Professionals Against Bullying

Thursday, September 10, 2009

LITERACY CHAT

Literacy is a topic near and dear to my heart. I loved it when my parents would read to me as a young child. I would listen intently as they changed their voices to sound like the characters in the stories that they shared with me. Listening was a lot of fun but when I entered first grade I had a problem. Although I enjoyed hearing the stories...I had a hard time reading them. I tried to comprehend the letters and pronounce them correctly but it was challenging.

My book supply at home had become low and I was not practicing as much as I should have. My teacher, Mrs. Jones did something to change my circumstances. She let me take home the books that she had in the classroom. I was able to study and practice more, but I was able to appreciate the activity of reading. I enjoyed understanding the plot of the colorful storybooks and I fell in love with reading. My grades dramatically improved and I was coming home with spelling tests that featured brightly colored A's.

I'm not sure if I linked my progress as a young girl to having newer fresh books around the house or not. As an adult I recall that reading new stories helped my imagination, creativity and it gave me the desire to write my own tales.
Today if you can help a child with a new book...don't hesitate.
You may change their lives.
Read something great!


1 comment:

Dawn Stephens said...

good blog Tara
for me, learning to read was about pronouncing everything correctly. I loved to read aloud and act the stories out. I was quite a dramatic child. But my comprehension was really poor. I could read a great story really well, -and while reading it, think of a million different things. When finished I couldn't tell you anyting that I had just read. My real love for books and reading only came as an adult, teacher, and mom. I've been busy reading childrens books as an adult just to make up for all the great stuff I missed as a kid. FAscinating to see how we all have different journeys.