The literacy narrative assignment calls you to investigate your past literate experiences, share stories about moments and situations that shaped your trajectory as a reader and writer, and make an overall point. Throughout your life, many experiences have helped you develop as a reader and writer. Parents, teachers, mentors, and institutions are among the entities that have likely helped you develop your literacy. These sponsors (as Deborah Brandt) would call them, are agents that enable and procure literacy opportunities but also stand to gain something from the sponsorship situation.
Begin by considering your history as a reader and writer. Mine your memory for important moments and situations that helped you develop your sense of value regarding reading and writing. Think about who helped you to develop your sense of value regarding reading and writing. Think carefully about key experiences that impacted your perception of writing and reading.
Brainstorming
Start the brainstorming process by answering all of the questions below:
What is your earliest memory of reading and writing?
How did you learn to read and write?
How did you come to identify certain values with reading and writing?
What kinds of reading have you done in your past and what kinds of reading do you do now?
Which teachers do you remember from your past who had a particular impact on your reading and writing?
What is your current attitude towards reading and writing?
Were there any aspects of reading or writing that frustrated you as you grew up?
How have institutions impacted your reading and writing?
How much have you enjoyed particular kinds of reading and writing that you did in your past? Why?
Has there ever been a sense of reward or punishment associated with reading or writing from your past?
What from your past has made you the kind of reader and writer you are today?
What moments from your past do you remember as particularly empowering or dis-empowering?
Organizing
After you have answered these questions, you should make a literacy profile. You might arrange your literacy experiences according to empowering experiences and dis-empowering ones. You should organize your profile in any way that makes sense to you. Below is an example of my literacy profile:
Professor Longhany's Literacy Profile
Early Listening Experiences: My earliest recognition of literacy was
listening to my grandmother tell fairytale stories. My parents told these
stories too, but I remember my grandmother telling us about the Three Little
Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, and The Woman with a Wig and a Wag who stole a
bunch of money from a witch among others. These stories all carried themes
about working hard, persevering, and upholding certain values.
Early Readers: My parents had a rich clustering of
story books for us to read as well. We had the Dr. Seuss collection, books of
poems by Shell Silverstein, a series of biographical picture books about famous
Americans, and cards from Wild
Kingdom that depicted
different animals and plants from around the world. We read these story books
with my mother before going to bed. I remember reading The Lorax and again I
was being exposed to books that carried these little lessons- this one being
that it is important to take care of the environment.
Learning Disabilities: When I got to second grade, I
was diagnosed with a learning disability called ADHD. My teacher was about 85
years old with the temperament of a drill sergeant. I remember being led into a
doctor’s office where nodes were attached to my head. The final prognosis: I
was to be put on Ritalin. My father refused to let me go on Ritalin and I was
sent back to school. Surprisingly my grades turned around when I got to third
grade. The class was much more engaging and fun. I started to get A’s and B’s
again.
My mother gave me interesting things to read: In
fifth grade my mother gave me a book called Bo
Knows Bo, the autobiography of Bo Jackson. Since I was athletic and enjoyed
sports, Bo Knows Bo was great. In the first twenty pages, Bo wrote about losing
his virginity at age seven. I really enjoyed showing my friends the racy
sections where Bo talked about his sex life. In 7th grade my mother
came through with another book titled The
Hot Zone. This thriller is about an Ebola outbreak in a small African
nation. This book really sparked my interest and there were times where I was
sneaking some reading while in class.
Sports Literacies:
My mother pushed my academics, but my father pushed me to develop sports
literacies. I learned a lot about how to be a good teammate and set personal
goals aside for the betterment of the team. I’ll never forget the little league
game where I pitched a one-hit shutout. Our only run scored was by our first
baseman who hit a homerun. He gave me his homerun ball after the game and said
if it hadn’t been for my pitching performance that day, we would not have won
the game. I learned about perseverance, teamwork, giving credit to others, and
how to both lose and win gracefully.
Video Game Literacy: After having me, my mother had
my brother eighteen months later. Taking care of us both became quite a task,
so my mother got me a video game system called Atari. Since Atari, I have come
to own many other systems including Sega Genesis, Nintendo, Sony PlayStation,
Nintendo Wii, and so on. One genre of video games really stuck with me- it was
role playing strategy games. These games involve an epic story where a hero
character (the one I controlled) set out on an adventure. I remember playing
various role playing games, but there was always the character setting out on
an adventure that brought me back to the game. Inadvertently I started to
develop a taste for these adventures, and along with the early stories that my
grandmother told me, these stories that emerged out of my game console were
also filled with lessons to be learned. One offshoot of this was learning about
failure. Every time I failed at the video game, I learned better ways to try it
another time. No failure in the world of gaming was enough to cripple me, and I
almost always found a way to finish the game.
Decline of traditional print literacies: Once I got
into early high-school I fell out of favor with writing and reading for a bit
of time. I read the sports page of the newspaper nearly every day, but I began
to be less interested in reading and writing. The downward spiral of
traditional print literacies continued into 12th grade where I had
an instructor who had us watch movies for the duration of our senior year of
English. We watched many films, but I didn’t really learn any writing skills
that would help me write in college.
The community college English teacher grabbed my butt:
I earned a C in my first college level English course and was still
disappointed in my abilities as a writer and reader. This freshmen level
English teacher wore Kansas Jayhawks shirts to class every day. She regularly
tore into my papers, and this was justified because I had just spend one year
of an English class my senior year of high school watching movies.
________________________________________________________
Finding a Main Point or Theme
After completing your profile, you should start to see some sense of direction or some themes emerging with your profile. You must decide upon what it is that you will talk about out of all the possibilities from your past. As you consider what you want to write about, you should consider an overall 'main theme' or an overall 'so what' point that will guide your narrative. Your main theme, also known as your central finding, should guide and control the overall direction of the essay. For example, you might have discovered that you were steered away from certain kinds of literacy, but this motivated you to pursue those types of literacy even more fervently. Or, you may notice an insight emerge that helps explain why you read and write as you do today.
This main point or main finding should be supported by evidence from your past experiences. For example, if I pull some common themes from my narrative, a few ideas emerge:
1. The impact of the adventure story has carried throughout my literacy development
2. My motivation fluctuated at different points of time based on relationships I had with sponsors
I might make a claim that relationships are paramount for sponsorships to succeed and for literacy to flourish.
What makes the literacy narrative good?
1. Tells a story about past literacy experiences
2. Makes connections between your literate past and where you are now as a reader and writer
3. Delivers an overall point
Carlos Sotillos’s literacy profile
ReplyDeleteEarly on in life: As a young child my mother always told me stories to go to sleep. Sometimes it would be stories that were passed on from her childhood and other times she would grab a book such as peter pan, the three little pigs, Pinocchio and a plethora of other children’s books, to read aloud as I fell asleep. Now that I reflect upon it, there was always a moral to the story, whether it was honesty, loyalty, or responsibility. There was always a good value to take from the story, which in turn has taken effect in the person that I consider myself to be today.
School literature: From the first day I ever went to school, to the last day of high school, and now into college there has not been one day that I haven’t had to read something. Whether it was “ Jack and the bean stalk” in elementary school, “ the diary of Anne Frank” in middle school, or “Hamlet” in high school, literature has always been present in my school life. Between all the book reports and the analyzing of Shakespearean literature there is no doubt that my literature knowledge progressed significantly thanks to school.
4th grade ESOL: When I moved to the United States from Venezuela in 2003 I was in 4th grade. I did not know even the most basic statements in English. When I was enrolled in school I was put in a special program called ESOL. A program that helped non-English speakers, learn how to read and write English. How did they do this? just give a ten year old, Spanish speaking, 4th grader a couple of books and help him read through it. Easier said than done, but nevertheless Mr. Ocasio my ESOL teacher stuck with me helping me so much in fact that by the end of the year I was teaching classmates how to read and write in English. In one year I was taken of that program and in 5th grade when I took the English FCAT, Florida’s comprehensive English exam for elementary students, I got a five, the highest grade possible.
8th grade Language Arts: Ms. Fox (a Belgian lady who was obsessed with writing and good literature especially if the literature dealt with the holocaust) was my eighth grade English teacher. I believe that this lady was the person who had the biggest impact on my writing skills. Every day it was constant practice on how to grab a reader’s attention, correct grammar, creating a picture inside a readers head, etc. She also had me enroll in a writing contest, I didn’t win but the fact that she encouraged me to participate really meant a lot in the confidence level she had in my writing style.
Sports: I first fell in love with sports when I moved to the United States and saw my first Miami Heat game. From that moment on I’ve been addicted to most sports. I love reading anything about them whether it’s the stats, the rumors, or the opinions, reading sports articles is something that I consider to be a hobby because unlike reading Shakespeare reading sorts is something I enjoy and could do for hours on end.
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ReplyDeleteMy early literacy experiences were listening to Bible stories as a child. It was stories on how the world came to be, it also taught me how to treat other people. The stories made me want to learn more about God and encouraged me to read so I can go ahead to read on my own. Today I am the man that I am for being in a Christian Boarding school.
ReplyDeleteAs I got older I would read books for points to be awarded, we use to get recognition through the whole school and would be taken out to eat. I also would be punished and would have to write phrases of things I wouldn’t do for hundreds of times. My favorite books from First grade to third were Dr. Seuss books, and The Bernstein Bears My later years were Greek mythology I was so intriguing to me that I made believed that I was living in those times. We would have to write reports on Greek mythology and I couldn’t stop writing.
Then came my Eighth grade years my ears, eyes, and mind were open to another world the world of poetry. We read poetry from Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, etc... I would love how poetry made me feel so I started writing a lot of poetry I had draws filled of poetry I’ve written I think it was the most I’ve wrote in my entire life. It was just the feeling of how words had the power to make a person have every kind of emotion.
Music was another that had a great impact on my literacy, especially after seeing what poetry could do then putting music behind it was mind blowing. Not that I never listen to music before but after studying poetry and understanding how words could be so powerful I actually started to listen and read the lyrics of rappers. My all-time favorite rapper was Tupac Shakur even though he had a lot of controversy his words were empowering. I kept on writing poetry through High school and in my church because poetry is universal it goes with any ethnicity religion, struggles, pain, joy, love, and so of.
Now after being out of school for six years I don’t really do much of reading or writing. There is so much of technology that takes away from it. Not only that my job doesn’t really require me to read or write. The most of read or write is to read my bills or pay them. Check my kid’s homework or read if they have activities for school. Now I don’t do any poetry I really don’t have time for it. Now is where I’m doing a lot of reading and writing because it’s required of me to do so and to be honest its sucks because it’s too overwhelming for me. I know I need this to have a better future for me and my kids so I’m doing it. I’m not really prepared for this but I know I have to suck it up and keep it moving. It will get better because with practice it makes not perfect but better.
Deborah Maxey's Literacy Profile
ReplyDeleteMy recollection of my childhood literacy experiences is very poor. I have a few vague memories of times when my parents would take me to the library and I would get a book titled “Are You My Mother” by P.D. Eastman. I also remember reading comics my sister wrote and trying to write my own. My dad tells me that ever since I was a little girl, I had a passion for learning and a desire to improve my literacy. But during that time my parents were very busy and were rarely available to work with me.
As I became older I started to lose that desire and started to realize just how much I wasn't fond of reading. I didn't mind writing, but I was somewhat annoyed because people continued to compared my work to my sister's, which was far superior. My reading wasn't very good either. I read slower than my peers, and was often ridiculed when reading aloud. Discouraged and agitated with my lack of abilities, I made a wrong turn and substituted practice with avoidance.
My mom must have realized my struggle because she started trying to find ways to get me to read. She would pay me for finishing books, and she had the family come together to read the Holy Bible aloud. I continued to struggle but my mother refused to give up on me. She noticed my love of taking things apart, handling creepy crawlies, and observing animals so she bought me a variety of books. She carefully observed which books would grasp hold of my attention and would strategically pick out books for me. Slowly but surely I started to improve.
Being meddlesome by nature and marked with a desire to learn, I started reading a lot of different articles to improve my skills or acquire new ones. Needless to say, concentrating and/or understanding what I was reading was quite difficult. It was then and there where I realized that I wouldn't be able to learn everything hands-on. If I didn't improve my reading ability then the changes of me being successful would be quite poor. After arriving at this conclusion I started forcing myself to read. From movie subtitles to survival magazines to documentaries, I would read everything except for hard covered books and poems. I even made the choice to read aloud when an opportunity presented itself. Any further ridicule would just be a passing showers to help me grow.
Today, September 9th, I'm still not very comfortable with literature. I am more open to writing as long as I have an ample amount of time to revise my work. It would be great if I could say reading is now a hobby, but that isn't the case. Truth be told, I still don't enjoy reading, but, oppositions has confronted everyone and mortification is apart of life. So rather I enjoy it or not, I'll do it and try my best to understand it.
Amanda Crawford’s Literacy Profile
ReplyDeleteEarly Reading and writing:
- My earliest recognition of reading is a memory of my fourth grade teacher. He was a very entertaining and eclectic, so he made everything fun. Especially reading. My first memory of this was when we were reading a book called A wrinkle in time. The story revolves around a young girl who has lost her father in a missing case while he was working on a project called the tesseract, or in other words, a portal to other dimensions. This book was commonly not for children in the fourth grade but it kept us exceedingly interested and hung up on the book. My earliest memory of writing is that I learned to write in various ways. Each of my teachers taught me different tricks while learning to write, to remember what to write and how to read it. For example, I remember vividly that my second grade teacher told us to make our letter “o” so that no one would ever know the beginning of it or end. She also told us not to just make the number eight and erase the top to make an “o”. I was one of the ones that used to make the number eight and erase the top to make the letter but I grew out of that.
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Issues with boredom and skipping ahead:
- It all started early, as early as first grade. I realized very soon off in my kindergarten year that I kept a faster pace of reading than all of my peers. This got me in a plethora of trouble, because each time we would read a book I would finish it before everyone else and start on another. The reason I would get in trouble was because the teacher believed that we should all be on one level, the first grade level. When truthfully I should have been on a higher level, I was kept at the first grade level. I would become bored after a while and begin talking and boy did my mouth get me nowhere with the teacher. I would constantly get excessive talking on my report cards because I was so bored when I always finished ahead of everyone.
Videogames:
- I have always played videogames, on each and every system. I’ve played on the Atari, Sega Genesis, Sony Playstation, Xbox and now Xbox 360. I started out with fighting games like Street fighter, Tekken, and Dragon Ball Z. Then I slowly evolved into relishing and adoring first person shooters like the Call of Duty series. These games have taught me to always use different strategies, not to always just be sure with your first choice and also to take advice and listen intently to feedback and what people have to say. Then to go back and fix the mistakes that you made and become a better player. It taught me that there is always room to be a better player if you don’t dwell on your mistakes and have fun.
Now:
- Now, I am not as confident in my reading and writing as I was in the past. I have dealt with a lot of oppression in my work so I try not to write as much. I believed once I was a good writer when I received fives and sixes on my writing exams but all of that seemed to change rapidly when I became more creative and rode to the beat of my own drum. Now, I don’t agree with standardized testing because you cannot evaluate someone on a subject and pattern that no one follows. I believe great writers aren’t born, they’re created through hard work and I realize that I need to work hard on my writing so I can be a great writer as well. I do enjoy writing and reading now but on my time, with my own creativity.
Imani Fambro's Literacy Profile
ReplyDeleteMy earliest memory of reading and writing:
I don't really remember reading too much as a kid but I know I did read quite often. One memory I have is reading a book with my mom on my bed and trying to read the word island. I remember that because I pronounced it as I saw it, is land. I found it very strange that the s was not heard when saying island. That may have been the first time I found out about silent letters. I also remember reading my Arthur books in my backyard on my hammock in Hawaii in the evenings.
Teachers with impacts:
My fourth grade teacher is a teacher I will probably never forget. Her name was Mrs. Ushery, she was my first challenging teacher. Even though we were only in the fourth grade she expected a lot from us. The only books she had were higher level readings, nothing for elementary kids. When we wrote essays the paragraphs could not be shorter than seven sentences. I think I learned a lot that year and also managed to get all A's.
Current attitude towards reading and writing:
I don't have the greatest love for reading or writing because I think I'm a little discouraged. I think my mind has given up a little after not getting the highest scores on essays and research papers. I really hate when I give my all and come back with a low B or C. I've never really been into reading or writing though. My mom used to force me to read books during the summer and I hated it so much. I don't really read on my own time but I wish I was a little more interested in books. I do remember reading a series called Sweet Valley High, the updated 2000s version. I really liked those books but the last book left the main character in a coma and I was so angry. Haven't really read much since then.
Institution Impact:
The only institution I can think of that has impacted my reading and writing is school. I think that might also be why I don't enjoy reading because we always had to read horrible, boring, uninteresting books that made me want to fall asleep. I have read two summer books that weren't horrible, one I would read on my own if someone introduced it to me; but that's it out of all the books I've ever read during the summers.
Reward or Punishment:
I don't think I've ever been rewarded or punished for reading or writing. I think I would often feel dumb because I couldn't pronounce words like my big sister who was an avid reader. I thought of being forced to read as a punishment because my mom knew I didn't like to read but I knew that's not what she was trying to do. The only reward I can think of was the satisfaction of finishing a book. My peers could read books in a few days, or maybe even one if it was that interesting but I never had that dedication. I think it was 6th grade when I got a book that I couldn't put down. I was so proud of myself for reading a book in two days! That was the happiest I've ever been to finish a book. My mom would call me and I would say hold on because I wanted to keep reading, but I don't give books a chance to engross me anymore.
Early reading and writing experiences:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in elementary my school had this thing called reading counts. Every week we would have to go to the library and checkout a book. Once we would finish the book, we would have to get on the computers and take a mini test on it. The better we did on the test the more points we would receive. So every month the librarian would come around with a cart that had a lot of prizes on it and we would be able to pick out toys based on the number of points we had. I believe that reading counts made me a better reader because I would try to read and understand the book for I could get more points on the tests to get more prizes.
The earliest writing experience that I could remember was in first grade. My teacher Mrs. Masters would have us practice our writing and cursive in these booklets. In the books there was the letter and how it looked. We would have to trace the dotted line that was in the shape of the letter. Then we would have to write the letter by itself. The writing book really helped me learn how to write.
Impacts from teachers:
I believe that my tenth/eleventh grade teacher had an impact on my writing. I think that he helped me become a better writer. Before I had him as a teacher I was getting okay grades on my essays. Then when I had him I could tell that my writing was improving and my essays were sounding better. I even got a higher score on my writing FCAT and my essay grades were improving.
How I feel now about reading and writing:
When I was younger I was more into reading and writing then I am today. My teachers use to make it fun to read and they would give interesting topic that I could relate to. The end of middle school and all through high school I got less and less interested in reading and writing. I use to read on my own time just because I felt like it and now you will never see me reading a book unless I have to for school. With writing I would never just write for no reason, but I wouldn't mind writing when I was told. Now I cannot stand writing unless it is an easy topic that I can write a lot about. Everytime I have to write an essay I just think to my self I can't wait till this is over with. I think I became this way with reading and writing because every year my teachers would add something that makes the reading or writing more boring. Like adding test, quizzes, and projects, after reading a book or for writing making them have to be longer or making them more complicated.
Cody Brissette’s Literacy Profile
ReplyDeleteI do not remember very much as a child especially reading. I do on the other hand remember two books that my mother used to read to me every night to help me go to sleep. The books were Happy Birthday Moon and Where the Wild Things Are. These two books were my main source of literature growing up before going into school. I remember learning how to relate the words with the pictures. When I finally did start in school I remember learning how to write with those sheets of paper that you would have to practice writing on the lines.
Later on in my life around my sixth grade English class I remember reading my first “Harry Potter” book. It was a class project that we had to read it after class and towards the end of a quarter a paper was due on it. I didn’t realize how into the book I was until it was already over. That was my first experience of being absorbed into literature. The next time I got entangled into a book was when I read The Oxford Incident. This was also a school project that I had to do. I still to this day remember that book. I ended up getting an “A” on my assignment because I had so much to talk about from the story.
Then came the time when my family started to move from city to city. I had to keep going to new schools. During that time I started to stray away from anything but weight lifting. The schools I went to now seemed to be mainly a refresher of things I had already done. I felt as though I didn’t need to be there. It wasn’t until my family moved to again that I started to realize how much I had fallen behind on reading and writing skills. The classes I was in now were so much harder. I almost ended up having to go into a prep class but was saved by a teacher I will never forget. She sat down with me and actually would help me with everything I was having problems with. She showed me tips on reading that would help me better understand what I was reading about. In the end she helped my get through my new school and pass with great grades.
After a couple of months out of high school I joined the U.S. Army. I didn’t realize that you would be reading all the time. I actually started to enjoy reading again. I started to read more about things that would make my job easier as a soldier. I then came across a few people that were playing online video games. I saw how much fun they were having playing with them so I figured I would give them a try. I didn’t realize how much reading was involved with the games. The only thing is it never felt like I was reading because I got to play a game to. As of today the most ready I get is from playing a game.
Now I am out of the military and working for Target as a security guard. I actually get to do a lot of reading in my job. There are always tons of reports being written about a different case that has happened at another store. I get to see all the different styles of how people write on a day to day base. For the most part that is all of the writing and reading I get any more.
Literacy Profile
ReplyDeleteFresh Start
My earliest memories of reading start when I was about 5 and my mom would read me the same book every night. Only because I was so obsessed with it. Eventually it got to the point where I had memorized the entire book word for word. By this point I didn't need my mom to read it to me anymore. I continued to do this with other books as well. I've always been a big fan of reading just not so much on the writing, but when school first started they finally taught me how to spell my name. I thought writing was the easiest thing in the world up until my first essay and after that point its just a downhill snowball of dread and procrastination.
Family and Teacher Impacts
There really haven't been to many people who have impacted me on reading and writing other than my mom and dad; my elementary school librarian Mr. McLoughlan; and a few teachers along the way. My mom and dad, as well as other family members have all been very supportive on reading. Both my grandpas were teachers and always felt the need to pass me on their knowledge as well as tossing some books my way they thought I would be interested in. I didn't realize how helpful that was to me until a few years down the road and I realized that was what developed my open mindedness towards reading. Mr. McLaughlan comes into play when I was attending elementary school in Ohio. Everyday from 1st grade till 3rd grade our teachers would take us to the library where Mr. McLaughlan would read us a book and entartain us for an hour or two. He was just a huge inspiration as a kid and thats just always sat in the back of my mind for some unexplainable reason.
Awards and Accomplishments
As I started to take off into my reading and writing career in the 5th grade they introduced this point system that earned you rewards. Each book had a certain number of points based on its difficulty. Obviously harder books have more points than the easier books. This was one of the best ideas in my eyes. It motivated me to read harder books and faster to acquire more points. And you would only receive the points if you passed the test on the book. That was my main source of entertainment at the time. I ended up taking a test later that year that told me I was reading at a 12th grade level in 5th grade and damn did that feel empowering.
Dis-empowered
There has been plenty of times where I've felt dis-empowered in writing, reading, sports, video games, tests but they all have helped to build me to who I am today. I'm not sure if I've just experienced it so much throughout life that I'm just numb to it or if I've learned to manage it better or a mix of both. The majority of what it has taught me is that criticism is the best teacher.
Literacy Profile by Michelle T Balaban
ReplyDeleteA Changing World
My father, a Mexican immigrant, never let us forget how blessed we were to live in the United States. “You are an American”, he would say, “You will speak English and do it correctly!” He made sure mom waited at the door as we arrived from school. The routine was pretty simple. First, mom made us a delicious snack and promptly after came our homework. Mom was illiterate. If we had questions, they had to wait until dad came home from work. It wasn’t until I got much older that I began to understand Dad’s urgency for his children to be well educated. It was then that I realized what a brilliant man my father really was.
Many days passed that I didn’t see much of him while I was growing up because as a laborer, he often worked double shifts to make ends meet. His idea of recreation lay in the stacks of books he referred to as “Bibles”; manuals about television repair. They were sprawled out on the makeshift workbench in his shop. I remember family and friends bringing broken television sets to our house and days later, those same televisions leaving our house in tip-top shape. Electronics were his passion. Reading and teaching himself the art of repair his reward for a hard day at the cement mill where he worked for a paycheck.
I remember staring at the pictures in his “Bibles” and using my finger to trace the diagrams of wires and interesting doodads that made maps and what looked like cities on the pages. I was in first grade when I discovered reading books. “See Jane Run, Dick and Jane at Play” and so on. That was when the words began to make sense in those mysterious books. Later, a fifth grade teacher, Ms. Rossi introduced a new way of reading. She let us choose a book every month for us to read as a class. My favorite was Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. She used a different voice for each character, I was completely engrossed. She was better than any actress on T.V. and I adored her!
In high school, after a disastrous freshman year, I had the pleasure of having Mr. Fisher as my science teacher. Not only did he encourage us to read and write, he did the craziest classroom experiments and taught us all about the Black Americans that helped shape our country. Mr. Fisher was ahead of his time. A teacher with a passion not only teaching but also for learning. Eager to learn Spanish, we would often get completely off track of a subject while my friends and I gave him lessons during class time!
It was in 1994 when an opportunity for me to return to school came about. Mid-Florida Tech piloted a program for people in the childcare profession. I had taken a job with my church after my own children were older and all six of them were in school. I received an equivalency Associate Degree in Child Development and in 2003 went back to school at Seminole State when it was still a community college. There, I earned my Director’s Credential in Childcare Management. I have been a Preschool Director for more than 10 years.
This is a changing world. I find myself in need of more education, not only to be a better director, but to better communicate with my parents in this new age of modern technology. My desire to teach this “old dog new tricks” drives me to complete the education my father dreamed of for me. A dream I now share.
Literacy Profile
ReplyDeleteby Andre Grace
My earliest memory of literacy is being read to as a kid by my mom. She would read us bed time bible stories to get us to sleep. The way she read the stories was always animated enough for us to really get into the stories. I was raised in a christian house where we were always taught about the bible.
My father while he didn't read to us at night had his influence on me in a big way. He taught me how to pronounciate and use the right words for the right situations. As a kid it really got on my nerves he would always correct us but it truly shaped my vocabulary. I didn't truly understand why he would always use these seemingly complicated words just to describe something simple. It was as if he was trying to brag about his oral skills by choosing the the most complicated word for the situation. Well anyway it worked because as I grew up I seemed to have a very good vocabulary for someone not really into school.
Elementary school also had a tremendous effect on my literacy. I went to a private school and at lunch and nap time they would play cassettes of bible stories read by a woman name Aunt Sue and Uncle Ben. Hearing them read so eloquently made me understand how to read in a way that others can understand easily and their tone was so soothing it would put us to sleep. I still can hear those stories in my head today.
Though I used these experiences to shape my reading and it did my writing was neglected. I never liked writing and only did it when absolutely necessary.Besides my homework and occasional love letters I really didn't do much writing. This would change later in life though.
I think the biggest factor on my literacy life now is my relationship with God. In my 20's I was in alot of street activities and ended up incarcerated more times then I am proud of. However this was like so many other a positive factor on my spiritual,family,and literacy life. I found God incarcerated and began reading vehemently the bible. I was so interested in learning I would read a whole book in the bible everyday. However the reading I was doing was much more comprehensive. I wasn't reading just to read but to understand and learn. I learned how to learn and disect words and phrases to extract their exact meanings. I also learned how to use context of words to explain the meaning of an unfamiliar word. This turned out to be a valuable tool reading a King James Bible written in a seemingly ancient time. After coming out I began doing alot of motivational speaking wich I seem to be a natural at. However now I would have to write out speeches and sermons and my writing skills would improve through experience.
I feel blessed to have had all of these positive factors that
have contributed to my literal life and I look forward to all the future contributors to help me reach my full potential....
Hello, My name is Melissa C. Reid, and I teach writing at MCTC in Minneapolis, MN. I was hoping to gain permission to use this material on this blog to develop my assignment for the Lit Narrative. What you have here is wonderful, but I would rather have your blessing. I will credit you.
ReplyDeleteHere is my email account: Melissa.Reid@minneapolis.edu
THANKS!
Melissa
When I was elementary kid my teacher Garrickson told me about this book called the funny bunny. That book I loved so much. I remember the teacher reading it to me. They do things compeletly silly. It was supposed to be funny. I still remember this day.
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