My Profile as a Disciplinary Reader
Autumn Reaghard
Profile
What: I have had an affinity for all books from a very young age. For my birthday throughout my childhood years, my parents would take me to Barnes & Nobles and allow me to pick out a number of books. I read all the “Babysitter’s Club” books, “Goosebumps”, and “Boxcar Children”. I read the “Golden Compass” trilogy. I would pick out children’s cookbooks and encyclopedias. The teacher who had the greatest impact on me was my freshman honors English teacher, Mr. Fazio. He had very high expectations of all his students, but was a phenomenal teacher and made sure we had all the tools and skills that we needed to succeed throughout highschool and into college. The first book we read in his class was Dante’s “Inferno”. Although at the time it was a very hard and boring read, Mr. Fazio broke it down so that it was easy to understand and exciting to read. A number of other books that I have read in middle and high school have stuck with me through the years including “The Giver”, “The Outsiders”, and “The Catcher in the Rye”. Once I started college, reading for enjoyment was a rarity, and I was mostly reading textbooks and articles out of scholarly journals. My undergraduate degree is in biochemistry, so my reading was primarily technical and scientific. The one book that was recommended to me in college that I did read for enjoyment was Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist”. The lessons in the book still resonate with me to this day and I have reread the book several times since then. In the past few years I have read quite a few biographies of people who inspire me as well as self-improvement books. This is my second year as a teacher, and my first year teaching high school, and I think it is very important for me to constantly be evolving and improving myself as a person, so that I may continue to improve myself as a teacher.
Where & When: I will read anywhere and everywhere. When I get really absorbed with a book, it consumes my mind and I will read every free second that I have. In regards to reading for academic purposes, I enjoy reading in coffee shops or in the library.
How: I tend to read very quickly and end up having to go back and reread parts of texts. My mind wanders frequently, and if I am not completely captured by the content, it takes a lot of energy for me to stay focused.
Why: The "why" for me is ever evolving. When I was younger, I read purely for enjoyment and to lose myself in the characters. In college, it was because the readings were required. In graduate school, I was way more interested in the content, so although most of the content was technical reading, I enjoyed it because I was interested in it. Now, the main reasons why I read are to improve my teaching and to improve myself.
Increasing Specialization of Literacy Development
How My Profile Impacts My Experience as an Educator
"A Certain 'Kind of Person'"
1. Nature- 30 year old white female, and an oldest daughter.
2. Positions- College graduate, high science teacher, EMT, bartender, North Carolina resident.
3. Traits- reflective, sarcastic, compassionate, kind.
4. Associations- Pittsburgh sports fan, liberal, science olympiad coach, science camp counselor
Profile as a Disciplinary Reader
Autumn Reaghard
Mathematics- Generally competent
Physical Science- Highly confident
Biological Science- Highly confident
History- Can get by
Social Studies- Can get by
Technical- Sometimes struggle
Health and Fitness- Highly confident
Humanities- Can get by
References
Shanahan T., & Shanahan C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: rethinking content area literacy. Havard Education Review, 78(1), 40-58.
Email: reagharda15@students.ecu.edu
Phone: 412-498-7107