Story Told by Others

In most occasions in literature a piece will display the author of the works name and we tend to believe this is their views or the way they crafted it is from their perspective. However, like a house or another piece of architecture, these writers literacy skills as well as views are crafted and built through their own life experiences and literacy sponsors throughout their lives (Brandt 73). I have experienced many literacy sponsors in my own life, whether it be events or people, they each have affected my writing in some way. My earliest memories of literacy sponsors would probably be people like my close family, my fourth grade teacher, and the fun times as a kid on the playground that affected my imagination as well as writing skills. This soon transitioned into high school where I began to enjoy writing because of my junior to senior year English teacher Mr. Ernst who influenced my writing and truly helped craft me as writer along with my social interactions with my friends. My current influences have stemmed from this interaction as well. I now also believe that life experiences as an “adult” have also been a literacy sponsor to me as well. All of these events as well as influential people have been major literacy sponsors and have crafted me into the writer that I am today.

My first memories of reading and writing stem from memories with my grandmother, who would watch me on weekdays while my parents were at work. She would help me learn how to read the Bible as well as little kids’ stories crafted by Dr. Seuss and many other children focused story writers. She taught me how to hold a pencil properly, which is a somewhat key part in the writing process. These little things that many wouldn’t even think of as influential are probably my first occurrences with a literacy sponsor. What is even more interesting is the fact that everyone starts off this way no matter who they are. They may not be reading the same books or be taught by their grandmother, but in one way or another everyone starts their literacy adventure by learning the basics and having a literacy sponsor to help introduce and instruct them into the world of literature and basic writing skills.

Your first literacy sponsors are vital to your literacy career in the present as well as the future. They can teach you skills that you may need in the present time, but life lessons that will last you a lifetime and can even be the basis for a future paper. Just as I am writing this paper about my past literacy sponsors for my writing and rhetoric class and you can see the impact they have had on my life and writing career. This shows the correlation between a person’s personal experiences and their writing, and in most occasions the same literacy sponsors that affect one’s paper or other piece of literature tend to be the same people that affect that person’s life the most. These early life experiences that form the foundations of my writing skills and introduced me to my first literacy sponsors are some of the biggest influencers within my writing in the present day.

My early life experiences that influenced my writing after these basic skills and base literacy sponsors are probably common for most kids. I had a teacher, some memories with childhood friends during recess, and the family members that I saw everyday. During this time many of my memories of writing and reading were simple. We would read the assigned books and write the small papers that were introductions and stepping stones to our later works. I also tended to read small books with a splash of comedy such as The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and other “fun” books. These influenced my light tone in writing and my sense of humor in life and literature. My fourth grade teacher furthered this light tone with his own and illustration of writing through his way of speaking to us as a class which was a simple, eased tone. My family and friends were also huge literacy sponsors in my early stages of writing. Seeing them everyday and interacting with them helped me form a friendly tone in my writing and gave me ideas for stories and comparisons that I could use in my writing. These early influences from literacy sponsors laid the foundation for my later literacy pieces.

High school was where my writing skills tremendously improved and my interest for writing heightened. Mr. Ernst, my English teacher from 11th to 12th grade, was a major literacy sponsor. He showed me the importance of word choice and made writing and reading fun, which is a talent only the best teachers have. My friends and the experiences I had with them throughout what many call “the best years of your life” also were literacy sponsors. During this time, however, we created many different types of literature from persuasive essays to poems. I enjoyed persuasive essays the most out of these because of the ability to state a point then back it up with facts and prove your point. I also thoroughly enjoyed literature examination papers and the process of analyzing different literary pieces and noticing the similarities and the understanding of the plot. We crafted many papers in my years in high school but because of my friends and Mr. Ernst these papers had a specific influence from them and I truly believe it showed in my work.

These past literacy sponsors lead directly to my current literacy sponsors. They influenced my writing and lifestyle which has put me in the place where I am today. The place where I am today is my primary literacy sponsor. The people that I call my closest friends have helped craft the works that I do no matter the assignment. These works are labeled with my name but it was the many people and events throughout my life that were literacy sponsors that helped me construct these pieces. My daily life is my current literacy sponsor as each day I experience new emotions and events that influence of literacy skills and help mold me as a person and a writer. These experiences are major literacy sponsors and I believe they will also later influence my writing and help improve my literacy skills. From social media sites such as twitter and instagram, that affect my knowledge of slang as well modern culture, to the reading assignments for college courses, each has an effect on my writing.

All of these experiences combined form me as a writer, the many people and the surrounding environment showed me the writer that I am and created the writing style that you see throughout my pieces. I may be the one composing the work of literature and crafting the sentences that you may read, but there is more to it than me pressing letters on a keyboard or putting the pencil to paper. The people that affected my writing skills and my life are the ones who helped me form these literary pieces. The views as well as the sides that I take on certain topic are mine but they are formed by the combination of the many literacy sponsors that have touched me throughout my life. I continue to expand my knowledge of this world and improve my literacy skills every day as I meet new literacy sponsors, and this will continue to help me as a writer as well as a person.

Literacy sponsors start from a young age. You learn the basics from your first literacy sponsor no matter who or what it is as many do, and from there your creativity and writing skills are blossomed and changed throughout your life. Literacy sponsors can be people that play major roles in your life like a teacher or family, or they can be a certain event or series of events that you experience daily and show you who you truly are as a person and a writer, which in the end should correlate. My early experiences with a teacher’s soft tone, my family and friends, and old games of tag in a rubber pellet covered surface playground were major literacy sponsors for me then and even now as they laid the foundation for my current writing. My best friends as well as a teacher who truly cared about writing and the importance of making literature fun furthered the craft of my writing skills and these literacy sponsors helped me to enjoy writing. Now, my daily life has been a literacy sponsor as everyday new experiences show me new ways to learn as well as new ways to craft sentences that explain how I feel. These stages throughout my life have shown me who I am as a writer, and my literacy sponsors show the readers of my literary compositions who I am as a writer through their influences.

Works Cited

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” College Composition and Communication, vol.49, no.2, May 1998, pp. 165-85