Reflective Essay about My Literacy Journey

Reading and writing are considered some of the most basic forms of literacy and communication. Most everyone developed into the people they are today because of fundamental reading and writing skills. These essential methods are how I am best able to freely express my emotions and thoughts. The development of my communication skills and means of expression by reading and writing began at the age of four. 

My literacy journey started at a very young age. I recall my grandmother sitting at the kitchen table with me before I started kindergarten. She instructed me to spell out my name, so I attempted it. I was extremely proud of myself, smiling from ear to ear, however, she stated that I misspelled it. I spelled it “Malory”, which omitted the other “L”  in my name. Disappointed in my error, my rosy cheeks arose. I learned from that mistake and have been cautious of not repeating it since. Since that day, I have always spelled my name correctly unless I’m rushing on an assignment.

It is instances similar to these that I remember most. The humiliation after getting corrected on minor mistakes is difficult to forget. Nevertheless, those errors led to rapid maturation of my literacy and enabled me to start grasping basic concepts of reading and writing early on.

The majority of my basic literacy development was completed within my first year of kindergarten. Everyone plopped their bottoms on the comfortable, cozy rug and spread out. Our teacher Mrs. Faulkenberry created posters that felt bigger than us. These posters were vibrant in color and had easy to read sentences written on them. I rushed to grab my favorite gold star tipped pointer and started reading the poster. I followed along with the unfamiliar sentences by placing my pointer on top of each word. Once I finished reading my original poster, I swapped posters with a classmate and attempted reading the next one. An element of peace was presented by learning the words in this way instead of being forced to read books.

Kindergarten is one of the most important levels of education since it is the first stepping stone in properly introducing the English language. The same kids learning to write the alphabet and accidentally writing a letter backwards as a 5 year old end up as the New York Times bestselling authors many years down the line. Everyone must endure the great lengths of kindergarten through twelfth grade including all of the exams, homework assignments, class projects, and standardized tests. Fundamental learning stems from a kindergarten classroom. That standard classroom is the foundation for all future education. If not for this first step on my academic pathway, I would not be able to read or write a single word. Without the ability to read, the majority of the bestselling authors would likely be in prison today. According to Gaimain, the number of prisoners 15 years from now can be best predicted by asking how many current 10 and 11 year olds can not read yet (Gaiman 1). The correlation of a literate society to very few crime rates is gargantuan. The education possibilities that rise from a basic kindergarten reading or writing level are deemed endless considering it takes part in shaping each individual.

My kindergarten teacher Mrs. Faulkenberry was extraordinary, for all three of my brothers and I were fortunate enough to experience her teaching styles. She used to sing us a song that went, “F - A - U - L - K - E - N     B-E-R-R-Y”. Mrs. Faulkenberry’s sweet, tender voice humming the tune of this song allowed us to easily maintain the melody and memorize the short jingle quickly. Her imagination used to teach a class of 5 year olds how to spell her troublesome last name was remarkable. It allowed our young brains the development of spelling out complicated words. 

One time during first grade, my favorite teacher approached me during silent reading time to ask, “Can you tell me what you are reading about, dear?”.  My body turned to stone as panic and embarrassment washed over my face. The reason is because I was not actually reading. Instead, I was daydreaming about whatever enchanting concepts seven year olds fantasize over. Obviously too scared to admit that I was not paying attention in class, I murmured out, “I do not remember”. Even though I read the first page and understood that the children’s book was about a chicken cockadoodling and waking up the entire farm, I could not recall any other information because I did not actually read the book. My mother recently inquired about that scenario a few months ago since I have always done exceptionally well on every English standardized test, so an immense amount of confusion was within her. After I explained, wheels turned in her head, and it made sense to her why the teacher expressed concern for my reading skills. I am particularly embarrassed by this example as it demonstrates that I sometimes lacked care for my education.

I strongly believe that working hard on my reading and writing skills directly led to developing more literacy skills. Consistently providing my best efforts in school significantly impacted how rapidly and how well I was able to read and comprehend any given subject.

Throughout all of elementary school, I escaped to the Mid-continent Public Library to dive deep into the books. Reading served as my alternative realm full of imaginary people, animals, and situations. I thoroughly enjoyed placing myself in an alternate universe and pretending that I was the main character. However, I frequently checked out too many books at once to keep track of. It became very hard to manage all of the books, and I am almost certain I still have overdue books at the library to this day. Due to that daunting fear, I have not gone back to the public library in several years. This superstition continued when I checked out books from my school for the summer reading program every year. I grabbed a plethora of books at once with the pure intention of reading them all over the summer. Nevertheless, I, once again, barely read over the summer and completely ignored the pile of books stacked up on my top shelf.

By the second grade, I was reading small chapter books, such as Junie B Jones. The only book genre I actively pursued reading was none other than fiction. Fiction, especially realistic fiction, piqued my interest above all others. I particularly enjoyed these books because it was easy to paint a picture in my head and place myself in the storyline. I remember when I first read the word “merci” in a Fancy Nancy book and thought I was extremely cool for replacing a simple “thank you” with “merci” from that point on. That moment is when I realized I wanted to pursue the French language throughout middle school and high school. It also made me realize that I desired to explore the country of France.

In fifth grade, we journaled everyday and had different prompts to answer. I recently reflected on this journal from six years ago and realized that the period of time in which these writing prompts occurred was very uncertain for me. My parents divorced, I gained a new step mom, and my entire life changed. These events were reflected in my journals as the context of the entries changed drastically from the beginning to the end of the school year. I frequently used my writing as a way to let out my frustrations in life and express myself in ways I could not otherwise.

Since I primarily read realistic fiction books, reading The Chronicles of Narnia in seventh grade vastly expanded my imagination. Branching into this specific type of fiction was not my favorite avenue to take in my literacy journey. However, a major improvement in my brain development and imagination capabilities were observed during this expansion. “They asked the people there who were inventing the future about themselves. And they found that all of them read science fiction when they were boys or girls” (Gaiman 3). Statistics prove that children who read science fiction books directly correlate to becoming a successful millionaire.

Reading and writing were the main methods I could clearly form and communicate my thoughts during my elementary school years when life as I knew it was completely shifting. My literacy journey provided me with comfort and gave me a sense of normalcy in times when it was extremely necessary within my life. Learning to read and write at a young age is of the essence to future generations. Elementary school years were by far the most essential in developing my literacy skills that I still obtain today. Everyone expresses creativity and imposes communication in various ways, but reading and writing tend to work the best for me.