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I am born
This is where my reading journey starts, as I have to be here in order to start to read -
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Learning the Basics
According to my parents I was read to from birth (not sure how true that is), so we start there and go through the beginning of my reading education in 1st Grade -
Discovering the Doctor
Not long after I started first grade I was gifted my first set of Dr. Seuss books that came once per month.
This is where I read my first book that I can remember reading on my own The Cat in The Hat -
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The In-between Times
From 1st to about the start of 3rd grade I continued to read children's books and National Geographic Kids magazines -
My Next Step
Roughly a month into 3rd grade my class went to the library where I checked out and read my first chapter book Hank the Cowdog and The Case of the Vampire Cat by John R. Erikson -
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Continuing to Read
From that point on I continued to read various books of increasing difficulty as well as discovering comics and manga (although the latter was limited due to the lack of access at the time) -
The First Series
In 5th grade I discovered the first major series of books that I would read with a Christmas gift of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling -
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The Dark Times
From high school graduation through my junior year of college I lost interest in reading. A large part of this was due to the kinds of books assigned during my late high school to early college career were simply uninteresting to me at the time and my teachers did very little to sell me on the idea of reading these books for any purpose beyond performing on a test or writing assignment. -
Rediscovered Reading
Over the summer of 2012 I fell back in love with reading when I discover the first book in the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire A Game of Throne by George R.R. Martin -
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Teaching with Reading
Literacy has been a strong emphasis at my school since I began working there so I try to incorporate reading into my lessons especially when I was teaching Georgia History. When covering the lead up to the Civil War I required my students to read Day of Tears by Julius Lester, which not only helped to teach about the horrific institution of slavery in the American South but also the unusual writing style of the book pushed my students while they read it. -
The Now
As of today I still have a love of reading and often will be reading or rereading some of my favorite books