Tag: narrative

As I start the 2017 fall semester at Stevenson University, I find myself doing an assignment for my English 151 class. I have been told to look back at my journey through life and figure out the key moments that led to me being able to read and write at the level I am now. Those moments are important points of my life and if they had not happened, I could be in a different place and lead a different life than the one I’m leading now. These moments are the ones that help eighteen-year-old me write these entries.

The first memory I can call back upon, takes place almost every night when I was five in our apartment building we were living in. The apartment was in Wilmington, Delaware and was decently sized and had two bedrooms (one for me and for my mom). It wasn’t anything special but it was home. Where my memories take place is in my room. My room was located at the end of the hallway and my mother’s room was to the left of mine. My room was the smaller of the two rooms and my bed was situated near the wall right next to the doorway. My bed was pretty small compared to how tall I am now but back then it could hold my mother’s full height (5’8). My nightly routine stayed consistent through that year of my life. I would take my bath at seven and brush my teeth right after. I hated this part of the night because it always felt like it took hours to complete but, it only took thirty minutes at the most. After I was finished, my favorite part of the night came. Me and mother read random books every night. Some of them were very complex. The main complex book we read was the bible. Most nights though, we read shorter books. My favorite of those books, was the Berenstain Bears. The Berenstain Bears really helped me read because the books really engaged me and made me interested in the stories of the fictional family of bears. This was the first time I could remember enjoying reading a book. This would be the first of very few books.

My next memory comes from my sixth-grade year. My middle school was called Nativity preparatory school in Wilmington, Delaware. It was a very small school and my sixth-grade class was just as small. We had ten people in our entire grade so we had a unique learning experience. We had different programs that helped us with two core classes. Those classes were math and English. We had to finish problem sets every Tuesday and Thursday that were built to focus on our strengths and are weaknesses. The problem sets were never overly challenging but they weren’t easy either. The English on the other hand was a bit more difficult. The English program was dedicated to the reading side of English. Unlike the math program, the English wasn’t built around weekly assessments. It was built around a point system. It forced us to read at least ten books per trimester. Each book had different point totals and at the completion of the book we had to take a mini quiz to see how well we read the book. I was a person who went for the quantity over quality approach. I read every single captain underpants book and flat Stanley. I never challenged myself because I didn’t have to. Then I ran out of short and medium books to read. Our library was filled with enough books for me to find more short and medium books to read. But none of them interested me. My friend Elijah recommended that I read the harry potter series. I gave it a try and hated it. The books had too many minuet details that were easy to miss if I zoned out at an important scene. I then went on to try another book series: Percy Jackson. The Percy Jackson series quickly became my favorite. The dialogue and storyline kept me engaged through the entirety of the books. Even though I personally believe the books got worse towards the end of the available books. After I finished the series I was lost. By the end of the trimester I had completed my goal but I hadn’t found that next series that could get me through the next trimester. I went and talked to my science teacher Mr. Hernandez to see if he can give me any help with my dilemma. He helped me find my favorite book series to this day. He pointed out that the author of the Percy Jackson books had another series called the Kane chronicles. This series was a trilogy unlike the Percy Jackson series which had five books. These two-series helped me discover the type of books that I like to read. My attention is grabbed by action and adventure stories that force me to use my imagination. The English program helped me discover how I read and helped me make previously boring reading bearable.

My next experience has to do with both my reading and my writing. My seventh and eighth grade years, I had one two English teachers who really paved the way for how I read and how I write. The one that influenced my writing was my teacher Chuck Selvaggio. He made us write every day before the start of class. He would give of the start of a sentence and we would have to finish the sentence and then right a short story about it. It helped cultivate my writing and helped me focus my thoughts into a constructive manner. It also hurt my writing a bit because he encouraged rambling in the story. He wanted us to keep writing no matter what. He said it would help because usually when a person can’t think of what to write it isn’t because they are out of ideas. It’s because they have too many and don’t know which to put down. He wanted us to write the first that came to our mind and run with it. I tend to stray away from my point nowadays because of it. I truly believe though, that I am better off doing his writing assignments than to have never had them. He helped my writing but my reading was truly helped by my other English teacher Paul Webster. I used to call Mr. Webster, Stabler. I called him this because he looked like detective Stabler from Law and Order: SVU and I couldn’t get out of my head. Mr. Webster helped me truly enjoy reading books that weren’t true action but were more centered around drama and suspense. One book in particular truly changed how I read. That book was lord of the flies. We read parts of the book in class and what we didn’t finish from the homework we would have to finish at home (usually would still be about thirty pages of the reading left). Reading the book in class and discussing it really helped me get a grasp on how I should read with more of a critical mind instead of letting my mind wander into my imagination. Mr. Webster helped me understand to a certain degree how to analyze the text.

These moments have shaped me into I am today. Each moment has taught me new lessons and challenged me to be a better student and a better person. They have helped me discover how well I can read and write but also how far I have left to go. These moments have created great building blocks for myself to continue to build upon. I expect myself to continue improving in both reading and writing to do my younger self proud for all the hard work he did. That is my goal for not only college but in life.

Christopher Meloni. Pintrest, i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/3c/60/1b3c6062d518b91219ce48e0bea9a63a.jpg. Accessed 11 Sept. 2017.

Paul Webster. Nativity Wilmington, nativitywilmington.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Paul-Webster-4.jpg. Accessed 11 Sept. 2017.

Chris Fenzel
Dr.Licastro
11:00
Literacy Narrative
My name is Chris Fenzel, I am one of three boys that my parents worked hard to raise. I am from Pasadena, Maryland and currently I am a freshman at Stevenson University, which is outside of the city of Baltimore in Owings Mills, Maryland. I intend to be playing club lacrosse this fall and spring for the school. Of my family, I am the youngest sibling and the only one to be enrolled at a university. My eldest brother, Brandon, is 25 and works for a surveying company. My other brother, Jake, is 21 and is an apprentice at fire safety organization. I have a relatively large family and most of us live in the same proximity. I have been raised by both of my parents who both work for the National Security Agency for the Department of Defense in the United States. I believe my family had the largest impact on my ability to read and write. From as far back as we can remember we have soaked in information of the world that surrounds us. The most important tools that have helped us do that is reading and writing. These came to us throughout time from one stimuli to the next. It goes without needing to say that some factors had more magnitude then others. Not only that, but everyone learned in some different experience of their own, and quite frankly lead to some being more intelligent than others. Everyone is still learning because no one is ever perfect at reading or writing. For example, in high school my AP English Literature teacher, Ms. Nizer, always gave these thick packets of vocab words and we were tested on it. She was quite the eccentric teacher. She was about 5’7, a heavy set 65-year-old woman with dyed red hair, she talked as if she had three shots of espresso in a 25-ounce cup of coffee. She was the sweetest lady until you got on her bad side, luckily, I haven’t had that with most teachers. I Believe her test is a prime example a continuing experience because it made me think about all the words I really don’t know.
My parents have had three kids including me, I am the youngest so when I came they already had a pretty good idea of what to do. Even at the elementary level of school they harped on homework and they would sit down at our table and ask me various questions. They often asked me the meaning of words and how to spell them. Even today when I explain something scientific to them they like to play the game of 20 questions and ask the meaning of various terminology. When I was in elementary school my dad would sit down and help me with writing and urged in a sternly yet fatherly manner to better my penmanship. At the time, my father was about 5’8, black hair and goatee turning white so to a little kid he was always a bit scary when he was stern so I listened but improved in increments. Now in the car was where my mom would teach to read things. In enclosed space, my mom is a loquacious person. She had always asked me to read road signs and billboards, at the time I didn’t have glasses or even knew I needed them so half the time I really couldn’t see them, letters were just blurry but I made out the words from the shape of the letters. From them always pushing school is why I believe it has made the most impact on my reading and writing which in turn leads me to discussing being self-taught.
By support of my parents I believe that has had the largest impact on my ability to read and write, but it leads to then on being self-taught. They had gotten me started and I had taken over by myself from there. I began to just do required readings for my elementary school classes, but back then I was an extremely curious boy, even more so than I am now, so I wanted to read more sophisticated books, and so began my interest in space. This is where I believe I developed a love for science. At that point, my grandmother started buying me books about anything science and even took me to the Goddard Space Center in Maryland. I believe starting to do things for myself was the second biggest impact because I still had the support of my parents and even my grandparents, but that support is the sole reason I could do things on my own. A little optimism goes a long way for a kid.
Believe or not one thing that helped me write better quality was the tv show “Spongebeob Squarepants” on Nickelodeon. This is a cartoon that started in the nineties about a yellow, aberrant, and kind underwater sea sponge and his misadventures with his various friends and family. A certain scene somewhat stuck with me in the show, it taught me to write in better quality. Spongebob is in boating school to get his boaters license but he can never seem to pass anything in the class. He has a big paper coming up and he gets input from his teacher, Mrs. Puff, a puffer fish, on what he should write about. I don’t remember exactly what she told him but he did with the information I will always remember because it was humorous but still sent a message. The biggest paper he must do for his class and he spends all night writing the word “The” and made it look ornamental. What that taught me was to not spend so much time on little details. Work on the bigger picture first then go in depth as to get a better understanding of what you are doing. A show that had made me better at reading and understanding things as whole was the show “The Crocodile Hunter.” This was a show about an Australian crocodile hunter in Australia. The man’s name was Steve Irwin, he was tall, had blonde hair, and blue eyes, dressed in all kakis with a safari hat to top it off. This show helped me because I watched it with the subtitles on to learn how to spell the names of different animals (he wasn’t just a crocodile hunter, he loved animals) and learn about what they are and what they do. I believe for our generation media has had a strong impact on how we read and write. Between the social media, like twitter and facebook, to information mediums, like the discovery channel, we have all learned something important that effects our ability to read and write.
When we were young our parents always told us, we can be anything we want to be and change the world for better or for worse. To this day I still intend on trying to do that, hence why I am studying biochemistry to later go into research genetics- genetic mutation in specific. Genetic mutation is an alteration to the nucleotide sequence of the genome in an organism. I have had and still have to learn much terminology. Although I have a good grasp on the topic since I pushed myself to take many AP science courses in high school. School I believe is the most important in developing the skills to read and write because in my opinion its where you find what you want to pursue to further your knowledge in a particular area which means you have to learn more words and write exceptionally well which is what we are all trying to work on in this class as well as just fulfill our general education requirements, or the requirements that we need, but why not take the most out of the class and learn something that will stick. As Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful tool you can use to change the world.”
https://media.giphy.com/media/4ZSMVksS24R3O/giphy.gif
Kessel, Jaclyn, Writer. Billy Madison. 1999. Performance by Adam Sandler, Universal Pictures, 2015. Accessed 10 Sept. 2017.

Two parents were talking one day and one asked the other what their son was taking in college. The one replied: He’s taking every penny I have (Cirelli)! I graduated High School in June 2017 from Century High School in Carroll County, MD and now have begun college at Stevenson University in Owings Mills, MD. I am currently studying nursing, as I aim to become a Neonatal RN after I graduate. I am 5’5 feet tall, have brown hair that goes down past my shoulders, and brown eyes. I have always been tech savvy and tend to figure things out quickly. I have always been an honor roll student, but have always found myself struggling with reading and writing.

When I first began to read when I was younger the two main things I relied on were flash cards and a Leapfrog. First, my Mom and Dad started helping me learn little words such as cat, hat, bat, pot, etc. using the flashcards. My Mom is about 5’4 feet tall, has brown hair with blonde highlights, has brown eyes, and has a soft voice. My Dad is about 5’9 feet tall, has brown short hair that is always in a buzz cut, brown eyes, and a stern but caring voice. My parents have been together since I was born and both care about me very much and have always set high standards, wanted the best for me, and were always there to help me. We first started using these flash cards when I was around the age of four. The flash cards were the ones that would come in the little cardboard box that you can buy at Walmart, Safeway or Target. They were in the shape of rectangles and had a plastic feel to them, so kids around my age wouldn’t just tear through them. On the cards they had a big picture of an object that you already knew about halfway down on the card with the word of what the object was below it, so you could start to put the words and spelling together with the object that you already knew.

After I had already become familiar with most of the flashcard words, we then moved on to the Leapfrog. The Leap Frog that I owned wasn’t like the current ones that are sold. My Leapfrog was pink and had room for a Leap Frog book that was kind of like a spiral notebook to sit in it. The Leap Frog book would come with a little plug-in that you would insert into a certain spot so the system would know that was the book you had in there. The Leap Frog system also had a pen connected to the actual leap frog that you could run over the words with the pen and it would read the words you went over. This also really helped me learn how to read because I had a variety of ten different books that I would continually use and eventually it allowed me to learn the words.

My learning to write never stopped though. My 10^th grade English teacher at Century High, Mrs. Dill, was a huge asset to my writing. Mrs. Dill was from Tennessee, a huge Peyton Manning fan, had maroon dyed hair that was always cut into a bob, always wore high heels and had a few tattoos that you could always see. Going into 10^th grade I would always just write, not knowing there were certain structures or ways you should organize your writing. I always knew I wasn’t a proficient writer, so I had always just accepted B’s or C’s on my papers. After I had written my diagnostic paper in her class on the first day of school, she read it and told me to come see her during our flex mod the next day. The next day I went to see her and she sat me down and told me that I had no structure in my paper. This was the very first teacher in my 11 years of going to school that specifically went out of their way to explain to me what was wrong with my writing. Every week she would teach more and more about structure and how to become a good writer. Every week the grades on my papers would start increasing. She wasn’t the only one who helped me with my writing though, since my Dad has also helped me with my writing. My dad has always kind of been my personal tutor when it comes to my writing. I would always write my papers and then sit down with him and we would talk about what could be better and edit it together. Even to this day we sit down and edit my papers together and my grades have increased after double, triple and even quadruple checking and editing my own papers.

Old school ways of learning to read and write were always proficient, but now we live in a world filled with technology. Today’s generation gets a bad rep because we all turn to technology instead of figuring things out for ourselves, or writing with paper and a pencil. Not all technology is bad though. I got my first cell phone in sixth grade. Of course, back then we all had our separate iPod touches and a regular slide up phone. Now I have my 5^th phone and I have never done more writing in my life. I currently have a rose gold iPhone 7 that I keep in a gray Lifeproof case because I tend to drop my phone a lot.

Every day I have at least three people text me, I text at least four people, I send at least three emails or I post on variety of social media sites at least once a day. With all of this technology and a tiny computer in my hands at all times, I have found myself doing more and more writing. I am one of those texters that will send lengthy paragraphs describing my side on the argument, what I am doing, where to meet me, the plans for today, etc. With all of this extra writing on a daily basis, I have become much better at getting my point across in words just as if I were talking to someone face to face. Throughout the years, the increase in social media posts, messages, reading of articles on Facebook or Snapchat, I have developed my writing and reading skills more than I would have without always having a tiny computer right there at my fingertips every second of every day.

With the ever changing world that we currently live in, you never stop learning. Everyday whether it’s a paper for Biology or English, or even an article on Facebook or Snapchat, we read something new. In an era where we never stop developing, there is always something new to learn. One of my favorite lines spoken by Hercalitus is, “the only thing constant is change”, and that has never been more true. As I continue through the next three years of college there will be paper after paper, assignment after assignment, and a bunch of reading. Even after I graduate I will have to continue to learn in the medical field, because there is always new technology and new research findings that as a nurse I will need in order to stay up to date. I look forward to continuing to learn in this constantly evolving world we live in.

Cirelli, C. (n.d.). College Humor Jokes. Retrieved September 06, 2017, from http://college.lovetoknow.com/College_Humor_Jokes

 

Many of my life experiences have influenced who I am now.  One of the most important factors in my life was learning to read and write.  Without these skills, I would not be who I am today.  I grew up in upstate New York.  I have lived there my entire life.  I went to a catholic school for 9 years and then transferred to a large public school for high school.  Until recently, I was always known as a very quiet girl.

Nobody would have ever believed me if I told them I was going six hours away for college.  I am now a freshman in college at Stevenson University.  I love doing things with my family, such as playing games, going places, and even eating dinner together.  One of my favorite things is playing golf with them.

I began golf at the age of three and I am a very competitive person.  I played on three softball teams throughout middle school and high school.  Another activity that I enjoy doing is babysitting.  I love not only making money, but also being around young children and helping them when they are my responsibility.  Part of me has always thought it would be cool to have younger siblings.  One who you could teach new and exciting things, such as learning to read and write.

Each person has their own story about how they learned to read and write.  Mine began before I even started kindergarten.  When I was younger, probably around 3 or 4, I enjoyed learning things that older kids knew.  For example, I wanted to learn how to write before any of my neighbors.  Most of them were a few years older than I was, but we spent a lot of time together.  One tool that I used was an alphabet tracer.  It helped me learn how to physically write.  It was a red plastic sheet with outlines of the alphabet.  You had to place your pencil in the small opening and follow the edges around to make the shape of the letter.  I remember receiving these as a gift for my birthday.  I was very excited that I might know something that my older friends did not.  Although this is something small, it really helped me learn how to write my letters, before I started school.

Going to school every day was a difficult transition for me.  When I started kindergarten, I would look forward to coming home after school every day to see my mom and watch television.  It was a nice break from doing schoolwork.  I would always sit down on the couch and watch a thirty-minute show before I completed my homework.  One of my favorite shows to watch was Dora The Explorer.  This was one of the many educational shows for young children.  Throughout each episode, the characters would introduce new words in English and Spanish.  I loved trying to replicate what they were doing.  I thought it was a game.  This was a great way for me to expand my vocabulary that was fun.  Although I didn’t realize it at the time, now I know that this show helped me begin learning the English language.

In addition to television, rewards were very beneficial in my education of learning to read and spell.  Throughout elementary school, my teachers would offer a rewards system for learning new words.

I remember specifically my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Hayden, rewarding us with toys for each new word we learned per week.  We would use little containers, like piggy banks, and she would give us pennies for each item we could remember throughout the week.  The toys were from McDonald’s Happy Meals, which I find hilarious.  We were very competitive little first graders, just to get those toys.  I can picture how excited we would get when it was time to hand in our change for those toys every Friday.  Mrs. Hayden helped me learn a lot with her rewards system.

A second person who helped me learn to read and write was Mrs. Greene.  She was my reading teacher throughout elementary school.  Mrs. Greene had a small little room in the corner of the library.  There were only three desks in there.  One for me, one for another girl, Jaclene, and one for Mrs. Greene.  I would go see Mrs. Greene twice a week for many years.  I loved going to see her for two reasons.  The first is that she always had fun games that we got to play.  Each game was educational.  The second reason is that I got to get out of regular schoolwork.  Mrs. Greene helped me learn to read and understand what I was reading.  Every day we would go to her room and practice our reading skills.  She was an amazing teacher that had a major impact on my education.

Another tool that has helped me learn to read and write are flashcards.  Beginning in middle school, I have used flashcards for vocabulary words.  I used flashcards for English, as well as Spanish class.  In one of my high school Spanish classes, our teacher would give us extra credit if we wrote the words on flashcards before the quizzes.  Her name was Mrs. Leforester.  Her class was very easy, but it always felt good to get the extra credit on each quiz.  By forcing us to write the words on the flashcards, we were learning increasingly more each time.  She would come around before the quiz and check to make sure that all the words were on your cards.  She would then do a little scribble at the top of your quiz, so she knew who to give the extra credit.  I can still remember most of the words to this day.  Flashcards are one of the most vital tools for a child learning to read and write, especially with new vocabulary words.

Learning to read and write is vital for success in a real job. This challenging process is one that most people will never forget.  I will always be able to imagine each tool that I used.  This process will help me with my future in many ways.  In general, it makes me realize that everyone needs to take baby steps first.  This is a good lesson to understand.  I would not have been able to read, if I did not learn small words first.  In addition, I will never forget the impact using flashcards had on improving my vocabulary.  They can also be used for other important information.  Another tool that I can bring in to my future is the feeling of receiving a reward for doing something well.  This can be very helpful in life, because sometimes people need rewards to complete difficult tasks.  I can use this experience to my benefit in my future.  The process of learning to read and write will allow me to be more successful in my future.

On December 19, 1999 at 6:00 p.m. in Southern Maryland Hospital in Waldorf, Maryland, in Prince Georges County, I was born Kail-La Smith. I am a seventeen year old female who attends Stevenson University. I am a sister of four brothers. When I was first born, my family was beyond excited. Growing up without a father who refused to be a responsible adult, my mother at the age of 26, became the “breadwinner” and my role model. Without having a leading male figure, besides my grandfather, “Mommy” was my father and mother figure. Till I was able to take care myself, my mother’s goal was to raise me into a responsible woman and make her proud. Her first step was finding a babysitter when I was about 6 months.