Literacy Autobiography Blog #1

To be completely honest I never was one of those people that loved to read or enjoyed reading.  I think part of the reason was because I would rather be outside with my friends in the neighborhood riding scooters, playing tag, or playing kickball. The earliest experience that I can think of, of me becoming literate is when I was in the 3^rd grade.  Every year in the Summer my school was always assigned a summer reading program.  This summer reading program would require us to read an assigned book or two, and do a project on them.  I distinctly remember my mother requiring me, and my brothers to read 30 minutes each and every day.  We would have to stop whatever we were doing, and do our reading for the day. It was a pain in the neck. I remember my brothers, and I would look up at the clock every second to see how much time has gone by, and how long we have till we can go back to what we were doing.  Even if I was in the middle of a paragraph in a chapter, and that 30 minutes was up, well I was out of there.  As I got older I started to really enjoy reading “The Magic Tree House” books.  My teacher at the time Miss Polizzotto was a huge influence in this as she encouraged me to read these books.  I ended up finishing the entire series which was about 30 books.  Miss Polizzitto had my picture taken, and I ended up in the newspaper for my accomplishment.

Now that I am not assigned any summer reading I barely read ever.  The only time I ever do any reading is if it is assigned for a class or I am reading an article about something.  I am one of those people that would rather be doing something else than reading a book.  I also would much rather watch the movie.  I feel that the time I spend reading I could be accomplishing so much more.  The only time I like to read is if it is a book that I am reading for pleasure, and the topic is something that I am genuinely interested it.  I absolutely cannot stand assigned reading.

Being a literate person today really does not feel like anything special.  It was given to me just like it was given to all the other kids that I attended school with.  People do not realize how lucky we really are that we get taught all these things, including be able to read & write.  Literacy is used in everyday life, and sometimes you do not even realize that you are learning it.  Something as simple as reading street signs for directions is an everyday activity that most people do, and if you think about it, to do this, you must be literate.  The only person that continues to sponsor/inspire my literacy development is myself.  I feel like I am at the age now that if I want to better myself in something, I must go out there, and do it. When I was younger I was inspired by my mother.  Before going to sleep at night my mother, and I would read together, and switch off every page.  We called this popcorn reading.  This did two things for me, one it would allow to fall asleep easier, and two it would allow to me ask my mother questions if I didn’t understand something or know a word.