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Born!
I was born in 1980, into a world fully reliant on the Dewey Decimal System. -
Early Reading
Before Kindergarten, I spent many hours reading along to books on record. These were very popular. My brother and I had dozens of these books that had words and pictures. The record featured a voice reading along, as well as sound effects. -
Early Elementary School
In first, second, and third grade, I do not recall reading being taught like it is today. We were graded on how well we could read sentences and I do not think there was much emphasis on comprehension. Our school did have regular weekly library time. The librarian would read us a short story every time before we were free to check out our own books. -
Advanced Reader
In the 80's reading was not something that was pushed as heavily as it is today on children. While I was required to read from textbooks and complete book reports, I did not read very much outside of class. In fourth grade I was placed in an advanced reading class and we read an actual novel (Rascal, by Sterling North). Later that year, I read the Invisible Man (H.G. Wells) for leisure. -
The Outsiders
Several of my friends and I read the Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) in eighth grade. This was probably one of the last books I was able to choose to read for school. I really enjoyed it. The movie adaptation was pretty great too! -
Downhill
My freshman and sophmore years in high school were not filled with joyous reading. I was unfortunate to have the same literature teacher two years in a row. Her curriculum books were horrible (in my opinion) and after two years of lackluster novels, I was starting to hate reading. My free time was occupied with sports or social activities, so I never read anything that was not assigned. -
High School Graduate
I graduated from high school in 1998. I completely lost sight of reading unless it was from a college textbook. -
Air Force Instruction
In 2010 I received a new position in the Air Froce. It required extensive reading and interpretation of codes called Air Force Instruction. It was my responsibility to decipher extensive material and use it to create protocol and plans. -
Daughter's Preschool
When my daughter was in preschool, she began learning her letters and sight words. We often reviewed these together and I would read a lot to her. Currently, she reads very well and will begin second grade this fall. Now she reads her books to me! -
Legal Codes
In March, 2015, I completed a course at ASU called Legal and Ethical Principles. Much like the Air For Instruction, this course taught me about finding vast amount of information from codes and statutes. The difference was, I needed to synthesize the new information and apply them to my own understanding of what they meant. -
Currently...
Currently I am finishing up my degree. I am looking forward to having time to read more books that I would like to read. Usually I read books about philosophy or life management, and would like to start reading more fiction novels.
