Positive Experiences with Literacy

When I was growing up my experiences with reading had to do with Dr. Seuss books, the letter people, and my mom. I loved reading Dr. Seuss books as a child because the rhymes always helped me figure out what the next sentence was going to be. The colorful pages were also very enticing and sparked my desire to continue reading. For any special holiday or event my Aunt Mary used to always buy me these type of books, which eventually amounted into the large collection I have today. Because these books were so inspiring to me at the time, they impacted my view of literacy in a positive way as they always left me with an aspiration to read more.
In addition, when I was in kindergarten, my teacher Mrs. Eble used to assign us a different letter person every week for homework. These letter people had their own story made up based off of the letter they were. For instance Mr. T had very big teeth and lived in a tall house. We then had to find objects from newspapers, magazines, etc. that started with that letter. These cut outs were glued onto a piece of paper and we presented it to the class. I always thought it was fun to see what items the students in my class had on their papers and it helped me learn my letters and remember words associated with those letters. Furthermore, when we were finished with all the letters we had a letter people party where everyone was assigned to dress like a different letterperson. This experience greatly impacts my view of literacy in that it created an optimistic outlook for me on reading. From that point on I was encouraged to learn how to read and practiced routinely both at home and at school.
Furthermore, my mom has also greatly impacted my view on literacy through reading experiences I had with her when I was younger. When I was around the age of five I used to always make my mom read to me before I went to bed. I never really paid attention to what she was saying and only looked at the pictures. However, one night my mom asked me if I wanted to try to read a story. She was probably thinking that I had most of the stories memorized because she didn’t know I hadn’t been truly listening to her as she read the stories, therefore, I said no and she understood and continued reading to me. After this night, however, she constantly asked me if I wanted to read to her instead, which made me determined to actually listen to what she was saying in order to grasp an idea of how to read. I started reading along with her and sounding out the words and gradually started learning how to read. Then one night as my mom entered my room I told her that I was going to be reading to her. With her help I finished the story and actually understood what I had been read. As a result, this experience has allowed me to have a positive view on literacy.