Sep 08 2008
welcome back!
Welcome to our new members of the Learning Through Teaching class… and welcome back to the many of you returning for the course. I am looking forward to a new group. We have 16 teachers registered so far. Our text Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice is on order.
For our first post, I thought we might return to a prompt that started our work off last year. As a way to introduce ourselves and connect, think back to your best memories of reading or writing and share a few.
I’ll start.
I remember the elementary school book orders filled with paperbacks for less than a dollar. It was something to bring home a stack of Encyclopedia Brown, Runaway Ralph, The Chronicles of Narnia, or Laura Ingalls Wilder books and spend the afternoon surrounded by good stories. Favorite trips out with my mom were to the library down the hill from our house. They would let me check out eight books each time I visited and that was the hardest part: which eight to choose? I remember reading through entire shelves in that library and our trips to the bakery for pie after. Mom was a reader and still is. My father and I often talked about what he was reading, and thankfully my children and husband are all big readers and share their favorites with me. I have a hard time imagining a life without books.
As for writing, well, I used to keep a steno notebook with the wire spiral edge in my sock drawer. It held stories I was writing and lesson plans I used with my neighborhood friends. I planned to be an author or a teacher. I always wrote fiction. I wrote just for the joy of creation. Once I hit college my favorite course was a poetry class where we had to bring a poem to a writing workshop every week. I had never written poetry and was terrified, but it was so much fun to read and listen to others read that I felt more alive just being there. When I started teaching third grade in southern California, I had 34 little ones and felt completely over my head all year, but we wrote stories and I always wrote a page for each class book we created. That was the most fun I had that year. So.. writing, reading, thinking, sharing… it’s always been a part of my life. I worry for the teenagers I meet who’ve never found joy in either.
Penny
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oops!! I wrote an entry and lost it, so I will try again. Penny, I am also looking forward to starting the new class. Like you, our family went to the library to get reading books every single week. As a young girl, I devoured books like I want to devour (but resist) the chocolates tempting me in your office. Anyway, books have less calories, but are most of the time equally satisfying.
In addition to the library books, I had two maiden aunts who always sent me books for my birthday and other holidays. One of my favorites was “The Wizard of Oz.” I had a beautiful book, now damaged from puppy chews with vivid color plates at the beginning of many chapters. Two of my favorite chapters were when Dorothy fell asleep in the poppy field and when she was carried away by the flying monkeys. I remember spending many hours daydreaming and wondering what it would be like to be Dorothy.
Another favorite of mine was Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” and “Alice in Wonderland.” It seems that I liked fantasy as a young girl, but now I can’t read it. I couldn’t get through the Harry Potter series or the Golden Compass trilogy, even though they were highly recommended.
As for writing, this summer I bought a beautiful new journal. I was going to start writing down some of my childhood memories to preserve for my children. But, whenever I seem to have the time, I would rather read another book. Maybe this class will inspire me to try again.
So a good memory about reading and writing. I’ll tell you the truth that when I was in high school and through out most of college I hated both. The reason for this was my transition from one language to another led to run-on sentences (sorry if there are any) and poor reading comprehension.
My mother would bring me to Conway public library and I would HAVE to take books home. All that accomplished was get us late notices from the library. Through out my career as a student I would be “forced” to read books, but I didn’t. Needless to say I didn’t read or write much.
Although I will say that there are some techniques that have helped me appreciate writing and reading. In high school there was a teacher, Mr. Plese. He had us free write. It was a wonderful thing. A world that was free from the tyranny of grammar and spelling. Not having to be bound by the period, coma, or be afraid of the dreaded run-on sentence. I won’t say that I fell in love with writing at that point, but liked the idea enough that I’ve used it in my own classes and continued to do it on my own.
As for reading, I can’t say that I’ve had a happy memory. I just started doing it on my own, and even then at a very slow pace. I hope that through this class I might be able to help kids avoid the mistakes that I have made.
I remember taking part in a summer reading program through the city library where if you read so many books you got a pizza at the end. I am pretty sure I got the pizza. I grew up in a college town and since my father worked for the university we were allowed to use the library. I remember spending weekends in high school in the library just looking at books that seemed interesting. I even tried to teach myself Norwegian – that didn’t work out so well.
The books I remember most are the Great Brain series. I tried to find them a few years ago but didn’t have any luck. Like Chris I had to read a lot of books in college – some of which I didn’t but I do remember reading Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” for a Sociology of Religion class. That probably still qualifies as the most amazing adult books I have ever read.
My first introduction to literacy was literally at my mother’s knee as she told me all the traditional fairy stories from memory, as they had been told to her. Then, there was “Listen with Mother,” a 15 minute radio program which aired every afternoon, just after the big kids had gone back to school. It started out with nursery rhymes and songs, and ended with a story. Each day the narrator would say, “Are you sitting comfortably? Then, I’ll begin.” (Sometimes this phrase will show up in British comedy and only English people of a certain age will get it.) Anyway the first book I ever owned was an anthology of “Listen with Mother” stories which I read over and over, once I could read, which was after I started school and was unable to listen to “Listen with Mother.”
Now that I think about it I was introduced to a lot of books through the radio because there was also Children’s Hour that aired at 5 o’clock each day. Here I learned about Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows; Jennings and Derbyshire, Biggles, The Secret Seven and The Famous Five, some of which I know are unknown in the US. I then progressed to stories about a boarding school in Switzerland, to science fiction and finally, at about age 15, to James Bond!
As far as writing goes, I always enjoyed it but sometimes now, I think about it more than I do it. I used to write stories and illustrate them for fun. I remember when I was about ten, my older sister had two friends stop by to pick her up on the way to the movies. I was busy writing a story about three “Chinamen” complete with illustrations. One of the girls asked me what I was doing and when I told her, she exclaimed to her friend, “She’s writing a story just for fun!” I felt like a very odd duck!
I have many memories of reading and writing experiences. As a child, my mother and grandmother always read books with me. They also enrolled me in an after school reading program at the local library. It was always a lot of fun. I also loved the book orders and the book mobile. It was always exciting to me to pick out a new book to read. I still love finding new books to read. As much as i love reading, writing has always been more of a passion for me. For as long as I can remember i have been writing in journals or writing poetry. It’s my little hidden talent. I have already had a few of my poems published in a variety of magazines or newsletters, but nothing super impressive. Writing has always been an escape for me and a way to express and talk about what i am feeling and my life experiences. People are always amazed to see the amount of journals i have kept and books of poetry i have written. My husband and I had a good laugh when i found my high school journal and there some entires about my encounters with him back in the day. I had forgotten i had written about him! I love looking back and reading about my past experiences and i have a whole new chapter in my life to write about now. =)
My first memory of reading anything substantial was picking up the Book PT-109 and becoming lost in its pages. The book was about, as I recall, the then commander of the torpedo boat John F. Kennedy and how he saved his crew after the sinking of his boat. The most impressive part of experience was not being able to remember if it was a book or a movie. The pages found a home in my mind and I could see the crew of the PT-109 neck deep in ocean water trying to absorb moisture through the pores of their skin to keep from dying of dehydration. Secondarily, I read a book, not a magazine or comic book but a real book, and I connected with it. Slowly other books followed classics like Tom Sawyer and historical accounts of heroic men like Dr. Tom Dooley. I think that was the only time that I ever considered becoming a doctor.
Writing was another matter, having been emotionally scarred by the attempts of Roman Catholic nuns to have me correctly diagram a sentence or explain to the class how to use adverbs and adjectives in a compound sentence, I found writing difficult and pointless.
In college, I dreaded writing class and but was delighted to discover that sentence diagramming has died a slow and painful death.
Receiving an A in Creative Writing really changed my life.
Dan
Penny, I remember some of the same books you do as a child, Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, Dr Seuss…I lived at the library as a way to escape I think and was often lost in a book at home as well. My love of writing did not develop until I learned to write from my heart. I journal daily as a means of personal growth and it has helped me to feel more comfortable with putting on the paper whatever comes into my head instead of worrying about it being perfect.
Wendy 
As an adult I had a story published in a book designed for and written by school nurses, that was such an amazing experience for me
I am so looking forward to this class, even if I did whine about not having enough time to read the chapters. The phylisophy of the books so goes along with my core beliefs about teaching and I can not wait to learn how to integrate it into my classroom…
As you will all find out thru blogging I am a terrible proof reader, (especially if i am in a hurry) I often see words there that are not really there
Hope I am not too late to get this blog in. I procrastinated taking the course this fall because of a personal issue that I thought I needed to take care of, but after getting so much out of the 2 courses last year, I decided to jump in late and do what I needed to catch up.
Reading is a passion of mine for as far back as I can remember, time is the enemy. Being the 2nd child out of 4 with working parents, reading was my escape. My great uncle (with no children of his own) was a role model. He was very bright and had a great influence on my childhood. He was an avid reader, and loved showing me math tricks. Maybe because I was the only one who listened! My mom is a reader; Dad never was. What did I read? I bet I read every Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins series; they were my favorite. I also remember owning a collection of fairy tales from a book club and would run to the mailbox every month. Wish I still had that collection! I also remember (I am dating myself) the Americana Encyclopedia door to door salesman, and the shock and pleasure when my parents bought the set! Believe it or not I would get lost in those 30 volumes and couldn’t wait for the annual update edition! I sound kind of nerdy! But it was a way for me to reach out and explore areas far beyond my reach.
I am surprised and pleased at the number of students this year who always have a book with them – Jody Picoult, Steven King, Tom Clancy, John Grisham, etc. except when they are not paying attention to me! But I understand how easy it is too get lost in the pages of a good book!
I just want to say how much I enjoy reading the responses in the blogs. I finally got the time to go back and ready them! It is so cool to me to see the similarities and the differences of our reading and writing experiences. It also funny to hear all of the books i knew as child come back to life in these blogs! I really had forgotten about some of them and how much i loved them. Apparently i am not the only one who liked Nancy Drew, the bobbsey twins, and Encyclopedia brown. I also really enjoyed Dear Mr. Henshaw. I also remember reading Anne Franks Diary in 7th grade and it had such an impact on me that i know have a huge collection of books based on true stories of the people who were a part of it. There are just so many amazing and good books out there. I enjoying sharing these stories and hearing everyone’s experiences.
Best reading memory? Trips to the Saugus Children’s Library. My mother was trained as an English teacher and Librarian (she never taught beyond her internship and discouraged me from entering the profession.) Two or three times each week mom would swing us by the library on our way home from school. More often than not we’d switch-out one hard-bound Peanuts collection for another (we read them all multiple times.) They were simple, but they kept us occupied while we ate Ellio’s pizza after school. I still remember one title,”My Anxieties Have Anxieties” – Linus was on the cover.
Better then the main branch was the small branch located under the fire station on my block. One house down and across the hill leading into Anna Parka Park (which I knew as Annaparka – no “r” enunciated.) I was a lonely kid, often left wandering the block in search of neighbors to pester. This little library was my sanctuary, so much so that the librarians would allow me to “check-in” the books. Remember the old fashioned card dating machine? Slip the card into the slot and Cha-king! The desk would shake.
That library comforted me, validated me, nurished me. To this day, I seek shelter among tall stacks of books. Sometimes I cry when I realize I can never read them all. Or maybe I cry for other reasons. Maybe for the lonely kid on the block who hid in the library…
Such a moving entry, Kate. I found myself wishing I could reach out to that lonely kid on the block who hid in the library… thanks for sharing it. So often we move through our days in school and never hear the stories of those we work with.