Reading Autobiograpy- To Make the Grade

Boy, did I hate reading as a tween and teen. I had unknowingly struggled with dyslexia through out my entire childhood, and so it was a mystery to me why I was so much slower than my classmates. I felt stupid compared to them, and I grew to hate reading of any kind. I struggled with my studies to make the grade. My mother used reading as a punishment, helped fuel my hatred for books. When I was in trouble, Mom sent me directly to my bedroom. I wasn’t allowed to watch television, play with toys, call friends, or step outside. I was only allowed to touch the books and stay in my bedroom. As a result, I hated characters like Ramona, who other peers my age seemed to enjoy. I saw her as my enemy.

In the classroom I never found any of the books that the teachers selected for us really that interesting; they all seemed to be the same, or based on a movie. If I know the story and how it ends, then why waste my efforts struggling my way through the book. By the time I was in sixth grade I considered myself an expert on the holocaust; really how many young adolescent books can they write about the concentration camps?! When my family moved from Lamesa to Midland, it may have only been fifty miles south, but it was like a whole different world where my peers were concerned. No one did their homework, no one took it school to heart, and considering my surroundings I turned from studious to slacker. I never read but maybe three books from seventh grade to graduation, because I learned how to cheat, how to copy, and how to guess without being caught, or losing my grades. Writing though, that was my passion. As a small girl, I researched and wrote essays just to fill in spare time. I loved writing stories, and I flirted a little with poetry. If a teacher assigned a writing project of any sort I was on top of it, and into it. I had a passion. It was the only thing I was honest about.

My teachers never seemed to ask us our opinion, or try to relate to us. Instead, they were like robots, teaching what they were trained to teach. I had one teacher in seventh grade who nearly completely ruined poetry for me. When we completed a five line poem, for example, she stated how much she disliked poetry, and how she didn’t believe in that that ‘deep inner-meaning stuff’.

In my class I hope that I can find a way to improve what I experienced growing up. My list of ideas is not a typical list of assignments and lesson plans I hope to use. When I picture what it will be like to be a teacher, and when I consider what I want to do to be sure my students get all that my class is worth, I start with ambiance. If the surroundings are dull, or feeling like a cell they are less likely to really be in tune with the classroom. If I do not show my interest in what I am teaching, then why should they be interested in learning it? These are questions that whiz through my mind. I have three guidelines I have made for myself:

· Use encouraging, excited language with everything. I want to use statements that will encourage them to think. I will use as few yes or no questions as possible. I will use as little negative vocabulary as possible. For example, of poetry I’ll say, “poetry is so intriguing, it is eye opening. Why do you feel the author wrote this? What could they have been trying to tell the world? There are no bad ideas. Every answer is better than no answer at all!”

· There’s no place like home to better reflect and delve into the imagination, so I will try my best to transform my classroom into home. I have a classroom design template that will feel like their favorite pad. I want to work cooperatively at all times so I want to sit in circles. I want comfy chairs around the room. I want bookshelves, not filled with my office work or my grading, but jam packed with great works of literature that they will find intriguing. I want a space for independent study. I want our room to be a safe, quiet place where students can feel comfortable visiting for reading and writing before, during, or after school. My classroom will always be open to my class.

· They are not students, in my eyes, they are writers, and hopefully by the time they leave my classroom for summer they will see the writers in themselves as well. I will point out all the great things they wrote, take interest in who they are. Then as the year goes on and we learn new levels of grammar, and vocabulary they will incorporate that into their writing. We will practice with very little pressure applied.