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Hop on POP
My earliest memories of my child involve reading. I vividly remember my big sister reading me the Dr Seuss book HOP on POP. I must have been less than two years old and I loved it. I would say the word "Pop" and my sister knew she needed to read it to me. -
The Great Pie Robbery
As time went by my sister continued to read to me all the time. My next favorite book was the Great Pie Robbery by Richard Scarry. It was a little more advanced and I really liked to listen to her while I looked at the pictures. -
My Gram
My Grandmother (Gram) was an old wise Irish woman who had a poem or limerick for any occasion. At any given time, full length poetry by W. B. Yeats or Seamus Heaney would roll off her tongue like she just knew it. It was amazing. She could knit a pair of slippers, drink tea and talk about poetry all day. She gave me my first ever poem book and I read every page of it a hundred times. It was a collection of Poems by W.B. Yeats. -
My Mom
My mother was constantly reading when I was growing up. Although she didn't read to me as much as my sister did I could tell she loved it. The way that she could just sit happily reading always made me think that it was an enjoyable experience. -
Spelling Tests
This strategy of education succeeded only to expose my weakness for spelling. I studied harder than anyone I knew but I could't get it. My teacher, mother and I could not understand why I could read so well compared to my classmates but simply could not spell. It was demoralizing and also made me complacent. -
Repetitive Writing
I can remember first grade very well. I hated the long, never ending repetitive writing I was forced to do. It made me hate school and everything to do with it. Sister Roberta Ann made me write the same sentence over and over again, sometimes hundreds of times. It didn't accomplish anything positive but the redundant work made me complacent about reading and writing. -
Chris McMullens
Chris was an older boy from my neighborhood. One day he was a guest speaker in my class. I knew him pretty well because he was close friends with my cousins. He looked so confident and all the children in my class sat quietly and listened to him. I remember thinking that I could read in front of the whole class if he could. -
Time Line
When I was in third grade my teacher gave us a writing assignment. We needed to find a picture from our parents photo album from each year of our lives. Then we needed to write about our lives that year. After that she laminated them and we all read them out loud to the class. It was a fun project. The original timeline project from my class is now hanging in my office and it's a great conversation piece. -
Round Robin Reading Group
When I was in third grade my teacher assigned us all to reading groups. I remember being so proud because I was in the "RED" group. It was a group of about six children and they were all the smartest kids in class. There were many problems with putting children in reading groups based on their ability and not many teachers do it anymore. I know for a fact that the children were not reading along but instead reading ahead so they wouldn't stumble on any words. -
Winter Poem
My Forth Grade teacher was very interested in poetry. She made us read a different poem every day. Most of the time she read it to us. I think I enjoyed this better. One day we had a poetry writing contest for the whole school. My poem was called winter. It was all about me playing in the snow with my cousins. I won first place and my principal read it to the school at an assembly. It was a good day. -
Milky Way Day
One nice sunny day my teacher informed us that it was "Milky Way Day". We all went to the library and picked out a book. Next we all went outside and sat alone quietly reading. My teacher passed out to all of us a frozen Milky Way candy bar. I read a choose your own adventure book and couldn't wait to tell my mom about Milky Way day. She loved reading and chocolate so it was a great idea for her also. -
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The first time I laid eyes on the book that changed my view of reading I thought it was a joke. It was a silly looking cover and didn't seem like something an intelligent person would spend time with. The book belonged to my stepfather, who I respected as a highly educated and very smart man. I think I read it at first to see why he would like it. It became the book that made me love reading and writing. I was a Douglas Adams fan immediately. -
Mrs. Carlson
Mrs. Carlson was the most inspiring teacher I had throughout grade school. She was a sixth grade teacher who loved reading and creative writing. She believed in us and pushed us to think outside the box while writing. She showed us that books can change and be a little different every time we read them.
