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Goodnight Moon
When I was a baby, my mom would read Goodnight Moon to me every night. I know as a baby, I was rapidly absorbing all the sounds, sights, and languages around me. This is my first memory of being read a book, and I remember being able to read it with her from memory too. -
Road Signs
When driving around as a toddler/young kid, my Mom and Dad would have me look at street signs to remember how to get home and recite directions back to them. I used to think it was a fun game to play. I was using site words and visual clues to read without realizing it. Memorizing phone numbers, names, directions, and songs greatly contributed to my early development literacy skills. -
Early Reading
I'll never forget sitting at my reading the Boxcar Children as a class in first grade. Frog and Toad and Amelia Bedelia books were my favorite as a kid. I remember reading them before I went to bed most nights. They were the first books I remember reading independently. -
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Playing School
When I was in grade school I would love to come home and play school for hours. One of my favorite things to do was create spelling tests and grade them. I would even spell words wrong, to correct them in my red ink. This influenced me later on because I realized it is how I studied for tests. I would write words out, rewrite definitions, or try to pick out what info from the texts I thought would be on tests and write it down. -
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Harry Potter
This might be one most influential series for me. The Sorcerers Stone came out when I was in third grade. I remember picking it up, but not really understanding it. The next summer, I gave it another chance and was hooked. I was able to grow up with the characters, waiting in line for the next book at the midnight release at Barnes&Nobles. The last book came out my senior year of high school and it was like closing a life chapter. HP taught me so much about the power of literacy. -
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Mrs. Seibel
My middle school Lit teacher, Mrs. Seibel was a huge inspiration for my love of books. I could go on for hours about her impact on my literacy skills if I could. We had tri-yearly book workshops and could dress as characters, give reports, and really dissect what we were reading. I love biographies because of her. I will never forget reading TKAMB in 8th grade and really understanding the message Harper Lee was giving to the reader based on Seibel's ability to teach the text so well. -
SAT Prep Class
One significant moment that stands out to me is an SAT class I took for the reading/writing sections. The teacher was a retired english teacher. She not only taught us new words and definitions, but also how to decipher language and sentences. At the time I thought it was challenging (there as a lot of HW and pretests) but it taught me so much and really prepared me for not only the test, but what to expect in college. -
Mrs. Kenney and the Scarlet Letter
My senior year English teacher really stood out to me. Mrs. Kenney was entertaining and made you love literature. She even made reading the Scarlet Letter entertaining and into a page turning experience. The Great Gatsby was another one we read in her class. She showed us that if you dig deep, you can relate to characters you wouldn't expect to. She also made us realize that you can turn to books at any point in your life to help you. I can see characters differently because of her. -
English Class Spring 09
Spring semester of my freshman year I took a 300 level ENG class called 19th Cent. Early American Literature. I will never forget my professor telling the class that if there were any freshman in the room, we should drop the class because it would be too hard. I knew I signed up because I needed one more Eng. credit and was a history major so thought this would be a "fun" topic. The class was a really hard challenge, but I ended up loving it and getting an A. I learned a lot in that class. -
Preschoolers
My literary career has almost come full circle. I work with 4-5 year olds and they have given me a new love of children's literature. There are books that I read to them that make me laugh our loud, some that make me cry, and others that teach me things I hadn't learned before. Reading to a class of little kids, who are just beginning to learn to read is really inspiring. You can help create their love for reading and books. Now, I find myself celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday.
