When I reminisce about the road I have traveled from childhood to adulthood to become the teacher that I am today, I marvel at the mystery of how it actually came to be. I ended up exactly opposite of what I expected myself to become. I have considered myself blessed beyond words because of this strange and winding journey, and I cherish this destination I have found behind a desk surrounded by questioning young minds. These are the faces who look to ME to provide the keys that will introduce them to the magical world of reading, and I relish the opportunity.

I was one of those children who at an early age had a strong desire to read, but it was sadly squelched when I started to school. You see, that was the time that reading became a frightening and unwelcome activity for me as a child. I do recall poring for hours on end over my family’s set of Childcraft, loving the words and pictures to the point that I had them all memorized, especially the nursery rhymes and fairy tales. They are familiar to me to this day. Beyond that, however, being a reader proved to be a nightmarish experience for me. Coupled with my extreme shyness, the educational environment was an unpleasant one for me. In the first grade, I began my formal reading education in the top group. I did not remain there for long; I found it an impossible struggle to figure out the words the teacher wanted me to know, to call out the sounds made by those combinations of letters printed on flash cards held up for all to see. We were taught no strategies to assist us in our unraveling of the language, and I found it too difficult to memorize all of the required words. Eventually, therefore, I was dropped from the top group to the middle group, a very devastating experience for me. Although my confidence was shattered, my determination fortunately was intact. I worked independently to become successful enough to resume my place in the top group, which I did, but I did so without yet fostering a love of good books or an appreciation for how reading could enrich my life. I simply did not like it and found it boring and dull, no fun at all. It required too much effort on my part, and there were other things I’d much rather do instead.

Throughout junior high and high school, I continued my educational journey without ever developing an affinity for reading. I never read anything that was not assigned or required, and I lived with guilt because of these negative feelings toward reading. Reading was not a priority for me, even though I fared somewhat better in high school perusing textbooks with more structured content that I could actually force myself to memorize. This resulted in a strong academic record which enabled me to pursue any dreams for the future I might have.

This future did not include becoming a teacher. Rather, I had grandiose dreams of becoming a doctor - more specifically, a pediatrician because of my love of children. Now this was one aspect of my future of which I had always been certain – it must involve and encompass my lifelong love of children. Medicine seemed the choice for me, and I completed an application to Duke even before this impressive university would accept females without face-to-face interviews. I went to this interview and saw a campus larger than my hometown! I came away overwhelmed and frightened by the possibility that I might actually be accepted, so I never even mailed in the completed application. I just knew that I had been mistaken; this was not the path down which my life was supposed to go.

Starting afresh during my senior year, I discovered High Point College while browsing through a catalog, and I was immediately attracted by its smaller size. I received a scholarship for Christian Education and thus planned to major in that field. Once again, I realized that this was not my true calling either. At this point, my journey led me “to fall into teaching,” primarily because it just seemed the right thing to do. HPC was well-known for the quality of its teacher program, and I realized that here was a golden opportunity to do what I had always wanted to do– to work with what I had always known was the most important thing to me, children!

My love of children had always been a driving force in my life. I might have been confused in the past about the question of my chosen profession, but never had I doubted my greatest ambition – to become a mother. It all came together as the years went by, and my life began to follow its course sensibly and logically after I first stepped into an education class. This was what I had been looking for all along! Finally!

At this middle-aged stage of my life, I am the mother of three beautiful daughters and three wonderful sons-in-law. I, the child who never liked to read, find joy in instilling a love of reading and the ability to unravel its mysteries to young students year after year. It has thus far been a 27-year journey of learning and discovery and untold adventure.

My expertise and understandings about literacy have evolved through these many years of actual experience and eventually through valuable training as a Reading Recovery teacher. At the beginning, however, I began teaching reading groups using basal readers with the accompanying Teachers’ Guides, and this was when I initially learned about phonics. I quickly saw that it worked for some children but not for others. I wondered, “What do you do for these children for whom following a Teachers’ Guide does not work? How do you help these impoverished, unsuccessful students learn to read?” And this is when I began to investigate and research to find out all that I could about this process called reading. I knew all along that it was extremely important for every child to be able to read, but I didn’t know HOW to actually teach all of them.

After being introduced to the promising philosophy of Reading Recovery, I threw myself into this new world of discovery about reading and all of its mysteries. I soon found myself consumed with a passion that would guide and mold my knowledge as a teacher of reading and would make the enhancement of literacy in every child’s life a driving force behind all that I did. I began to read books and articles and to experiment with various activities. I discovered one very important thing: children needed to spend much more time actually reading. This is when I made it a priority to instill a desire to read in these children. Simultaneously I began to love reading myself! Suddenly I could not get enough of it as I devoured professional books and articles as well as children’s novels (I especially enjoyed L. M. Montgomery’s books!). It wasn’t long before I discovered that reading historical fiction by such authors as Eugenia Price absorbed my attention and caused my love of reading to blossom even more.

Along the way, I learned other valuable things about children and reading beyond the fact that they simply needed to read more often. I learned that children needed help in different areas because of individual strengths, weaknesses, and degrees of prior knowledge. I knew that I was headed in the right direction by teaching different strategies to meet the children’s individual needs, but I also realized that there was a lot more that I needed to know. This was the driving force behind my decision to apply for the Reading Recovery training program. Fortunately I was accepted, and I began a year of intensive work and study. I had never worked harder than I did during that year of training! It paid off great dividends, however, because I learned so much about the process of reading as a result. One great insight that made such a difference in my style of teaching was the realization that some children needed to be taught this process bit by bit. I saw that breaking it down and teaching to the specific needs of a child made a difference, even with those who struggled the most. Small steps led to small successes that added up to reading competence.

I believe that young children want to learn to read, and I believe that all of them actually can if given the help that they need. I firmly believe that teaching small guided reading groups of students on their instructional levels, sometimes even teaching one-to-one, is essential. We must instruct children on their own level, and we must consistently observe them and teach them the strategies that they need. This is a simple but potent formula that is absolutely vital.

When recalling my own life and childhood, I regret the wasted years when I missed out on the joy of reading because the desire on my part was missing. I do not want this to happen to any other child. I have therefore made a commitment to do all in my power to foster a love for reading within the heart of every child, and to also do all in my power to provide the strategies that they need to do it successfully. The rewards will be endless for them, as well as for me!

Ann Current