Revised/Added Paragraphs:

1.) The first literacy narrative I found that exemplifies all three themes seen in Alexander’s article is a narrative written by Jimmy Elser. In his story Jimmy talks about different aspects in his life the influenced the wonderful reader he is today but it wasn’t always that way. At a young age, Jimmy had a lisp and was made fun of for it whenever he had to read out loud in class. This unfortunate time in his life caused him to become ashamed of himself and his reading abilities. This soon would result in the hatred of reading. However, as life carried on Jimmy took classes to help with his lisp so he wouldn’t be made fun of and eventually the classes helped. Jimmy goes on to talk about a time in middle school when his dad handed him the first book Mind Gym, that he actually enjoyed. By the time he reached high school reading and writing became bearable again, but it wasn’t till he had Ms. Morgan as an English teacher that he really embraced his talent for writing. Jimmy wrote, “She taught me how powerful a good writer can be. How differently a message could be portrayed as written rather than said” (Elser 1). Jimmy’s story is very unique and inspiring in many ways. For one Jimmy was able to conquer the fear of literacy that was instilled in him at a young age from being an outcast to many of his students. Further, after being brave enough to conquer his fear Jimmy found joy in writing and reading especially through the facilitating sponsorship seen through his father and Ms. Morgan who both helped him reach comfort in himself and literacy. At the end of Jimmy’s story he writes, “All of these different moments shaped the reader and writer that I am today” (Elser 2). Furthermore, he states, “from the experiences I have gone through and the journeys I have been on in my short life thus far, I feel as though I have different ideas and perspectives that I would love to share through writing… My hope is that I build my writing to the point where I can tell a powerful story that will consume the reader” (Elser 2). So, although Jimmy was an outcast and maybe even a victim at a young age in his life, he has switched his literacy identity from hatred to tolerable and even further than that he has risen above it all in hopes to further improve his writing skills and share with the world his experiences.

2.) The next literacy narrative (although not as drastic a story as Jimmy Elser’s) is a story written by Katherine Parker titled, Acceptance of Change. In Katherine’s story she writes about moving from Idaho to Maine to attend a different school in her sophomore year of high school. Throughout the story Katherine meets her new English teacher who she describes as, “Mr. St. Pierre was an arrogant guy, who’s demeanor was he thought he was better than everybody and he made you feel as if you should be privileged to be talking with him” (Parker 1). Further, she describes an incident where she received a C- on one of the papers she had to write for his class and how she went to him to give her pointers on how to improve next time. She then says that the meeting didn’t go well and that she continued to fail his assignments until one day she got help from her History teacher (Mr. Cobbs), who helped her write papers in the way Mr. St. Pierre would find suitable. Katherines story, I feel, is a good example of a victim narrative that turns into a success story through the help of Mr. Cobbs. Katherine describes her unfortunate experience with Mr. St. Pierre as challenging and unhelpful till she finds success through the guidance of her facilitating sponsor Mr. Cobbs.

• Both of these paragraphs are additions to what I wrote in my draft.  In my draft I didn’t include example literacy narratives but in my working final copy I added these two literacy narrative examples amongst a couple others.  Through Jimmy’s story I am pointing out the fact that his story is a outcast narrative that develops into a (sort of) success story because he seeks to find a higher education through literacy.  Next, I used Katherines literacy narrative to talk about a different approach to my paper – victim narratives, that develop into success stories.

Introduction:

Literacy narratives are stories told by individuals about their early experiences with writing and reading or as Kara Poe Alexander puts it, “such narratives reveal about student identities, schooling, and literacy” (Alexander 609). These stories can range from influential endings to depressing ones. Through the writings of Alexander, we also know that there are different types of literacy narratives: Success, Victim, Hero, Child Prodigy, Literacy Winner, Rebel, Outsider, and Other (Alexander 615). She notes that while students tend to follow a specific guideline to writing literacy narratives (the most common being the master narratives), that students also follow the eight themes when reminiscing on personal stories revolving around literacy (Alexander 611). It is also important to take note that a lot of these narratives coincide with one another. For instance, victim and or outsider narratives that develop into success stories. Which then begs the question, how did an individual who once viewed his or her reading and or writing abilities as a hopeless cause become successful? What factors played a role in changing that individuals mind? Factors such as identity shifts and Brandt’s idea about withholding and facilitating sponsors; people who don’t help children in their success of literacy versus people that do (Brandt 556). In this paper I will discuss through real life literacy narrative examples how this is possible and in fact, how influential it really is; that a person can find the courage to rise above and succeed no matter their story.