Literacy History Blog 9/4/24

The first time I can remember being able to read was around kindergarten. The children's book Parts by Tedd Arnold is one of the first books I remember reading. The book is about a young boy who lost his first tooth one day. This worried him, causing him to think he would lose all his body parts. However, the boy's parents reassure him that it is perfectly human to have a tooth, or a strand of hair fall out. Tedd Arnold's choice of words and rhymes in his books appealed to children my age at the time. My father would always read it to me and my younger sister. I loved the book so much that I would start to read it to myself. Even though I did not fully know how to read on my own, it still encouraged me and made reading one of my favorite things to do in my spare time. With my father being an English teacher, literature played a crucial role in my young life. Waking up on a Sunday to read comics from the newspaper while eating breakfast was sometimes the highlight of my day.

    Up until the fourth grade, I was always made fun of for how I spoke. Specifically, how I would say the letter 'r' when it was at the end of a word. I thought that was just how I talked, and I could not do anything about it. It always frustrated me that I would get picked on by my peers. My teacher at the time was the only one who had the courage to tell my mother that it should be fixed. It really should have been fixed long before that. During a parent-teacher conference, he recommended that I take a speech class, but my mother was adamant that she could do it herself. Surprisingly, that is exactly what she was able to do. It took only one to two weeks of her constantly correcting me when I would mispronounce the letter. Thanks to her I can now speak with confidence, and I do not have to worry about being mocked. 

Coinciding with being able to read and speak properly, I was learning how to write. It was safe to say I did not have the prettiest handwriting in my class. Unlike my speech, the cleanliness of my handwriting never got fixed, and it was another thing I was judged for. But these comments never bothered me as much. I felt that being able to use a computer was going to be more important than fixating on how appealing my handwriting was. Looking back on it, I am happy I made that decision. My schoolwork shifted from being paper to digital and I had no issues with the transition. I use so many kinds of literacy on a day-to-day basis but typing and technology is by far my most used. With the devices we have today, we can read, write, draw, and speak to each other like never before. I feel that without the advancement of technology, literacy would not be as widespread and accessible as it is today.