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I feel that between your autobiography and mine, it is like the opposite. For me my parents never read books to me as a child, unless it had to do with Bible stories. But that was not a daily occurrence. So it is nice to see that you have a had a background that includes daily reading. On top of that more then once a day. You said that you also like to read for fun which is why I think that early reading is highly important. Even today I don't read for fun. I see there are nothing but benefits to reading at any age in your life!

Ryon Terry

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Taylor Petersen responding to Georgianne Weiss

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Taylor Petersen responding to Georgianne Weiss

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Georgianne,

I really enjoyed reading your autobiography. After reading your comments I feel that I have a better understanding of your literacy background. I love that while you were growing up you got to spend time with such a large family that loved sharing stories. I love the part about how you mentioned that it was your parents that taught you the ability to listen, understand, watch, and draw. I feel that we are similar in that way because my family is similar to you in the sense that my whole family loves to get together and share stories and talk and enjoy each other’s company. I think that is awesome that you taught your kids to love reading. You saw how much reading helped you and beneficiated you and you wanted that for your children. I think that is an awesome motto that you want in your classroom! I also agree with you that teachers have the power to boost children’s learning potential by making book apart of a child’s life and it is our job to make it a positive experiences for them like it was for both of us.

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I really enjoyed reading your autobiography. I feel that most children enjoy to read when they are young because it is fun. However, it can be a long process for those who do not like to read or are not very good at  it.
I agree with you about reading when I got older. I really did not enjoy to read after 5th grade. It became to much of a chore. So, I feel that I can relate to that a lot.
I feel that we can use our personal experience with our students. The way to push them to read more but make it a lot more fun.
Good job on your autobiography.

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I was extremely interested in how you grew up on the Navajo reservation as a child and were fluent in Dine. As a child, I grew up in a typical town in Illinois but I was also fluently bilingual. I attended a half day English preschool and a half day French preschool. I also lost my fluency until I took French in high school and began to have things flood back in. I wonder why we both lost our second language so quickly when we were no longer consistently exposed to it.

I also have an obsession with children's books and have a big collection - it isn't quite 300 books but I am sure that it will get there eventually. Have you heard of the Dr. Seuss book 'My Many Colored Days"? A lot of people haven't heard of it, I discovered it while in Barnes and Noble picking out children's books and it has become one of my favorite children's books.

I would love some recommendations for children's books that people might not have heard of before!

Claudia LaGarde

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We have a couple things in common, I also stayed home with my mom while my dad was at work. We always had family dinner without the TV on. I completely understand when you said you understand that reading is important but you still do not like to read.
I think it is cool that you can remember rearranging words and letter when you were only 5 years old.

Loved reading your post
-Jessica Deane

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Kallee  Mott Responding to Acajia Hunter

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Kallee  Mott Responding to Acajia Hunter

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Acajia,

There are some similarities and differences both among our responses. Reading and writing did not play a huge role in my growing up either. I avoided any type of literacy I could while growing up because I was not good at it. Looking back, I should have focused on it a little more but that wasn't of my interest. My mom and I were always talking, I come from a very talkative and quick-witted family.  My mom loved to read but out of all the things I have inherited from her reading was not one of them.
My mom would write groceries lists before we went to the store and I would help, or so I thought.
Nowadays we are reading and writing more and more. I have overcome my resistance to read or write, although I don't think I will every be someone to sit down and just read a book for no purpose.

Kallee Mott

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Megan Schuldt responding to Kristina Delgado

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Megan Schuldt responding to Kristina Delgado

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I loved reading about your literacy stories because they are so different from mine! I never grew up around anyone that could speak another language other than a few sentences here and there. I think it is interesting that even though your parents spoke fluent Spanish, that they never really spoke it to you, and didn't teach you. Usually parents try to incorporate it, so it's super interesting that yours took a different path!

My parents were the same way when it came to phone calls. Some of my family lived out of state, and anytime my parents called a relative, my brother and I were put on the phone to talk to them too, so I experienced that as well as you!

It's sad that the problem with your eyes creates a lack of interest in reading, but I completely understand. I know how it feels to just not want to read, but you do like to when you are very interested in a book, which is the exact same way I am. I think your stories are awesome!

Megan Schuldt

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Kristina Delgado- Response to Kayle Bourque

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Kristina Delgado- Response to Kayle Bourque

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Wow I am blown away that you do not remember anything form learning to read. I had quite the opposite experience as you did when it came to learning how to read. I remember so much of it because I hated it so much. I think your parents did a great job with setting time aside to read to you every night, especially starting at a young age. The way you described this made it seem like reading now comes naturally to you just like speaking your first language comes naturally because it starts at such a young age. Children have plastic brains that are shaping to affect them for the rest of your life and your parents were smart for taking advantage of that.

Thanks for sharing your language and literacy autobiography!

Kristina Delgado

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Tatiana Pierce responding to Kallee Mott

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Tatiana Pierce responding to Kallee Mott

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Kallee,

You and I are a little similar. I also did not like reading while growing up. I found it to be very challenging, and I was not very good at it, either. I do not have a stutter, but I do have an accent, and I was very shy and had a difficult time reading; I would get really nervous, and my accent would become even more strong, to the point where others wouldn’t understand me. In my post I said that I didn’t remember much about literacy learning in the early years, but after reading your post, I did remember that I was taken out of class to work on reading skills, while a young student in early elementary in Russia.

I think your story is very inspiring, and I also think it is really great that you want to help others that struggle with reading. It is nice having someone who understands.

Tania Pierce

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Courtney Curran responding to Tori Hawkins

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Courtney Curran responding to Tori Hawkins

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I think it is so wonderful your family, as large as it was, had a family style dinner every night. On top of that, you went around, one at a time, talking about your days! Growing up, my family never had family style dinner, unless it was a holiday, like Christmas or Thanksgiving. I have always wished that we spent more dinner times just being together, because I feel like my parents did not really know what was going on in my life as I was growing up. I don't think I had a strong relationship with my parents until more recently in my life, and that disappoints me.

My parents also had us read a book every night before bed, but we read in our own beds, as there was only two of us! I definitely enjoyed that bonding time with my parents, and I think it helped me develop some reading skills.

I think it is really cool that you spoke some Spanish growing up, even if you weren't confident in your skills. I bet it still helped you develop some strong language skills!

Courtney Curran

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Geogianne Weiss responding to Taylor Petersen

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Geogianne Weiss responding to Taylor Petersen

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We share stories regarding the times that we read with our father. It is a special relationship with a dad and a daughter, especially when you have interests in common. My dad and I read road maps, we would mark the streets and cities, that we frequented all the time. In addition, I do not remember when I started reading, they told me it was 4  years old. My children read somewhat early, they were 5 years old.
Enjoyed your Autobio, Georgianne

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Jen Biermann responding to Claudia LaGarde

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Jen Biermann responding to Claudia LaGarde

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I love the story of how you read aloud to your preschool classroom peers! I also shared a love of reading especially in elementary school through sixth grade. I read anything and everything but preferred fantasy stories like Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia, which stretched my imagination.

But my love of reading was also lost just like yours. Curriculum focused more on the deep analysis of text and non-fictional studies. Reading became a chore and  limited my imagination. I distinctly remember completely giving up when our class read The Giver. I loved the book immensely, but the evaluation and analysis of the book killed my interpretation of it. Every year afterwards, my language arts classes felt like a laundry list of required books that had nothing to do with my interests.

Nowadays, I love reading about education, child development, and especially children's literature so reading has become enjoyable for my studies. I'm glad we share such a passion for education that we aren't "bored" with our studies. When I'm a teacher, I want to share my childhood love of reading with each of my students so they grow up to be avid readers. Great post!

~Jen Biermann

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Kayla Bourque responding to Megan Schuldt

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Kayla Bourque responding to Megan Schuldt

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Oddly enough, I relate to your post on so many levels! My parents were very supportive of me reading every day and my mom would read a few books with me every day.  In high school, I did not enjoy reading either. I was required to read books that I was definitely not interested in and I was forced to analyze them, which totally took the fun out of reading!

We definitely like the same types of books, too. One of my all time favorite books is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. It is about a high school teenager that commits suicide, but leaves these cassette tapes behind that she left directions to be passed around to the people that she believed caused her depression and later suicide. It sounds depressing, but it is AMAZING. I would definitely recommend it if you've never read it (I also have the book if you want to borrow it!)

As far as writing, I never feel confident in writing as I am doing it, but it somehow always turns out somewhat good. I think a lot of people relate writing to just writing essays for school, which is awful, because there are so many more fun ways we can utilize writing.

Finally, I like how you discussed your influence of reading and writing into your future classroom. I hope to make reading and writing something fun to do for my students, since they'll be using it their whole lives.

Kayla Bourque

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Language and Literacy Autobiography- Victoria Hawkins

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ECD 321 Language and Literacy Autobiography