My Literacy Memoir

While reflecting on my own thoughts and experiences involving traditional literacy and my understanding of literacy, I have realized that I have personally been lucky enough to be able to encounter the transition of traditional literacy to multiliteracies. Fortunately, I have grown up in a world where I have noticed how technology has transformed the way people communicate and understand one another. We live in a world today that is more connected than it has ever been. How? One word, technology. In the rest of my memoir, I will recall on my own experiences regarding literacy in a personal and educational setting, as well as how my perspective on literacy has changed over time while becoming literate in modern literacies.

I am a big believer in how one’s own experiences of life plays a tremendous role in how one may look at and view situations. I was fortunate enough to grow up with two parents that had college degrees. They also had encouraged the importance of reading at a young age. My most memorable experiences of traditional literacy are my parents reading to me as a child. Thinking back, children’s books used images and sometimes sounds as a way to help kids comprehend new thoughts and ideas. At a young age, I used symbols to learn and give meaning to new concepts.

My institutional educational experiences over the years have undeniably allowed me to recognize how literacy has changed over the last decade or so. I did not know it at the time, but more modern literacies were beginning to evolve around the time I started grade school. My educational experiences involved seeing how technology was being integrated more into the school system. In elementary school, our teachers were using computer games for learning in different subjects, such as math or reading. Digital literacy was incorporated as we listened to songs and watched videos while learning new topics. As I moved on into high school, we were given Chrome books as a way to enhance our learning in the classroom. Speeches were not just standing in front of the class talking for 10 minutes. Teachers instructed students to use Microsoft PowerPoint as a way to make presentations for our speeches.

Lastly, it has been even more interesting to reminisce on the transformation of traditional literacy to multiliteracies as I have grown up. Once again, technology has had such an impact in our world that I have noticed how it has changed my life personally as well. One of my most defining moments of becoming more literate in modern literacies was when I got my first cell phone. In 6th grade, I began to notice that texting was much different than writing a paper for school. I learned that I didn’t have to be as proper while texting, there were new acronyms created to represent multiple words, and even symbols were used to represent feelings (smiley face/sad face). Another defining moment of my experiences involving the use of modern literacies would be the role of social media. Social media has had an overwhelming impact in our world. Today, it feels like almost everyone’s lives and understanding of literacy involves social media. For example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are all platforms that use different types of literacy (ex: visual and digital literacy) to assist with bringing meaning and interpretation of information. Social media platforms are also a way for people to communicate their views and voice their own opinions. As you can see, my experiences with traditional and modern literacies has definitely influenced my understanding and perspectives on literacy in the last decade.