Personal Narrative Essay Example: My Literature Journey

I was born in Miami FL, Hialeah which is known for Spanish speaking only. You cannot converse with any bystanders if you are not fluent in Spanish. I however, grew up in Broward county. The school I was attending was English speaking. Even though Broward is not too far from Miami, you would be surprised with the lack of Spanish speakers. My parents have never been fluent in English. In fact, they probably struggled more than I did, I personally feel as if I grasped English rapidly. However, I did struggle. My preferred way of learning stemmed from this. I develop having to see things or do things before really grasping the concept. Instructions were hard for me, even to this day. Due to all this my English classes were always my worst. I began to be much more successful in Math classes. Math was the only thing that was not controversial to both my parents and I. By that I mean, math was the subject that made sense regardless of language barrier. This was in fact the only subject they could help me in. 

My parents were both born in Cuba, education at least back then was not as important in Cuba. Cuba is ran by dictators and what really mattered was having a job since you are already limited in supply. Only those who are exceptionally wealthy can live an extravagant life in Cuba. Otherwise, you suffer and get restricted to utilities, food, etc. However, due to my parent’s lack of education they have always tried to encourage me to do my best throughout school. Even when I would not get the best grades, they were always proud of me for trying because they understood I was struggling, and they knew they could not help. “Lo estás haciendo muy bien y las bajas calificaciones no definen tu inteligencia” (You are doing great and low grades do not define your intelligence), is what my parents would say.  

My dad’s highest grade was somewhere in elementary school. My mom continued school until the 6th grade. I have 2 older sisters, one who has autism and has never been to school and another sister who finished high school and decided not to proceed to college. There is lots of pressure on me to make it through college. “Asegúrate de siempre esforzaste por conseguir lo que el resto no pudo” (make sure you always try your hardest to succeed what the rest of us couldn't).

Eventually my parents gathered enough money to send me to a tutor. My tutor was very patient with me and focused a lot on my speech and eligibility to read. That way then I could transition into a better writer as well. She gave me rewards such as toys or extra computer time when I would take the time to read books. She would make me read out loud to make sure that I was properly saying the words. After the book she would ask me to summarize what I just read. I’ve always had an issue with reading text/ instructions and comprehending them. I am in fact a very hands-on and visual learner, it is still something I struggle with to this day, but my tutor helped me overcome it for a while. I was being tutored by the same person, Mrs. Gonzales, for about two years and then I ended up moving from Broward County.

In 4th grade I moved to Sebring, FL a small city which is strictly English only. I was lucky enough to get an amazing teacher named Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer was very creative when it came to teaching, and very hands-on. He would always reward us students and helped so much one-on-one. I believe that he encouraged me to want to read and write more. He would constantly create reading competitions and give out tons of rewards for completion of task, not necessarily grades. These competitions included things such as the group that would complete a reading assignment first, or boys vs girls; whomever got the most AR points. We would get rewarded with either pizza, extra recess, or excuse us from some assignments. He would even make songs and teach them to us for us to remember contexts and storylines to literatures.       Mr. Spencer would even take the class to our local state park (Highlands Hammock State Park) and would give us writing assignments and scavenger hunts that we could only solve by knowing the books we were reading in class. Not only did he make the in class learning fun, but he would also even go out of his way to give his class personal field trips to have an out of class learning experience.

Once I hit middle school I was on and off with liking my English teachers and English classes. Classes were “aburrido y tedioso” (boring and tedious) and all I cared about was my teacher’s priority, my grade. It became difficult to enjoy literature since it seemed more of a task, due to the required literatures and strictness on how everything had to get done. Then came 8th grade, and I had Mrs. Hughes as my English teacher. She brought back all the fun in literature that I completely forgot about, since I got so used to being focused on the wrong things. Just as Mr. Spencer, she was very creative and would always show students the movies to every class required book. In middle school, movie days were the best. Not only would she show us the movie, but she would also dedicate an entire week to the book. She would let us dress up as the characters, decorated the classroom, and of course had us do assignments, but the assignments were fun. For example, when we read The Outsiders during that book week we got into groups and had work centers throughout the class. The centers would consist of drawing out the plot, recreating one of the scenes, etc.

Unfortunately, Highschool and College came, and I absolutely dreaded going to my English classes. I had miserable classes and miserable teachers. The grading became stricter, and the classes became harder to cope with. I had many professors that would only accept their “point of view” as correct. It made me feel like an idiot when my thoughts and ideas of different literatures were so different from what our professor presented. When a professor only accepts their point of view it really affects a student’s learning and willingness to improve by giving them such limited room to truly express their thoughts and ideas. There is rarely one meaning, and one meaning only to writings, it’s all about perspectives. I had one teacher specifically that would constantly brag about her degree and education when students would question her. She would say things such as “I’ve been doing this for years, probably before you all were born”, etc. I however feel that literature is so powerful and different points of views is based on how everyone has lived their lives. In other words, it’s very beautiful to see the different opinions, because how someone views something is not a “fact” it is an opinion built from a person’s past and present. 

It seems crazy how my favorite teachers were English teachers yet also my least favorite teachers were also English teachers. My parent’s motivation and eager to help my growth in literature, to my difficult and fun teachers, my literature went through lots of transitions throughout the years negatively and positively and led me to the writer/ reader that I am now. I still can’t say that I have became in expert in literature. I still struggle to this day, there are terms and sentence structuring that I understand more in Spanish vs in English, but also vice-versa, so it can lead to difficulties in my everyday life. However, I have come very far and will continue to strive to my greatest potential. As my parents would say, “el que busca éxito, lo encuentra” (Those who seek achievement, find it).