Blake Atkinson

9-4-14
University Writing 1101
Literacy Narrative[JV1]

Like a bird taking its first flight, I was as literate as that baby bird in high school and still am
quite native in forms of literacy. Throughout my life my writing style, how I compute
information, and even what type of music I listen to have all been guided in way that my own
opinion about the genres were not created until my late years of high school and treated as if I
had jumped the nest only yesterday.

[JV2] My

inexperience to different forms of literacy would

come from that fact that I didnt really hang out with diverse groups of people, not speaking race
but more social diversity, or didnt even socialize that much either. I went to both an
engineering middle and high school where I hung out with a small group of friends. The topics
of conversation came from those people who all had a simular way of thinking about the world.
I actually never really talked much at lunch, but played card games in both middle and high
school. Yet, over those long years my knowledge in literacy has grown because of my teachers,
my friends, and my family. My knowledge of music about what is considered a good sounding
work of art, and what type of music is considered a waste of money comes from my friends, who
sometimes force me to listen to new types of music; and what types of electronic games are
worth playing have been influenced by friends[JV3] .
I have considered writing as my weak point in my education, that and spelling. I think its the
fact that I have to process my thoughts to create a argument while getting it out on paper, while
making the writing still make sense is quite hard. My mom would have to sit down with me with

almost every single paper I have ever written when I was young and help me just braindump my
thoughts down on paper even whenever I thought the essay was bad, or stayed up with me late at
night to help me write a legible paper. I am quite thankful that my mom was able to stay up till
12pm[JV4] multiple night, and caring enough to turn my repetitive writing and grammar less
essay into an acceptable paper. This did help me a lot, and yet I dont want say that it hurt me
more than it help me, which it didnt, but it did hold my writing back in many different ways.
Being spoon fed paragraphs of text or rewriting sentences which I then copied down what my
mom wrote next to my unreadable sentences did not help me format text in my own words,
instead it has contributed to my slow thought process when writing. It did help me when I
needed someone to look over my rough drafts and be there to edit, even boosting my grade
maybe a letter grade in middle and throughout high school. I can say for a fact that I would have
not taken AP English three or four if my mom did not help with my writing impairments from
my early childhood.
The person who has influenced my writing style the most would of course be my sophomore and
junior year English teacher, Ms. Geiss. She was my teacher for English 2, and moved up to
teaching juniors, and taught AP English 3 as well, and she was one of the best English teachers.
It was not only that fact that she taught the curriculum well and made the subject fun, but she set
the Laws of English in how to write multiple genres in a way that was clear and precise. She
always helped people like me that did not always understand a type of writing style by staying
after school to teach me. Almost every Thursday, I would stay after school and she would make
me write different types of reading analysis, and help me see the layers upon layers of hidden
messages and writing styles used in the work. She made the class memorable, making jokes
every so often, and often made references to our current generation. References like what the

famous celebrities were doing that time and relating the events to English. It was also the
teaching style she had that made the topics rememberable, there was no real one style she used,
but many. My teacher would jump back and forth from writing information on the board and us
taking notes; to explaining topics and listening to stories that made me think about what the
author was trying to communicate to the reader. She was straightforward too, and did not give
any slack for people she liked or hated in grading, if the essay was terrible she would tell you
why its wrong and why.
My literacy in music would come from my friends as well as when I used to play the
piano. During elementary school, my parents of course grew up during the rock and disco age,
and I listened to it every time I rode in the car. During that time, from elementary school
through early high school I played the piano, thus, the source of where my love for classical
piano or peaceful piano music comes from. In middle and early high school my music consisted
of techno, piano, classical, and dubstep, after I left high school my music consisted of all of the
previous with the added addition of rock and heavy rock simply because of a close friend name
John. After tennis, almost every day John would take me home since he lives near by, and every
time he would play Queen of the Stone Age, a new rock band, and I became accustomed to the
music that I have learned to love it. The ridged electric guitar, the backup drums, energetic lyrics
and soothing bass. I love the music so much that I can not get enough of the sound. At one time,
before I fully learned of the entirety of the genre of rock I asked aloud in my friends car, is The
Beatles's even considered rock?, which was stupid and ignorant. At the time I questioned this
because The Beatles was like the beginning of the rock age, and is somewhat different from the
rock I have gotten accustomed to of this era. They all give me a hard time about it and whenever
someone says anything stupid and I give them a hard time they just reply, Is the Beatles's even

considered rock?, and I just laugh at my own ignorance. Now, I constantly listen to the genre of
rock and roll, Queen of the Stone Age, The Black Keys, and Arctic Monkeys Im even listen to
rock while writing this. I guess I have to thank John for forcing me to listen to them everyday
after school[JV5] .
When it comes to video games I am a console guy, the xbox 360, one of the greatest
consoles, released back in 2005 and still played today. That was until I met my high school
friends and learned of the games they played. Throughout middle school and early high school, I
would always play my xbox after school, and look forward to playing the xbox almost every day
in those good old days. However, once my friends in high school convinced me to play their
games, I put down my controller and went for the mouse and keyboard. Because of them, I
migrated from the console first person shooters with constant action and reward, over to the PC
so that I could play a game called League of Legends, a third person game that takes at 30
minutes to finish, with my friends. This game being similar to a tower defense game which I
would have never played had I not become friends with them in high school. Thus, I would have
never experienced what makes this games so attractively fun or would have never been
introduced to one of the largest community if not the largest, of the game, over 30 million
people, which has granted me to meet a lot of new friends[JV6] [JV7] .
Blake,
Good job! I enjoyed reading your narrative. I think you mentioned a lot of interesting things in
here that tell your reader a lot about your various literacies. At times, I felt like your narrative
read more like a traditional essay and not a story of your literacy. You need to think more about
how you can take the things you talk and turn them into a story with sensory details and
descriptions. I think you have too many topics in here. You could any of the things you mention
in here and turn it into its own narrative. I think the music paragraph would make the best
narrative. It seems like your relationship with music spans a long time, so it would be interesting
to track that relationship and see how and what you have learned over time.
Ghost grade: C

[JV1]You should think about making a more creative title for your piece. No one wants to read a
story called literacy narrative do they?
[JV2]This sentence is worded a little awkwardly. Im not sure what youre trying to say. Maybe
you could re-phrase to make it clearer?
[JV3]Hmm I like the information you have in here, but it sounds too much like the intro to an
essay. This is a story, not an essay, so try to come up with something that will grab your
readers attention and introduce your story.
[JV4]I think you mean 12am? 12pm is the afternoon.
[JV5]Ok, so you found a new genre of music to like, but Im not sure Im really seeing connection
to your music literacy. You sort of gloss over this, when in fact you could have written your
whole paper on this. You say you play the piano? Thats really interesting! You should really
think about making this the center of your paper.
[JV6]Im not entirely sure this would qualify as a literacy? At least Im seeing how it would from
what youve written.
[JV7]This ending is very sudden. You dont want a conclusion paragraph like you find in an
essay, but you need something that will provide closure for your narrative.