-
It Begins
On the afternoon of March 13, 1995, my literacy journey began!! -
Period: to
Bedtime Stories
Disney Storybooks Growing up, bedtime stories were something I always looked forward to every night before bed. I grew up with two older brothers and every night we would crawl into my bed and my parents would read us stories. We each got to choose one book to be read and then it was time for us to go to bed. I always chose something that was Disney related, as I love Disney. This is something I will never forget and a tradition I want to continue with my future children. -
Period: to
Technology Introduced
Kid Pix When I entered kindergarten, I realized there was so much more to literacy than reading and writing. Once a week, we would go to computer class where we learned basic skills and were able to play games. My favorite game to play was Kid Pix. It was an art program that when you opened it had only a blank white page that you could make it your own in every way possible. This is when I started to become technology literate. -
Period: to
Journals
Journal In first grade, my teacher, Ms. Meister, had us write in our journals every day for 10 minutes. At the beginning this made me nervous and I didn't appreciate it much. But now, I realize how important this was for my writing literacy. She would walk around willing to answer any spelling questions we had and correcting anything she noticed. We would then turn them in after each week and she would look over them in more depth and give us constructive critisicm back, which was helpful for me. -
Period: to
Chapter Books
Junie B. Jones During my first grade year I began reading small chapter books. My absolute favorite is Junie B. Jones. I own every single one and can't wait for the day I can read them to my future students and children. In second grade, I began reading bigger chapter books inspired by my teacher, Mrs. Keppler. Every morning during snack break, she would read to us. My interest in reading bigger chapter books came when she read us "Sideways Stories from Wayside School." I still read every chance I get. -
Period: to
Spelling
Spelling List In third grade we began in depth work for spelling tests. I always loved spelling test and they were something I looked forward to each week. One thing I didn't enjoy about spelling was each week we had to write each word 10 times and then put it into a sentence. I thought the repetition was a little extreme, but I am a pretty good speller today, so maybe it helped me more than I realized. -
Period: to
Accelerated Reader
A.R. ReaderSince I was a little girl, I have loved to read and still do to this day. This was something that was lucky for me in fourth grade. Each quarter, we had an amount of A.R. points we had to reach in order to get our grade for reading that quarter. At the end of the year, we had a huge auction where we could bid on things based off of how many A.R. points you had. I was one of the top 8 A.R. readers that year and had a lot of points to bid with at the auction. -
Period: to
Choir
Choir Singing Around fifth grade, I learned that literacy is more than reading, writing, and technology, and that it could involve fine arts. This is the year I began choir. Although I only stuck with it during junir high, it taught me a lot about literacy. My teacher began teaching us how to read music and it took me awhile to catch on, but she started slow. Gradully the music became more in-depth. Learning to read music helped both my reading and music literacies as they corresponded with each other. -
Period: to
411
School Newspaper In sixth grade, I took a class with Mrs. Mahr called 411. Each week, we distributed a newspaper. She began the elective off by teaching us writing skills for writing in a newspaper. This immensely helped my writing literacy. The thing I enjoyed most was she let us choose what we wanted to write about. I liked this because I feel that I am more passionate writing about something I enjoy than writing about something that I was forced to write about. I feel that this helped my writing skills. -
Period: to
Keyboarding
Keyboarding During sixth grade, I took a keyboarding class. In this class, I was able to further my technology literacy. At the time, I was familiar with how computers functioned, but was not the best typer. Each day we would do a program that timed us and figured out how many words we could correctly type. Shields covered our hands so that we couldn't cheat. As it progressed, we went from typing words to typing sentences. With our computer-based society today, I am very thankful for this class. -
Period: to
Book Nook
Cozy Book Nook During my seventh grade year, Mrs. Gudwinen had a very fun book nook project. During the span of this project, we were able to pick a chapter book from those that she had. We would read it each day until we finished. During class, we were able to bring pillows, blankets, snacks, drinks, and/or whatever we needed to be comfortable. We were paired up with a partner and after we read a book, we would penpal back and forth about it. I really liked this fun experience. -
Period: to
Skit
Performance Mrs. Gudwien also made me appreciate acting, another dimension of literacy, more than I thought I could. For another unit, we were paired in groups of 4-6 and we created a skit based off of what we were assigned to read. Then we presented our skit to the class. I didn't like getting up in front of the class, but since it was fun and I was with a group, I actually proved myself wrong and loved the project. It was nice that she took reading above and beyond reading than taking tests or quizzes. -
Period: to
Book Reports
Fun Books In eighth grade, we were required to present one book report once a month. But, it wasn't your typical book report. Some things I remember doing were using crafts to create a scene from the book, creating a CD, and creating a menu. I dreaded this when I first learned about it, even though I loved to read becuase I hated getting up in front of my peers, but since I was able to make it unique to myself it ended up being really fun. This helped me see my peers' books be brought to life. -
Period: to
Expanding Technology Even More
Microsoft Office My freshman year of high school, I took an elective class that helped me with my technology literacy even more. It dug deep into the roots of Microsoft and I was able to learn how to use Word, PowerPoint, and Excel to the fullest. This was helpful when it came to writing papers or doing projects for other classes because before this class, I knew the basics but I didn't know all that Microsoft had to offer. -
Period: to
Spanish
Espanol Throughout high school, my reading and writing literacies were pretty basic and typical. Each year we had to read assigned books, write papers, and write a research paper. At home, I continued to read every night since it was something I loved to do. During high school, I took Spanish all four years, which helped me with my literacy. I learned tricks in there to help me learn Spanish that could also work for English. I think Spanish helped me greatly with my reading, writing, and pronunciation. -
Period: to
Communication 110
Speech Freshman year I took the required communication course. I was so nervous for this class because I hate getting up in front of my peers. But, in order to have good literacy, you have to not only be able to read and write, but also speak. We were able to choose our topics so I was able to deliver on something that I felt passionate about, which really helped me to be a better public speaker and not feel as nervous about it. So looking back now, it's a great thing this class was required. -
Period: to
English 170: Children's Literature
Children's Literature My sophomore year of college I took children's literature. I was really excited going into the class because I love children's book. But, after the first day of class and seeing how in depth we were going to get I wasn't so excited after all. We took simple children's book that I had read when I was younger and dug deeper than I ever thought we could. I learned so much about children's literature that I never knew existed. In the end, I did like the class as I first had imagined. -
Here's To More
As imagined, literacy is a huge aspect of my life whether I realize it or not. As I have gotten older, my literacy has grown tremendously and I imagine it will only keep growing the older I get. So far aside from my reading and writing literacies, I have learned to be somewhat musically literate. a lot technology literate, and feel more comfortable with public speaking. I need literacy in my life or I wouldn't be able to be where I am or get where I'm going. Here's to more literacy!!
