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

Why Me? That is what I remember thinking anytime a teacher asked me to read in class or said it was time for reading or writing. I disliked reading and writing all the way through high school. Number one I was a slooooooooooooooooooow reader. Not to mention I would choke when asked to read aloud and I would miss several words. On top of that, writing did not come 'naturally' to me and my grammar was horrible, teachers would write all over my papers with red pen. I didn't really see the point of reading or writing. Both of them frustrated me and I never enjoyed them so why bother. Growing up I seldom saw anyone read. Life was so full of challenges for my family that we were not read to much at all. I went to 15 different schools before I ever graduated from high school. So needless to say, I never really learned to like a school before we moved again. Because of this my education was somewhat broken. Every school I went to had different standards, curriculum, and ideas for where I should be preforming.

So you might be wondering why I am in the Reading program and how I came to love reading so late in life. I was in my sophomore year of college, still only reading what was required of me, when my life completely changed, I found out I was pregnant with my son. I didn't know what I was going to do but I knew I had to finish school. I moved from NC to CT to live with my parents. I enrolled at Eastern Connecticut State University and began on the education track. I had awesome professors and I loved all of my classes, however my reading classes were my favorite. At first it was not because of what I could teach my students but because of what I was learning. I was learning how to become a reader and a writer. It was the most amazing feeling. I had always doubted myself and thought that reading and writing were not for me, at least they weren't anything I was ever going to enjoy doing. Boy was I wrong! As I learned to love reading I started buying books all the time and reading constantly to my newborn son and for myself. From that point on I knew that I had to help kids and families that did not understand the importance of reading and joy it could bring to each and every one of us. I finished my degree and moved back to NC. I taught first and second grade in Forsyth County for three years. In my first three years of teaching I worked with many kids that were struggling readers. I found my self often feeling like I wasn't doing enough for them but I didn't know what else to do. I would ask other teachers for help but we were all to often in the same boat. I knew then that when I needed to go back to school to get my masters in reading. I needed to learn more about how to help my students and other teachers help their students.

Then I found the job and one of the loves of my life, more@4/EC preschool. I now have the privilege of working with kids and families that live in tough situations that make them at risk students. My goal, as a PreK teacher, is to help close that gap by giving my kids and families experiences and resources that they may not otherwise have. Within that, my main goals is to teach my parents the importance of reading with there child, even if they are not an "expert" reader and to give them strategies and ideas of ways to make it fun. I also work everyday to help my kids develop a love for books and reading. I hope that if I am able to make a difference so early on that the kids I have will not miss out on so many years of the true joy of reading and they will not have to think; Why Me?.

A little about me outside of reading: I have been happily married for three years to my husband Joshua. We both had children prior to our marriage, my stepdaughter Chloe, 11, and my son Alex, 8. Our kids are awesome and they are best friends. We all love to do anything outdoors: bike riding, hiking, sports, etc. My husband and children are pet lovers so our family would not be complete without our two dogs and two cats. We are also extremely excited to being adding a new addition to our family in May. We are having a little boy!

Amy Spade