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Period: to
my life so far...
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Montessori School
I don't remember much about it, but I know that I started learning how to read and write in pre-K at a Montessori school. I remember that my teacher used pop-up books a lot. More importantly, I remember the field trips to the city indoor pool and nap time in the dungeon basement. -
Rattlesnakes!
Who? My family and I
What? Road trip
When? Blazing hot summer
Where? West Texas desert
Why? God only knows After travelling for hours without passing another car or town, my family pulled over to a "primitive rest stop" to take care of business. My dad realized that I could indeed read when I saw this sign and went screaming back to the van. -
"I learned to be nice" (Bush Part 1)
I started kindergarten at a new school named after George H.W. Bush and Barbara came to dedicate it. Before she took my kindergarten class in to talk to us about our class pet (a hermit crab named "Quayle") and reading, she gave a speech about literacy outside. I was later interviewed for the paper and was asked what my favorite part of the visit was. I was the nerdy kid so I naturally said that it was the speech on literacy. I told the reporter that "I learned to be nice." Hmm... -
That Dress! (Bush Part 2)
And by the way, that is the exact dress she wore...complete with red pumps. -
Seuss!
My 17-year-old cousin was living with my grandparents and he had a set of Dr. Seuss books. I thought he bought them for me and I got a kick out of reading to him. I found out years later that he wasn't helping me with my reading...he was listening because he was unable to read himself. After a series of bad teachers (but mostly bad parenting), he was left unable to read. -
To: Misty...Love, Grandma & Grandpa
Grandma and Grandpa always sent the best books to me for Christmas. I got my first scary chapter books this year - Heidi and The Little Princess and I was absolutely determined to read them, even if it took the course of my natural life. -
Mrs. Crosson
My 1st grade teacher really introduced me to writing. We wrote in real journals every day and Mrs. Crosson responded to our work every day. I can still remember some of the comments and the way that she drew her smiley faces. By the end of the year, I had filled two entire journals. -
Music Lessons
My first journey into reading another language begins with piano lessons. -
Number the Stars
I read this book in 4th grade and it is still one of my favorite chapter books for young readers. -
Journalism 101
In 6th grade, I had the opportunity to take enrichment classes on Monday and Tuesday or each week. Two of these were photography and journalism. This is when I first became interested in journalism which remained an interest through college. Incidently, I also remember being in journalism class when the OJ Simpson verdict came in on the 13-inch TV...but that's another story altogether. -
The Odyssey
Doh! 40 Chapters, 2 weeks of Christmas vacation. After this experience, I thought I would never want to read again. No offense, Homer. -
Mr. Vanderpool
This one one of my two favorite English classes. Mr. Vanderpool's class was equal parts writing and reading. We had certain things we did as a class (such as reading one my favorite books Animal Farm) as well as plenty of opportunities to explore our interests in our writing and our multigenre project. Mr. Vanderpool also introduced me to another one of my favorites: Friday Night Lights when he read my writings and realized that I was from West Texas. -
I'm a nerd
I finally got my license after 3 failed attempts. First stop: the library. For several months, I went to the downtown library several times a week to study and read about everything I could. -
Finding Zen
My other favorite English class was TAG which I took as a junior and senior. We spent a lot of time reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I had a hard time understanding the book, but I really enjoyed it. -
Yearbook
Adventures in journalism continue - I worked on my high school yearbook my junior year and became an editor my senior year. Creepy tech note: I found this picture of an actual yearbook that I worked on. It was up for sale on ebay. Even weirder...I'm pretty sure that I signed this yearbook somewhere because I know the person who it belonged to. -
Summer Reading List
Walden
Peter Camenzind
A is for Ox
The Things They Carried -
Mono (ick!)
I had to leave school after being sick for months with mono and eventually I wound up in the hospital. I was so exhausted that in the short bursts that I was awake, I read and read and read everything I could possibly read. I relied on friends and family to bring me books, so I read books that I would not have picked out for myself. -
Ruby Payne
A Framework for Understanding Poverty is one of the first professional books I read. It was a requirement in college. I still find that it is one of the books that I most often reference. While in college I thought it was relatively inaccurate and presented a worst-case scenario, I have found that it speaks volumes of the kids that I serve. It should be required reading for all teachers. -
Making Connections
I went to the Missouri Music Educator's Conference and sat in several sessions with Artie Almeada. She is an elementary teacher in Florida who sees about 1,250 kids (and I thought 250 was a lot!). This is where I first saw the multiple ways to connect comm arts to music (picture books & instruments). I just wrote a grant proposal to place these books and instruments in my room. I will find out Friday if I will get them or not! -
What's a Graphic Novel?
I took a multi-cultural lit class where I learned about how to pick apart a book (looking for bias and perspective, etc). Some of the books that we read were: The Crayon Box That Talked, Persepolis, Monster, Maniac Magee, Carmello and The Glass Castle. Persepolis was my favorite alhtough I had never read a graphic novel. -
Reading Nook
My new best friend is the nook that I got for Chrismtas. No more carting ten books to read on vacation. My husband was definitely grateful for the lighter luggage! Currently reading: What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell on my nook. -
Classroom Library
I am so passionate about reading that I have a classroom library in my music class. It has grown from about 25 books (my first year) to well over 200 (scratch that...300) now. When my kids finish assignments in my class, they can choose to read or do other sponge activities that I have set up. I have several kids that come to my room before or after school to check out some of my books. <- That is not my library, but mine is similar to that.
