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Antonio Powell
Miss Eaker
UWRT 1103-018
22 September 2014
My Literary Journey: A Personal Literacy Narrative
Throughout my elementary, middle, and high school years, my parents always encouraged me
to receive a college education. As a result of this expectation being placed among me, I felt obligated to
be a successful child and student. My mother pushed and challenged me to be the best student in every
subject. This was more of a challenge in specific classes. For example, math was always my hardest
subject. I still remained as consistent in this class as I did in my other classes. However, I always wound
up making a B that was one point away from an A. This discouraged me during my middle school years.
After a conversation with my family members and my father, I realized that you cant do anything less
than your best. I knew I did my best and tried my hardest on every assignment in math, so I didnt let
the B bother me. Because math challenged me, I took a strong interest in my English/Writing classes.
Ive always had a passion for writing since back in elementary school. I always got a 100 or an A on all
my writing assignments. My teachers always gave me positive comments on my vocabulary and my
story-telling skills. When you have English teachers who build and establish relationships with their
students, they have a major influence and affect your writing skills, abilities, and the lens through which
you look at yourself. I have so many wonderful writing experiences. For example, there is my multiple
writing assignments with my challenging 3rd Grade English teacher, my motivational and inspirational 7th
grade teacher, my 8th grade teacher preparing me for high school, my 9th through 11th Grade English
teacher, and my Senior Project for my English IV class.
I wasnt really drawn into English and writing until my 3rd Grade English class. We had a brand
new teacher from out of state that was dedicated to helping all of her students pass to the next grade

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level. She didnt just give us busy work like previous elementary school teachers. She focused on
developing our reading and writing skills. I used to have major issues with timing on writing assignments
and it took me an extremely long amount of time to complete homework. Ms. Lewis, my third grade
teacher, took the time out of her busy schedule to try to help me improve the pace at which I was
working. After lots of time and dedication, my writing skills and pace began to significantly improve.
Ms. Lewis gave us homework every night besides Friday night. Some of the students in my class didnt
like her because of how she challenged and pushed us. Instead, I appreciated her for her hard work and
dedication to our success in class and school in general. You very seldom find a time when you have an
actual relationship with your teacher and they really care about you as a student and your success.
Another experience that resonated with me was my inspirational 7th Grade English Teacher, Mr.
Bryan Ruffin. He was the youngest English teacher I have ever had, fresh out of college with a degree
from UNC Chapel Hill. Mr. Ruffin had a focus on one thing and one thing only. That focus was to break
the stereotypes children from our county were receiving. He was tired of students from Bertie County,
NC being perceived as receiving less of an education that other students across the state. His goal was
to prepare us for college as well as for 8th Grade English. He didnt want another student to walk out of
his class at the end of the school year and live up to the stereotype of being unequipped for college just
because they were from Bertie County. Because of his personal goal, myself as well as my mother had
much respect for him. Mr. Ruffin truly believed all his students had potential and were destined for
greatness in the future. We did many reading and writing assignments as well as projects in this class.
For example, we had to do a book report in a bag for one of our projects. We had to choose a book that
we had strong interest in. Instead of doing a traditional book report, we took physical items
representing different sections of the book or the characters and put them in a brown paper bag. We
had to then explain to the whole class what each physical item in the brown paper bag meant and how it
was related to the book. I distinctly remember another project we did when we discussed repetition,

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onomatopoeia, alliteration, and other types of figurative language. We had to choose an appropriate
song and highlight all the different types of figurative language we saw in the lyrics. Mr. Ruffin has truly
climbed the corporate ladder since I left middle school. He is now a principal of an early college high
school in a nearby county. I truly appreciate Mr. Ruffin for the exposure he gave us to many different
types of writing and reading.
My next most memorable experience was my 8th Grade teacher, Mr. Garnes, preparing me for
high school. Mr. Garnes was another out of state teacher that truly believed and challenged his
students. He saw something in us that we were too young to see in ourselves. Because of the vision he
had for us and our class, he introduced us to many analytical and critical thinking skills. I truly believe
Mr. Garnes class really made me a better student and writer in general. Mr. Garnes and Mr. Ruffin
were friends, so some of our assignments and projects were similar to what we had done the year
before, but with a twist. Mr. Garnes was a tough grader because he wanted us to be prepared for high
school. He taught us how to annotate a reading for the different sights, personal connections, and other
personal relationships you had with the specific reading. He would mark our papers up every time we
had a writing assignment. This was not because our papers had an extreme amount of errors, but
because he wanted to give us tips for the future and because he actually annotated our writing for
personal connections he had. Ive always had a creative eye and used it to write many detailed stories
and essays. Mr. Garnes showed me how to embrace my creative eye and told me to continue to use it.
There are big things in store for you Antonio. The sky is the limit to what you can achieve. This
statement resonated with me and I had much respect for Mr. Garnes because of it. There is no greater
feeling than when you hear someone tell you that they believe in you and want to see you going places
in your future.
My favorite literary experience was my 9th through 12th Grade teacher Ms. Alicia Heffner. This
was the most energetic and upbeat woman I had ever had in my life. She had such a positive energy and

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walking into her room brightened your day. Ms. Heffner was my 9th through 11th grade English and
Theatre Arts teacher. Ms. Heffner truly built lifelong friendships with all of her students. She believed in
us and started the first theatre arts program in our high school. She always said We are never done.
This statement means that we are never done studying and learning new things. This quote truly
resonated with me because not only do we learn new concepts in college, we learn something new
about ourselves every day. Ms. Heffner helped me grow out of my shyness and not be afraid to be
myself in front of a known or unknown group of people. She helped me master my craft of writing and
annotating. She taught us the importance of the five paragraph essay which has the intro, three body
paragraphs, and the conclusion. She also said the word annotate 100 times a day. When we were
reading new stories, she wanted us to have a personal connection with our reading. She made us
highlight the things we could hear and see and put smiley faces based on how the specific sentence
made us feel. Ms. Heffner gave lots of constructive criticism. Instead of just telling us what we did
wrong, she annotated our homework assignments. Ms. Heffner always said We all have a story.
Through her energetic spirit, her well planned lesson plans, and her theatric atmosphere, she helped me
discover and tell my story.
My final literary experience was my Senior Project for my English IV class. Also known as an exit
project, this was the most stressful assignment I have ever come across. My English IV teacher, Ms.
Gray, was a new teacher replacing Ms. Heffner who left after my junior year. I feel that Ms. Gray didnt
have a clear understanding of the Senior Project. Therefore, she changed all the guidelines we were
expecting. This project had to be related to an issue in our career. My project involved a lot of
community service hours and volunteering at my local food pantry. As much as I hated the Senior
Project, it really prepared me for college. I had never written a paper over 5 pages before, but the
requirements for this paper were 8-10 pages. I had difficulty staying on topic at first, but Ms. Gray
showed me how to express my thoughts and ideas in 8-10 pages without constantly repeating myself.

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Though Ms. Gray changed all the guidelines, she was always an approachable teacher. Shockingly, I
wound up making a 99 on my research paper and a 100 on my overall Senior Project. Ms. Gray always
said I love all my babies! I want to see every one of you succeed. It was as if we were her children
instead of her students. Without Ms. Gray I would definitely struggle with writing lengthy papers in
college. I appreciate everything she taught us and the advice she gave us on preparing for college and
the real world.
In conclusion, each of these experiences have had a strong personal effect on my writing skills
and abilities. Sometimes we all need that one person to push us and encourage us as we go through our
educational journey. I had more than one person, but multiple people. I dont like to refer to these
people as teachers because they were more than that; those teachers are my lifelong friends. Without
Ms. Lewis help with improving my writing pace, I would struggle writing essays and taking notes in
college. Without Mr. Ruffin I probably wouldnt have been inspired to go to college and help remove
the stereotype labeled on the students in my county. Without Mr. Garnes, I wouldnt have critical
thinking or analytical skills. Without Ms. Heffner, I would be a shy quiet guy afraid to be myself and tell
my story. Without Ms. Gray and the Senior Project, I wouldnt be prepared for college essay writing or
life after college. When you have English teachers who build and establish relationships with their
students, they have a positive effect on your writing skills and abilities, as well as your personal views of
yourself.