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Titus Is Born!
I was born on March 28th, 2002 in Sacramento California. The only language that I was taught at this time was English with no knowledge of any other languages. -
Speech Impediment Diagnosis
This was around the time that I was taken to a speech specialist and diagnosed with a speech impediment. This would change how I viewed language and how tedious I found speaking to be since I would constantly be corrected by family. So, I was very shy growing up. My family still to this day (playfully) recalls how instead of saying sister, I would always say sissy instead just because it was easier to say for me. -
Moving to Oregon/School
I moved to Oregon in the fall of 2007 when I was about 5 and started my education in Coos Bay. Although I started working on my speech impediment before kindergarten, it didn't help much since it wasn't very consistent. Starting in kindergarten, I would be pulled from class at certain times of the day to get practice in to learn the sounds I needed to succeed in life. I would say that from kindergarten to 6th grade I dedicated around 2 to 3 hours every week working on my sounds. -
7th Grade Graduation From Speech!
In the 7th grade, I finally graduated from speech. This meant that I no longer would have to miss classes and have to catch up on classes. This was a big accomplishment for me and helped my self-confidence considering I did not know how to make the majority of sounds needed to communicate with people. The only sound I'm still unable to make is the R sound, and I just told my speech teachers and my parents that I was done with speech and I didn't want to do it anymore in high school. so -
9th Grade Speech and Debate
In the 9th grade, I started doing speech and debate. This would help me in so many different ways and would help further improve my speech capabilities and general knowledge of things. I think the best experience I had with this activity was during my 9th-grade year, I made it to finals at the state competition and spoke in front of 200-300 people. To this day I don't think I've ever been nervous about speaking in front of people since then and it really cemented to me how far I had come. -
Reason for Speech Impediment
During my senior year of high school, I went back to speech to try and get a grasp of the R sound. During this time, my teacher was attempting to poke the spot in my mouth with something to show "this is where your tongue must go" and in doing so, stabbed me too hard and made me bleed. The thing is, I had no idea. Which then connected the dots as to why I had a speech impediment. I can't feel the inside of my mouth. I forget the name of what it is, but it's a rare condition, to say the least. -
What Now?
My language experiences have done a lot for me regarding how I want to teach. I want to ensure that in my classroom even if someone isn't comfortable talking, they are willing to do it in a one-on-one setting. I've referenced it a few times, but the article by Linda S. Christen still sticks out to me and is something I'm taking to heart because it gives a lot of insight into what is it that we are testing on. The quote following this timestamp (was running out of characters) summarizes it well. -
What Now Cont.
The quote: "When more attention is paid to the way something is written or said than to what is said, students' words and thoughts become devalued. Students learn to be silent, to give as few words as possible for teacher criticism." I also think that when Linda talks about "who sets up the rules" and why they must be followed is another valuable thing I'll be thinking about. If my testing in a somewhat unorthodox way helps a student, then who cares? I want to be as flexible as I can.