Maya Lipscomb
English 1101
Carrie Sippy
September 17, 2012
Trials and Triumphs
` English as a whole has not been my favorite subject since I can remember. I use to read for fun but if it was required in a class I would wait to the last minute to read anything. Writing on the other hand is what I would say is my outlet in a lot of classes since I am not as active in class discussions and I have been this way since elementary school.
My first experience of literacy was in the first grade. At North Hills elementary school I was a tutor for other kids in my Reading Comprehension class. There was not a day that I could remember not participating because understanding the way that sentences were put together and reading to my peers just made my day. I remember my teacher Ms. Jones came up to me and asked if I would mind helping her teach the other kids how fun grammar was fun? I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Twice a week I would stay after school and help out. The name Nerd was thrown around at first but once I helped some of my peers pass the class they would all thank me for my help. This experience taught me that English was interesting and that it was more to it than just making a story funny and enjoyable. The thought of having a career came to my mind because I was such a “great helper” said Ms. Jones and my tutor certificate.
I transferred schools in the third grade and my self-confidence went down. I began to attend Summit School a predominantly white school and felt out of place. This showed in my grades. From getting As in my English class to Cs was not going to cut it. There I found a getaway in the library and began to read Mystery books. I was a part of an afterschool program where we would go to the library every Monday and Wednesday, these became my favorite days. While in the library I would curl up in my corner and get lost in the fictional world that I was reading about. These readings contributed to my participation in class because I wanted to be an author and I knew that authors did not fail any classes, and English at that.
When I would take my books home and read aloud to my grandma, she would constantly correct my pronunciation of words and thus began my next journey. My grandma is a very punctual person meaning all her words are exact and precise in the way they are pronounced and used. She would insist on me taking my time to make the word sound “correct” and repeat it so the next time I used it I would know how to say it. At first I was annoyed and thought she was trying to change my diction to appease the majority of the world. Pronunciation was not only important to her but so was reading. Every morning she would have a newspaper and her daily cup of coffee and as I would try to sneak around her she would catch me and make me read a certain article that she just finished reading. I would have to sit beside her, read the entire article and discuss with her what I thought about it. To this day I continue to think about if I’m pronouncing a word correctly? And I may now and then read the newspaper and find an article to read.
In High School my experiences were not nearly as good as my elementary days. One that changed my whole perspective on writing was my ninth grade speech. My school had a tradition of having all the ninth graders give a speech in front of sixth through eighth graders and faculty on a subject they were given to research. My topic was prison reform and I thoroughly enjoyed this topic because it was very interesting to me. At the time I wanted to be a lawyer. At stages of this speech we would have to write research papers and turn them in for a grade. I would spend extra time conducting research and watch videos on how the prison system needed to change. Finally I conducted what I thought to be my best paper to that date. My confidence was through the roof but apparently my teacher did not see that. The grade I got back was a D and I was appalled. I would ask Mrs. Giljames what I needed to improve on and she would vaguely say the paper. So I would try and try again to meet her expectations but still my grade remained a D. This caused me to lose all interest in writing as a whole because for once I put my all into a paper and failed. The speech that followed was also a failure because I was afraid that was not ready because of what I was told by my teacher. I kept pushing my date to present back until I finally had to go because it was the final day. I stumbled over my words and rushed through the presentation and it resulted in a dislike of English class as a whole.
In my sophomore year of high school I thankfully attended another school by the name of Winston Salem Preparatory Academy, so this meant another English teacher. First day of class I came in late and sat in the front of the room so my presence was acknowledged. Mr. Jones asked me my name and from that day forward he would get me involved in class discussion every day. The curriculum included many essays and book reports. I began off on a rocky start but one day after class, he asked me to stay after. Mr. Jones told me that he saw potential in me and notices that I have an interest in English and for me to be more confident in my work and it will come out through my grades. From that day forward I began to put my all into my work and I came out the class with an A. This was my first A in English since elementary school.
My Literacy journey has been a rough one through my many downs and ups. I would like to refer to them as trials and triumphs.
