Hi, my name is Kim Strzelecki. I graduated from a school in upstate New York and moved to North Carolina in 2009 and have not yet found a permanent position, so I have been subbing in the Forsyth County Schools for the past two years. I started the Reading Education MA program this spring and so far I am really enjoying it.
I completed one of my student teaching placements in a reading clinic in New York that served children in grades Kindergarten through third grade because I didn’t think I had taken nearly enough classes dealing with how to teach reading. I wanted to know why it came so naturally for some people, like myself, and not for others. It was a challenge but I was definitely glad that I did it because I was able to work with students with learning disabilities, phonological processing deficits, as well as kids who just had a slow start to learning how to read or other exogenous factors that were affecting their academic achievement. I was able to learn and put into practice exactly how to help these kids be successful with reading.
I applied for the special placement in the reading clinic because reading just came naturally to me as a kid. My mom informs me that I was never without a book as a child, and the same is true today; I still carry one around in my purse that I’m currently reading just in case I have to wait around somewhere and I’ll have a chance to read a few pages. Chances are, that book in my purse is going to be by Stephen King. He has been my favorite author since I read The Shining in 6th grade. I’ve slowly been buying every book of his since then, and I now have a book shelf full of 62 of his books!
Throughout college, I was a nanny to two children who are now 5 and 6 years old. I started working for the family a month after the oldest was born and it was while taking care of these kids that I realized I made the right decision to become a teacher. I loved teaching them new things, taking them places and of course, reading to them! I watched them develop a love for books and I hope I played a little part in that. To this day, every year I send them two books for their birthdays :-)
That is what I hope to instill in my future students-a love for reading. This is not only because it will help them be successful in school and later on in life, which is true, but also because as an avid reader, I know how amazing the world of books can be and it is my job to help those students who may be struggling realize this, because everyone deserves that knowledge!
Kim Strzelecki