Andrew Terry

Literacy Vignette
Literacy is much more than just reading what is in a book or
writing what is on your mind, it forms who you are as an individual.
Multiple outlets of literacy have formed many peoples ideals and
individuality. In my life, my literacy has been formed by multiple
sources that I never thought would have influenced me. I will first talk
about what I read in my life and what has been guiding my literacy
throughout. This will tie into the schooling system and what that has
done for me in terms of development. Finally wrapping it all up with
some unconventional sponsors or works that created the individual I
am today.
As a child, my parents have always been the leading force in
many aspects of my life. My parents have shaped my ideals, thought
process, etc. in some form, directly or indirectly. This also applies to
my literacy. I would say thought out my early life; my parents have
been my primary literacy sponsors.
In my very being of my childhood, around the age of 3, I can
remember some of the books that my parents would read me.
Whether it was just a bedtime story, or an afternoon of reading of
picture books, my family always got me listening/ reading some type of
literature. I can remember reading/listen to stories such as The Very
Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by

Laura Joffe Numeroff, along with Just Me in the Tub by Gina and
Mercer Mayer. These are the books that were the foundation of my
learning on how to read.
Later on in my life, around preteen to teen years, I started to
take reading into my own hands. I began reading for entertainment
rather than being forced to read with my parents. This was around
the time that I began to create worlds in my head rather than using the
pictures in the books to visualize the story. The books I read the
allowed me to create these fantastic and wondrous worlds were books
like Goosebumps, a series created by R. L. Stine. Another series of
books I was very much enthralled with was Harry Potter, written by
JK Rowling. The reasoning behind getting into these series was the
involvement I observed in my friends with these books. So, being
surrounded by these works was an immersive experience, and one that
I couldnt get on board with. Something else that might have played a
role getting into these series might have something to do with my
gender. It was mostly expected for boys to get into these kinds of
books at that age, which may have led me to be more inclined to read
them. Nevertheless, another reason for reading, especially the Harry
Potter books, was that I wanting to read and create the world in my
head before seeing the movies. This way I was able to compare what I
created to what the directors envisioned after reading these incredible
stories. More times then not they were completely different.

In the more recent years, a new literary sponsor came to light in

my life, the schooling system. As I went though middle and high
school, there were more and more books that we had to read and
analyze for classes. A couple of examples of the readings that were
introduced to me included To Kill a Mocking bird by Harper Lee and
The Salesman by Joseph OConnor. These reading worth anything
that I would normally read which was one of the things that hindered
my overall understanding of some of these works. The school made
reading into more of an assignment, which is part of the reason that I
dont read for fun in recent dates. On the flip side, however, the ways
that my teacher had us read and analyze the books created an entirely
new outlook on writing. Understanding how the author manipulated
and used stories to convey ideas was an important step in my literacy.
I feel as if this is what spawned my identity as a writer, falling in love
with this style that I was introduced to. This was the creation of my
writing identity.
Talking more on the school system, I would have to say that it
would be my second most important sponsor under my parents. The
education that I acquired while in school came from the readings that I
did. One of the most significant readings that stood out to me is To
Kill a Mocking Bird. Now this didnt stand out to me because of the
story, although it was good, it was how my teacher taught how to
approach analyzing the piece. My teacher always taught us to first

read a page at a time, write down what we think, and then reread to
make sure we got everything that we needed out of the reading. I
have used this method of reading on multiple occasions. This also
played a big role in how I write. I start by writing a paragraph at a
time, rereading what I just wrote to make sure I am conveying the
ideas that I want in the correct manner. I enjoyed learning about this,
which honestly surprised me since Im not to keen on learning a
completely different way of doing something that has been so
routine for me. So schooling, not so surprisingly, helped me greatly in
learning how to correctly read and write in an effective manner
Not every story has a happy ending Im afraid. School, as
mentioned previously, helped contribute to bad and frustrating habits I
have about reading. That being that I no longer have the drive to read
independently for my own entertainment. A story that I can relate to
this lack of interest in books is my 7th grade teacher. She taught all of
the subjects in the curriculum so the teaching style was the same for
every thing. She used articles for everything that even somewhat
related to the topics of the subjects that she was teaching. The
literature that she picked was always, without a doubt, dry and lifeless.
It wouldnt e every day that she had us read, however, it was enough
to practically eliminate any desire to read. My recreational days of
read ended after this year of school. It is a depressing turn of events
but I believe it happened for a reason and this doesnt mean that I

wont pick a book again. Im sure later on in mu life something or

someone will spark my interest again.
Most people can relate to their literature though mediums such
as school and family. Nevertheless, there are a couple of nonconventional outside forces that formed my literacy. These being how I
communicated with others and how they revealed me to some
interesting new ways to look at the world. Also, how movies correlated
with how I read books and create environments in my head, etc. I feel
that these are just as important as the conventional way of literacy
development.
Communication with others is a key to living a normal life. This
communication includes adapting to the changing times.
Communication is the bases for every form of reading and writing.
Over the years, my style of writing has been influenced by the way I
talk to people and the way they talk back to me. It has done so in
positive and negative ways. As I grew up, my conversations with
people began to change. It almost seemed like my conversations
started to actually mean something, rather than just random talking
about stuff that doesnt matter. This has changed the words that I use,
and the way I present ideas. Just the other day, I was discussing with
my roommate how I believed that black holes were portals to different
dimensions, leading to a discussion about the existence of different
dimensions in the universe. Just this conversation alone had me

thinking about different ways to deliver my ideas in a way that could

be comprehended how it is in my eyes. This has severely morphed my
literacy as I can take my newfound knowledge of delivering ideas to
my writing, as well as identifying when an author is trying to convey
their ideas.
A form of literature that I feel is neglected is movies. It is more
of a visual piece of literature, but literature nonetheless. Not only can
they take books and create an entire atmosphere, bringing characters
to life though visual representation, it can also be used to create new
stories. These are the basics of movies involvement with literature,
but my person case with movies involvement with specifically my
reading is very wild. Something that really catches my eye, or should I
say ear, in movies is different dialects/accents. Whenever I hear
someone that speaks with a different accent, it immediately grabs my
attention. When I hear a different dialect or accent I normally find out
where that character or actor is from (depending on if its there real
accent or one they created for the movie). This ties in with books in
the way that if I see that a character in a book is from a certain area of
the world, I will read those lines from the character in the appropriate
dialect or accent. This helps me immerse myself even further into the
stories that I am reading. This is a very uncommon source for a
formation of literature but it works for me and makes me unique, just

like everyone else who has that one weird story that formed the way
they read and or write.
In conclusion, I believe that the value of reading and writing is
very important in a persons life. It is what forms how they think and
process certain ideas. For this reason my parents found it very prudent
to get me reading at a young age. For this, I think and do things the
way I do them. Reading and writing has so much more to do with your
life then whats on the page. Literacy forms most of our collegiate and
personal thinking. Literacy could quite possibly be one of the most
important things in our lives. Its what makes us individual.