Literacy Autobiography
By Robin McConnell
RE5040
Oh, magic hour when a child first knows it can read printed words! Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, pg. 164
This assignment has been a real challenge to me. It has been quite a few years since I was in first grade. Yet, here are my fuzzy, and probably, somewhat, inaccurate memories of early reading experiences.
I came from a family of limited education, yet my parents had a great respect for education and encouraged my older sister, brother, and me to get a “good education.” I can still remember hearing the motto on TV and radio, “To get a good job, get a good education.” Of course, that was the era in which a high school education was considered a good education.
I remember how intriguing and exciting it was for me to watch my sister and brother arrive home on the school bus. How I longed to be a part of all that excitement and adventure. My days were spent tooling around with the grandparents as mom and dad worked their factory jobs. I loved hearing about what had happened at school, looking at my sibling’s books and papers they brought home. I thought it was awesome that they could actually make sense of those black markings on pages. There were some pretty pictures in those books they brought home! Even though I was from a middle-class working family, my humble home did offer some exposure to print. We had lots of “Little Golden Books” which were well worn from use and play, a set of Childcraft books, and my parents did subscribe to the local newspaper. I remember my dad would read sections and discuss them with mom as she cooked dinner. My older brother and sister would, of course, hit the comic section, which they fondly called the funny papers. When I was in about the fourth grade, my mom and dad purchased a set of World Book encyclopedias, and a set of Britannica’s when my sister entered high school. We had Bibles, Good Housekeeping, Better Homes & Gardens and various Sunday School materials in the house. I remember pretending to read and write as my siblings did their homework. I was able to recite and recognize the alphabet and numbers 1-10 by the time I entered first grade.
I entered first grade in August of 1960. I attended Conover Elementary School. We lived in a nice neighborhood and were able to walk to and from school. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Coon. She was older, but kind. It didn’t take long for the “favored” ones to be recognized – the best dressed, more affluent children. Still, I enjoyed school. I learned the words on the cards and charts. I remember the reading circles, seatwork, memorizing poems as a class, naptime, playing with clay on Friday, half-pint milk in little glass bottles, recess, and fun with friends. It was so awesome to select a book from Mrs. Coon’s bookshelves to take home overnight. I was proud to be able to read to mom as she prepared dinner. She was always smiling and helping me if I needed help. My sister and brother would tease me that I was reading baby books, but I ignored their sibling teasing and enjoyed my books. I would also read them to my dolls and stuffed animals; they were always an appreciative audience! After only three months in this comfortable environment, my parents got this idea to move to San Diego, CA, where I had an uncle living. They thought there would be better opportunities for the family there. My parents sold all of our furniture, packed all our clothes and three kids into the car, and off we went. It took us a week to get there, and it felt like forever to three kids. We attended a large city school. I was terrified – there were five first grades, and there had only been three in my previous school. I never saw my brother and sister during the day as I had before. If that wasn’t enough, everybody there talked funny and made fun of the way I talked. I became rather quiet and withdrawn for a while. I did well in school there. I was in the Blue jay group, which second from the top…and believe me, we all knew which group was which! San Diego wasn’t as great as my parents had thought, so in February 1961, we packed up headed back to NC. We had to live with my grandparents for a while because my parents had sold all of our home furnishings, and it took them several months to work and replace them. I was enrolled in Claremont Elementary School. Mrs. Cloninger was my third first grade teacher. She was old and seemed like she was irritated all the time. Thank heavens I wasn’t “behind” in any first grade skills from the moving, but I did not enjoy her class. Everybody had already made friends and was in their clicks by then, so I felt like the odd man out by then. I took comfort in similar activities: reading groups, working with word cards, practicing writing on writing tablets, centers, teacher read stories to us, we even memorized poems as a class. I still had support from my parents and now, my grandparents, at home. I made it through that year and by the end of the summer, my parents had regrouped and moved us to Newton.
You guessed it! Another new school - Thornton Elementary. This was a relatively new school. I liked it a lot. It was a short bus ride, and the junior and senior high kids rode a separate bus. Mrs. Setzer was my teacher. She made more of an effort to treat us all the same. I remember our seats were in a horseshoe type of formation, which was different from the tables of first grade. We had our own desk and chair, we were big second graders! We continued with reading groups, writing, centers, library, and teacher read-alouds, pretty much like first grade, only NO naptime!
Third grade – we moved to Maiden. My parents bought a house and put down roots. Thankfully, we never moved again. I was able to finish my education in one place. My third grade teacher was awesome. She made learning fun. We still had reading groups; writing activities, some science and social studies, and we were allowed to check out books from the school library! Mrs. Honeycutt loved all of us and we knew it! Then came fourth grade – Miss Rudisill. She was very strict, but fair. We learned a lot in her room. No more reading groups here, we all read from the same reading book. This was the first year I remember having The Weekly Reader. I loved this little paper. It had neat information about news, science, and social studies topics. We all looked forward to The Weekly Reader each Friday. That was also the year JFK was assassinated. Miss Rudisill cried, and we cried too. I think more because she did, because it was hard to comprehend that entire ordeal. My mom cried and my dad, sister and brother seemed pretty sad and surprised by the entire event. It was in our Weekly Reader the next week. This was the year I became hooked on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. I read the entire series several times. I think this was when I began developing my love for historical fiction. To this day, I love reading historical fiction.
Fifth grade through eighth grade, I began growing up and reading became more of a necessity than just for fun. I failed to mention, we had a Bookmobile, which came, through our neighborhood in the summers. It was an extension of the Catawba County Library in Newton. We were able to check out books for a week at a time. But there was too much playing, swimming and vacationing to do in the summer to read!
Of course, high school was mostly “read the chapter and answer the chapter review questions.” We checked the review, usually had a pop quiz, and eventually a chapter test. Not much discussion, a few projects, a few research papers, a science project or too, and that was pretty much what I recall about high school reading.
College! What a wake up call. Reading, reading, reading. I was so thankful to have a studious roommate. I learned all about “reading to learn” in college. I learned how to take notes, make note cards, review, study, and how NOT to be a procrastinator! Reading was definitely a necessity and not very pleasurable.
My love for reading was rekindled when I finally made it to the classroom. I began in second grade teaching phonics. I eventually taught fourth grade, fifth grade, third grade, and back to fifth. I spent seventeen years in the elementary arena. I appreciate the staff development which was offered by our district and which had a big impact on my teaching practice. For example, Cooperative Learning, Project CRISS, Thinking Maps, Learning Styles, Differentiated Instruction and Tiered Assignments, are the most outstanding to me. After I attained National Board Certification, I moved on up to the eighth grade and then began on my Master’s degree. I was so thankful to have so many great elementary strategies to assist me with below grade level readers. My graduate classes have been a big help with the move. I don’t think I really learned about the detailed, complex components of reading, until I became a teacher. I take pride in my profession and I really do want to help all students become better at reading. I don’t know that I can instill a “love” for reading, but I know I can help students become better at the skill, and maybe even feel better about themselves, and the process, as they improve their skill levels. I do love to read what I want to read. I am glad that I know how to read, and my goal as a middle-school teacher, is to equip my students with the skills they need to enable them to be life long learners, and at least develop a good attitude about the skill of reading, which will impact the rest of their lives. I want them to look back on their time with me and remember that they were able to improve all facets of their reading skills from decoding to analyzing, interpreting, inferring, predicting, questioning, discussing, and writing.