My Literacy History
Lindsey Jones
Earliest Literacy Memories
I can remember being young and loving books. I think a love for reading starts young, and mine definitely was introduced through bedtime stories right before bed when my parents would read to me. I also loved watching my grandpa read the newspaper when I would go visit him at the farm.
Grandpa
Miss this guy and his huge, goofy reading glasses.
My favorite everything
My brother actually was in special ed and struggled with a learning disability. I think I was more excited when he learned to read than when I learned to read. His accomplishments always meant more to me than my own.
The family
I was and still very much am blessed with two parents who were/are supportive of all of our academic goals. They were the patient ones who would read "just one more story" at least three times a night.
Earliest Writing Attempts
Of course learning the ins-and-outs of handwriting in kindergarten and first grades were my first legible writing attempts. I loved to write my name on everything, including things I probably shouldn't have with utensils that weren't so erasable. Also, eveeeery young girl had a diary to journal all the drama a 2nd grader has at 7 years old. :)
1st Library Experience
I can remember walking into the library in kindergarten and it always being decorated so awesome and fun. It made me WANT to grab a book and read. They always had stuffed animals of characters from some of my favorite books, so that always sparked my interest. The library was always colorful and an exciting place to be.
The Rainbow Fish
I loved the glitter on the pages of this book. Before I learned to read, I always looked for books that were pretty.
The Berenstain Bears
I swear I read the entire series. These were my go-tos whenever it was library day in school.
Junie B. Jones
I fell in love with Judy Blume. Not only did Junie and I share the same last name, (which I thought was SO cool) but I could relate to alllll of Junie's school struggles.
Me as a Writer
I love to write. I was always so good at writing papers, so English class came pretty easy and enjoyable to me. Writing is an awesome way to showcase your personality, because it's your words... just on paper. I like being given a prompt, because I have so many thoughts my biggest struggle became narrowing them down. I like starting from a smaller focus and then elaborating.
Why Reading and Writing is Still so Important to Me
First of all, becoming a teacher I think you have to share some type of passion for language arts. Not only is reading/writing such an important part of everyone's academic life, but to be able to teach the future how to learn those important skills is a big task that can be extremely rewarding. I know I couldn't have gained such a love for reading and writing without my teachers, both in and out of school.