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Where it All Began!
And so it begins. At 4:30 in the morning, the day after my mom's birthday, I begin my journey! -
The Rainbow Fish
Every year there would be a display in the hallway of The Rainbow Fish and students (kindergarteners) would get to make their own Rainbow Fish. I loved reading this book and getting to do this activity because it involved crafts! Every year after that, I would always go back and look at all of the students' fish and see the diversity within the fish but also the similarities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbKr-k1PTvA -
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Playing School
All throughout my elementary years, my best friends and I would "play" school when we would go over to each other's houses. I would always be the teacher and my friends would be the students. I would either print off worksheets or make them up. I would also take old textbooks from my elementary school that the teachers no longer needed and I would use those and assign problems out of them. I think this is where my love for teaching first took place! -
Letters to Grandma
My grandma and I were pen pals when I was learning how to write! We would write letters to each other as often as we could and mail them to each other (even though we only lived 30 minutes apart). Before I could read cursive, my mom would have to read the letters to me. After I could write in cursive, I would write to her in cursive because I wanted to be just like her. I did this for a long time and I believe that this is why I have pretty good handwriting today; from all of that practice! -
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Summer Reading Program
Every summer in elementary school, I would participate in my local library's summer reading program. For a while, I went to a babysitter's house that was just down the road, so we would walk to the library every day. I had to read a certain amount and I would get tested on the books and then get prizes based off of how I performed! The child that read the most books or had the most points at the end of the summer would get a big prize! I loved reading for fun when I got to pick the books! -
Bedtime Stories
In my younger elementary years, my dad would read me bedtime stories. We would sit in the rocking chair in the living room and I would sit on his lap. When I got comfortable enough to read longer texts, I would read to him and he would help me pronounce the words that I was not certain on how to say them. Although he fell asleep most of the nights, this will always be one of my favorite childhood memories and I sometimes think that this is why my dad and I are so close today! -
Writing Lessons
When I was in Fourth Grade, there was a classmate of mine whose handwriting was very hard to read. All of my teachers knew that I wanted to be a teacher and I've always had decent handwriting growing up. I was given the task to try and help him with his handwriting and to try and improve it. It helped a little and this was my first real "teaching" experience. His handwriting still is not the best, but we are very good friends back home! -
Rupert, the Big Rooster
During Fifth Grade, my teacher had us do an activity where my partner and I, each got two pages of a story (pictured). Prior to this, she had us make up the story and she then gave us each two blank pages with text printed on the page from the story. We got to be the authors and illustrators! I loved this activity and looking back, it is cool to see the ways that each individual brain works and how we all interpreted the text in different ways. I also still have the book! -
Accelerated Reader
All throughout elementary school, we had to take Accelerated Reader tests on books that we had to read. Some of the times we got to pick our books, but then other times the teachers picked the books for us. Every month you had to get so many points in order to get a good grade in reading class. I have a horrible memory and I have a hard time retaining the details about books and I did not like that I was forced to read. I was considered to be an advanced reader, but I worked very hard at it. -
Journal Entries
Starting early in high school, at the end of the day I would write down what happened in a journal. This was a place that I felt safe to talk about things and it let me vent, in a way. It was interesting to go back to my journal and see what was going on. Looking back, some of the things that were such a big deal to me, do not affect me at all today and were not even that big of a deal. I loved to write for fun and this was a good way for me to express myself. -
Analyzing Text
During my Junior Honors English class, we had to read books and then write papers on the majority of the books. This was the first year that I felt I was able to analyze the text and find the deeper and hidden meaning of things. It still could use some improvement and work but that was when I realized that I was getting the hang of it all. I felt comfortable enough to analyze literature on my own. -
Peter Pan
In my Senior Honors English class got to read Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie and this was by far, my most favorite book that I have ever read in school. Then in my English 170 class, we got to read it and I was VERY excited about it. I learned new things and picked up on so many things that I did not even notice the first time! -
High School Journalism
During my senior year of high school, I was in journalism which was in charge of the school newspaper. I was the business manager, which meant that I was in charge of mailing out the newspaper to our subscribers. I wrote a lot of stories and loved doing it! This gave me the opportunity to report on what happened during a certain event or to just write a column of my choice. All of the stories that I wrote or were featured in can be found at: http://oakwooddailytimes.com/?s=amelia+burke -
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College Years
As a college student, I despise reading. I will read for assignments but it is very hard for me to voluntarily pick up a book or some other type of text. I think this is because growing up, teacher have ruined reading for me by forcing me to read texts that I did not like to read and by making reading a punishment/chore. Because of this, if I get to pick what my students read, I will keep my experiences in mind and try to make the kids enjoy what they are reading and love to read in general.
