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

My name is Jayne Thompson. I'm a second grade teacher at Union Cross Elementary in Kernersville. I'm also wife to Fred and Mom to sons Eric,19, and Matt, 16. I've been teaching for eleven years and still love it, most days anyway. I'm about three quarters of the way through this graduate program and plan to finish up this summer.

I'm in this program because I love reading. I can remember the moment that I learned to read. My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Caulder, was reading a big book: Dick and Jane. Perhaps it helped that it had my name the story. I felt special and I paid attention. The "lightbulb" flashed for me the moment that I understood that the letters mapped to sounds and the sounds came together to form words. It was a great feeling to "crack-the-code." The rest came easy for me and I've loved reading ever since.

As a teacher, I thrive on creating those "light bulb moments" for my students. Of course, I realize now, that reading does not come so easy for everyone. Over the years of teaching reading, I've become passionate about working with struggling readers. I've really enjoyed learning strategies and methods that work for them. The light bulb moments are fewer, and less frequent, but they mean so much more with a struggling reader. I feel lucky each day that I get to share my passion for reading with my students.

Jayne Thompson