Tag: literacy narrative

Credit: Success Academy Official Website Young kindergartner reading a classic childhood book, highlighting the expectation that Success places on young children.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The alarm went off at 6 AM every morning, pulling my mom out of sleep before the sun could fully rise. She would rush into the room, nudging me and my siblings awake, her shouting would slap the grogginess out of our eyes as she reminded us to shower and get dressed. Within an hour, we were lined up by the door, waiting for our turn for her to lather baby oil on each of our faces, and come together in a circle to say our grace before we left our apartment. We then made our daily 10 minute commute by walking to our elementary school: Success Academy Bronx 2. Which is known for being one of the strictest schools in New York City as they pushed for early mastery of every subject, especially reading and writing. Those mornings set the tone for what Success Academy expected of us — discipline, punctuality, and structure. Reading and writing were treated with the same urgency as those early wake-ups: something you had to do with no excuse. At the time, I didn’t think of reading as a way to explore or writing as a way to express myself. Instead it felt like a routine I had to master, just like the schedule of my mornings.  At Success Academy Bronx 2 Elementary, the pressure to master reading and writing showed up in every aspect of the school day. Aside from the daily reading logs and complex writing assignments, the most nerve-wracking experiences were the random reading tests. At any moment during the school day, a teacher would pull you out of class to sit you down in a private room to read aloud. The books were labeled by levels, starting with A and progressing all the way to Z. You had exactly four years, from kindergarten to fourth grade, to reach level Z; otherwise, you couldn’t be promoted to middle school. As a kid, the stakes felt very high, which made my relationship with reading and writing seem more like a chore rather than something to love and enjoy. Reading, at the time, wasn’t seen as something for my curiosity or enjoyment but rather survival in a system that measured your intelligence based on the alphabet. Each test made me aware of how I pronounced words and how fast I read. While it taught me discipline and the importance of practice, it also made reading feel like a race against time, where falling behind meant you were not just failing yourself but also failing to meet the school’s expectations. My relationship with reading and writing started to shift once I stopped conforming to the expectations placed on me by Success.  One of the biggest turning points in how I interrupted words was when I joined a summer debate program. At first, I was scared of speaking and having to argue with strangers but it forced me to research, read and break down articles that would help me build arguments, and write with a purpose that wasn’t about following a rubric. I started to see writing as a way to convince and connect people and not just a way to earn a grade. Later, I joined an Afrobeats dance group that gave me another perspective. Even though dancing isn’t a traditional form of reading and writing, music and dancing taught me that expression could be rhythmic. This same idea of rhythm began to blow in my essays and writing prompts, where I found myself writing with more of a flow, almost like telling a story rather than blatantly answering a question, Even now, in this very essay, I’m structuring my writing like a narrative, beginning with the onomatopoeia of an alarm clock to emphasis my stressful mornings of my Success academy childhood and moving through the stages of how I grew up.     Looking back, my journey with reading and writing has been shaped by discipline, going against the norms set on me, and rhythm. Success Academy was pivotal in my journey and gave me a foundation built on structure and mastery, but it also made literacy feel like a strict routine that everyone had to survive to be successful. Later in middle and high school, I began to see how reading and writing could be more interpretive and creative, not just about hitting a standard. And outside the classroom, with the help of debate and Afrobeats, I discovered that my words could carry rhythm, which has shaped the way I read and write forever.

My first day of school, like many others, began with crying for my parents who left me in a strange place surrounded by other crying children. Over time, however, I and all the other crying children eventually caught on to why we were here. We had just begun our educational journey of learning many crucial skills that we would need for the rest of our social and academic lives. Out of all of those skills we would soon develop, the most important were reading and writing. Once these skills were developed, they would be used for the rest of our lives, whether it be to read the morning newspaper or to write our name at the top of an assignment.  At the beginning of my educational journey, the path to developing my reading and writing skills was not the smoothest. I entered kindergarten with no background experience nor knowledge of the English language. Having only ever spoken Spanish up to that point, I knew I would have to put in double the effort to develop these crucial skills. For most of my kindergarten year, I would practice speaking English to friends and family until I eventually got it down. After that I spent the next couple years of my elementary school learning how to read and write English. I was put down for every and any tutoring session taking place at my elementary school so I could have the maximum amount of support. Along with the frequent tutoring sessions, I was put in English as Second Language(ESL) classes where I was given extra support. As time passed, so did my comprehension of these skills grow, until eventually I was able to read and write just like my peers. Since I had to put in double the time and effort to learn a skill that came much easier to them, it created a sense of pride in my childlike mind. Despite having come into school greatly behind compared to other students, I had put in time and occasional tears of annoyance to have these fundamental skills I knew I could rely on for the rest of my life. 

Entering middle and high school, I held a sense of confidence and eagerness to put my reading and writing to use and expand them even more. As time passed, these skills were definitely put to the test. No longer was I reading picture books that consisted of a handful of words. Now I was diving into pictureless books that held what felt like obscure and complex meanings. I was expected to read passages that held meanings I couldn’t decipher and worse to write essays about that meaning. That once giddy and eager feeling that I associated with reading and writing was long gone. Now I was being presented with daily passages that felt indecipherable and a major hassle. Even so, I knew I could navigate through this new style of reading and writing with the right amount of commitment. I pushed my writing skills by digging deeper and picking out what the author of these passages was truly trying to say. After repeated effort, my reading skills developed a new perspective towards these passages. I now saw these words and stories as windows to different unseen perspectives. My understanding of what my reading and writing skills offered expanded from only being used to read or write children’s tales to articles discussing real world issues and passages that brought upon deep complex thoughts. Now I could use my skills of reading to deepen my own knowledge of real life situations. Even more, I could now use my writing skills to project my own thoughts and ideas of what I’ve read and express myself in a new productive way.  Now having a good amount of exposure to both fictional entertainment based stories and complex forms of writing crafted by researchers or poets, I use my reading and writing abilities to their fullest potential. In today’s age, where changes are happening all around us, I make sure to read and keep up with these complex changes and use my writing ability to voice these complex topics in hopes of educating those around me. The effort it took to develop the skills I have today has fueled my passion to use them to their best potential by reading relevant passages that allude to modern day issues. Through my comprehension of these topics, I not only educate myself but also those around me through my ability to express myself through writing. While my writing isn’t as complex or revolutionary as passages I’ve read, I use my ability of expression to share what I’ve learned of world history and matters to share and educate those who don’t use their reading skills to empower themselves.