Literacy Autobiography
I am a wife of 7 years, a mother of four, and a 4th grade inclusion teacher. All my life I have been told by my parents that reading was the key to success, reading is fundamental. At the tender age of 8 I was turned away from what I was taught all my life due to an educator.
As long as I can remember, I was always introduced to literacy. My mother was a freshmen and my father was a sophomore in high school when they got pregnant with me so I guess its safe to say that I was introduced to literacy from the womb. My parents did not drop out of high school the both graduated on time and had my sister two years later. Yes, I am the oldest of five. It was just the two of us for 7 years before the rest of my siblings came along. My mother read to us all the time, and by the time I turned 4 my parents got married. Halfway through my kindergarten year my parents purchased the Hooked On Phonics program for my sister and I. We would be made to do this program every day after school. I loved the program and was excited to learn new words and read the short stories.
Education was going real well for me. I was always actively engaged in my learning a very eager student and always willing and ready to learn new things. This child vanished in the third grade. My class and I had just re-entered out class after recess and was given a math problem to solve. I was very eager to solve the problem, so that I could be the first one to raise my hand to go to the board to solve it. While my classmates and I were working out the problem the teacher was walking around the room checking our work. When she got to my desk she looked at my problem and said in a loud voice "What are you an idiot, is that the way I showed you to solve the problem?" My parents had taught me an easier way to solve the problem and that's the way I solved it and yes I had the right answer it just wasn't done her way. That was the moment that eager little girl was lost and never to be found again. From this day forward I went through life hating school being afraid to read in class because I didn't want another teacher to embarrass me like that again. I did go home and tell my mother what happened and she came to school that very next day and the teacher tool a leave and we didn't see her ever again however, the damage was already done.
I became a "C" student from that day forward because I was too afraid to show what I know. When I got to high school I already had a bad taste of learning in my mouth so I really didn't expect much with my grades especially with all the freedom that came with highschool. Surprisingly I became an A-B student in high school. Still had a bad taste for school. I became a cheerleader my freshmen year and that's where I met my husband. I got pregnant and had our first born by the end of my sophomore year. That's when things truly began to change for me. I knew that I didn't want my child to feel the way I do about education. So I devoted myself in finding out what literacy really meant to me. I know that for be to be successful in having my daughter feel the way I felt I had to get that feeling back first. I found myself right back to the beginning of life when my parents always told us that reading was the key to success. I know that to succeed in life one needed to be able to read and write. I went through high school with my A's and B'. I really was not ready to go straight into college but my mother told me I didn't have an option so I went to Hudson County Community College. By the end of my first year I got pregnant with my second daughter. I dropped out of school and worked full time. Six years had past right before my eyes and I was working at the bank and knew this was not the life I wanted for myself so I went and enrolled at Hudson County Community College again this time with a different attitude. I now wanted to get into special education I wanted to learn about the struggling learners since I considered myself to be one the moment I lost interest in school. I graduated with my A.S. in Special Education.
I went on to NJCU to study Early Childhood and Special Education because I need to know how to help children at an early age especially since I had two young children, gain the aspects of early literacy. I Graduated with my B.A in English because I was told my last semester that the education rules had changed. I had to have taken the praxis before I could do my student teaching. Needless to say I had to drop the education program in order to graduate because I did not want to stay an extra year for student teaching. Another frustrating point in my life. However, through my educational courses I understood the importances of introducing literacy to children at an early age so it wasn't a complete lost. That's what brings me to being enrolled into this class today. I have my CE in Special Education as well in Early Childhood Education and for me to obtain my standards I must take 15 ECE courses on graduate level. This is my first online course so I'm expecting to have a lot of frustration trying to figure things out, as well as learn a lot from the course.
My biggest hobby is doing hair. I have an eye for it, from weave braids to full sew-ins. Never wanted to do it in a shop so I only experimented on my daughters, mother, and sisters. People always ask them if I would be willing to do their hair for money but I turn it down. I love reading books to my children as well as for myself.
Interesting facts I am 4ft 111/2inc yes I make it a point to add my 1/2 inc to my driver license. I worked with children born with multiple disabilities for 11 years as a teacher assistant. I am made up of African American,Cherokee Indian, German, and Bajan. I love shopping for my kids but hate shopping for myself. I am the second college graduate in my entire family, my sister being the first. I am very private this blog assignment is the first time I shared this much of my life. My family is the reason I keep striving to be better in life.
In A ECE class that I took in undergrad, I learned that Every time you read a book, write a note, make a grocery list or scroll through the tv guide are ways that you are helping your child display skills that children need, so they will be ready to learn, read, and write by the time they start school. Snow, Barnes, Chandler, Goodman, and Hemphill (1991) and others have shown that "children from homes where parents model the use of literacy and engage children in activities that promote basic understandings about literacy and its uses are better prepared for school." The article also talk about how it's not only important to read to children but it is also important to introduce them to the text that you are reading to them. 
Another important topic it talked about was the effect of print - rich classroom environments on early literacy growth. In this section we learn that the process of learning to read and write takes place soon as the children are introduced to text. Therefore, as parents we must label things around the house so the children can be introduced to a print-rich environment. This is also why it is important to make sure the children can see the text as you read to them. This will help children become well prepared for pre-k. As a literacy educator, we need to establish a climate that support to become literacy learners. We need to have areas for children to read books on their own and a center for them to freely write. We also need to model reading in the classroom on a daily basis. "We now recognize that literacy development in it's emergent forms begins even earlier than prekindergarten" (McLane & McNamee, 1990). SO I encourage parents and teachers of today to make a print-rich environment for your children studies have shown the long term success of early readers. 
