RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

I always enjoy reading everyone’s introductions because they are filled with such a fondness for reading. Your lives have been enriched with books since a young age, and you find pleasure in reading now. Well, I think I am the exception to the rule.
I don’t recall being read to as a child. We didn’t have a lot of books at home, I rarely went to the public library, and I don’t remember my parents reading a lot for their own pleasure as I was growing up. My grades in reading were not fantastic. I was a slow reader, and my comprehension was not the best. As I got into high school and college I avoided the library and reading like the plague. I simply did not like to read. I found it to be a grueling task that bored me to death.
After high school I went to ASU and earned a BA in English. Why English if I don’t like to read? I thought English was a broad enough degree to get me somewhere in life. After all, an English degree would prove that I could read, write, and follow directions. I skated through the numerous literature courses by skimming the reading then getting to class early to discuss the reading with my classmates. By discussing the reading before class, I could engage in the class discussion and pass the quiz. But I still refused to read on my own.
Just because I wasn’t a reader did not mean I did not enjoy Language Arts. I love the nuts and bolts of our language. I find words fascinating. I loved grammar and diagramming sentences in 7th grade. I find it mesmerizing that somebody can create a wonderful new story out of nothing but an idea. They merely put their pen to paper and from it flows something completely new.
After college I was a librarian, worked various office jobs, and then became a Parent Educator for a Smart Start program. It was there that I decided to go back to school to get teaching certification. I finished my K-6 certification in December 2008 and am now finishing my third year as a sixth grade Language Arts teacher.
So why did I choose to pursue a Master’s in Reading? I understand the importance of reading. Even though I choose not to read for pleasure, I still know that reading is a basic skill that we all need in order to be successful at life. I can empathize with my students when they grumble about reading. I tell them that is okay to not like it, but that it is a necessary tool for success. It is crucial to know how to read and understand in order to learn. Being able to read and learn can take a person to a new world, a new level of understanding, a new level of humanity. Not everyone has to love it.
As for my family....I am married to a firefighter, and after 8 years of marriage I still can't go back to sleep if he has a call in the middle of the night. I have two children; Cooper is 14 and Grace is 12. They both act exactly like me, and it scares me at times. Watch out world.