My Literacy History

             Reading has been an integral part of my life for nearly my entire life. Both of my parents were avid readers and so they encouraged me early and often to begin reading. I remember working on “Hooked on Phonics” materials before I had started kindergarten. My parents used flash cards and cassette tapes to help me to learn, but the memory that stands out the most is reading the Dr. Seuss book called Hop On Pop. There was a tradition in my family that all of the children read that book as their first book. I remember being very proud when I accomplished that goal. Once I started reading, I never stopped. I remember a moment vividly when I was sitting at breakfast and realized that I could read the games on the back of the cereal box. That moment made me realize that words were everywhere and being able to read made the world much bigger and exciting.

I entered school able to read and continued to get my hands on every book that I could find. Through elementary school, I began reading a series of books that I had seen my older brothers reading called the Boxcar Children novels by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I read through at least 10 of those novels during elementary school and received a great deal of joy from discussing the stories with my brothers. At the same time, I began trying to write stories of my own. At one point in 5^th grade, I attempted to write a short story based on a reoccurring dream that I was having, but never ended up finishing it. In fact, I never finished any stories that I began. I got much more enjoyment from reading other people’s stories.

             My most pivotal time in reading, however, began in middle school when my mother brought home the first Harry Potter novel. The librarian at my school had recommended it to her as a series that I would like. As a family, my mother, my father, my little brother, and I would all read the book together before bed. My mother and father would take turns reading out loud to us. Eventually, after we had made it through both the first and second books, I realized that I could get through the story much faster if I was able to read it on my own. From that point on, I always had first dibs on any new Harry Potter novels and would finish them within the first few days of receiving them. The Harry Potter books were the first books that got me exciting about stories set in worlds different than our own. Also, I found myself caught up in the cultural phenomenon that was building around the stories and loved being able to talk with my peers about the stories. The books gave me a sense of belonging to a community. The experience of reading the Harry Potter series definitely molded the love that I have for science fiction and fantasy books today.

While my memories of reading and writing for pleasure are very vivid, I do not remember required reading and writing for school as clearly. In elementary school, particularly, I do not have many memories tied to literature. However, I do remember an instance in third grade where I was involved with a gifted and talented program and had to do a project on an animal in the Amazon Rainforest. I had to read informational text about ocelots and prepare a presentation about them. This is probably my earliest memory of reading and presenting scientific information.

Interestingly, one of my most creative writing assignments was given to me in a 6^th grade social studies class. In this class, we had to pick a historical topic and change the lyrics a few songs so that they were about that topic. I remember changing the lyrics to “Naked” by Avril Lavigne so that it was about the first Olympics in Greece. I had so much fun working on this assignment that I still remember some of the lyrics I wrote to this day. Thinking back, this was a very innovative way for the teacher to assess what knowledge we had retained during his class while also keeping us engaged.

Despite having plenty of writing assignments in middle school, I made large strides in my writing ability during 9^th grade when I took AP US History. The teacher made it clear from the beginning of the class that he planned to prepare us for the level of writing that would be expected of us during college. With his guidance, my formal writing skills were dramatically refined. All of the following writing heavy AP classes that I took continued to help me develop my skills as I prepared for college.

             Since high school, I have maintained an interest in reading for pleasure but have also expanded that interest to include reading to further my knowledge of the subjects in which I am professionally interested. Through college classes and job experiences, I have learned to read and interpret scientific journals, as well as how to find reputable resources for information online. One of the most important lessons I have learned is how to be critical of informative texts in order to make sure that I am interpreting them correctly. This is an important skill to have when there is information so readily available on the Internet. I grew up with computers and the Internet so much of my experience with reading and writing is intrinsically connected to technology. As my literacy skills advanced, my technical literacy increased as well. Moving forward, I want to instill the same passion for reading and writing in my students while also teaching them how to adapt those skills to the new technology that we are being introduced to every day.

Check out my visual representation of my literacy history here.