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Introduction
Growing up, I lived in a small town with very little diversity. My family was all very motivated, and I was often encouraged to read or to play outside instead of watching television. When I was allowed to watch television, it was a show that was of an educational quality. -
Starting "The Tale of Despereaux"
In the fourth grade I was not a motivated reader, and very seldom found a book I would get hooked on. I very often started books, but never finished them. "The Tale of Despereaux," by Kate DiCamillo was one of these books that I remember, because I was infatuated with the pages, and the style of the book itself. -
My youngest cousin Elliott is born
This is the year my youngest cousin Elliott was born. Being nine years old at the time all I could think about was this new baby, and I devoted a lot of attention to him, therefore hindering my thought process in school at times. -
Mrs. Coriasco
In the fourth grade I had Mrs. Coriasco as my teacher. This is a teacher that I hope to model myself after as she was one of my favorites. For incentive to read toward our AR goal, she would dance the jitter bug on her desk when we all got to our classroom goal of reading for the week. -
Book Club
This was my very first summer in the girls book club at the Carterville Library. My grandma took care of me in the summers, and I often got bored being alone and inside, so she got me involved in the Rebecca Caudill girls book club. I loved the idea of it, but I didn't have a very good attention span when it came to books. I was a much slower reader than the other girls and it took me a much longer time to finish reading the books than it did for the other girls. -
"Where the Red Fern Grows"
In fifth grade, I had one of my most influential teachers. Mrs. Starnes sparked my love of reading with the book "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls. This was the first book that moved me to tears. -
Journaling
My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Starnes, sparked my love of writing with her unique style of journaling. She used to ask us three questions each morning that we were to answer in detail in our notebooks. However this was all on the honor system because she never checked the notebooks herself, because she often asked personal questions. She never looked at our notebooks unless we personally asked her to. -
Love of Theater
I was maybe one of the most dramatic children you may have meet in the fifth grade, so it was only natural that I joined the drama club. Joining the drama club helped me with my self confidence in speaking, and memorization. -
Breaking my Ankle
On a field trip to the park on a rainy day, I climbed a rock wall and decided I didn't want to make it to the top so I dropped from the point I had climbed to... Only to land wrong on my left ankle, resorting in breaking it in three places. This resulted in surgery and physical therapy, and being out of school for about three weeks. I fell behind in my studies, even though I had a home bound teacher, because I learn and work better in a group setting. -
Back to "The Tale of Despereaux"
In sixth grade I was introduced to the world of the Accelerated English program in my school district, and I was told that because I was part of the program that I had to read a certain amount of books to keep my AR score high. This was the year I revisited and finished "The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo because it was worth a lot of points. -
"She Said Yes"
My sixth grade reading and English teacher was great at making book reports fun, so instead of writing a paper, she had us interview people as if they were characters from a nonfiction book we read. She paired us up and had us all read books as pairs and then we set up interviews with our partner to explain our book to the class. The book I read was "She said Yes" by Misty Bernall. -
First Mystery Novel
Sixth grade focused on the genres of books, and we ended up reading a book from every genre that year. This was the year I realized my love from mystery novels when I read my first one. Unfortunately I can't remember the title of this book, but I know it sparked a love of genre for me. -
Another Ankle Surgery
Because I had to have pins and screws put into my ankle to help the growth plate heal, I had to have another surgery to have them removed. This again pulled me out of school for a week, and again it made me fall behind in my studies. This also resulted in more physical therapy which I dreaded and through the day the thought of it distracted me from school. -
AR
AR was my worst enemy in the seventh grade. I was always just barely scraping by. I hated reading for points, because all of the books I wanted to read were too low for my reading level, and I didn't have the attention span to finish the longer books I was supposed to read. -
Grandpa Claude
When I was little, my uncle's father, Claude was like a grandfather to me. In seventh grade he passed away from cancer. He was a big part of everyone's life, and it was a hard time in my family. This event definitely distracted me from my schooling for a while. -
May 8, 2008
This was not only the day of the crazy storm that was deemed "the inland hurricane," but also the day we buried Grandpa Claude. At the time I was terrified of storms and we happened to be at the cemetery when the worst of this storm hit. Seeing all of the chaos was something that gave me nightmares and caused me to stay up at night trying to prevent the dreams. I was constantly tired at school. -
Twilight
Needing to distract myself from the craziness that was in my life during this time, I started to confide in books. I was introduced to my first book series and this made a major impact on my reading life. "The Twilight Saga" by Stephanie Meyer was the first full young adult series that I finished, and it opened my mind to reading. -
Percy Jackson
In seventh grade I also started my second full book series. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series by Rick Riordan. It took me much longer to read this series and I paused in the middle of the third book when summer break hit before eighth grade. -
Reading in my down time
During the recovery times after I had my surgeries, I had a lot of down time. I finished the Percy Jackson series at this time and revisited a lot of other books that I once started, but never finished. This was one of the biggest contributors to my reading literacy. -
Scoliosis
I was diagnosed with scoliosis in the beginning of summer before my eighth grade year. Upon multiple doctor's appointments we were informed that my spinal curve was so severe that I was in need of corrective surgery. It was scheduled for two weeks into my eighth grade year. I was taken out of school for four months on home bound. I was behind in my studies due to this, and it took me quite some time to catch up to other students. -
Apendix
After getting to go back to school from my recovery time with my scoliosis surgery, I got a terrible case of appendicitis and had to have my appendix removed. This caused me to only be pulled out of school for three days, but I was in a lot of pain after this and couldn't participate in a lot of activities. -
My literacy today
I am still the avid reader that I was when I was in eighth grade. All of these events shaped me to be who I am and where I am today. Being a teacher came to me when I remembered the love and support teachers gave me when I was going through all of these events, that I mentioned in this timeline. The nurture of teachers and family shaped my literacy to be what it is today, and I hope to use this to my advantage in my career later in life.
