Digital story

response on my narrative

As I wrote my narrative, I realized how emotional I was about my life.  I enjoyed writing it, and it meant a lot to me to be able to reflect on my past.  My past has made me what I am today, and I take pride in knowing that I came from a very hard life, and am going to break the cycle of the unknown. I take pride in my children, and in the fact that my grandmother's influence has made me determined to teach my children.  I really mean it, if it weren't for my grandmother, I dont know where my children would be today, for that matter, I don't know where I would be today.  I feel very blessed to say that I have her as a mentor so to speak.  I believe I elaborated on my experience and showed how much my grandmother means to me.  I do feel though, that I could have described my feelings while my grandmother read to me, I didnt think about that until now, but feel like it would have made more sense if I would have connected my feelings as she read to me to the feelings of me wanting to change.   But over all, I feel like I met the assignment and that my voice and passion came through in my narrative.

What I learned in life..

While growing up, I never thought I would learn from my children.  But once I looked into the eyes of my first child, I knew I wanted him to go far and be more than I ever was.  I wanted him to work hard in life and never give up.  I started teaching him those strong values from the moment I brought him home from the hospital.  And I have worked very hard to instill this in each of my children. 

            Some say that all mothers want and strive for their children to go far, and don’t want them to ever give up.  Mothers want their children to learn and be intelligent members of society.  But for me, it goes deeper than that.  My determination for my children’s success derives from my childhood.  It comes from what I didn’t have, but always wanted.  It comes from my lack of self-motivation as a child.  Because of my lack of interest in reading and learning as a child, I struggled all through school, just too barely make it.  I was determined, no matter what, that my children were going to be different. 

            As an adolescent, I felt very lonely and I guess you could say a bit depressed.  My father left what I was seven with giving no explanation as to why.  I went from having my mom home, to her having to work two jobs to support us.  I never got to see her.  My brother and I were always at the baby sitters house.  Even though I knew my mom couldn’t help the situation, it got very lonely.  I started to act out.  Instead of reading, coloring, or playing board games like my neighbors, my brother and I would run the streets.  We would always play on the railroad tracks and throw rocks at one another and even the other children in the neighborhood.  One day, we thought it would be a lot of fun to catch the woods on fire.  After the fire department and my mother were called, we no longer thought it was fun!  Being rebellious children and grounded were not a great combination.  The worst part was seeing how dissapointed my mother was.   As a child, I didn’t think about how this behavior would affect me. When I got older, I realized what a mistake I was making of my life.

            Despite all of my negative emotions and behaviors, there were also many happy moments.  I remember sitting down with my grandma when she came to visit, listening to her read to me.  Although I couldn’t remember anything about the books when she was done, because I wasn’t really listening, I still enjoyed the fact that she read to me.  I enjoyed the loving attention that came from those times.  My grandma is the type of person that believes in rewarding with books.  Her philosophy is that reading encourages more reading.  So, every birthday, my brother and I would get a book or two. In the third grade, she passed to me my aunt’s full collection of the “Bobbsey Twins”, expecting me to read every single one of them.  They sat in the bottom of my closet, in the same box she shipped them in, for about eight years. At that time, I passed them to my niece for her first birthday.  I had hoped that one day she could get some use from them.  She is now eleven and has read all of them.  She claims they were wonderful books!  I always did think about picking them up and reading, but I never could get passed the first chapter of any book without getting discouraged.  I just didn’t understand reading, and wouldn’t go back.       Because of my being lonely as a child and choosing to focus on the more negative things in life, I struggled all through school.  I chose to not push myself to learn more than the basics and chose to not read or write passed the must have assignments.  I would see others around me truly succeed, while I barely passed by.  My peers made great grades, had an extensive vocabulary, and wrote awesome stories.  I was discouraged because I made average grades.  I always wanted to succeed and to be more, but never had the drive to do what it took to actually be better.  By the time I realized what I needed to do for my future, it was too late.  I was having my first child.

    

     

            When I brought my first child home, I already had a bookshelf full of books ready to be used.  And that’s faithfully what I did.  I made sure I read to him every day.  I used every moment as a teaching experience.  During every bath, I had magnetic letters that I would practice the alphabet with him.  We counted everything from acorns in the yard, to tiles in the bathroom.  I sang to him, ask him every question under the sun, like “why do you think the grass is green?”, or “Have you ever saw a fish swim so fast, how does it do that?”.  I wanted to tell him about everything in his surroundings.  In return, he realized how much there was to learn, and was eager to know.  I was determined that he was going to have that drive in life that I didn’t.  With each of my children, I have showed them the importance of education, and they have taught me that I do have that determination needed for success in life.  I have been eager to teach them, and they have been driven to learn.

           Even though I didn’t respond as a child through my grandma, she showed me the importance of reading, and I now am able to show my children who do respond.  Because of her, I now reward my children with a new book instead of a toy or piece of candy.  We sit down as a family to read, instead of watching television. The amazing thing is that my children look forward to this.  They look forward to the Saturday trips to the library and to the outings to Ollie’s, which is the best place to buy inexpensive children’s books.  My children are full of knowledge, that as a child I thought was useless, but my boys want more.

     

            Because of my determination for my children to be more, they are more!  By the time my oldest was two, he could write his name and tell you what every letter was, and he could say and identify numbers 1 through 10 in English and Spanish.  Now he is nine years old and can spell just about every word you ask him to.  My middle son, Dakota, is currently in the second grade and reading sixth grade chapter books.  We are not allowed to go to the library and pick up anything less than a big book.  He is adding a subtracting like a wiz. And he is very adamant about visiting Europe.  My youngest, Jacob, is in kindergarten and starting to read and spell.  I must say, it makes me proud that his favorite words to spell are, mom and dad.  Their intelligence shows me that no matter where you come from, as long as you are determined, you will go far. I want to thank my grandma for my determination.  If it weren’t for her introducing me to literature and always being consistent with reading, where would my children be today?

Literacy Narritive

     In the two narritive writings, "Literacy Behind Bars" by Malcom X and "How I Learned About The Power of Writing" by Richard Bullock, both of the authors showed a lot of determination.  I really enjoyed reading both of these.  The two authors came from completely different backgrounds.  Richard Bullock was brought up around love and consistant teachings from his grandma, who seemed to never allow him to go outside, and Malcom X seemed to have grew up on the streets, learning hustling and trouble.  Malcom didn't care about the power of learning when he was young, while Richard seemed to take every oppurtunity and turn it into a teaching experience. Malcom couldnt read or write, until he was put in a position to where he had no choice but to learn.  Him sitting, coping words from the dictionary, reading even when the lights were out, it all shows a tremendous amount of determination.  Richard Bullock shows his determination by waking up to get the paper every morning.  He was eager to know everything going on in life.  In my opinion determination is the key to life, and both of these men are very intelligent, and decided through determination that they were going to make a difference in life.
     I remember growing up, in some ways I was like malcom and in some ways like Richard.  I grew up running the streets, catching the woods on fire, breaking into the closest school, I was just bad.  Not really because that's the way I wanted to be, but because I was bored.  My mom had to work two different jobs to support my brother and I, so we were always at the babysitters house. I thought I had nothing else to do.  I guess maybe in some ways I was trying to get some attention. Also,  I always enjoyed my grandparents when they came to town.   When they were in town, they would always bring us a book. when I was younger, I never really took my grandparents love for books to heart. The books they brought would most always end up in the closet floor.  But every occasion, Holiday, birthday, they would continue to bring us books!  They thought it was very important to read.  I dispized reading, up until I had children.  I wanted to teach my children, and show them what I didnt have.  I wanted them to love learning.  And because of my determination for success, my children love to read and  learn. They take every oppurtunity to learn and ask questions about everything in life.  My middle child is in second grade and reading on the sixth grade level.  I thank my grandma for my children's skills.  Even though she pushed me and I didn't respond when I was younger, I pushed my children.  They now look forward to her visits and Christmas and birthday presents.  Why?  Because she always brings books!