UWRT 1103

Daybook Entry: Personal Literacy History Brainstorming

Your responses should be thorough; this should be several Daybook.
1. Who taught you to read and write? List all that apply. For each, briefly describe their
contribution. (DONT JUST CIRCLE. LIST AND DESCRIBE PEOPLE.)
Parent(s)
o My mom and dad both read to me and helped me figure out what the words
said, as well as my mom taught me to write, and made it fun by buying the
scratch off papers, so learning to write was fun.
Older sibling(s)
o I dont have any older siblings
Other family member(s) (aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, etc.)
o My extended family lived far away so they didnt really contribute to learning
to read and write.
Preschool teacher(s)
o I honestly dont remember my preschool experience at all
K-12 Teacher(s)
o All I remember about writing started in high school, we just learned how to put
our writing together in different formats ( essays, research essays, short stories)
Other?
2. What kinds of writing did you enjoy when you were very young?
a. I never really wrote when I was young. I cant think of a time where I wrote besides
when it was required.
3. What kinds of books did you enjoy when you were very young?
a. When I was young I really enjoyed fantasy. I read the Chronicles of Narnia series and
also the Eragon series.
4. Describe your most vivid memory of reading at any age.
a. My most vivid reading memories would be when I was in 7th grade and we were
assigned the Hunger games. I remember picturing everything going on in the book so
vividly.
5. Describe your most vivid memory of writing at any age.
a. I never wrote for fun when I was a kid, but I think my most vivid writing I did would
be the research essay I wrote on the Stanford Prison experiment. I just remember this
very well because I really enjoyed writing about this topic.
6. Describe your earliest memory of reading?
a. My earliest memorie of reading was The Foot book by Dr. Suese. I read that book over,
and over until I had it memorized.
7. Describe your earliest memory of writing?
a. My earliest memory of writing was also The Foot book. I copied it down word for
word and gave it to my parents and said I read it.

8. What sense did you get, when you were young, of the value of reading and writing? From
whom?
I only thought the stories from reading or being read to were fun. I never wrote unless I had
to for school, and I never found it fun.
9. What frustrated you about reading and writing as you progressed through school?
a. I was frustrated by reading when I was young because I was very slow and not very
good at it, writing never frustrated me, it was just boring, but I was always good at just
spitball writing and getting away with it.
10. What pleased you about reading and writing as you progressed through school?
a. Nothing. I hated both of them, and I never was someone that enjoyed any part of
English classes.
11. What kind of reading do you most commonly do now?
a. I only read when required for class, or tweets.
12. What kind of writing do you do most commonly now?
a. I only write when required for class, or for social media
13. If you weren't in school, what would you read for pleasure?
a. Only social media
14. If you weren't in school, what would you write for pleasure?
a. Only social media
15. Where do you think your feelings about and habits of writing and reading come from? What in
your past has affected what you choose to read/write and whether or not you enjoy
reading/writing?
a. I think that I dont enjoy writing and reading because I never did it consistently when I
was young, and because of that I was never very good at those things. This I believe is
why I have such negative feelings towards reading and writing today.
16. What people in your life have influenced your reading and writing development in a positive
way? List all that apply. For each, briefly describe their contribution. (DONT JUST CIRCLE.
LIST AND DESCRIBE PEOPLE.)
Parent(s) my mom made learning to write fun, as well as reading fun. She would read
stories to me and then as a I got older I read to her. This was always fun for me.
Grandparent(s) lived to far away
Sibling(s) no older siblings

Playmate(s) or Classmate(s) - Never shared reading and writing experiences with clas
mates or friends

Preschool teacher(s) I dont remember preschool

K-12 teacher(s) _ When I was young we got credit for each book we read and got to
put a cut out husky on the wall cause we were watching the Iditarod because our
mascot was the husky.
Other?
17. Briefly describe how each person you chose in the previous question influenced your reading
and writing development in a positive way.

a. My mom made reading fun and interesting, and my elementary school pushed me to
read because I had an incentive
18. What one person in your life has MOST influenced your reading and writing development in a
positive way? Choose one.
Father
Mother
Grandfather
Grandmother
Sibling
Classmate or playmate
Preschool teacher
K-12 teacher
Other?
19. Briefly describe how the one person you chose in the previous section has influenced your
reading and writing development in a positive way.
a. I chose my mom just cause reading stories with her was always so fun, and that was
the only time in my life I can really remember enjoying books.
20. What people in your life have negatively affected your reading and writing development?
Choose all that apply. List all that apply. For each, briefly describe their contribution. (DONT
JUST CIRCLE. LIST AND DESCRIBE PEOPLE.)
Parent(s)
Grandparent(s)
Teacher(s) Always making reading so complicated that it took all the fun out of it.
Sibling(s)
Classmate(s) or playmate(s)
Other?
21. Briefly describe how the people you chose in the previous question have negatively affected
your reading and writing development.
a. I chose my teachers because they over complicate things I was already not interested
in, which really turned my off from wanting to have anything to do with books in my
free time.
22. What one person in your life has MOST negatively affected your reading and writing
development? Choose one.
Father
Mother
Grandfather
Grandmother
Teacher
Sibling
Classmate or playmate
Other?

23. Briefly explain how the person you chose in the previous question MOST negatively affected
your reading and writing development.
a. I chose my teachers because they sucked all the fun out of stories and made reading
and writing a task I was so clearly not as good as I should be. And with writing even
when I was proud of my writing, they could always find something wrong with it
24. Describe a time when you were either proud or embarrassed by your ability to communicate.
Why? Who was involved?
a. I remember a time In middle school where I was asked to read for the class, and I was
tripping over my words because I was nervous and a slow reader and my teacher told
me to stop and read it herself.
25. Do you consider your literacy skills better/worse than those of others? Whose? Why?
a. I think I would consider myself worse than most people at literacy skills. I cant spell
well, my grammar is usually not correct, Im a very slow reader, and reading
comprehension was awful on the SAT. My mom has always had really good literacy
skills, so I would think it would have come more naturally to me, but it just never did.