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Early Childhood - Bedtime Stories
Every night before bed, my parents would alternate reading books to me before I fell asleep. They'd begin with books such as "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "I Spy", then start getting into higher levels of reading such as the Harry Potter series as I progressed into middle school. Hearing them use different voices for each character gave me an early awareness of individuality and sparked my passion for reading at a young age. -
Early Childhood - Snail Mail
Starting in kindergarten, my mom encouraged me to write letters to members of our family. She taught me how to correctly write, sign, and address a letter. Soon, I wrote a number of letters to pen pals and even sent lengthy e-mails to family members and friends talking about my day and recent events occurring at home. This hobby inspired my artistic creativity and writer's voice to emerge. To this day, I still enjoy "snail mail" and willingly write to others for pleasure. -
Early Childhood - Road Signs
On long family road trips, my brother and I would take turns reading the signs and advertisements we passed on the side of the road. I was just beginning to learn how to read and pronounce words in kindergarten, so my dad challenged us by creating a game in which we had to find words in alphabetical order. The first person who successfully found and read aloud words beginning with the letter A to Z, won. This simple game introduced me to the small joy of learning words and their meanings. -
Early Childhood - Ms. Rachel's Room
Each day after school, I would come home with my weekly spelling list and math homework and attempt to teach my dolls, Barbies, and stuffed animals the information I learned earlier that day. I would call this "School". I lined them up in seats, took attendance, then began the various lessons for the day. Repeating the lessons I learned throughout the day by teaching them to an audience further enhanced my knowledge on phonics, spelling, and writing. -
Early Childhood - Tech Savvy
Twice a week, during our "computer time" at school, I would play educational games in my school's computer lab. This time allowed us to practice our understanding in a variety of content areas including math, art, music, language arts, social studies, and science while holding our attention through engaging us in thrilling games. This made me realize that learning could be a fun and interactive process as well as educational. -
Elementary School - Library Trips
Each week, my mom would take me to the library to rent books, an educational computer game, or a special suitcase. The suitcases included a "theme" and were filled with different educational resources (especially books) pertaining to that theme. I would rent one with a theme of a different country each month, and would read a variety of series for pleasure because of my constant exposure to the library. This opened up new windows to my world and increased my self-awareness. -
Elementary School - Accelerated Reader
My school had a reading program called Accelerated Reader. Every book in the system was allotted a specific number of points based on its reading level. Depending on how well a student comprehended the information from the book and performed on the reading test given for the individual book, they were awarded points. My school encouraged us to participate in the program by offering rewards for every "Point Club" we reached and even held pizza parties for the classroom with the most points. -
Middle School - Se Habla Espanol
I signed up to take an middle level summer course at my local community college on how to learn Spanish. We would meet every day for two weeks and listen to songs to help us learn the colors, the formal and informal ways of speaking, and other aspects of the language. This class helped me compare and contrast English and Spanish and realize connections between the two languages, as well as other foreign languages in comparison to English. -
Middle School - Speech Team
In the eighth grade, I participated in our Speech Team. Every day for an hour after school, we'd practice reading aloud and comprehending various theatrical pieces and literature, then act them out in front of an audience. Not only did this gave me more experience in reading aloud in front of others and strategies for interpreting texts in different ways, but it also brought a newfound self-confidence in the arts. -
High School - Creative Writing
During the second half of my senior year of high school, I took a Creative Writing course centered around finding my voice as a writer, responding to other writers' works and ideas, and creating stories of my own. It strengthened my understanding of language, built a steadfast passion for writing, and gave me new insight into the different aspects that are used in different forms of writing. My teacher, Mr. Francis, was very knowledgeable on the subject and had a pleasant classroom environment. -
College - Computer Craze
Ever since I began college, I've become more dependent on using my laptop as a form of communcation and attaining new information. As our society becomes more digital and technology-driven, so have my resources for literacy. Almost all of my classes and communication occur online, as well as social media. -
College - Cooking Master
Now that I live in an apartment, I create grocery lists and use the purchased food to make meals, which are used in a cook book I have. Applying resources to make a product out of a book helps build my understanding of connecting reading to real life.
