1

Nicolas Manrique
Ms. Grant
UWRT
September 3,

2014
Throughout our lives we go through many experiences that help us develop our literacy.
Whether it be learning the alphabet through the means of a song or writing how your summer
went on the first day of class. Teachers and parents alike want children to develop their literacy
skills to excel and learn as much as they can in life. Every student/child, however, is different
and dont always grasp concepts like another student or simply just take a longer time to
develop. Take for example my experiences. The ones I most distinctly remember was when I
was through my years in elementary school. To me the stages of when you go to kindergarten
until you pass 5
th
grade are very crucial to your literacy development. My experiences have
showed me just that and is why they impacted me so profoundly.
My first memory or snapshot of when I was learning to read and write was when I was in
ESL back in kindergarten. At that age I spoke very little English and could barely understand the
teacher. I had only been living in America for 2 years and hearing so many people speak
different from what I experienced in Colombia was very confusing for me. It caused me so much
problems that my teacher had a conference with my parents and they decided that ESL was the
best choice for me to help me learn. I didnt know about that until weeks later so I just assumed I
was being but in a different class. Despite me being so nave at first, I quickly realized that I was
somehow inferior is some way to the other kids because of that class. The ESL class I was in was
very small and many of the kids in there could barely write or read in English or simply
2

understand it altogether. I remember running home from school after the first day of ESL class
and begging my mom to take me out of ESL. She told me that it was only temporary and that it
would make me a smarter kid in the long run. I took her advice, sucked It up and begun to go. At
first it was really difficult on me because I felt ashamed whenever my friends Chase and Henry;
which were my best friends at the time, would ask me why I always left class early and I would
tell them I was just leaving early. I truly felt out casted. On top of that, I was still struggling in
my normal class. Having to stay afterschool to ask questions and get additional instruction
frustrated me more. Nevertheless, my mothers words stuck to me and I just kept working as
hard as I could to get out of ESL. Little by little I begun to see results. I could now read books
like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? and Dr. Seusss Green Eggs and Ham
easily. To most those seem easy but I struggled consistently with those. The instructor in ESL
made a point/reward system for us. To motivate us to work hard she would show us prizes we
could buy with the points we would earn when we passed a test or read a book out loud. I recall
one prize in particular, a yellow and red raincoat. It was one of the nicest things I had ever seen
and I was determined to get it. For days I practiced writing every word in those two books and
read as many books that were in the ESL class. It was when I had finally gotten the necessary
amount of points to get the yellow jacked I realized how much I had grown. I had learned how to
read and write in English so well that I was taken out of ESL early. Yes, I had gained literacy but
I also gained confidence in my abilities and was excited to go to school each and every day from
then on. ESL might have been one of the most difficult times for me but it paved the way for me
to continue learning and growing.
Even though I had learned to read and write english it still wasnt as proficient as some of
my classmates. I wanted to be the best. Anything less meant I was wasting my time. A quality I
3

gained over the years watching my dad work. For me to be the best meant getting straight As
and getting as many achievements as possible. 2
nd
and 3
rd
grade proved to be too difficult to
reach this goal due to the fact I moved so much during that time and couldnt really establish
myself in school. It was in 4
th
grade where I vividly remember taking a big step toward really
developing my literacy. During that year I had just transferred to Smithfield Elementary and
recall them really emphasizing on reading books. For students to do just that the school promoted
the Accelerated Reader learning system. It basically consisted of reading the book and taking a
test that, based on your score, showed you had actually read and understood the book. Once you
passed the test on the book you would get credit for that book. I always saw that the smartest
kids in the class got these red and green medallions. This meant that they had read many high
level books and gotten enough credits to be recognized as Accelerated Readers. To me this
meant being the best and to read as much as I could. I made it my primary focus to earn those
medallions and be recognized as one of top students. Reading quickly became my main hobby.
Hatchet, Tangerine and Shiloh became my all-time favorites. It eventually lead to me becoming a
very active reader and my efforts finally paid off when I earned a green medallion at the end of
the year. I was very proud of how great of reader I had become and finally had something to
show for that. But what really made me realize just how much my literacy had developed was
when I got my report card at the end of the year. I had earned straight As for the first time in my
life! All that reading resulted in me being able to comprehend and understand the other materials
at a higher level. I was just so caught up in earning the medals that I never really paid attention to
just how clearly I understood the material in school. 4
th
grade was my best year and I went into
5
th
grade knowing that my literacy skills had grown in a big way thanks to all the reading I had
done.
4

The next year proved to be a year where I gained literacy through much adversity. 5
th

grade was a dramatic change in my life because I had just moved and I was going to attend
Winget Elementary, a brand new school. Leaving all my friends was difficult but the fact that I
was going to have to adjust to a new environment, teaching system and classmates made it very
tough. I had been so successful in my previous school that I knew going somewhere different
would cause me nothing but difficulty. There were only four 5
th
grade classrooms due to the fact
the school was in its first year. I was in the class with the only male instructor. Although it
doesnt sound so different, I had been used to my teachers being women and thus being very
kindhearted and helping during my previous years. This teacher, however, made it clear we were
going to be on our own and was going to be somewhat strict. As a result it made learning the
material much more difficult. I was too nervous to ask questions because I didnt expect he
would help me all that well. When I did ask he gave me generic answers that only confused me
more. Whats more I had begun to take a music class and we were all learning to play the
recorder. I understood very little toward what was on the sheet music and how to even play the
recorder. After time went by I felt so illiterate towards practically everything in school. To tell
you I didnt even understand how to play football when we would go outside for recess. A
complete change from 4
th
grade. With so much adversity I felt overwhelmed and alone. But one
person that helped me through it all was once again my mother. She would always ask me for
help with her English and what a certain phrase or word meant. It made me feel confident that I
had some type of literacy skills and that I could get pass all this difficulty. I began to pay more
attention in class and listen more carefully. If I didnt understand something I would write it in a
note and remember to ask my grandma, who had been a teacher before. Practicing the recorder
and watching sports quickly became something I did every day and before I knew it I had been
5

moved to the higher level math class and watched the Carolina Panthers play every Sunday.
Once again I was seeing my efforts pay off and my literacy expand and flourish.
In those 5 years I developed my literacy and gave it its fundamentals to prepare me for
middle and high school. Even now I many of my methods to study can be traced back to what I
did in 4
th
grade. My experiences may be completely different from what say, the person reading
this, but it doesnt mean one is more intellectual then the other. It just means were at different
stages in literacy. Silvia Scribner tried to make this point to many scholars and used various
metaphors to convey that. Even though I may face upcoming adversity previous experience have
shown that you can get through it, you just need the right mentality and people around you.