RES 5530: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Spring 2009)

I think I was always meant to teach children to read. From the first moment that I began to read (I do remember it, although it is quite vague), I fell in love with books. As a little girl, I remember watching my father read book, after book, after book. He would read anything he could get his hands on – it didn’t matter the subject or the author. He never read much to my brother and I but my mom always did – every single night. My dad worked third shift, so my brother and I would snuggle into bed with mom, one on either side of her, and we would listen to her read. I still have some of the books she read to us –Edith and Midnight was our favorite. Here’s the link to the author’s page - http://www.darewright.com/books.htm. The pictures were actually black and white photographs of dolls in real places. This one was about a girl doll and her horse. The binding is worn and the pages have the crunchy feel of an old, forgotten book, however, I don’t think I will ever forget the moments that I had with that book.

As a kindergarten teacher and a fifth grade teacher, I always tried to give those same moments to my students. Even if I had a class of students that I knew had experienced those same ‘time for bed’ rituals, I would still read to them each day. I always wanted them to see and feel the magic of reading. The way it takes you to places that you may never otherwise be able to see. The way it can teach you things that make you wonder about even more things. At the same time, I always tried to help them see that they too could share their own stories with others, and that their words, their experiences have value.

On a more personal note – I’m in my third, and hopefully, my final year of my doctorate program at ASU. I’m collecting data for my dissertation and hope to be able to write through the summer and the fall. I’ve been extremely blessed to have worked with the reading department faculty as a masters student and now as a doctorate student. I now teach undergraduate and graduate reading education courses for ASU as an adjunct instructor. It’s a challenging, but exciting new career path and I love having the opportunity to excite both new and masters teachers about teaching reading and writing in their classrooms. I’ve been married for 3 ½ years and we have an Australian cattle dog who we absolutely love.

Amie Snow