Who I Am Today

Reading and writing are vital elements for any human being to have, especially in modern society. Being literate means having the ability to read and write. Do you remember the first time you learned how to read and write? Or even thought about who or what tools helped you obtain an adequate reading level?

My name is Jewel Bowlding, I grew up in a suburban area in Bowie, Maryland. I went to grade school ten minutes away from my house called High Bridge Elementary School. It was an old small elementary school because I have a cousin who attended the same school thirty plus years ago. The school taught kindergartners all the way up to fifth graders, and I had a great learning experience there from 2^nd grade until the time I had to leave and go to middle school. Personally, I loved reading new books. I never read before, especially books that had illustrations.

Although I had a rough time in second grade, I managed to succeed. Second grade was tough because I could not get my reading and writing levels high enough to where they needed to be in order to progress into the third grade. In the middle of my second-grade year, my teacher Ms. Parker had a meeting with my mom and grandmother to warn them that I was in danger of failing, which would force me to stay back. As a result, I was given a reading helper, known as Leap Frog to assist me in increasing my literacy skills. Ultimately, this lead to me improving my reading capabilities by being able to read books that are more advanced.  Also receiving an award for good writing and reading skills. Leap Frog was useful to me because I could put the pen over the word as many times as I wanted, especially if I did not understand the word. I utilized the Leap Frog twice a day. I utilized it once to assist me better with my homework, then a second time just for extra practice, which I completed on my own time.

Finally, after many hours of putting in work onto Leap Frog, it paid off. We had an English test and when the results were in, I scored higher than all of my other reading tests that I had ever taken. Once my teacher saw my test score, she was so proud of me. I even asked her for extra help even just to make sure I was on the right track. She knew I worked hard to reach my goal in passing the final English test. After this class, I knew I could improve my reading and writing abilities.

Then, when I entered the fifth grade, I had an obstacle to overcome which was reading new information and writing my first essay. It was something I needed my grandmother to help me on because she was sufficient at commenting on my work. My grandmother’s name was Barbara and she was the one person who pushed me to do the best I can do and not stop with just the bare minimum. My grandmother was a sweet woman, with beautiful bronzed skin, short gray hair who wore glasses. She had the most patience when it came to helping me with writing my essays in fifth grade. She sat down with me and broke everything down systematically, taking everything at a pace that I was comfortable with. After I took time out to get help from her, I was able to organize and articulate my ideas more clearly and make an accurate analysis of specific text. By then, it was time to write my first essay. I took advice from my grandmother who told me to take breaks between every couple of paragraphs so I would not become too frustrated or have writer’s block. I would usually become frustrated when writing because I could not get my point across clearly, or my grandmother would tell me it did not make any sense.

I had a rough start first learning how to read and write because my mom did not really help me until after I did it myself first. Then she would provide her input. My mom, whose name is Karen, has light skin, wears glasses, and is about 5 feet and 5 inches tall. Even to this day, I know if I needed help, her first question would be “Did you even try?” On the other hand, she would say, “Baby you can do it,” meaning I barely received any assistance from her. My grandmother made me write words and sentences repeatedly to improve my writing. It was also to make sure I did not forget what I learned. After all, repetition is beneficial when it comes to memorizing information. Writing words down and reading, the words multiple times actually helped me remember words in order to understand them better. This was a way of studying for me when I learned new vocabulary words or even tried to keep my mind actively engaged.

Following the first essay, I wrote, I moved to the sixth grade, which brought me a new tool that would help me improve my reading and writing skills.  The tool was audio books. I first used audio books when I had to read the book Holes by Louis Sachar. The book is about a boy “Stanley who has bad luck and a curse is placed on his great-grandfather, he is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp, for a crime he did not commit. Stanley and the other boys are forced to dig large holes in the dirt every day” (Sachar). The book was not too difficult but the audio book helped me focus a little more and understand it better. Additionally, listening to the audio helped me expand my vocabulary and understand the story line more easily. To this day, audio books help me read books that are on the difficult side or contain difficult words.

On the other hand, entering college made me realize how far I have come with my literacy. I have experienced two different English teachers, who have helped me with grammar and writing better essays. It really helped me because after I was corrected on some errors my essays became A’s. These teachers helped improve my grammar and my writing to a more college adequate level. After those classes, I have continued to expand my literacy. In this class, I expect to expand my reading especially with much more difficult text. Expanding my literacy in this class will prepare me for readings that are more difficult.

In the future, I plan to continue to expand my literacy. I will be successful in my career especially expanding my literacy to a more professional level. I have a couple more years to expand my literacy each day. Expanding my reading and writing skills will show how much I grew from the time I first started to learn how to read and write. Learning how to read and write made me realize how important it is to improve my skills. Being literate will always help you get through many things in life such as a job application, scholarships, and many more things. I personally think if you do not know how to read or write in modern society you will not be as successful compared to if you were literate. Being educated is the key to your dream job. As for me: a physical therapist and a photographer.