Josh Pappas' Literacy Narrative

1

It is difficult for me to think about what literacy actually is. Is it being able to read and write

or is it something more? Is it the ability to read different texts and understand them? Is it trying
to determine the underlying meaning of challenging texts? These thoughts first came about
when I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. For example, in this book there were many sections
that were difficult to understand such as this quote: “So much has been done, exclaimed the
soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I
will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest
mysteries of creation.” Frankenstein was not an easy text for me to comprehend, but it made
me think more about our existence as human beings and how we should treat others. I learned
many valuable lessons while reading this book. It taught me that we must always have
compassion towards other people and to always try and be a good person in general. The
book Frankenstein contributes to what it means to be a literate adult because this book allowed
me to explore my feelings deeper as well as to understand the monster’s actions. This allowed
me to become more emotionally connected to the story and the characters in it, which
increased my interest and desire to become more literate.

2

However, reading and writing was not easy for me to learn and I did not learn the skills

overnight. It took years and years of practice and persistence, and I would not be as literate
as I am today without the help of my parents. A few of the first books my parents read to me
were Goodnight Gorilla, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Go, Dog. Go!, and The Very Hungry
Caterpillar. When my parents first read these simple books to me, I followed along as they
read. I would just enjoy listening to the silly voices my parents would make, and it was fun to
look at the colorful pictures. One of the things that stood out to me when my parents used to
read to me was that my mom always opened up the window in my room during the summer.
She did this because she wanted me to hear the sound of the crickets chirping at night and
smell the sweet scent of the magnolia trees in our yard. This made me associate her reading
to me with the sounds and scents of the outdoors which made me want to listen to her read
more often.

3

Although I could not read these books myself yet, I was inclined to read more when I was

older due to constantly listening to my parents read to me when I was younger. I always had a
positive attitude when my parents read to me because of the different tones they would make
for each character and the goofy faces they would make to get me to laugh. Although these
experiences may seem minute, they helped me to become the literate adult I am today. These
simple texts soon became the foundation for my literate identity. As my parents kept reading
these books over and over to me, I started to try and understand the pictures and determine
what each picture meant. I know that I was not able to understand all of the words, but it helped
that my mom would point out what was significant in each picture. This was the beginning of
my ability to associate words with pictures and this is what it meant to be literate at four-five
years old.

4

As my literacy journey progressed through my elementary years, I recall my teachers

telling me that I excelled in my book reports and book projects. My parents always pushed
me to do my best and I strived to do that in all that I did and continue to do today. One text that
I remember reading in fourth grade was Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. My class
read this book out loud and each student in the class took turns reading a page in order for
everyone to get practice with pronouncing words and learning new vocabulary. After each
page, my teacher would stop us and discuss what happened. I noticed that for some students
it was very difficult for them to pronounce certain words correctly and sometimes they did not
enunciate the words, or they mumbled the words because they may have never heard those
words before. However, whenever I read out loud, my teacher was always very impressed
with my ability to read and pronounce the difficult vocabulary words. Many of my classmates
wondered how I was able to read and understand Bridge to Terabithia with so much ease, and
I told them that “My mom and dad read to me every night when I was little.” Then, one of my
friends said to me, “You’re so lucky! My parents never had time to read to me. They always
worked.” This made me realize how fortunate I was to have such great parents that were
willing to sit down and read to me each night. This was not something that was required for
them to do, but they knew that it would benefit me in my literacy journey.

55

Therefore, by reading more, I was able to learn more. “Reading allows us to expand our

knowledge on any topic we want,” said my middle school teacher. The more we read, the
more knowledge we will gain and the smarter we will become. This teacher always said that
learning to read and write is like driving a car—you start off not knowing anything about
driving just like you start off not knowing how to read or write. Eventually, you develop the
necessary reading and writing skills after you learn the fundamentals. With a great deal of time
and effort, reading and writing will eventually become natural to you just like how driving will
become easier once you complete driver’s education and constantly practice driving on the
roads.

6

One of the most prominent language arts teachers I had was Mrs. Sesterhenn in seventh

grade. Mrs. Sesterhenn was one of the most significant people that helped me on my journey
to becoming a literate adult. She made us read extremely challenging texts that were intended
for high schoolers. However, even though our class dreaded reading these stories and articles,
they helped us with our comprehension abilities.

7

“Time for S.O.S.!” Mrs. Sesterhenn yelled as we started class. Each week we had this

activity called S.O.S. (Sink or Swim). We received a new vocabulary list every week with 25
words and S.O.S was a spelling quiz we took each week that contained five random vocabulary
words from the list. We had to not only spell each of the five words correctly, but we also had
to write the words in cursive in order to receive an A. However, if we spelled one or more of
the words incorrectly, we would receive an F for that quiz. My friend always asked me why we
have to take this stupid quiz each week and I told him “It will help with our spelling skills and
cursive skills.” At the time, he did not understand why this was important, but I knew that this
would be beneficial to me in the future. This was only one of the many difficult parts about this
class, but I learned more in her class than in any of my other classes.

8

Eventually, my literacy journey advanced to another stage, which occurred in high

school. In high school, I read some of the toughest texts that I have ever read including The
Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, and Beloved, which was
the most difficult of all. My AP Language and Composition teacher, Mrs. Thyer, was an amazing
teacher. She helped me in my rhetorical analysis skills and taught me about the underlying
themes and messages in The Great Gatsby and Beloved. Beloved was the most demanding text
I have ever read because it required me to consider all of the rhetorical devices Toni Morrison
(the author of Beloved) used in her writing. Mrs. Thyer was effective at explaining to us why
Toni Morrison used these devices and how they contributed to the meaning of the story.
However, something that I regret is not asking my teachers more for help with my writing. I
asked my peers for advice when we peer edited each other’s papers, but I did not take full
advantage of my teachers’ expertise. I used to spend hours upon hours writing papers and it
would have been beneficial to me if I asked my teachers for assistance instead of solely relying
on my classmates for advice.

9

“Josh, don’t
look for the
easy way out.”

I will never forget how important it was that my parents read to me at an early age and how

crucial this was to my literacy journey. My dad used to say to me “Josh, don’t look for the easy
way out. You have to put the time and effort in now and it will reward you later.” I still
remember these words today because at the time, I did not agree with him, but now I
completely understand what he meant by this. Without such great parents and teachers, I
would not have grown into the literate adult that I am today. This reminds me of one of the most
famous quotes from Frankenstein: “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and
sudden change.” This quote relates to literacy because becoming more and more literate is
by no means easy and allows our brain to change and adapt in new ways so that we become
more knowledgeable. Furthermore, my literacy journey has consisted of many ups and downs
and I am still growing as a literate human being today. I believe that I will never be completely
literate because there is always room for improvement.



WRD 103
Autumn Quarter 2018