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I wish, like Freire, and so many of you, that I had more distinct early memories of reading my world. I do know that since I was very young I have been the kind of person who watches and takes things in first before engaging with others and speaking about them.
Most of my early memories involved my sister. She is 15 months older than me and so we discovered and read our world together from a very young age. I think we helped each other navigate and make discoveries about the world around us. I remember that we would engage in lots of imaginative play. We had recurrent characters that we would play. One of our favorite games was playing house - my sister played the wife and I played the husband. I would love to be able to see a recording of our game in action. I imagine we were acting out what we saw around us - our parents' interactions and what we imagined, from our experience with the world, what it meant to be a husband and wife.
~Jessica

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I attempt to provide my students with lots of choice. This includes choice in what they read and choice about what they write. I also try to introduce topics, especially through read alouds, that students can connect to and that might help them to connect with the worlds of others. In this way I allow my students to be creators. I also encourage my students to ask questions and be critical of the world around them. For a first or second grader this could mean discussing and questioning a particular topic in a book we are reading - like friendship, discrimination, honesty, bullying. I also try to encourage kids to bring in their background knowledge and unique experience with the world to help them navigate texts and topics that are used in the classroom. ~ Jessica

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Students in the classroom write about connections through their reading response journals and during writing workshop. While we teach them to write for different purposes students choose their own topic that fits that purpose. This allows them to be creative and making it personal and their interested in it. - Lindsey

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The earliest memory I have of reading was being read to with my mom and dad during the day and at bed time. My sister and I would get to choose 2 books each night before bed and we would sit and read them. When I was about 5 I would have most of my "favorite" books memorized and I would pretend to read to them. I remember this being on of the highlights of the day. -lindsey

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I would say this all starts with reading aloud to my students. I love to read aloud... share connections... discuss...and create and share interpretations. The little discussions you have with students over texts can tell you a lot about students. Mostly because they love to share all and any connections. At first... I allow for a lot of personal connections. This helps them to relate whatever we are reading to their own lives. This is a practice that has to be refined quickly.. or else every kid will tell you about their cousin with the same name as the character. Then I push for deeper connections... usually this is intentional with the types of literature I will choose to read aloud. I think it is important to be intentional with culturally responsive literature that my diverse learners can easily relate to. I try not to put a cap on creativity. For example with my previous class... I taught the same students for 3rd and 4th grade. I knew them all very well... so I would use what I knew about their world to help influence my teaching style. I would often share many texts with my students about a topic, influential people, or poetry, and then have them respond in some fashion. I had some very creative students. They would write poetry, do mini inquiry projects, or create something to interpret what they learned.

- Heather

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This may surprise some... but I was an early talker. My earliest memories are memories I have of talking to people. I often verbalized my reading of the world... I just did it randomly, and often. A blurter. I had a very good speaking vocabulary, and knew the context of a lot of my world. This is how I remember learning how to read, but I was not really ever a good reader. In fact through out my public schooling I did not consider myself a reader. I could read, but not well. Not until I was pushed to become a critical reader. Then... I became a reader.

- Heather

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In my classroom, I allowed kids to bring forms of literacy like magazines, print, and pictures. Anything my kids brought into the classroom that the students are interested in interacting with as really okay. Some kids would bring things that had to do with car or even their favorite rapper. What I realized was the students were creating their own relationship with literacy.

Sometimes a student brought in the song (that was appropriate for class) we listened to it and broke down the lyrics. We even went a step further by looking for figurative language and how RAP stands for rhythm and poetry. Doing this with the kids is awesome. I appreciate them becoming more engaged and invested with their own forms a literacy.

-Alex

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The earliest memory I have reading was being in Louisiana with my grandparents for a summer. I was going to the library to check out a bunch of books and felt so excited. I know that I must've been young because they were mostly picture books with a few words.

I vividly remember this because as I was reading with my grandmother I came across the word "stupid." Being a young goody two shoes, I looked at my grandmother wide-eyed and scared of further proceeding with the reading. She said it was OK and I read the word loud and proud. I felt so liberated.

-Alex

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The way I allow my students in the classroom to be creators through their world and experiences is by sharing, talking, reflecting,  and writing about things that matter to them. I have had students use a variety of different mediums to convey a story that was important to them in a first grade classroom. They then had to present what they had to the class.

I have also had students talk about a book they were reading in a literature circle and let them reflect the feeling of a particular character relating it to a time when their emotion was the same. I have had social studies lessons where children became so upset about the issue of slavery we conversed about it. Authentic conversation can happen from things children are passionate about. This can lead to them finding out more about a subject on their own and sharing their findings with others.
Nina

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When I was very little we lived in an apartment in New York city. I remember family visits, parties, wonderful close neighbors, the co-op, as well as our babysitter who was an amazing person! It seemed like everywhere we went my parents knew everyone and was loved by everyone. It didn't matter if we were going to the fish store, shoe store, or across the street to Chinatown. Books were a natural part of my life. My mom was an English teacher and a writer. Both of my parent taught ESL to adults in the evening. Temple was also a big part of my life. We always did things as a family. We went sightseeing, visited friends, or I remember being in the Macy's Day Parade with my class. At dinnertime we sat down at the table and talked about our day. We moved to a house in New Jersey the summer I was going into second grade. It opened up a new world of possibilities and things to learn and do.
Nina

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I think a great way to provide opportunities for my students to read the world is allowing them to reflect and make connections to the text and or daily conversations that we may have. Allowing time for authentic conversation is needed. I also think that field trips are a great way to encourage students to read the world.  Sometimes students do not have a lot of "experience" and can't relate to reading bc they lack background knowledge. Field trips are a great way to help children read the world!
-Kristyna

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A lot of my childhood memories and reading my world took place at my grandparents This is when I would feel a lot of feelings of joy and experience many delicious smells and interact with many people.
I remember  my father always taking my cousins and I to the mall to get ice cream. My grandmothers house was in Laredo so a lot of the print was in Spanish. I would here conversations in Spanish as well as English, from my family and random people.
-Kristyna

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I think students have so much power in creating their story. I believe this power comes from their individual experiences with the world and with word. I definitely believe that self-selection in reading and writing topics is critical. Students need the opportunity to read about topics of interest and topics they can relate to. In addition, students need opportunities to write, reflect, and share with others. This will allow them to feel like they have a voice. -Tinne

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I don't have a lot of early childhood memories which saddens me. One of my earliest was when I remember riding around on a cart one would pull groceries on or book son their walk home. The cart had wheels and a tall handle (almost like a rolling suitcase) and my brother would pull me around the basement. I remember laughing as he pulled me way too fast and I remember the sounds the cart made as the wheels buckled from too much weight. - Tinne

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I think that in the best world scenario students should have a large role in choosing books that they read. This can certainly encourage them to be creators.  I think that with making quality interactions with texts a priority rather than numerous activities and questions can increase the notion of creators. I think that returning to texts and deciding if one has the same thoughts about it can help increase the depth as to how texts can be interacted with. Lastly, I think that allowing students to bring their “worlds” into the classroom and use their “worlds” for the class to take a new direction can contribute to growing creators.

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While reading this chapter my memories automatically went to memories of my grandmother’s house rather than my own childhood house. I spent a good amount of time there, but she did not live in the same town, but rather about twenty miles away. I remember the different parts of her house that I would examine like some Chinese bowls, and soup spoons that I thought were exotic and fragile. All of the chairs or couches were worn and a little itchy. I remember sneaking to try push a button on her refrigerator that would automatically open it. I smell the foods she would make us for lunch, or dinner always different from what my mother made. And with ritual we would use the same cups and plates that were assigned to my brother and I. I remember her backyard that included a clothes line, and I would weave through and hide in the towels or my grandfather’s blue jeans that were hanging down. I remember being told to pick weeds from the garden, or go outside to the front porch where I would draw pictures in the dirt.  I remember being outside and it always being windy and cold. I remember being allowed to return back inside and if it was really cold out, then a warm fire would be burning and I would stand in front of it watching it, and seeing for how long I could stand so close without burning up.- Taylor

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