated M games for the fact of what they said and the violence that it showed, which factors in to learning from the game and what they would said. Some people say violence comes from video games but does that mean pro athletes come from games as well? These games advanced my brain along with my first ever cell phone. I was limited on how much I could use it which I think is good when you first get one. I always had to do my homework before I could get it and I could never take it to school. This gave me an incentive to do all my school work and make good grades so that I could play outside, use my stuff and not have to sit inside all day because I didnt do what I was supposed to do. I always did well in school for this reason because doing these things were the best things that could ever happen to me when I was a little kid. When I look back on it today these are the things that I remember. I was as determined to do well in school as Malcom X was to read At one hour intervals at night guards paced past every room. Each time I heard the approaching footsteps, I jumped in bed and feigned sleep (X). I never liked to read but having an incentive to do well in school so that I could do stuff was what made Malcom X and I alike because he was determined to learn more. I changed as I grew older and I always loved soccer. When I was seven years old I was given the chance to try out for a travel soccer team. I didnt really know what I was getting myself into at the time but little did I know it would soon change my life. I was similar to Lily in the secret life of bees as she said She considered herself a real bee keeper after she was stung (Kidd). We were a like because we both wanted something but had to work extremely hard for what we wanted. I had to do well in school in order to play soccer so I was determined to make good grades because as my coach once said Soccer is a privilege, school is your priority Webb. I felt like a real soccer player and not just a rec soccer player. When I made the team

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called Gaston United I was filled with happiness. From that day on I worked extremely hard in school because soccer was my passion I had never loved something so much. Soccer influenced me in school because every book I would read I wanted it to be about sports. I was actually interested in a book for the first time ever and I loved it. I had never had any desire to read a book until this moment. I considered my soccer team my brothers, we spent two days a week together doing what we loved and I could let them down to save my life. As I got to high school I was still playing soccer for my school and travel team. High school was a lot more difficult but I was even closer to my team then I was any other team. I considered myself like Cristiano Ronaldo as he once said Im living a dream I never want to wake up from (BrainyQuote). I was living a dream as well which caused me to spend as much time as I needed in school rather than socializing so that I could play soccer. I had to do everything I could to make all As to be a role model for the underclassmen. I always struggled through school but if I worked hard I knew I would succeed. When I was about to attend my last semester at Forestview High School I received my schedule and it had the hardest teacher at our school for my English class Dr. Griffin. I had heard so many rumors about her that were bad and I was scared to even walk in her room on the first day. When fourth period rolled around it was time for her class and I was already trying to switch out of it. As I got in there she didnt seem nearly as bad as everyone had said and she seem like a really great teacher. When we got going into the year it was a lot of work but not extremely hard. We were able to do many things a normal honors class wouldnt because she was a teacher at UNC Charlotte and the AP teacher at school. She had never taught honors so she was adjusting just like us. Dr. Griffin ended up being my favorite teacher and I learned more from her than I ever thought I could. She prepared me for college and was down to

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earth teacher that knew what she was doing. I would not be where I am today if it wasnt for her as I continue my literacy narrative at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

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Work Cited BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. (BrainyQuote) Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. New York: Penguin Books, 2002. (Kidd) X, Malcolm. "Learning to Read." Learning to Read (n.d.): n. pag. Print (X)