Grant-My Mom’s Experiences With Literacy

1.   Try to think of your earliest memories of writing and reading.  What do you remember of reading and writing before you began school?  Who helped you with it and what was that like?

I was envious because everyone in my family could write; my parents wrote notes and did work and my older siblings would do their homework in front of me, so I would write notes to my mom when my brothers and sister went off to school.  The writing didn’t actually say anything because I was trying to emulate my parents’ cursive writing.  I would give notes to my mom and ask her to read them and she would give it a shot…she had to guess what I had written.

2.           What kinds of writing did you see your parents, siblings, and other family members doing as you were growing up?  What did they read, where, and when?

My dad read newspapers, reference books, and history books.  If anyone asked a question, he would go look it up and have us read about it with him.  He learned so much on his own.  If the internet had been around earlier, it would have been a huge part of his world-could we never have been able to drag him away from all of the information at his fingertips!

5.           What are you asked to do with reading and writing at this point in your lives?

As an English teacher, I enjoy reading, analyzing literature, and writing daily with my students. In addition, I have to write up information from meetings or for my department. Generally, I do not take the time to write for enjoyment, though I often wish that I would. My favorite thing to do outside of work is to get my hands on a good book and read non-stop until I finish it, even if that means little sleep for several days.