My Own Literacy Experiences/Observations

As I have mentioned before, I was not really a "book work" type of person. I would most likely be found climbing the tree in the backyard, watching movies or TV, or singing and dancing with my sister. Did my parents read to me? No, not really. There is one book, though, that my parents and I will agree I read over and over again. It was a nursery rhyme picture book, and I loved it because my parents would sing the stories to me. It seems as though we were a very musical family.

Then something from our readings turned these observations into light bulb moments! Before I even started kindergarten, I was taking piano lessons. I learned how to play the piano because I was being taught how to read music.  I picked up on symbols, letters, how to read music from left to right, and what it looks like when a phrase begins and ends.  As Teale and Sulzby describe (pg 3), young literacy learners begin at a very early age within a literate society.  The society I found myself in incorporated music and singing, and I made an emotional connection to those words, symbols, and letters.

My goal with my students will be to create or find an emotional connection to the stories they read.