Jason Kahan
Literacy Narrative
My literacy journey has taken me to where I am today at Stevenson University. I started this journey with my mother reading to me when I was younger. She started with fun Dr. Seuss stories like Yertle The Turtle and Cat in the Hat. This was just for fun before I would go to bed, and it was a great time for all of us. This lead to books where I would sound out the word and form sentences. Books like Go, Dog, Go, and Caps for Sale were among my favorites. This is where I would practice reading until I could sound out almost any simple word. Throughout elementary school I would progress and started reading books that were longer like The Magic Tree House series and A Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I would say this was the peak of my literacy career, as fifth grade was the last year my mother made me read every night. Since then I would read books, just not as often as I’ve never prioritized my reading. One of my favorite reads would have to be the Hunger Game series. I loved the concept, but all the books in high school I never enjoyed. This lead me to dread reading for school as a whole because I hated being assigned reading. That has lead my to where I am now, where from time to time I will listen to audiobooks in my car with my father, or by myself. However, I rarely find myself sitting down and reading a book.
When learning to read I would always have to practice, practice, practice. My mother is an elementary school teacher, so it was installed on me when I was younger that I had to practice my reading. Whether it was doing my homework for the night, or her giving me more work to do because my teacher did not assign any. My mother cares a lot about me, and she really wanted me to master this skill at an early age. This came into my mind now writing about this because of all the time my mother made to read when it was summer time. In elementary school when we were on summer break, my mother made my sister and I read together to freshen our skills. This was very annoying to me, and despised almost every moment of it. While all my friends went about and enjoyed their summer’s I was still reading during the summer. Do not get me wrong I still had loads of free time to do what I pleased, but I thought I was just the only one who had to keep on reading during summertime. This meant sitting down with my older sister Nicole, who was a much better reader than I was, and read my books out loud her. Every night I would mowp my way into my parents room, sit on their bed, and read out loud to my sister with my mother watching over. During those 15-20 minutes, it always seemed like the longest 15 minutes of my life. Just feeling the little paperback books make me cringe. And then hearing my mother correct me when I mispronounce a word wrong and me just getting frustrated with it.
My handwriting has never been anything to brag about, but nor is it so bad that people can’t read it. I don’t ever take the time to really think about it when I am writing, I am just trying to write as quick and efficient as possible. I never really take the time to think about how my handwriting is looking. When I was younger I would have to really focus as my handwriting was awful in elementary school. Teacher could not understand it and it was looking like I was falling behind as the teacher could not understand what I was trying to show. This all changed when I was introduced to this special grip which helped with handwriting. This pencil grip that slides on and off your pencil taught me how to actually hold a pencil the right way. It had three indents on it where you put your thumb, index finger, and middle finger. It forced me to hold the pencil the correct way so I could get the best out of my handwriting. I took this pencil grip everywhere I went in elementary school. Even when doing math, which I was already adapted to writing my numbers the right way, I used this pencil grip. I used this pencil grip all the way up to fourth grade where I didnt think I needed to use it anymore, but still preferred to have it on my pencil as I been so adapted to it.
That is how I learn to write on paper, but since we live in the 21st century we have the opportunity to use technology. I first learned how to type in my 3rd grade class, but it was a very easy and fun program where you located the letters on the keyboard. Then in 6th grade we had to take a typing class where I learned how to type faster and more efficiently. That was all for learning to type, but I used different technologies as a kid to learn. My favorite was my leapfrog which allowed me to read on it. This was helpful as it sounded out words for you and was really fun and interactive. I would take this on long car trips to Pittsburgh with my family. As I got older I matured from the leapfrog and I would play reading games on my Ipod. I forget what the app was called, but it made you read a passage and then answer questions about it for comprehension. My mother was being so strict about reading that she made me download that app and I had to do it on long car rides as well. It wasn’t very hard to do, but I would have much rather played angrybirds. Now being much older my father would just play one of his audio books for all of us to listen in the car. These I would enjoy as I could just sit back and listen rather than answering questions about it. Also it was very relaxing especially being in the car for more than six hours. These technologies really helped me progress my reading and writing skills and were for most of the time, fun doing.
All these tools helped me to get to where I am today in my literacy journey, but I can use these processes to better my reading in the future. Obviously I am not going to be using a pencil grip on my pencil, but I can focus on my handwriting more when turning in papers. Also I dont have my mother telling me to read every night anymore, but to better my reading I can elect about 20 minutes per day, either reading or following along with an audiobook. Another way to better my writing is doing pomodoro everyday. Also being in 2018 we have endless technologies to better reading. I could purchase a kindel which has plenty of books. There are endless options where I can better my reading, but it is up to myself to actually practice, as there is no one telling me to do it. I will read more as I want to better my comprehension and my ability to read faster.
I also grew up reading similar books that you talked about and pretty much similar tools. I liked the specifics you used. My only suggestion is to add some visuals to give us a picture to associate with some of the points you used.
I also had help from my mom when I was learning to read. Next time maybe use some pictures so the audience can have a visual idea too.
I think the inclusion of the special grip is very unique! I really enjoyed that example a lot!
Your mother and my grandmother were very similar, always wanting us to practice!!
I’d like to know where you want to go in the future, though!