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First Day of Kindergarten
Kindergarten at George L. Armstrong is one of my first memories about literacy, as I did not write or read prior to going. The teacher would read to us in her rocking chair while the class formed a circle and listened. -
Story Time
My mother would always read to me and my siblings at night. I would always choose Disney fairytale princess books. I liked being read to, but compared to my oldest brother I was not considered an avid reader or book lover. -
My First Pet
Even though I was not in love with books, I did love animals. In senior kindergarten I got my first pet. It was evident I was not very good at making decisions, as my guinea pig's name would change every week. I would write down it's new name every time I changed it. -
Grade 1
My grade 1 teacher would have each student choose a book to take home each night to read, known as "share night".
This is also around the time I remember trying to put the alphabet in order using tactile letters. It was at this moment I realized I did not know what the letter "lmnop" looked like. I used to think it was one letter because of the speed you sang it during the alphabet song. -
Reading Comprehension
In general, I liked school. I was a good student that aimed to please, and had wonderful school experiences. I do however, remember disliking reading comprehension time in the library. We were to sit in silence at the tables with our booklets, read a story, and then answer questions. As a primary student, I don't think I ever felt so unsure or stressed. I was always one of the last ones left in the library. -
Grade 2
At this point in my life cats were my obsession. I was interested in anything that had to do with cats. I started collecting books about cats and enjoyed reading them. The one I remember most clearly is a picture book called, "Cats Sleep Everywhere". -
Series of Books
Since my brother liked to read so much, there were a plethora of books at my house. Also, my parents were very supportive of our academic endeavours. It was at this point I discovered my interest in chapter books. I began to read Animorphs, and Junie B. Jones chapter books. -
Grade 4 - My competitive streak
In grade 4 I had a teacher that kept a sticker chart of all the books you read. Whoever read the most books for a certain month would get a prize and the glory, of course! This really appealed to me, and as it turns out I won for reading the most books that year! -
Creating my own stories
Around the time I was in grade 5 I found my imagination and creative side. It arose from drawing pictures, I loved to draw and colour. From those drawings sparked an idea. I would make a story about the characters I was drawing. This was not done alone. My cousin and I wrote stories, even though she did most of the writing and I did most of the illustrating. -
Fantasy Series
Beginning in middle school, I joined the Harry Potter fan craze. Whenever a new book was released my family would buy it. My eldest brother would read it in one night, and then it was my turn. I truly enjoyed reading these books and looked forward to leisure time when I could sit and read.
The next series that entranced me in reading was Twilight. This happened more toward the end of high school. -
Highschool English Classes
School had always come easy to me, I would get good grades throughout elementary school with little effort. Unfortunately, high school english class was a different story. Because I refused to get any grade below an A, I put a great deal of time and planning into every english assignment, especially essays. Writing did not come easy to me, but I was a perfectionist. I would start my assignments weeks before they were due, write many drafts, and get my mother and teachers to help with editing -
University
Reading for pleasure came to a hault by the time university roled around. My literacy experiences consisted of reading textbooks and articles, as well as writing lab reports and assignments.
It wasn't until my last year of university I was able to read articles that truly interested me. Throughout university I attempted to avoid classes that required lots of writing assignments as it was (and still is) something I do not enjoy.
