Essay #2 Spelling Bee (The Power of Literacy)

I have learned a lot from people and the world around me but it wasn't until the age of seven that I actually learned the true power of literacy. I spent most of my childhood as a little girl being very quite and shy. I didn't speak much to others and mostly kept to myself. Being so shy and looking so young kept me from interacting with other kids. Between the ages of three and six I didn't say a word, that is until I had to. I spent a lot of time observing other kids rather than talking to them. For me this was the easiest way to learn, and to not get picked on by the other kids. Also this always gave me the opportunity to gain more insight on a situation and learn from it . If I had the bravery to talk, then I would know what to say without embarrassing myself; always think before you speak.

Even though I didn't speak much I usually spent a good portion of my time thinking and daydreaming. I always completed my work and usually did more than asked. At times I was a little disruptive in class but that's because no one usually noticed me. At that age I didn't really pay attention to the problems that other kids were having because I never had no problems, so honestly I didn't really know what it meant to have trouble with school. My mom usually spent no time with me when it came to any kind of school work. When I needed help with anything in particular I could never turn to her because she was preoccupied with her partying and was usually never around. So I did what I supposed to do; I did all my homework by myself and went to school everyday. Not knowing that I had a gift of any kind I usually spent a lot of time reading and writing. I loved to write a lot usually it was just a bunch of nonsense because at that age what can you really be writing about? So not interacting with kids gave me a lot of time to just think as well and come up with random ideas for writing you know kids stuff.

It wasn't until the age of seven that I realized the true meaning of literacy, it was second grade and I was extremely terrified. I remember it was only a few weeks in to the school year and one of the faculty members came to our classroom to talk to the teacher about a spelling bee the school was having.I didn't have a clue what the hell a spelling bee was, so I didn't really pay to much attention to what they were talking about. The very next couple of days were spent testing kids on how well they could spell. I remember when they came to our class room, I will never forget that day. They were making kids get up in front of the class room and spell out words to see if they were capable of knowing how. The first thing that ran through my mind was " No way am I getting up in front of class to spell". So if you could of imagined I was very terrified and frightened. Just thinking about what I was going to spell was scary, let alone to be able to spell correctly without embarrassing myself.

So I watched and observed other kids with the words that were being presented to them and come to my surprise half of these kids did not know how to spell. Where did that leave me? This is all I could think of, there was a reason why I had been so quite all this time. I didn't believe I was the smartest kid nor did I even know what it meant to be smart. So this was it, my name was called "Michele Dolstad will you please stand up". So I stood and was asked to spell my word out and I did. It didn't stop from there it seemed there wasn't a word that I couldn't spell. There were only a few kids that made it past the first ten words and for others they didn't even make it past the first five. The idea was to see who could spell the best and who could go the longest. So the more words they kept giving me the more I kept spelling them correctly and there was no stopping me. It came to a point where they had to stop me some where, but it wasn't cause of the fact that I couldn't spell anything. After testing every second grader in the school there was only one other student that could spell as well as I did and they were soon to be the enemy. So there I was only seven years old and I discovered that I had a talent; I was smart whatever that meant. This also meant that I had to get up in front of the whole school and do exactly what we did in class. This was intense for me and I wasn't so sure I could go through with it. Here I had spent this whole time not saying a word and the minute I open up my mouth there it is. All the attention was drawn on me exactly what I was trying to avoid in the first place, it was the scariest thing I had ever done in the whole seven years of my life.

That night eventually came around and it was scheduled event for everyone to come and enjoy. Everyone and their parents were there and all the staff and faculty were there as well, rearing up and waiting to go. I was so nervous and had never been that scared in my life. There were a few other kids that were going to go before me, the few that made it through the first stage . As I watched I grew less nervous, thinking "I can do this". "I got myself here in the first place and I didn't even mean to". Also because recognizing what I had was empowering and I was excited to use it. From there I watched as each kid failed miserably but at least they tried, then came my time, and I was up against a line of kids. I made it through the first set of words with flying colors, but it was the next set of words that made me nervous. Only because as we progressed into the next set of words they just got bigger. So far I was still left standing and it seemed know one could out spell me, that is up until I was faced against the other kid that could spell just as well as I did. There we were across from each other and all I could think of is "where is my mom and how could I win this with out no support"? I didn't even know I had the capabilities in the first place. So then we started and they were throwing words at us like it was nothing. The more words I spelt right the more confident I became. Then something happened and I went blank, we must have went through more than 74 words face to face before I drew a complete blank. There it was, they gave a word I simply could not spell and it was a big word. Now here is the thing if this happens then they give the other kid that very same word and if he doesn't spell it correctly then we move on, and of he does spell it right then he wins. Sure enough he actually spelt the word right and I was in immediate shock. Only because I had it locked in my mind that I knew I could Winn this but sure enough I didn't ,instead I took runner up which was second place.

I don't think I have ever been so proud of myself, in that very moment I knew what the true power of literacy meant to me. I felt different some how, learning that I had a talent becasue I never talked in the first place. I beleive that observation can teach you a lot, the power of words as well can be quite empowering. Knowing something that not everyone else knows can also leave a feeling of empowerment . From that very day I was determined to suceed at anything especially when it came to schooling. From there Icontinued to do quite well in school like always. That following year I became an honor student and student of the month twice which was usually a hard one to make. I started to spend more time reading and writing, and eventually joined the schools reading team "Books across America". I started to speak up a little bit more, once I learned the empowerment of voice. Last but not least I was finally able to make perfect attendance, once my mom stopped moving me around. So this is literaly what started my quest for knowledge and recognized what the power of literacy was.