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I was born
I was born on Father's Day in 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia, where I lived for a year before being raised in St. Louis, Missouri for the majority of my life. -
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Birth to Present
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Off to Kindergarten!
BOB Books
A couple of months after I my 5th birthday, I went off to afternoon kindergarten and began to learn how to read. BOB Books are my earliest reading memories because they taught me how to read. -
New Student
I had recently made a move from St. Louis, MO to Augusta, GA, and back within 10 months, so I was a new student at a new school for the second year in a row by the time I reached 5th grade. It was an easy adjustment for me, luckily, and, to my surprise, I was placed in the advanced reading group in my class. A handful of us read books with more challenging plots and thought provoking assignments that followed. This is when I really started to enjoy reading. -
Writing a Children's Book
The best way to learn about plot, in my opinion, was writing my own children's book in my 7th grade language arts class. I really got a feel for how much goes into a story and how it should all fit together. My story happened to be about a race between fish, go figure because I am a swimmer. I spent a lot of hard work into writing and illustrating my book, which helped me understand how important each element of a story is to the whole. -
Election Connection
At my middle school, if you are lucky enough to be in the 8th grade during an election year, you get to participate in a month-long project leading up to the Presidential election. As much as I despised the project, I found that it was a good way to get informed with politics and really dive into learning about current events. I looked at print articles as well as online articles - mostly persuasive works - on nearly every candidate on the ballot. -
Dystopias
By my sophomore year of high school, I was not really enjoying the books assigned to us in language arts class, that is, until I read 1984 by George Orwell. It taught me that not all books in school are a drag, and you may just find some of your favorite pieces of literature in a high school language arts class. This book exposed me to what is now my favorite genre. I learned to always keep an open mind going into a book because you never know what you may find out about yourself. -
Proofreading
Last spring, my sister wrote her undergraduate honors thesis as an anthropology major, which was about 100 pages. It highlights racial injustice, particularly based on the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri. As a side "hobb," I edited/proofread her entire thesis. I felt competent in my literacy because I was able to use my own skills to help my sister with something that was important to her. It also made me feel confident because she appreciated the help I provided and really made an impact. -
My Favorite Children's Book
Fortunately
I was introduced to this gem, Fortunately, written by Remy Charlip in my children's literature class at ISU last year. I loved the friendliness and surprise of each turn of the page. It is amusing for people of all ages, and it was not until my TCH 306 class this past semester that made me realize I can use it as a text set. I love that you can use this fun book for entertainment as well as for teaching a lesson to a group of older students. -
The Boy Who Lived
Pottermore
Believe it or not, my love for the Harry Potter series did not come until this past summer. I do remember my mom attempting to read the first book of the series to me when I was young, but we never completed it. I had watched the movies all throughout my childhood, but I finally took the plunge and read all seven books the summer after my sophomore year of college. I was hooked. The best thing about JK Rowling's iconic series is that people of all ages can lose themselves in the literature. -
Baptism
This past summer, I was baptized at my home church in Chesterfield, Missouri. By giving myself to God, I have grown closer to Him through the word of the Bible. Although I have not read the entire thing, cover to cover, I live by scripture. The Bible is one piece of literacy that has a huge impact on my life.
