Isom 1

Isom 2

Isom 3

Isom 4 Courtney Isom Ms. Caruso English 1101 2 September 2013 Literacy Memoir Part 3 Every night when I was young, my dad read me a bedtime story. It wasn't your typical bedtime story though. My dad got so into the stories, he would read the dialogue in different voices and make goofy noises for each character and it made me laugh so hard. My mom would always come in and quiet us down because we would make such a racket. My favorite books for my dad to read to me were the Froggy children books. I barely remember the storyline because I would enjoy the production and story my dad turned the book into. My dad made me look forward to daily reading and look at the stories from different perspectives as we laughed though the books. He gave me a bigger outlook on these books as I enjoyed reading books everyday. In fifth grade, I tried out for my elementary school's Battle of the Books team. My best friend was on it the year before and encouraged me to try it out with her again. I read and read and read those ten books until I knew them inside and out. Our hard work studying these books paid off as we won first place in the competition. This club really got me to understand I had been reading books the wrong way before. I now began to read for underlying meanings and understand story lines better. At the end of my fifth grade year, my grade was participating in the D.A.R.E program at school. At the end of the program, there was an essay contest where students wrote about what they learned in the program and how they can apply it in their own futures. I entered the contest and out of the whole fifth grade class, I won first place. This came as a shock to me as I didn't see my writing skills above average. This is definitely the peak of my writing career thus far. When I began the sixth grade, I entered my Language Arts class with an open mind. This was a good thing because we began writing in our daily journals. These were free write journals that we got out and wrote in for the first fifteen minutes of class. We wrote about anything and everything, and our only requirements were that we could not stop writing no matter what. These journals were a really good way for me to channel my thoughts onto paper. I really connected with my writing as the days went on. I progressed on how to show my feelings, opinions, and thoughts through words. From this journal, I really escaped from everyone else's judgments and was able to talk about what I wanted to talk about freely and openly. I really discovered who I was and formed my own opinions and ideas from this exercise.

Isom 5 After eighth grade band class, you have a choice in high school to be a part of the concert band and/or the marching band. I was so afraid to go into high school, let alone a club with 9 th-12th graders in it. My friend Nicole and I decided we were going to try it together. Band camp started two weeks before school. We were introduced into the world of marching as we learned the proper technique and playing positions. Memorizing music and spots were hard to wrap my mind around. I was so nervous. Reading drill sheets, finding coordinates, studying music and then quickly memorizing it was becoming a routine. I tried my best as we put the show together with all the sets, visuals, props, and uniforms. As my freshman year marching season came to an end, I realized I really enjoyed this community of people and wanted to continue on my music career in this way. I finished off my senior year as Woodwind Captain of the band and enjoyed every minute of it. From this experience, I am very literate in music and marching band. I have had seven years of music study and 4 years of marching band practices and performances. I have learned terms, moves, music, instrument tips, etc. Music is a part of me now, and my passion shows.

Isom 6 Courtney Isom Ms. Caruso English 1101 2 September 2013 Literacy Memoir Part 4 As I reflect on my literacy history, I can understand how my memories of my experiences can be one sided to make myself look better. Especially in scenarios where I did well in something, I seemed to let my ego take over my memory. Looking back on these situations, I notice that what I remember is not how the event actually carried out. When I was on the Battle of the Books team, I didn't feel as important to the team until we won. From an outsiders perspective, I maybe struggled to keep up with the content during practice, but did remember it all in the end. After we won first place, my struggles didn't matter anymore and I saw myself as the hero and responsible for the victory. Of course to my coach, she saw us as a team and supported and praised us in that way. Now that I look back, I can also see my fifth grade essay winning was not as big as I made it out to be. I won because I followed directions and my content scored high on the rubric. As I recall, I looked at this moment as something that changed my writing career, but in reality, it was just another assignment. My friends and teachers looked at this achievement as another grade in the grade book, but I play it out as this big competition. This writing assignment did not advance me in writing as well as I thought it did. I understand my literacy history can be skewed by my own memories, but I believe without these experiences, I definitely believe I would not be who I am today. Each of these literacies shape how I write, read, communicate, and live. Each of these experiences hold an important place in my life.