User:Jb177314/sandbox

Joe Bartolotta's Literacy Narrative

Early life
I was born on September 9th, 1996 at Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Ohio near Cleveland. I am the first child of my parents Mark and Suzanne. My father is a Lake County judge and My mother is a teacher at Arbor elementary. I also have a younger brother named Matthew. I grew up in Mentor Ohio and lived there until I moved to Athens Ohio in the fall of 2015 to attend Ohio University.

First Literacy Sponsor
I regard my mother as my first and primary literacy sponsor. Being an elementary school teacher, she taught me how to read and write from a very early age. According to my mom, when I was 18 months old I was eating a pretzel one day and showed it to her and said the letter "Y" because I bit the pretzel in such a way where it was in the shape of a "Y". This was the first time I ever identified a letter of the alphabet. By the time I was 19 months old I had learned every letter of the alphabet. Since my mom was off during the summers, most of my first summers were filled with educational activities because of her. She took me to story time at the library every week and gave me many literacy toys to play with at home such as magnetic letters, sidewalk chalk, a magnetic drawing board, a LeapFrog Leappad (kinda like that only mine wasn't pink), an Etch-A-Sketch, etc.

When my parents were growing up, they had many books in their households. As a result, they filled up our own house with countless books as well. It was normal for me to see my parents reading books in their free time, and having lots of books in the house just seemed like the norm. From an early age I recall my mother and father reading books to me everyday. My favorite books were Dr. Seuss books like Go, Dog. Go!, Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat among countless others. After my younger brother was born, I would practice reading my favorite books to him while we both stared at the pictures. I would play with the letter magnets on the fridge with my brother along with my other literacy toys and games. As a result of being the older brother, not only was I learning, but I was teaching what I learned to my brother whether at the time I knew it or not.

Formal Literacy Sponsors
At the age of 2, my parents sent me to Hershey Monterssori school in Concord Ohio. This was my first formal literacy sponsor. The Montessori school approach uses a constructivism (philosophy of education) technique, where the students learn concepts from working with materials more than from direct instruction. This helped strengthen my kinesthetic learning techniques even more. I still consider myself to be primarily a kinesthetic learner today.

I later began 1st grade at St. Gabriel school in Mentor and attended through 8th grade. At St. Gabriel, I was introduced to traditional schooling for the first time, learning to read and write in a more formal and practical setting. Throughout my grade school years I became more proficient in reading as well as reading out loud through the help of my teachers. In junior high I learned how to write papers and how to read for for research. After graduating from St. Gabriel, I attended Lake Catholic High School from 9th grade through 12th grade. In high school, I was able to focus in on my writing since I was required to write papers on a regular basis. I placed into the honors english course at Lake, where I was able to gain vital knowledge and skills that helped me distinguish myself as a writer. My english teacher, Mrs. Dinda, was also in charge of the writing lab in our school's library. The writing lab assisted students with writing and revising their papers. Having her as a resource, I was able to excel in her class and in my literacy; I even began to enjoy it.

Modern Literacy Sponsors
Throughout my life I have been exposed to many literacy sponsors that people of previous generations did not have access to. During my life I have had access to many modern literacy sponsors such as computers, the internet, cell phones, social media, Smart Boards, and other things of that nature. This all stems back to my parents being my most prominent literacy sponsors because of their socioeconomic success. Without their support financially, I may not've been fortunate enough to have these modern resources as literacy sponsors. (Thanks mom and dad.)

Impact
Due to the profound influence of my parents, I was able to become literate quite easily. As a young, developing child with a hunger for knowledge, my mother and father continuously fed my desire to learn at home, and outside the home. With their overwhelming influence and teachings, I was able to expand on my literacy abilities as I grew older and wiser. Without my parents' support, my sponsors would have been much different and my literacy could have suffered as a result. As I grow older, I can only hope that one day when I have kids of my own, I can be an exceptional literacy sponsor for them, just like my parents were for me.

Joe's Sponsors













Category:1996 births Category:English male writers