Literacy narrative

Posted by Winnie Melda on April 23rd, 2019

My memories about writing and to a greater extent reading are very unpleasant.  It was very difficult for me to receive a high school diploma after failing my proficiency test in my eighth grade. Despite months of preparation and anxiety, I scored a lower grade than my classmates. The test covered reading, math, writing and other subjects. I thought to myself in disbelief how I managed to fail writing. It did not come as a surprise to me that I passed every part except written form. Yes, writing!  I honestly have not come to terms with this fact until today. To make the matter worse, majority of my classmates passed that part including some who barely passed English. From far as I can remember, seeing my test results always brought tears to my eyes.

My favorite math teacher and my parents always recognized my efforts, and they considered me a bright student as a result of my accomplishments in other subjects. Until I got my results, I considered myself a smart and an active student.   I conquered science, history, and math appropriately yet faced challenges in writing. Until then, I loved writing just as much as I loved other subjects. I enjoyed it, and I thought I was good at it.  As much as I can remember, I used good grammar, spelled words correctly and used them in proper context.  I still don’t understand why I failed. I worked diligently and passed with an A in other subjects, but I failed writing part time after time.

I remember the disregard and cruelty of some of my classmates. Participating in English class group activities became hard for me. I remember my English teacher choosing group leaders for an English writing and reading assignment. I was left sitting alone at my desk after the group leaders were done choosing all their friends to work with. However, the teacher requested me to choose one of the groups.  This particular moment led to mixed emotions for me, and I felt like dropping out of school. I had enough problems, but they seemed to be getting worse.  I did not understand what I was doing wrong because I was exceptionally good in other subjects particularly math.  At some point, I thought I was retarded, and I would never learn to write and worst of all, I did not understand how I would fix it.  Up to date, I have a negative feeling that my writing compartment in the brain is restricted.

I would get over it after some time and put more effort and prepare in advance for the next test.  At some point, I would feel ready to tackle the next test.  Well, I would fail the test again. I did cry and question my English teacher how I managed to pass all other subjects but failed in the writing part only on several occasions. However, she could not answer my question. My classmates and friends also were also confused.  I often felt let down or more or less a failure. Worst of all, I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. I started doubting my ability in writing and the ideas I incorporated in my writing. Failing time after time made things worse. I became disappointed in my writing ability. I quit trying so hard and have never felt the same love for writing. Since then, I have focused most of my time and energy towards other areas and shied away from English and more so writing.

I have struggled with my writing abilities and since then, my writing has been limited to research papers on given subjects.  However, there have been moments I have written a letter; I have tried to write a poem in middle school, but I have never delved into other diverse forms of writing. My friends write extensively, but I would rather be carrying out another activity. The lack of interest in writing may have accounted for my placement in developmental writing in college.

Currently, when I am required to write a paper as an assignment, I try to do it all at once. Actually, I am not that type that gives other people my assignments to read them. My final draft always ends up being my first draft despite trying to write it in one try.  I print and edit it after completion to enable me to check sentence error structures and grammatical errors.  I then write up my final draft. I think this process has helped improve my writing generally. My struggle in writing also amplified my problems in reading. I despise reading as much as I hate writing. Except the course books assigned to me, I cannot recall reading anything else other than magazines and news on the internet. I don’t recall reading any book in my middle-class years either. With this writing assignment now, my brain feels like an old rusty engine.

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in custom research paper services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from urgent essay writing service.