Rebecca King, 1

Cultural and Literacy Autobiography

Growing up most of my greatest experiences were with my family. I consider it a
privilege to have grown up with the family that I have; we are all very close. My mom and dad
have been married for 31 years. My sister, brother, and I are all grown up but we have remained
close. I feel so blessed to have the family that I do and I think they have played a huge part in
who I have become. A big part of childrens learning is affected by their family life. My family
always encouraged me when I was in school. I struggled with certain subjects when I was in
high school and I specifically remember my Mom and Dad telling me if I ever needed help with
anything I could always come to them. Having the support of my family when I was struggling
with certain subjects really helped me continue to work hard to understand the material.
My siblings and I were born in Fort Worth, TX and we lived there until I was in the fifth
grade. I went to Sycamore Elementary all the way up until the end of my 4th grade year of school
which is when we moved to Burleson. I dont remember very much about my school experience
before the 4th grade. I remember enjoying my time in Elementary School but I dont recall very
many details about it. My most impactful years in school, outside of one experience I had in the
4th grade, are from the 5th grade forward.
Throughout my years in elementary school I remember thinking often that I was not a
good writer. Every time the TAKS test came around I always made a 2 on the writing prompt
section. So much emphasis was put on the TAKS test when I was a child that it caused me to
feel like I was a bad writer because I scored poorly. When I was in the 4th grade I had a teacher
named Mrs. Martinez and I really liked her. During the spring semester she had us practicing our
writing so we would be prepared for the TAKS test. I will never forget the day when she passed
back one of the writing prompts we had done and I made a 4! She had written this sweet little

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encouraging note on my paper about what I had written and how good it was. This experience
framed the way I viewed myself when it came to writing from that day forward. I now saw that I
was capable of writing something good and I began to believe in myself.
My first year in Burleson schools was in the 5th grade. I still remember what it felt like to
walk into class at a new school and not know a single person. I remember the name of my
homeroom teacher, the desk I sat at, and each persons name that was sitting in the group of
desks with me. I find it interesting how the brain remembers such small details of things that
have played a significant role in peoples lives in the past. When I was in school Burleson was
not a very culturally diverse city. I remember receiving a piece of paper along with my report
card in high school that had the percentages of different races within our school at that time, and
about 85 percent of the students were Caucasian. Even though the minority groups were not
very large in my schools growing up, most of us hung out together no matter what our races
were. I love that I can look back on my public school education experience and see, for the most
part, that people got along and were treated fairly. I dont remember ever seeing one of my
teachers be disrespectful to their students or treat them differently because of any biases the
teacher may have had.
A lot of the experiences in my life that have impacted me greatly happened after I
graduated High School. After High School I decided to go to a discipleship program called
Masters Commission. While I was in Masters Commission I learned so many things about
other peoples cultures. We lived in a poor community that was mostly African American and
had some Hispanic families which was a completely different culture than what I had grown up
in when I lived in Burleson. We started an After School Program for the children at our
apartment complex my first year. The children would come up to our church with us a few times

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a week and we would help them with their homework, do activities in the gym, and just have fun
with them. This really opened my eyes to the struggles that children from low-income families
have. We had some Spanish speaking children come who could not recite the alphabet to me
and they were in the first grade. Their Mom and Dad did not speak English so if they didnt
understand any of the material they learned in class that day they were not able to get any help
with it once they got home.
During the three years I spent in Masters Commission is when I decided that I wanted to
become a teacher. I have always loved working with children and had helped with the children
and youth at my church as I got older. While I was in Masters commission I saw how much of
an impact teachers have in the lives of children and I wanted to be a part of that! All throughout
my years in school I was not much of a reader. I didnt struggle with reading, I just did not like
to read much outside of the material that was required for school and my Bible. When I started
Masters Commission I had to read quite often. We got to pick out most of the books that we
read and had to write reports on. Many times I would go to the Christian bookstore and pick out
the shortest book I could find by a popular author so I knew it would be good. The more I read I
began to see that I started enjoying it. I think a big reason why I was beginning to enjoy reading
is because the books I picked out were ones that interested me and I could apply the things I was
reading to my own life. I then started to see how much reading can enrich my life.
I feel very blessed to have had such diverse experiences throughout my life that have
affected my attitude and what I believe about children from all cultures.