Jonathan Calderon 9/21/13 Literacy Memoir Jonathan Calderon 9/21/13 Literacy Memoir Literacy Memoir

Comment [EG2]: Arial, size 12.

Comment [EG1]: Arial, size 12.

Honestly, I have no clue where to start. When I was young my parents bought me the entire Dr. Seuss's "Cat In The Hat" book collection, Which I or my parents would read to me every night. You could say that this , is where I got my literary start from. When I was young I loved reading the "Cat In The Hat" books because they would always make me laugh and I was always interesteding in with how the pictures looked throughout each book. So you could say that my literary start was just lie like Sherman alexiesAlexies, He was inspired to read by his parents just like I was. The fact that his dad loved to read and he had books surrounding him throughout his house as a child , it helped him learn to read as well as to learn to love it just like I did when I was younger. When I was a child my house was filled with books of all sizes and genres. If you ever saw my parents you would notice that they were always reading something, they would either have the newspaper or a magazine. They were always carrying some kind of reading on them, which is what made me want to read, I wanted to be just like my dad. For me, books were an escape from reality. They , it gave me the ability to travel around and see new places, or andit gave me the chance to dive into a whole new world where anything was possible.

Formatted: Highlight Comment [EG3]: No capital necessary. Comment [EG4]: I or my parents is incorrect. Whats another way you could phrase this? Formatted: Highlight

Comment [EG5]: Capitalize proper nouns: Alexie.

Comment [EG6]: Run-on. These are great thoughts. Separate them into two shorter sentences. Comment [EG7]: Repetitive. Find a different way to say when I was young or when I was a child. Formatted: Highlight

Jonathan Calderon 9/21/13 Literacy Memoir

I would have to say that fiction books are my favorite to read. I loved being able to travel across the universe on an adventure or even be a survivor living in a post apocalyptic world. When I was going elementary and middle school, I read a lot of the

R.L Steins "Goosebumps " books. I read these books whenever I could because they always had a creepy story line and they always had a crazy twist ending. If I couldTo compare it to something neow, I would think of it like the Twilight Zone T.V. show. He Stein always made you think one way about the story, and you thought you knew and what would happen next, but then he would throw a curveball and it would be the perfect endings to such a creepy story. Other then "Goosebumps" there was one book that I will never forget. It was a book by Philip Reeves called "Mortal Engines". It is about a post apocalyptic world that was caused through nuclear war called the "sixty minute war". Due to the ravaged planet and hostile terrain they developed cities that became giant vehicles and could travel across the service. Slowly as the planet renewed they still used these cities to travel and the only way to survive was to survive was to raid other moving cities and take their recourses. This book is filled with assassins, cities that could travel the land and float above the clouds. This book captured me and wouldnt let go, even though I was only in 5th fifth grade when I read it I couldnt put it down. I read all 293 pages of it before school ended the same day I checked it out.

Formatted: Font: Italic Formatted: Font: Italic

Comment [EG8]: than. Then = time. Than = comparisons. Comment [EG9]: Italicize titles of books, movies, plays, or other long form writings. Comment [EG10]: Italicize. Comment [EG11]: Italicize. Title case. Every word capitalized. Even if the font on the cover of the book is all lowercase.

Comment [EG12]: Great lines!! Exactly the kind of experiences I was looking for in this paper.

Jonathan Calderon 9/21/13 Literacy Memoir

Though I loved reading and was a fluent reader since I was very young, my writing on the other hand was never picture- perfect. When it comes to creative writing, or a timed essay on a prompt, I was never able to grasp my ideas well enough to put the them down on paper, I can however, easily write poetry. When given a topic, I can put pen to paper and the words will just flow out perfectly. I always loved poetry;, I enjoyed reading it through high school and writing poetry for class assignments.
Comment [EG13]: Nice!

My enjoyment of poetry is probably the reason why it is the only form of writing that I enjoy and I I can successfully do. I believe that throughout my educational career I was never taught how to actually sit down and write a paper. Yes, they explained formatting and what a reader would like to hear and see, but I never learned how to express my feelings and thoughts in my writing. I was taught how a sentenced should be formed, what it should contain, and how words could be replaced for bigger and "fancier" words. I learned how to use commas and periods, conjunctions and quotations, but I never learned how to put my feelings into writing. I was never shown what I was doing right, I was just told whether a "grader" would like it or not, even if this is how I wrote and tried to express myself. This is why I would choose writing a research paper over creative writing whenever I could. It is much easier to relay facts and to polish the paper to make it sound intelligent and well put. It is much easier to do that than to create a world, a fictional reality put in motion because I could never express those characters the way I wanted, I couldnt give them the motives or feelings to go on their own adventure that I created.
Comment [EG14]: What does this mean? Replace with a synonym. Comment [EG15]: Good paragraph! I agree, putting ones feelings and creativity into writing is very challengingbut thats also what makes it fun. Sometimes I think of it like world building or character creation in a video game.

Jonathan Calderon 9/21/13 Literacy Memoir

Writing has always been a challenge for me, I'm not sure if it's because I have a hard time putting words to paper or because writing is different from the way I speak or would give a presentation. In writing I can't put for that same emotion I can when I speak and present. For me, writing is a locked door and personal expression is the key. I was never given a key throughout life so now I'm locked out without a way in.
Comment [EG16]: forth Comment [EG17]: the. Its unclear what youre referring to with that.

Jonathan Calderon 9/21/13 Literacy Memoir

Jonathan, You express good ideas in this paper and move logically through each one of your points. The greatest challenge I see is your grammar. In particular: spelling errors, run-on sentences, and past/present tense confusion. Watch your tenses. As a general rule, you shouldnt switch between present and past tense in the same paragraph. As for your final points in the paper, I understand. It can be hard to feel like youre expressing yourself well in writing. Thats why you have to keep practicing. After all, you didnt speak perfect sentences the first time you tried to speak. You didnt walk perfectly the first time you stood up. Writing, like any other skill, requires practice. Keep practicing!