Post #2: Literacy Experiences

    When I was in secondary school, my literacy experiences were positive. Growing up, my teachers and mother always encouraged me to read. I remember being so excited every time the book fair came to my school. I would take a book fair catalog home, circle all the books I wanted, and show them to my mom. My family lived pretty much paycheck to paycheck, but my mother never denied buying me at least one book. My parents had a very rocky marriage from the start, but it got progressively worse when I entered secondary school. Once my parents got divorced, my father was allowed to see my sister and me every other Saturday. I would always beg him to take us to the Montgomery County Library. We would spend hours there, mainly because it was free and because my dad could sit back and take a really long nap. I loved getting lost in the different bookshelf genres. I was a sucker for books about romance and fantasy. Reflecting back on why I would choose books about romance, I believe that it is because I yearned to see a good example of a relationship, marriage, and love. I also began to read the Bible more during this time, which of course is where we can find the best example of the perfect love. I don't think I fully understood that during this time in my life, but it did start a foundation. 

    My seventh-grade ELAR teacher, Mrs. Pope, impacted me positively the most because she noticed something was wrong when I began to become disinterested in her lessons and class assignments. Instead of lecturing me about finishing my assignments or paying more attention, she took the time after school to sit down with me and talk things out. She was the first adult that I talked to about my parents divorce and how much it was impacting me. She was also the first teacher that talked to me about God. She started an after school girls bible study and invited me to join. 

    I will use these memories and experiences to make my classroom a place where literacy is a good word by striving to be an encouraging teacher like Mrs. Pope and my mom. I will encourage students to self select book based on their interests and books they might connect to on a personal level to keep them engaged and motivated. 

Post #1: One Word

    My one word for this year is engaged. I struggled to find one word that would relate to literacy in secondary schools, my literacy journey with my own 6th-grade students, and a word that would fit me personally with this class. Coming back from winter break has been very tough for my 6th-grade students and me. Some of my students are becoming more and more disengaged and unmotivated in class. I try to make sure their emotional needs are being met because I know a lot of the time, their disengagement may come from problems at home. "Engagement involves motivation, desire, care, and participation, and it is essential to reading proficiency, writing excellence, and academic achievement" (Guthrie and Alvermann, Kuh).  I also try to do my part and make my lessons engaging and student-focused. 

    Secondary school is where reading engagement drops off the most. Secondary students don't have the drive or the push for engaging in literature and reading that elementary students have. Elementary students have the reward of fluency. Elementary students are meeting with teachers, not necessarily to talk about comprehension, but to talk about fluency. When elementary students say a word correctly or remember vowel constant blends, they get an immediate reward and satisfaction. Slowly as students get older the focus for reading moves from fluency to more comprehension. At the secondary level, there is no reward or praise for understanding how to sound out a word or knowing the definition of the word. Once students are fully at the secondary level in high school, it's not about what the word means, what the word sounds like, or the origin of the word, but it's more about what's going on in the story, what's happening with the characters, analyzing and looking beyond the text. The level of reading is more intense, dynamic, and there are more layers to it. Students who already were struggling with reading or not as excited to engage in reading, are less likely to engage in it because there is no reward or gain for them to read with their teacher. Struggling readers can have trouble with comprehension, summaries, inferencing, and be at the depth level that secondary students are meant to perform at. 

    I will keep this word in my mind during this semester by keeping it in mind when I make my lesson plans and assignments. Keeping in mind to create literacy activities that "connect to other things in life that matter to them" (Bomer). I will also keep the word engaged in mind when reading my textbooks for graduate school, articles, and all other assignments. I know my weakness is that I lack reading stamina, I get distracted very easily and lose focus. I know I need to make a plan to break up the chapters to be able to better engage with the text. I want to be able to apply everything that I learn in this class with my 6th-grade students.