Adrianna Bradt Bradt1

Professor Jan Reiman

English 1103

September 15, 2010

Grandma, You Don’t Have to Run Anymore

Self-Assessment:

Before I started my paper I took the time to brainstorm ideas about my literacy history

and what would be appropriate to add in the essay. I also re-read the articles we were assigned to

read for class to find any examples from the text to help better my paper. Doing early

brainstorming helped me a lot during the process, it made it easier to write my essay with my

ideas already organized. Peer workshop also helped me to shape my essay, the other students

helped point out what they thought was good in my essay and what they thought needed to

change. When it came time to revise my essay I had a good sense of what needed to be worked

on. Now that my draft is complete I feel it is a strong essay for the most part, I believe I

answered the prompt adequately. If I were to change anything I think I would have someone else

read over my paper again to look for any other grammatical errors I may have made.

Every time the “Rugrats” theme song would come on the television when I was little, my

grandma would drop the dishes she was washing to run out to the living room to read me the title

of the episode because I could not read it. She would always say, “One day Adrianna, you will

be able to read that and I will not have to run out here anymore.” That was the first time I felt

determined to learn how to read. Reading never came easy to me, and for a part of my childhood

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I hated reading. I was not able to sound out the words correctly and nothing was processing in

my mind. I quickly became jealous of the other students who could read and even of my mother

who would sit in the living room at night and read a book; at seven years old that was my biggest

frustration.

Deborah Brandt’s article, Sponsors of Literacy, defines a sponsor of literacy as, “any

agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model as well as recruit,

regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy- and gain an advantage by it in some way,” (Brandt 407).

Although as a child I had one of the most difficult times learning how to read, I had plenty of

sponsors help motivate me along the way. Frequently I would become frustrated that I could not

read, that I could not understand the words on the page in front of me, and I would be ready to

give up. No matter how angry or upset I would get those people, that today I recognize as my

sponsors of literacy, would never let me give up. Looking back now I cannot imagine what my

life would be like if I did not know how to read.

One of my primary sponsors was my elementary school. Early in my first grade year it

came to the school’s attention that I was not up to the reading level of most students, and they

quickly re-acted by putting me in a program to help me with reading and writing. For about an

hour of my day at school, every day, I sat in a separate classroom with another teacher learning

words, writing them out, and learning to sound them out. This almost could relate to how

Malcolm X learned to read while he was incarcerated; he copied words down out of the

dictionary, learned their meanings, and understood them that way (X 432). Instead of working by

myself, and in a prison environment, I copied words down off a list with a teacher, and did the

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same when I got home with my mom or my grandparents at night. Additionally, I would have to

go into school early with a few other students and have a reading session with our teacher. She

would have us sit at our round table in the classroom, each with a copy of a Henry and Mudge

book and take turns reading, making sure to sound out every word we did not know.

My family also played a large role in my literacy history; they provided me with more

than enough support to reach my goal. My mother, grand-mother, and even my great-

grandmother would sit with me at night and have me read a short book to them. Though they

wanted me to get the words right, none of them ever gave in and told me what a word was if I

did not understand it or could not sound it out. At a young age, this frustrated me even more, but

proved to be helpful later on. I specifically remember reading many of the Dr. Seuss books we

had in our house, I was told that Green Eggs and Ham and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue

Fish were among my favorites. My grand-father also decided to buy me this program for the

computer called Jump Start, it was a game for children that had different tasks to teach you how

to read and write, or even do math, while at the same time taking you on a fun treasure hunt. I

would play that game for hours, having fun and learning at the same time.

When it comes to my literacy level and how I learned to read, I consider myself quite

fortunate. The access I was provided by my literacy sponsors, both my school system and family,

was more than adequate. Deborah Brandt points out in her article that individuals of different

social class and background tend to have very different experiences with access to literacy

(Brand 411). I was privileged to be enrolled in a school that was dedicated to helping me not just

learn, but thrive. My family constantly worked with me and gave me access to a computer to

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help me teach myself. Due to all the opportunities I was given then I have turned into a student

who loves to read. During my summers I would walk to the library close to my house and take

out as many books by R.L Stine I could. Today I find myself reading mystery novels, magazines,

and newspapers on a daily basis.

My experiences not only have helped me academically, but they have opened up new

opportunities and experiences for my general knowledge and imagination to grow. In the brief

article about Malcolm X it stated, “When he had a reason to read, he read, and reading fed his

motivation to read further,” (X 429-430). My determination to read the title of a “Rugrats”

episode started as my reason, and as I kept pushing forward with the learning process, my

curiosity of books grew more. I remember the times, in the past, where I will come across a

“Rugrats” episode on the television and I will turn to my grandmother and say, “Hey grandma,

aren’t you happy? You don’t have to run anymore.”

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Works Cited

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Eds.

Wardle and Downs. Boston: Bedford, 2011. 406-26. Print.

X, Malcolm. “Learning to Read.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Eds.

Wardle and Downs. Boston: Bedford, 2011.431-40. Print.