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I was born!
On April 21st, 1995 I was born. -
Pre-bedtime Stories
Every night before bed my dad would read my sister and I Dr. Seuss. Our two favorites were A Fish Out of Water and Are You My Mother. It quickly became a tradition that he would read them every night. I could recite these books from memory at an early age because I heard him read them to me so often. These are one of my first memories of literacy. I will never forget these memories, and they made such an impact on me, especially considering how vivid these memories still are. -
Kindergarden Writing Stories
In kindergarten almost every day we would work on our writing in class. Being the nervous five year old I was, I was never sure exactly what to base my story on. My sister, who was only a year older than me wrote her stories about our family getting a dog. Remembering how great her story sounded I decided to base every one of my stories off of that! Every single story I wrote started with a ball going over the fence and me finding my future puppy on the other side. -
First Grade Reading Groups
I started to learn how to read in first grade. I was placed in a reading group with other students in my class. This was my first experience with trying to sound out words that were unfamiliar and I struggled for a little while. This was my first memory of reading, and it wasn't a very positive one. After this I did struggle with reading for a while, and it took me some time to grow confident in my skills. I did have a great teacher who did help me learn how to master my skills down the road -
Reading American Girl Doll Books with My Mom
Once I got more comfortable with reading my mom would have me read all of the American Girl Doll books. I really wanted a doll at that time, and she said that I could get once if I read all their books first. This encouraged me to read, and also made reading a positive experience for me. I would read them to her at night before bed, and eventually made it through the whole series! Reading these books gave me a great sense of accomplishment, and was one of my first positive memories of reading. -
Learning How to Speak French
Starting in second grade I started to learn French. This was an interesting experience for me because I was learning a totally different language that I knew nothing about. Although I didn't know it at the time, this was me becoming familiar with a new form of literacy. It was completely different from what I was used to and I learned a lot from it. It also presented new challenges to me. I faced obstacles learning French that were never presented to me before. -
Teaching My Sister to Read
By the time I was in third grade I was a bit more comfortable with my reading skills. My younger sister was in kindergarten and just starting to learn how to read. I would spend days reading with her, and teaching her words that she didn't know yet. It was a great experience for her, but also me. It was the first time I was able to teach another person any type of reading skills. This was my first chance to teach another person a literacy skill. It was challenging, but I enjoyed it. -
Reading The Night Before Christmas
Every Christmas Eve my family would read the night before Christmas. This became a tradition with my family. As the years went on, I began to memorize the book word for word from hearing it so often. What stands out about this literacy memory, is all of the emotions I associate with this book. Just thinking of reading it makes me remember all the excitement I had as a child. This is one of the first forms of literacy that I has strong emotions tied to it. -
Writing in Sixth Grade
In sixth grade I had my first story writing experience. Up until this point literacy was just reading to me. This was the first time where I was the one creating the literacy for others to read. I was assigned to write a scary story paper, and it was twenty pages when it was completed. I learned a lot when writing this, and saw how I could use literacy to write my own stories for others to read and experience. -
First Experience Reading to a Class
In my junior year of high school I was chosen to read The Night Before Christmas to my pre-school class for their Christmas party. This was my first time sharing literacy with kids just how my teachers and parents shared it with me. It was a great experience being the person that captivates their attention, and gets them wrapped up in a story. I remember being a child like that, and being able to be that person for another child left me with a positive memory, and a different take on literacy. -
Storytelling Competition
In the second half of my junior year I created a story with felt pieces and a storyboard and entered a storytelling competition. I learned so much in doing this. It's hard to think of literacy as anything other than books. However, it was clear to me after competing that this felt board story was just as much literacy as any other picture book. Sometimes in order to understand the different forms of literacy you have to really focus in on and learn all about one specific form. -
My First Expereince with Litearcy in College
In my second semester of my sophomore year in college I took a literacy course for my reading endorsement. In this class I learned all sorts of things about literacy that I didn't know before. The biggest thing being that literacy can take on any forms and is not just reading and writing. It was hard to open my mind up to the idea of a stop sign being a form of literacy, but I took a lot away with me after finishing that course. I feel like now I know what literacy really can be.
