Tina Hanes Autobiography
RE 5040, Spring, 2004
As a young girl, I spent my summers with my maternal grandmother. Some
of my most memorable moments in my life were the days I spent with her. She lived in the country in a small green house surrounded by flowers. She taught me how to take care of her flowers and her vegetable garden. She also taught me how to crochet and how to cook. My grandmother was a very knowledgeable woman and she taught me many things. However, reading was one thing she could not teach me. You see, my grandmother was illiterate. She was needed on the farm and never had the chance to go to
school. When she turned sixteen she married and then the next thing you know here comes the eight children. I can remember times when she would pick up one of my books, she would always start viewing the book from the back to the front. Just learning to read myself at five years old, I wondered why she was starting at the back of the book. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized why she was trying to look at a book the wrong
way. She had no idea about the concepts of print. Even though she had no formal background in education, she knew of its importance and always instilled the strong values of education in me. As I entered into to high school, I could see that she had the desire to read but no one to teach her. I wanted to teach her but I really didn’t know where to begin. Years later, I graduated high school and still never taught my
grandmother how to read. Looking back at the time spent with my grandmother, I have only one regret. I didn’t take the time to teach her how to read.
Against my parents wishes, I decided not to go to college after high school. Instead, I went to work in a textile factory. At the age of twenty-three, I found myself unemployed due to cutbacks in my line of work. I knew that I really wanted to be a teacher, so I enrolled at my local community college and began taking courses in childcare. I took a job at a daycare center just a few weeks after being laid off from the
textile factory. I really enjoyed my job teaching four and five year olds, however something was still missing in my life. After working for three years at the daycare, I decided to take a position as a teacher assistant at the elementary school near my house. The job was great and turned out to be a real learning experience. As I worked in second grade as a teacher assistant, I continued to see children year after year that were struggling with reading. I wanted to help these children, but I didn’t know where to start. All I could think about was helping my grandmother learn how to read. Then the unexpected happened, my grandmother passed away and that left me devastated. It was at this time after her death that I realized that I really wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to help kids learn how to read and read well. With encouragement from my parents, husband, and the teacher that I was assisting, I enrolled in a four year university and began to pursue my degree in teaching. I was so excited and I knew that if she were still here with me, my grandmother would be very proud as well. My first year in the
education program I became pregnant. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to juggle all the responsibilities with becoming a new mom and being a college student. I knew that I could do both and with a lot of help from my family, I graduated the next year. Luckily for me, he was born in the summer and it didn’t interfere with any of my classes. I was
able to enjoy the joyous birth of my first child and felt really comfortable beginning my senior year as a student teacher. I received great instruction from the university and I had a great experience as a teacher assistant, I was now ready to teach or so I thought. I returned to school where I was a teacher assistant. I was offered a job teaching kindergarten, which I took with reluctance. All of my experiences, except for the years in the daycare were with older students. I was a teacher assistant in second grade and my internships were in second and third grade. I finally student taught in third grade.
I was ready to teach the older children but I felt a little uneasy about teaching kindergarten. On top of all the worries I had about teaching kindergarten, I became pregnant again. Wow, could I juggle two children, a teaching career and keep my sanity?
The beginning of the year started and all of these questions and fears that I had came rushing in my head-Could I teach these precious, bright-eyed five year olds all they
needed to know about reading readiness. After Christmas, my second child was born. Following Christmas break and six weeks of maternity leave, I had reservations about returning to work. I knew that I needed to have my students reading and prepared for first grade. It was hard leaving an eighteen month old and newborn at home; however, I knew I had twenty-three students depending on me to return to work and help them complete kindergarten. I finished that year and felt really good about helping my students achieve their goals.
I am now in my third year of teaching and I love every aspect of kindergarten. The reading skills they learn in kindergarten are very important. I use a wealth of
literature in my classroom and try to open their hearts and minds to reading. It is very sad but each year several students that enter into my classroom have never even been exposed to reading at home. They have never had that bedtime story read to them by their parents or grandparents. I don’t remember a lot about my childhood reading experiences other than wanting my grandmother to read to me. My mother was single, raising two children by herself and worked so much that I do not remember her reading to me that much as a child. Therefore, the reading instruction they receive in kindergarten is very vital. As
students enter kindergarten, most of them have already developed a curiosity about print and language.
One type of reading that is especially helpful in kindergarten is shared reading. Shared reading mimics the reading that is usually done during a bedtime story. Shared
reading allows all of my students to see an enlarged book with large print. My reading area is very cozy and I sit as close to the children as possible. The pictures and print are large enough for all to see during the reading. I pick a big book for shared reading and usually spend a week reading and rereading that book with my students. The books
I choose for shared reading are very enjoyable with repetitive sentence patterns. There isn’t a lot of print and the pictures support the text. Just like a bedtime story, the students enjoy rereading the book. In class, we echo read where my students read the text after I read it to them. Next, we choral read, where my students read the text with me. Close to the end of the week, they are able to read the text on their own. Finally, we spend one morning acting out the story. The goal with shared reading is to have all students reading the book after it has been reread several times, regardless of their literacy background.
During shared reading, those students who come to school already reading, begin to learn more words and move further along in their reading. The other students who have little or no print experiences learn what reading is and begin to develop concepts about print. Each child benefits from the shared reading experience.
Read alouds are also very important in my classroom. Read alouds help my
students with oral language and
concepts about print.
evaluating. The objective with both types of read alouds are to model how to read books. Next, students will begin to chime in and read with you and then eventually be able to read it by themselves. Although we often read for different reasons, we also just read at certain times of the day for pure enjoyment. I want to instill the important values of reading in my students. I want to give my students the foundations of literacy, something that my grandmother never had the chance have in her life.
Most of my students leave my classroom with enough knowledge about books
and print to become independent readers. Although they are not all reading independently, I know that I have given them the best possible start they could have in learning to read. I share my passion for books, I bless every book that I read and this lets them see how much I care about reading. Every lesson that I teach whether it’s math, science, or social studies always begins with enriching literature. Even with all the rich literature I expose my students to, I still have students who struggle with learning to read. I always ask myself, “What else can I do for them,? “What other strategies can I try?” I am always in search of the right strategy to reach those struggling students. All of these
questions that I have about helping my students have led me back to school. I began my graduate studies in reading at UNCG. Wanting a new scene and new professors, a friend introduced me to the cohort at WSU through Appalachian University. I want to learn everything I can to enhance those students who learn to read well and to entice those who
are struggling with reading.