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My mom read to me from the time I was born.
It was my favorite part of our bed time routine. It is something I continued and enjoyed doing with my own kids. -
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10 Literary Moments
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Struggled learning to read. Pulled for extra support.
I didn't like leaving my friends to go work with the "little" reading group. I had to do extra tutoring after school too. It made me feel dumb. -
Moved to Howard Co. and had amazing teachers.
The teachers knew how to help me and get me back on track. I worked really had and the more successful I was the harder I worked. It was a wonderful cycle where I learned that the more you do something the better you get. I wasn't dumb, I just needed more practice. Reading isn't so bad after all. -
Middle School Years and Self Doubt
Everything is harder in middle school. I was a good reader but much slower than everyone else. My 7th grade English teacher and my 7th grade Social Studies teacher helped me realize that my slower pace allowed me to really read everything and connect better with the text. I still felt out of place because I was slow but felt smart because I offered a lot to class discussions. -
High School: I am a writer?
I always liked writing and being creative. I loved stories. It wasn't until Mrs. Gross' English class that I learned the formula to writing a thoughtful paper. Her instruction was very important in writing all those college papers. -
Romantic Literature: Not what I thought this class would be.
I thought romantic literature would be an easy A in college so I tried it out. While I was surprised to find out what romantic literature was, I was also interested. We read a lot of books and I was shocked that I really enjoyed them. My eyes were opened to different forms of literature which I had not experienced before. Being successful made me more willing to seek out new things to read. -
Becoming a teacher
In order to teach something you have to fully understand it. I went from enjoying books and analyzing literature to analyzing how to learn to read. I have always been fascinated with how the brain works and how to manipulate it to get the most out of it. I am still learning how to teach reading. -
Going from 3rd Grade to Kindergarten
I taught 3rd grade for 6 years and then went down to kindergarten. I had to learn completely different skills. Unlike 3rd graders, I had to start from the beginning and actually teach these kids how to read. I learned a lot from my Mother in Law who is a reading specialist and I did a lot of reading on my own. I learned so much but realized that there is a lot more to learn. -
My Own Reading Experiments
I had a classroom of 1 and then of 2 in 2003 and 2005. With understanding of the importance of literacy I started teaching my kids from the time they were born. Exposing them to books, speech, writing, reading, listening, etc. Watching them learn and grow was more powerful and significant than anything I learned in the classroom. I had a vested interest in the success of these 2 students because they were my own kids. -
Book Club
I started a book club for my daughter to keep her intersted in reading and to encourage her to be more diversified in the texts she chose. I didn't realize that it would open me up to a new and intriguing world of children's literature. We have not only explored lots of differnt genres but the girls have shown me different ways to interpret what we are reading. It has been so fun to enjoy and learn about the world with them.