Literacy Autobiography: My Journey as a Reader

As a future educator, reflecting on my own relationship with reading will help me better understand how my students may become interested in reading.  A sound understanding of my own personal story will help me guide my students along the journey of reading.  It is my hope that by taking the time to reflect through this blog post that I will gain a new perspective on what it means to become a lifetime reader.

Throughout my childhood to today, the stages of my life development can be marked by the reading of a piece of literature.  Books have the capability to transform you to a different time and place.  The books you are interested in during different stages of your life often mirror you development as an individual.

 Early in my development, from birth to kindergarten, I was fortunate to have a Grandmother who was a teacher.  Therefore, there was always plenty of books at my disposal and plenty of individuals excited to read them to me.  At this stage of my life, I really enjoyed fairy tales and tall tales.  These were stories that could be read to me through books and I could view through movies and television shows.  My favorite story of this time was Paul Bunyan.  I may have had half a dozen different versions of this story.  I enjoyed this story because it gave me time to spend with my Grandmother and Father and they were each able to offer entertaining interpretations of the story.  Having others read to me gave me the opportunity to develop relationships with those close to me. As a teacher, I will remember the importance of being read to at a young age and translate that knowledge into reading to my future classroom.

During my primary school years, when I was first learning to read, my favorite book was If You Give a Pig a Pancake.  This book was my favorite because it was one of the first “big books” I could read on my own.  I took great pride in reading it to my caregivers who once read it to me.  In addition, growing up on a pig farm, I could easily relate the main character of the book.  Finding books that are relatable, yet transported me to a different setting was very important to me at this stage of my life.  Ensuring that I match appropriate books to the interests and skill level of my students will be important to me as an educator because I saw this importance when I was developing as a reader.

 

 

In my late elementary years, I began to get into fantasy book series.  These included, most notably The Secrets of Droon Series by Tony Abbott and the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling.  These books allowed me to escape from reality and enjoy reading.  Feeling the accomplishment of advancing and eventually completing a series of chapter books was very rewarding to me at this stage of my life.  In addition, when I was going through the confusing times of middle childhood, transporting myself into these fantasy settings proved to be very therapeutic.

In Junior High, the focus of my reading shifted to books that included historical aspects or historical events of significance.  These books included Night, a work by Elie Wiesel about a first person account from a Holocaust survivor, and The Wave by Todd Strasser, which depicts a Nazi undertoned classroom experiment gone horribly wrong.  I was able to relate to the characters in books such as these, which therefore gave me a better grasp of history and increased my enjoyment.  As a future History teacher, I hope to incorporated literature such as the novels above to humanize the subject of History while hopefully making a subject most students see as dull and unimaginative more entertaining.  As a student myself, once I found entertainment in the subject of History through literature.  I hope to instill this love of history through literature to my future students.

 

In recent years, the focus of my readings has primarily been centralized on assigned classroom work and keeping up with the news and current events.  Keeping up with the world around us is extremely important in our society.  Reading allows us the opportunity to understand events and topics from different perspectives.  In addition, reading enables us to develop our own opinions through the knowledge we acquire.  Reading other’s opinions different to our own encourages open-mindedness, which is an extremely vital but lost art in many facets of our society.  While I do not read near as much as I would l like to, I still consider myself an active reader as reading is a central aspect of my life.

As a future teacher, I hope to assist the development of the reader autobiography of future generations.  I recognize the importance of reading in my life and hope to inspire my students to find the importance of reading in their own lives.  I was able to keep a positive attitude about reading from development to today because I was inspired by avid readers in my life. Luckily, throughout my development, I had numerous educators and role models in my life that promoted the importance of literature.  Now, I hope to be the proponent of literature in the lives of my future students.