I was required to create a literacy autobiography for a reading class. It was the most interesting part of my classroom experience this semester. The exercise definitely helped me understand my own learning better. I recommend trying this activity for anyone brave enough to try!
Literacy Autobiography
In my opinion, literacy gives us the tools to be better citizens. Literacy has allowed me to petition my government as a citizen, entertain myself with great narrative works, educate myself with the boundless knowledge of books and the internet, and communicate with others effectively.
My earliest recollections of literacy experiences were with Disney books around 1971 when I was about three. The books were tied to Disney records which could be played while you follow along with the books. I remember book and record combinations of Bambi, Snow White and the Black Stallion. My mother was the only person who read to me. I was always excited when my mother decided to play the record and have me follow along in the picture book because it made me feel loved.
About a year later, my mother gave me an old record player. I was given a record of the story of Frankenstein. It came with a graphic novel that the listener could follow along with. I remember the record player gave me a sense of independence and maturity, and the graphic novel became my favorite story. As the cadaver was struck by lightning, slowly rising as its bandages slipped off, I would listen to the record, following the story in the graphic novel excitedly and then replay it. I think this experience gave me a strong sense of self, and the reading or at least proto-reading was a means to independent explorations in creativity.
In first grade I remember reading the Sam I Am books; and I remember the thrill I had when I was able to keep the book and bring it home to show to my mother. I would read them to her to show her what I had learned. Even though the books probably had no more than 25 words in them, reading them made me feel proud of my accomplishments in school. I think this early experience helped me associate school with positive feelings toward reading.
In second grade, I had my first negative experience with reading. I had just transferred from the Monroe school system to the Jefferson school system. Initially, I was placed with an advanced group of readers. One day, it was my turn to read the passage and I came to the conventional abbreviation for Mr. and Mrs. I had no experience with abbreviations and repeatedly pronounced them “myrrh” and “murse”. The teacher was unable to explain to me what I was doing wrong, and I was placed in a lower level of readers. In my new group, I noticed I understood the passages much better than the other students, and I found it deeply shameful that I had been sent to this group of “losers”. I lost a great deal of interest in reading at this point, disliked the teachers, and no longer looked for opportunities to read for several years. The lesson I have learned from this is that our assumptions as educators when dealing with students can have a great negative or positive impact on students depending on how much effort we put into finding out the core reason for a student’s misunderstandings.
From age seven to eleven, my strongest ties to literacy where outside of the classroom. I would spend summers in Miami with my grandparents. My grandparents had two large bookshelves full of first print books from the 1870’s to the 1940’s. Many of the books had handwritten messages from ancient ancestors inside the covers. Any of the books that had photos in them became instant favorites for me. There was a hard bound comic book called Andy Gump that became my favorite. I would turn the yellowing pages trying not to sneeze and laugh at the funny chinless and cowardly Andy Gump getting harassed by an angry aunt. I also fell in love with Tarzan of the Apes which had illustrations of events. I remember thinking how amazing it would be to communicate directly with apes and other animals. I began watching the Tarzan television show at this time too, and although I greatly enjoyed Johnny Weismuller’s character, I was disappointed that the show did not capture the story as well as the book. For me, the books in my grandparent’s collection gave me a sense of connection to long dead relatives, a love for old smelly books, and a desire to read independently for pure enjoyment. I was devastated when I discovered that this old collection of tomes was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew back around 1990.
Seventh grade was a particularly painful year for my literary growth. My parents had started fighting a lot at home so I seldom read there. I remember being in an English class where we had to read Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. I could not relate to these books in any way and felt like a failure because I never got past the first chapter or two in the books. I remember deeply hating the English teacher and feeling like reading to become educated was something I was never going to accomplish. The problem was further exasperated because the teacher publically ridiculed my “chicken scratch” handwriting in the classroom and imposed a class fine of 5 cents for my poor writing which I never paid. I had a motor control problem in both hands as a child. The muscles in my hands and wrists were weak and I required a lot of time to write legibly. I spent some hours in physical therapy trying to correct the problem but still suffered when assignments were needed quickly and in class. The teacher should have asked me privately if there were reasons contributing to my poor penmanship. This was the year I transitioned from class clown to very shy and reserved. I seldom spoke in class for about four years after this point. I still hate reading long books for the most part because of Pride and Prejudice; and the lesson with my handwriting further reinforced my belief that as educators we cannot make assumptions based on appearances. Children can be fragile, and we are their world at times, especially for kids with family problems at home.
From eighth through eleventh grade, I became very introverted in school, spending most of my free time and lunch time in the library. I read about Thomas Beckett, knights, armor and weapons, mythical creatures and Aleister Crowley. It was at this time that I became obsessive about reading every book available on the topics I enjoyed. It was November of 1981 when I got my first Dungeons and Dragons books. These books awakened my intellectual curiosity for knowledge and history. Along with other misfits from my neighborhood, I became enthralled with learning about the medieval period in Europe and any literature related to that period or earlier periods. Beowulf, the Red Cross Knight, Edmund Spenser’s Faire Queen, Shakespeare, the Jabberwocky, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Paradise Lost became the entire reason to go to school. I learned Germanic runes and taught them to my gaming friends in the neighborhood. We used them as a secret code to pass notes in class.
Soon, we discovered J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy. My world was transformed. Soon, the stories from Tolkien were the only reason to go to school. We taught ourselves the Elven script and used it as our new code for communication. We even attempted to speak sometimes using Tolkien’s Elven language. Reading at this time helped to shape my identity as a person inside a fringe culture who didn’t need to be accepted by the masses. Reading books became an escape from the cruelties of life at home and unpopularity in school. Dungeons and Dragons became my vehicle for learning to speak in public, act, write creatively and develop a circle of friends. What this literary period has taught me is not to judge what people are reading in any negative way. Enthusiasm for reading is always good, no matter the subject, and it can develop into a lifelong pursuit of knowledge. In my last two years of high school, my literacy expanded with the use of the TRS 80 computer, the Apple 2E, a Commadore 64 and the electric typewriter.
From 1987-1990, I was enrolled in Miami-Dade Community college. No one in my immediate family had gone to college so this was an amazing and frightening experience. I became deeply interested in history and literature at this time, but was mainly reading fantasy and science fiction and comic books at a rate of about ten a week. The most important event during this time period in my literacy awakening was when I took a satire class. I found that I was really good at writing satire, and my work was greatly enjoyed by the class and the professor. I had several pieces of my satire published in the Miambiance literary magazine at the time. The experience motivated me toward majoring in Literature and inspired me to seek a career as a writer. Although I still enjoy writing today, I have never fully pursued writing as a profession mainly due to time constraints and a fear of having my work stolen.
From 1993 to 1998 I worked on my BA in History, Literature and Classical Studies. Again, I made it a mission to read everything our library contained on the subject I was currently fascinated with. I am fairly certain I checked out and read every book dealing with ancient Greece and Rome. I also began learning ancient Greek and Latin, even to the point of taking Graduate level Latin and Greek courses at EMU. Professor Holoka, Professor Schmitz and Professor Hennings were particularly influential as mentors and taught me how to become a scholar, and not just someone who likes to read. They each took the time to interact with me, not just as professionals but as friends. They also took the time to show me how to critique primary sources and filter opinions from fact. This was also the time I bought my first HP computer and had internet access and an email address. This opened a brand new world, even though there wasn’t much available on the internet at that time.
Becoming a docent at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and traveling to Egypt, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Israel as part of the European Cultural History tour sponsored by EMU had a great impact on my literacy. These activities solidified my career interests as an educator and taught me the importance of practical experience with students and places I would be teaching about. As a docent, I truly learned how to teach and not just recite information. The overseas experience gave me a broader perspective of my world and a tangible point of reference for places and events I will teach about.
In 1999, I was a graduate student at Wayne State University and had an opportunity to teach Classical Mythology for three semesters. This experience taught me a great deal about literacy and teaching. I discovered I needed to spend ten to sixteen hours a day preparing to teach classes, studying, writing and reading. The chance to teach material that I had prepared was rewarding and humbling. I made a lot of mistakes, especially in the first term. I found that although I knew a great deal of information on the subject, it was okay to acknowledge that I did not always have the answer but could find out and get back to the class or the student research it and give us an answer next class. I was learning how to be a professional.
I also learned about a student who seemed to be excelling in my class but completely failed my first essay test. He spent an hour and a half writing for the test but his essay was only two paragraphs long and less than a hundred words. He left out many details that he had brought up coherently in class and had no idea how to make sentences or coherent themes proving his point. I spent a month teaching this student how to write a basic essay during my office hours. He was about to graduate with an engineering degree and had slipped through the system without being able to write effectively.
Professors in my department actually had told me to abandon my efforts saying it went beyond my duties as a graduate student. The experience taught me that no amount of effort to help a student attain competency in literary exercises is in vain as long as the student is willing to try. I think this experience made me more aware of weaknesses in our education system and the need for caring and diligent professional teachers who are willing to ignore the advice of others if that advice is to sacrifice the potential of even one student.
Today, I feel my literary experiences are accelerating and intensifying as I near the completion of my Post BA teaching certificate. I have my own website and blog and am actively involved in online social networks related to literature and history. I have become politically active via the internet and email. I am currently reading books about the American Revolution like John Adams, 1776, What Kind of Nation, American Creation, and the American Revolution a Tory Perspective. I now have subscriptions to professional magazines in social studies, history and archaeology. I am finding that the greatest influence on my literary awakening is the students I interact with in high schools. I am learning about how Attention Deficit disorders and Hyperactivity influence the way students develop and impact their literacy. I am learning methodologies that can become part of my toolkit for being a good educator. I am discovering that the internet is changing everything in terms of literacy, and I must keep up with the technology if I am to help others pursue a love of literacy. I have two websites and keep up with several social networks like Flickr.
Literacy is an evolutionary process. My experiences with literacy have taught me to love the process of becoming literate while being wary of pitfalls in teaching like making assumptions without inquiry. As a teacher I’ve learned that we do not become literate all at once. I will strive to be a positive factor in my student’s literary goals and to continue my own literary education wherever it may lead.
9 Comments
4/21/2011 04:44:33 pm
If you wish to be the best man, you must suffer the bitterest of the bitter.
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4/23/2012 01:05:02 am
I think the things you covered through the post are quiet impressive, good job and great efforts. I found it very interesting and enjoyed reading all of it...keep it up, lovely job..
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10/23/2012 09:23:39 pm
kudos! A trustworthy blog, thanks for putting an effort to publish this information. very informative and does exactly what it sets out to do. thumbs up! :)
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