Literacy History

As a young person I always loved reading. Some of my favorite memories from my childhood revolve around drinking hot chocolate or tea and having my mom read to me. When I got older I read to myself and still enjoyed it. Those feelings of getting enjoyment and entertainment from reading have remained with me even now when I normally am not reading books that I would select for myself. I think one of the main reasons why I’ve always had a deep love for reading is because of the attitude that my mom had about reading. She always stressed to us that reading is necessary in order to receive a full and complete education. Another reason why I love reading is probably because of my teachers that I’ve had throughout the years. Most of my teachers would find out that I loved reading and would recommend books for me to read. As I got older I began to discuss books with teachers even when they weren’t assigned for classes. I think that having adults to talk to about books encouraged me to keep challenging myself in book selections and to read them with a critical eye.

With the wonderful history I’ve had with books I think that as a teacher I’ll want to foster a level of appreciation for reading in my students. I’ll be more likely to search harder for high quality books that will engage my students. I also think that it’ll cause me to present those books with excitement and in a unique way. I could see myself using strategies like having kids rewrite parts of the book to encourage deeper understanding or having them create a mix tape that helps its listener explain a character or story line better. I think one thing I would avoid in my classroom is forcing the class to all read one book. I really appreciated teachers who implemented reading circles. Reading circles allowed the students to select from a list of books and have discussions on a smaller level. I think that this approach is helpful to students who are shy and don’t speak much in front of the class. I know that sometimes it’s easier for kids to speak in front of a smaller number of people. By doing reading circles these kids can still participate without feeling nervous.

I think that with the literacy history I have I most likely wouldn’t write young adult literature. When I was a young adult I didn’t really read young adult novels unless I was forced to for a class. If I had to write young adult literature I would probably write about issues regarding body issue and empowerment of young women. I’d want to write books that would help young women come to believe that they can do anything they want to do and that they are beautiful regardless of what society says.

As a teacher who has had a positive literacy history, I think it would cause me to be very conscious of the type of books I was picking for my students to read. I would want to make sure that the books I selected for my class that were centered around characters with different ethnicities, home lives, economic levels, and sexual orientations. I would hate for any of my students to feel as if they weren’t represented within my classroom or within literature. I would also make sure to be cautious about books that utilize language that is offensive to different groups of people.

I think after some of our readings that we’ve completed in class I’ll be more aware of the fact that young adult literature is fairly young as a genre. I’ll be more open minded about utilizing it within my classroom. Teenagers want to read books with characters similar to them and sometimes young adult literature presents it more clearly than some of classics may.