I am a full time second grade teacher who teaches a self-contained class of twenty second graders at an elementary school in the piedmont triad area. Thankfully at this time, I am fifteen units away from completing the App. State reading masters program, which has been an enligtening experience that has improved the quality of the instruction I give to my students.
Regarding my own literacy learning experiences, what I remember most is my strong desire in the primary grades to improve my reading skills in order to get placed in a higher reading group. I just didn't want to improve in reading, but in everything including writing and math. Beginning in first grade, I didn't like being in the lowest reading group because I sensed that being in the low group was not a good thing. Students in the higher reading groups seemed to receive more positive recognition from the teacher, something I got very little of in first grade. Now I have to admit that my excessive talking and clownish ways didn't make me the easiest child to manage, but I wanted to experience success just as much as the so called "smart" kids.
The instruction I received in first grade did little to improve my reading skills. Thankfully, my aunt started taking me to the public library on a regular basis to check out books. I loved the smell, the architecture, and the way the library was decorated and arranged inside. It was a cozy place where I not only liked spending time to read, but I also have good memories of watching movies like JT and eating lunch there on a few occassions. When I checked out books, I was always thrilled when I found books that contained lots of familiar words I could read and never got tired of reading these books over and over. Mastering the words in a book was an accomplishment that made me feel successful and that gave me hope that I was just as capable of achieving as anybody else.
At home, we had a special room that was called "the library" because it had low built in shelves filled with books along two of its walls, with large glass windows that extended from the top of the shelves to the ceiling, providing lots of natural light in this room and making it the perfect place to read. I spent lots of time in this room practicing reading either to myself or aloud to my cousins when we played school. My three cousins were a couple of years younger than me, so I was always the teacher. Helping my younger cousins read when we played school helped reinforce my own reading skills.
Something else that helped to boost my confidence in my ability as a student was the opportunity to attend summer school for four summers starting the summer after first grade until the summer after fourth grade. I looked forward to summer school because it was always fun and I always finished summer school smarter than I was when I started since it helped me master skills that I failed to master during the regular school year. The summer school teachers were fun, caring, and used teaching methods that made sense to me, enabling me to experience lots of success with learning. We even had a singing principal who played the guitar and frequently lead the whole school in camp songs in the auditorium. We would sing songs like "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain", "There Was a Crooked Man", and "Hidee Ho". In my opinion, summer school was not torture, but was as fun as attending a summer camp. In addition to summer school, good instruction from teachers during the regular school year beginning in second grade and lasting throughout my education in public schools along with support and encouragement from my family all worked together to gradually improve my reading skills and grades, boost my confidence, and improve my overall classroom behavior. Though I still did clownish things for attention at times, I was rarely disruptive in class.
Currently, I mainly read for informational purposes and rarely take time to read a fiction book of my choosing for pleasure. Any fiction books I read are usually read for a graduate class or for teaching purposes at work. Though I enjoy reading the Bible and other books about biblical topics, books about historical events and periods in time, and crocheting books; I am not a bookworm. I have other interests besides sitting down reading all of the time such as going places with my family, running at the track, working out at the YMCA, playing my chromoharp and singing gospel songs, and writing prayers in a journal. Writing is the form of literacy expression with which I feel most comfortable, and I feel least comfortable with speaking publicly. I don't mind speaking to a group of children, but often feel very insecure when I have to speak to a group of adults, especially if I don't know them very well. However on the other hand, I don't feel insecure singing in front of a large group of people regardless of whether I know them or not. Isn't that strange?
Vickie Howell