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Emergent - infancy
When I was an infant, my grandmother used to spend a lot of time reading with me. I loved reading books before bed time. At my grandmother's house it was always one of The Little Golden Books. This was a great opportunity for me to unwind at the end of the day and develop a sense of literacy. This helped prepare me for school because I was already familiar with story-telling and the understanding of how books are read. -
Emergent - Home Life
When I was a young child, my mother was a single mother. It was important to her I was ready for school so we did a lot of nonfiction books about the world. We did this because I could easily do them alone or with her. Since there were a lot of pictures and they were labeled it gave me a chance to start learning words. This gave me an advantage because I could recognize some words once I was in school. This also helped me understand letter sounds because I could recognize /s/ went with shark. -
Emergent - Preschool
I went to a church preschool, so we worked with a lot of biblical stories for kids. Since this was so important to my family, it easily became important to me and gave me motivation to really try to comprehend and understand what I read. This gave me the opportunity to understand applying reading for questions and activities. This was the first time I experienced reading as something other than just for pleasure and quiet time. In preschool, reading was used for a purpose. -
Beginning - Primary
Once I entered school, I loved story time. Watching my teacher read with expression was something I really enjoyed. I struggled however with comprehension. This was something that worried my parents and caused me to feel I was not a good reader. The reactions that came from my parents made me not enjoy reading independently because it became a chore that I felt unsuccessful with. I was successful with saying the words, but wasn't retaining the information. -
Beginning - Home Life
Because of the emphasis of things happening at school, my parents really stressed me reading at home. I wanted to continue to please my parents, so I kept trying my hardest. My parents made reading into an activity that was no longer enjoyable. I had all of these assignments after reading to prove I understood and they would become frustrated with me when I didn't understand. This caused me to bring a frustration into the classroom when it was time to read. -
Transitional - Intermediate
Once I entered intermediate grades, our focus was on book reports. Almost every month, we had to read a book and then turn in a book report. In the beginning I liked this because we were able to pick a book of choice to read and then write about. Eventually it became boring, until one day my teacher allowed us to videotape our report opposed to writing it. This was a lot of work, but was something I could do with family and gave me a chance to show them what I could do. (continue on next post) -
Transitional - Home Life
Being able to video tape myself as a book report showed my family how capable I am. This gave them a new appreciation for my ability and helped me build my confidence in my abilities as a reader. With growing confidence at home, I was able to finally push myself to become better on my own time again. I finally was reading for pleasure again and growing as a reader. -
Transitional - Daycare
Once I got to be one of the "older kids" at daycare, I took on a new role. I became a "mini teacher", I would take other children and help them all around the daycare. I would help them with their work and tried to look out for them. This gave me confidence and helped me really deepen my understanding. I was able to look deeper into books and understanding their purpose. -
Adolescent - Middle School
In middle school I found my love and appreciation for books. In middle school, I met my favorite book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. This series gave me a chance to understand who I was as a reader. This was the first time I opened my eyes to books that were challenging for me that were outside of my normal genre. I had previously been exposed to "girl" books, never mystery. I became obsessed and read every book in the series. This opened me to reading books that I hadn't read before. -
Adolescent - Home Life
At home, I found a new type of book I enjoyed reading. I loved reading Chicken Noodle Soup books. They were a great pleasure read. It helped me see myself in the world. It also wasn't ever overwhelming. I could pick and choose how long I wanted to read because each story was short. I remember sitting on the porch reading and getting lost in time. This helped me in school because reading became fun, it became something I was good at, something I could help others see the enjoyment in. -
Adolescent - High School
High school was a time I enjoyed reading, and found I wasn't as great at writing. I was pushing myself into honors classes where the reading material became dull. One of my teachers worked hard to get us interested in what we were learning. She had us use multiple media to present and learn. This made me engaged and brought me a great understanding as to why an author may choose a technique. This helped me understanding writing and helped me become a better author in return. -
Adult - Undergraduate Career
Going into college, I felt I could take on the world. Once I started, and I saw the rigor that came in college reading I was quickly intimidated. Reading took a 180, and I felt like that little kid in elementary school not understanding what I was reading. That's when I had to learn ways to effectively understand what I was reading. Reading to understand is something I have learned you never master. There is always a harder text and you have to have strategies to help you conquer them. -
Adult - Family and Friends
As an adult, my friends and I enjoy reading books that we see movie trailers that we like. We will read the book and go see the movie together after. Every single time we always agree we like the book more than the movie. This is something I have since done with my students. Last year, we read Because of Winn DIxie, they were so upset when they saw things being represented inaccurately or changed. You become so invested in the book it really effects you. -
Reflection - Student teaching
As a student teacher I was able to experience teaching in small group. I knew how it felt to struggle, but to be succeeding beyond your grade level was not my expertise. I worked with students that were above grade level and I focused on discussing what we had read. Having an opportunity to discuss those higher level questions really helped me see the other side of the spectrum that does not get the attention it deserves. -
Adult - Home Life
As an adult I have found a new appreciate for libraries. I never remember visiting when I was a kid, and now as an adult having an endless amount at my fingertips is exhilarating. I find myself asking others for recommendations, reading for pleasure when I can, reading to unwind again. I see myself rewinding the clock. I will read before bed and read on the porch and lose track of time. Reading for pleasure now helps me bring pleasure to my students when they see my feelings towards reading. -
Reflection - First Year
As a first year teacher, I came to a class that was mostly performing below grade level and a huge disinterest in reading. I knew how they felt because that's how I felt at that time. I knew my goal was to make them enjoy reading. We did read alouds, because I knew how much I loved it. Seeing their reactions, hearing their predictions, having them respond to the stories made them a better reader. Students were so involved and motivated to read and were exposed to books outside of their "norm". -
Reflection - Current Teaching
There are a lot of things I take into my classroom from my childhood. I want families to make reading important, so I check and enforce a reading log every night. I think it is a time to grow as well as a time to bond. I find opportunities to make reading the way I enjoyed it. One thing in specific I like to do is have an opportunity to read something they wrote to kindergarteners at our school. It shapes them and gives them confidence and helps kindergarteners with role models. -
Reflection - Current Teaching continued
Since I enjoyed A Series of Unfortunate Events, every year I have read aloud some of the books. I feel like mystery books are very underrated in my curriculum. My students come to me enjoying books about the world and realistic fiction, but have a gap with mystery. Every year my students have loved A Series of Unfortunate Events because it keeps them wanting more. I have found asking them to predict, ask them to understand a character, and clarifying what has happened heightens comprehension. -
Reflection - Novice Teacher
In my last three years, I have worked hard to think about how I explain to parents their child as a reader. Because of the experience I had as a child, I think carefully before labeling a child and their difficulties. I try to find ways that reading is fun where parents can still help their child. I always try to give parents a good idea of their child and their strengths as well as areas of improvement. I want parents to celebrate the success more then they stress the weaknesses.
