Julie Hodges

Reading 5040-Teacher as Researcher

Dr. Moorman

Intellectual Autobiography

When I was a little girl, I remember doing my homework while the television was going, brothers and sisters were yelling, and my mom was cooking supper. I was the youngest of four children and by the time I came along my sister was eight years old. I remember wanting to do everything she did. So I think she did a lot with me. My mom worked full-time in a factory to make ends meet while my dad was “who knows where.” My sister helped me with my homework a lot, but she was in high school and had her own work to do. I thought about all of this and decided I don’t remember learning to read or reading with my mom. This raised some questions, so I called my mom looking for some answers.

It was interesting talking to my mother about how I learned to read. She said she did read to me some, when she could. I remember reading the Sesame Street books. I loved Sesame Street. I also remember starting kindergarten and they gave all of us a book. It was titled Seasons. That was one of my favorite books. I now have three copies of it in my classroom. I remember using that book when I was little to play teacher with. My mom said, “I never had any problems with reading. It was all easy for me.” One of my brothers struggled all the way through school until he finally quit. My other brother and my sister did okay in school, but they didn’t enjoy it. My mom said I always loved school and she thinks that is why I had such an easy time. She told me I learned a lot of information by watching my older sister. My mother did read and do homework with me a lot. Mom said back then, there was not a huge emphasis on reading and learning to read until later. She said she doesn’t remember schools pushing reading until first grade. Now they want Kindergarteners reading before they leave to come to first grade. My mom also said they did not send take-home readers on reading levels each night. They sent home a reading book and the story assigned was what story you read. I don’t remember learning a lot of reading strategies in school. I remember always hearing my teachers say, “sound it out.” That worked well for most words, but how did I learn to read the other words? Teachers did not teach other strategies like picture walks, context clues, and, “Lord Forbid,” skip a word. Skipping words and going back to find the meaning was unheard of. Skipping words is a strategy I use in my classroom to help readers. They usually do a wonderful job with this strategy once they learn it. At first, it is hard for them to skip a word. I think this come from parents who learned to read like I did, either sound it out or sit there until someone told you the word. The parents are teaching their children this way at home and it is hard to break old habits. Anyway, I don’t remember a lot about learning to read, I just did it and never had any problems.

There are lots of memories of reading later after the “learning how” had taken place. I remember being in reading groups in firs t grade and I can even remember where the kidney-shaped table was sitting in the classroom. Of course, like all first grade classrooms then, we read round robin. I remember counting up to my page or sentence and saying that sentence over and over and over so that when I was called on I wouldn’t miss any words. Sometimes I wonder if the fear of missing a word in reading groups is what helped me to learn to read! I recall performing this technique on up until about the fifth grade. By then, I was a confident reader and didn’t feel I needed to read my line a thousand times to get it right before I was called on.

It was also in the fifth grade that I realized I wanted to be a teacher. My teacher then, Mrs. Cornett, influenced that decision. After play time and before the bell rang, she would read to us. She would usually read a chapter book. The one that stands out in my mind is, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” I loved that book then and still do. I have tried to read it to my kids at Christmas time, but they don’t seem very interested. I guess first grade is a little too young to catch all of the humor in that book. Not only do I remember her reading that book, but other books as well. I remember coming in from playtime. I was hot, tired, and ready to go home. I thought it was so relaxing to just sit in my desk and listen to her read. I have always been able to understand things better if someone reads to me or tells me. I have a hard time with comprehension of what I am reading. I think I enjoyed this time so well because I understood what she was reading and I was interested in it. From that point on I decided I wanted to be a teacher. My mom said I always wanted to be a teacher, even when I was little, but fifth grade is when I can remember that.

I did always like school and I always loved to play school with my friends, teddy bears, Barbie’s, or whatever I had. I changed my mind though when I entered high school. I thought I wanted to be a physician’s assistant. Well, I started classes that would help me toward that goal. In the tenth grade I found out, what I thought then, was devastating news. I was my mom’s last hope of ever having a child go to college. But I had to break the news that I was pregnant. My mom was heartbroken and my boyfriends’ parents were heartbroken as well. They assumed our lives were over. Luckily for me, my life was just beginning. After this news, my boyfriend and I got married and started our life together. I was still pursuing a career in the healthcare field and went to Meredith College to enter their biology and physician assistant program. It was my daughter that then changed my mind. I decided after doing some intern work, I did not want the long hours and stressful situations of being a doctor. I decided to change my major. I remember how thrilled I was when my little girl started to read some words. It was so exciting to know that she was learning to read. I decided then that I wanted to go back to my dream of being an elementary school teacher and help other kids learn to read. Back then, that goal seemed so far away and now here I am teaching in first grade. I feel the same excitement when I see one of my kids in my classroom “get it.” When I see that light come on it gives a wonderful feeling that I am now doing something that makes a difference in some children that otherwise may have not had a chance. I am living my childhood dream and I love everyday of it and I owe it to my fifth grade teacher for instilling the dream to become a teacher and also to my daughter who gave me the hope and courage to make something of my life.