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

I must say that I rather enjoyed reading this chapter by Hicks. I made so many connections to my own working-class girlhood as I delved deeper into the reading. In my childhood reading and imagining were intertwined so intricately with real life I was sometimes confused to where life and literature began and ended. I was the child that loved to read more than anything else, and that love has followed me into my adulthood. My parents surrounded me with books, fiction and non-fiction and they read to me religiously every night. However, it wasn't until I was in the 1st grade where I was a proud member of "the eagles" reading group that my teacher taught me and the rest of the group how to "go inside" of a book and become the characters. I was already connecting with the characters, but now I was getting lost within countless books. I would still be "inside" a story long after I finished reading it. Thank God my sister shared my love of reading and imagining because I remember making her re-enact countless storylines with me. We would go outside and play for hours pretending that we were some fictional character from mine (or her) latest book. Sometimes we would be lucky enough to convince our friends to play along with us. Unlike Hicks etc., I did not use reading to escape from lifeI saw reading as a way to make my life more vivid. I had a pretty awesome childhood and often in my imaginitive reenactments I incorportated elements from my own life into the story that I'd read. As an adult, not so much, but if I am reading I've been told that you have to call my name 5 or 6 times before I come back into the physical world and answer you.

I wish that all of my students could experience the love that I have for reading. For me, making connections is the part of reading that shapes our world. I try so hard to convey this during read alouds and I am seeing definite progress in my student's reader response journals. A few of my students are actually doing more than just reading for comprehension. They are interacting with the characters and relating to the characters on a much higher level. I will continue to share the joy of reading with my students throughout these last 48 days left in school.
Cherrita Hayden-McMillan