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In the beginning
Thinking to way back when to one of my initial literacy moments of life I recall my grandparents and their sophisticated collection of books. Before we knew how to read, my grandparents would let us tear through their endless book collection in search for the story of the day. My grandpa would read the book aloud to all of us cousins inserting silly sentences of his own just to see if we would catch him. By having a wide variety of texts my grandparents house was a good example of the text T. -
EARL day
I had the adavantage of attending the best elementary school in the Mid-West, Reddick grade school. Once a month in 2nd and 3rd grades the students grandparents were invited to the school so that we could read to them. After we read the grandparents were incouraged to talk to us and ask us questions about the book. I believe this is a good example of Allington's talk T. We had the opportunity to communicate with people from a different generation which in turn leads to different conversations. -
Reading motivator
One month out of year my fabulous elementary school would put on a reading motivator. The month was themed and the goal was to read a certain amount of minutes each week to a grand total at the end of the month. At the end of each week then at the end of the month we celebrated our reading! In a way I feel this strategy targeted the "task." We read what we wanted but had to be held accountable for it by being able to write a short summary afterwards. -
Video clips and journals
My 3rd grade teacher made writing fun for all of us! A couple times a week we would watch a Disney sing-a-long and she would have a prompt that went along with and we would journal about it. Although it is dated now, she was incorpurating technology into our writing program and we were hooked! She also channeled "time" from the t's by using what time we had wisely. Not a minute was wasted durng this activity. We watched, wrote, and shared, if we'd like, afterwards. -
Jodi Picoult
High school was when I was introduced to Jodi Picoult and reading for enjoyment. Her novels were like a ride on an emotional roller coaster. Up until this point I related reading with school and learning for school purposes. After reading Nineteen Minutes, and crying ike a baby, I began to think of reading as a mental escape or a brain vacation. Choosing what to read can be like taking your brain on a mini vaction to wherever the book may lead! -
Vamos fugir!
During my junior/senior year of high school I studied abroad in Brazil. I strongly believe here is where a large majority of my literary history came together. Living in a new country forced me to become literate in not only Portuguese but in a new culture, in my own culture, in map reading, becoming a food critic, literacy in dance, in public transportation, in body language and tone of the voice, most importently literate in respect and gratitude. -
Forging elite fitness
In 2012 I was on the hunt for a healthier lifestyle and I came across Crossfit. As a former swimmer I had to learn all the new lingo that encompassed Crossfit. In time I began to change my eating habits as well and finally could call myself nutrition label literate. Literacy in fitness and nutrition is a difficult to conquer but I believe it is also one of the most important literacies! I would consider it a task in Arllington's dimension of literacy since it is best learned through practice. -
Steuben stars
Before making the decision to carry on my education I worked in an elementary school as a bilingual paraprofessional. Here I learned how to become professionally literate. Communicationg via email, attending workshops and meetings, and learning how to collaborate with other professionals were all things I learned during my time as a paraprofessional. Professional work place literacy is something I had no experience with and I would say it covers the teach, task and talk T's. -
Reflection
After a look through of my own timeline I see variety as a pattern in my literacy history. In Arllington's 6 T's having a variety of texts was one of the techniques to best educate our students. I see that through most of my elementary years we were encouraged to read anything and everything. Readin in general was praised and our school and classroom libraries were chalk full of variety. Another pattern in my timeline is culture. As a bilingual educator it will continue to play a big role!
