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Birth
I was born on May 24, 1991 to parents Lauri and Brian Brady. I had one older brother Nathan, almost from birth, my parents read to me on a daily basis. -
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My Literacy Life
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Reading
As my mom is a registered ECE, literacy from a young age was always stressed in my family. ABC's, phonic cards, and letter recognition were games that we played all the time. -
Just like my brother
As soon as I began to talk, I wanted to be just like my older brother. He always read aloud with my mom and to me. I mimicked everything he did, and so I began to "read" my books from the time I was 18 months old. -
Kyle was Born
Once my younger brother Kyle was born, I always “read” to him, from memory because I knew the stories so well. Bearstein Bears and Robert Munsch books were always favourites in our family. -
First day of JK
By the time I began JK at the age of 4, I was reading beginner reader books and able to recognize most sight words. -
SK Graduation
At my SK graduation I received my first novel from my teachers as I had read every book in the classroom, multiple times. -
Love of Reading
My love of reading continued all through the primary grade and I continued to read both in school and at home for enjoyment sake.
Looking at this period of my life, and relfecting on it's mpact onto my future teaching, I feel that my love of reading derived frim my ability to read what interested me and what I enjoyed. As an educator I wanted to encourage my students to read anything and everything that interests them. -
Favourite books
Little House on the Praire, Full House, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Babysitters Club were among my favourite books in Grade 2 and 3. -
Grade 5
Grade 5 was a turning year for me as I had an extraordinary teacher who truly made an impact on me. She further developed my love of reading, and my love of languages.
This teacer, Mrs. Nathan, created a classroom environment that was extremely inclusive to all learners. Everyone was able to be themselves and were supported and encouraged to do so. -
Grade 5
In her class we were always challenged to achieve more, so we needed to work hard as students but were rewarded both intrinsically and extrinsically. As I look forward to my teaching career, I want to create this type of learning atmosphere for my students. I want my students to feel as though I am always there to support their learning by scaffolding and guiding their learning for them to be successful, but also that I challenge them to take ownership of their own learning. -
Grade 7/8
Once I hit grade 7 my love of reading changed a little. I had entered into the Extended French Program and my schoolwork was more challenging. I began to see reading as an activity I needed to do for school and not as much for pleasure. -
Grade 9/10
For the first two years of high school I read novels and works of literature solely for my English classes. I saw reading as a forced activity, and felt I had no time to read for pleasure. -
Grade 12
By the end of high school, I had begun reading again for fun. I loved reading outside in the sun, as an activity to relax. Nicholas Sparks books were my favourite at the time. -
Nipissing University
During my undergrad degree I was always very busy with textbooks and article readings. Sociology was a major that required a lot of reading and writing and I was always very consumed during the school year. -
Summertime Reading
Summertime was always my favourite during my university years as I had the time to read novels outside. The Twilight series and Hunger Games were series I read during my summers. Other books I enjoyed reading were newer Nicholas Sparks books and The Help. -
Nipissing Graduation
I graduated Nipissing University with a B.A Honours in Sociology and a Minor in French. Once my degree was completed I eagarly waited for September to start at Brock for my B.Ed, and finally become a teacher. -
Practicum 1
During my first placement I had the privilege of being in a grade 2/3 class. I had an amazing group of students and really got my first feel of actually teaching, and I LOVED it. During our Literacy block I was able to continue daily 5 routines that were already in place, and create my own mini writers workshop unit on Procedural Writing. I used a variety of teaching techniques learned in Language Arts class, to help my teaching of writing. -
Practicum 1
I began by modeling the correct way to write procedural pieces, allowed time for shared writing, and guiding writing, then once the students were ready I had them work independently on their writing. Through the strategies I learned in this class, I was able to confidently deliver a the beginings of a literacy program on my placement. I feel prepared to continue teaching literacy through what I have learned this year! -
Present
As I continue through my literacy journey, I can confidently say that I feel ready to enter into the amazing world of teaching. I will create learning environments for all learners to achieve success and will help my students through scaffolding, guiding, modelling, and support.
