My Literacy Profile

     I believe that reading is the most important skill when it comes to life. If you can't read then you can't travel, cook, fix things, learn new things, or even get a job. However; to me, reading is not just something that is essential to a successful life. It is also a pasttime and one of my favorite hobbies. Ever since the first grade I was an avid reader and liked to sink my teeth in to new genres and new authors. As a class we would march to the library once a week and rummage through books until we found the perfect one. Yet, some kids did not find the joy in reading and the rummaging as I did. Some kids in my class would pretend to find a book while others simply let their books sit in their bookbags for a week to gather dust and peanut butter and jelly residue. These kids made me realize that reading was not something that I was being forced to do, after all they were not reading their books, but something that I wanted to do.  Therefore, reading started out as something that I had to do for school but turned in to something I enjoyed. Reading is a way for me to relax and leave my worries in the real world. Instead, I get to see in to someone else's life and see how they work through their worries and situations. I also love how you are introduced to new places and people that you only wish were real...that feel real. I remember when I turned eleven that I just knew I was going to get my letter to Hogwarts. Although I never physically saw Hogwarts, I knew it was an amazing place where awesome things happened. To be honest, I still have lingering hopes that owl-post is slow these days and that my Hogwarts letter is still going to arrive. Overall, reading is a way for me to escape and to live an adventure without leaving my bed. I even have a book on the night stand by my bed where I write down my favorite quotes from my favorite books.
     The books that I read when I was younger are books that I still love today. Roald Dahl was my favorite author as I was going through elementary school. I loved James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Twits, The Witches, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Other books that I enjoyed were The Mixed-Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler, The Giver, Holes, Beverly Cleary books, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and ESPECIALLY the Harry Potter series. I guess looking back I could say I was a fan of fiction and books where kids stand up and are the protagonists. Now I love to read Stephen King and classic literature.  I also like to ready mysteries and horror novels when I can. Let's be honest, I do not have time to read what I want to read that much during the semester! I can honestly say that in middle school through high school I did not read for pleasure much. School and a social life kept me pretty busy, but I still read for my english classes. Books that I read in high school include: To Kill a Mockingbird, A Separate Peace, Shakespeare, Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, A Scarlet Letter, and my favorite....The Crucible.. I remember either really loving or really hating the literature we read in school. I found that it was hard trying to care about Huckleberry Finn. I was not in to the plot and themes and the dialect was a pain to get through. However, The Great Gatsby was interesting and I found myself really loving the characters. I think that is a very important aspect to reading fiction. You have to fall in love with the characters to be able to enjoy a book. Whether it is Scout or Albus Dumbledore, I found myself rooting for the people that I felt I knew personally. On the other hand, Hester Prynne, was a character that I did not care for. Therefore, I like literature where the characters are people I am truly interested in.  Regardless, I still enjoyed the literature we read in school.  After all, these books are classics for a reason.  I just wish my teachers were better at teaching the literature then they were.  I could tell that the lesson plans they used were from a workbook and that they did not plan an activity themselves.  If a teacher does not care to be creative enough to make their own lessons then how can I care about the lessons they are presenting?
     Luckily, college spun me around and helped me enjoy reading for pleasure more. I feel that I am motivated to read because there are always things to explore.  I like reading now for the same reasons I liked reading as a child.  I want to know more about the world and the literature that shaped it. On the other hand, I still feel like I need to become a better reader. I need to broaden my range of books and read things that I would not expect myself to like. I kind of want to surprise myself with a book like The Da Vinci Code. Basically, I want to be more open-minded when it comes to reading.  As a teacher, I want my students to discover that they love reading.  I believe that there is a book out there for everyone and that you just need to find it.  I do not care if my students can tell me different literature terms.  I want them to be able to tell me why the book was important.  What was the author saying?  What does this say about the time period?  What is the effect of this novel?   I do not expect my students to love every book we read; however, I do want to inspire them to appreciate the books that we read.  I want them to understand why they have to take my class in order to graduate.  By the end of the year, my goal for them is to have read a book for pleasure and enjoy it.  I want a book to change their outlook on something or spark a new interest.  As for literacy, I do see it as more then being able to read the words on a page.  It is one thing to read but another to read and think critically.  After all, what is the point of reading if you do not understand what you read?  Therefore, I think literacy is a lot more then what you pick up in a classroom and being able to make out words.  I think it is important for everyone to take the words, create thoughts, and come up with an analysis or a better understanding of a topic.  Therefore, I think that literacy is more then reading a book.  It is reading a book and being able to reflect on it.