Running head: RELEASE THE REPRESSED READERS 1

Release the Repressed Readers

Sierra Gentry

READ 3311-020

14 September 2016
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Release the Repressed Readers

I have loved reading and writing for practically my whole life because of positive early

childhood literacy and cultural experiences at my home and in school. Even though reading and

writing are a part of everyday curriculum in schooling, are teachers really educating their

students to be good readers and writers? What actions need to be taken to cause children to be

great readers and writers? During recent years, I have pondered these questions, especially when

tasked with reading assigned books or writing research papers about uninteresting subjects.

Throughout my schooling, I wanted to explore my own reading and writing freely and

individually. By reflecting upon my experiences with literacy and culture, I can determine how I

want to teach English/language arts in my classroom someday.

Cultural Background

Growing up in Denton, Texas caused me to have many experiences and opportunities

with diverse people that most children from small towns may not have. Most of my memories

from my childhood consisted of experiences with my family. I remember most of my family

vacations because we have gone on at least one every year for as long as I can remember. The

oldest family vacation I recall was our trip to Ohio for a family reunion when I was around two

years old. Our most recent vacations were to New York for my fathers graduation with his

second masters degree and to Florida for another family reunion. These trips encompass two

very important values to me: education and family. My brother and I are both pursuing degrees at

the university level because our parents have instilled the importance of education and following

our passions very early on in our lives. My family is also very important to me because we have

always been close and supportive of each other. If it wasnt for my family, I dont know where I

would be today.
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Another big support system in my life has been my friends. I have never been the person

to have many close friends, but I was able to know and interact with most of the people that I

went to school with. I was typically close with people whom I shared interests or activities. For

example, my best friend for thirteen years, Emily, my other friend, Maddi, and I grew close when

we were in the elementary school choir together. My friend, Skye, and I bonded over our love of

musicals and Star Trek in high school. When making friends, I never really took into account

anyones racial or cultural backgrounds. Emilys family is mostly German, Maddi doesnt have a

dad, and Skye is from the Philippines. Although my home life and cultural upbringing are not

consistent with theirs, I was still able to become friends with them easily because of our interests

and involvement.

When I was in elementary school, many levels of students participated in the regular

education classroom. Because of this, some children received more attention from the teacher,

but the attention was to ensure those students that needed more help were just as successful as

those who didnt need as much help. Throughout middle school and high school, the students

that needed more help were often taken aside to receive extra assistance. I have always known

that the extra help was to make the education at our schools more equitable to everyone, and,

from my experience, it was successful. I was considered an advanced student since kindergarten,

so I never really needed any extra instructional help from my general education teacher. The

Denton Independent School District seemed to have high standards for teachers when I was in

school, so they tended to be very respectful to all students even if the students were not

respectful back.

Even though Denton has a very diverse population, the schools I went to did not have a

significant amount of cultural and racial diversity because of the neighborhood school zoning.
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My neighborhood is located in a nice, suburban part of Denton where most of the residents

happened to be middle-class and white. Because of this, the majority of my classmates and

friends growing up were middle-class and white. It wasnt until I went to high school did I really

see the diversity within my school. With that being said, there were some culturally and racially

diverse individuals that I went to school with, and I treated them just like everyone else.

Therefore, I would say, I was never really biased towards any race or lifestyle choice. I was also

lucky that I went to schools where I was not biased or prejudiced against. My parents taught me

that I should treat others like how I would want to be treated. I head their advice as much as I can

in order to be a fair, impartial person. By reflecting upon how I was raised, how I interacted with

others, and how the students at my school were treated, I have determined that as a teacher, I

would like to emphasize the importance of family involvement in a childs life and equity among

diverse students.

Literacy Background

I do not remember a lot about learning how to read and write, but I can recall some

experiences that relate to my literary history. Since I was a baby, my parents would always read

me books. My favorite books as a baby were books featuring textures, pictures of other babies or

children, and sound effects to be made by the reader. Because my parents read to me when I was

very young, I became interested in learning and reading by the time I entered preschool. From

ages three to five, I attended a religious preschool where I remember doing many crafts and

drawings. By the time I graduated from preschool, I was able to perform basic reading and

writing tasks, such as writing my name and knowing the alphabet. From that point, I have little

knowledge of how I learned to read and write, but I do know one thing: reading and writing

came very naturally to me.

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All of my classes in elementary school highly encouraged reading and writing. In my

second and third grade classes, my teachers would bring supplies for the students to write their

own books. The teacher would review the books and allow the authors to put them on the classs

featured book display shelf. I loved this idea, so I was frequently featured on the shelf with my

popular picture book series, The Adventures of Spunky the Brave. When I was a child, I loved to

read almost anything for pleasure reading, from the comedic Junie B. Jones series to the

depressing A Series of Unfortunate Events series, but I was mostly interested in reading fiction.

However, in middle school and high school, my teachers were not as enthusiastic about

reading. When students pulled out their books to read during free time, they would get told to put

them away and work on homework instead. This happened to me a couple of times, and it really

made me feel like the teachers didnt value reading as highly as they should. The same idea

occurred with writing. Teachers began to focus on their students writing about specific content

and less on exploring creativity and expressing opinions which made writing less fun. Overall,

reading and writing for pleasure was highly discouraged and rare during my middle school and

high school years. However, I did enjoy some of the required material for my classes during this

time frame, such as Shakespearian plays and classic books. The Great Gatsby is one of my

favorite books, and I would have never read it if I wasnt required during my junior year of high

school.

Currently, my college life has taken its toll on my pleasure reading. Because of the

amount of work and time dedicated to my classes, I rarely find time to read for pleasure besides

over holiday or school breaks. When I can read, I enjoy dystopian fiction books because,

although they seem extreme, the events that occur could still happen in the future. Many

dystopian fiction novels I have read also have undertones of issues that occur in todays society,
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such as corruption in the government and classism. The Hunger Games and Divergent trilogies

are my favorite books in this category. When I have the chance to read, though, I normally read

books that are recommended to me by people I know. My favorite way to read is to get into a

comfortable spot and play music softly. While reading, I primarily listen to solo guitar, piano, or

cello music because it helps me block out other distracting sounds. From my experiences with

learning and interacting with literature, I would like to make learning how to read and write

enjoyable for my students by giving them many opportunities to be creative and explore their

interests.

Effects of my Background.

My cultural and literary experiences shape what kind of teacher I would like to be to my

students. Because family was a large part of my childhood, I would like to put a lot of attention

on the parents and families of my students by incorporating their culture into learning and by

communicating and encouraging them to help their children at home. Being aware of different

cultures and implementing them into the classroom is important for creating a positive and

diverse classroom environment. Incorporating books that address different cultures is just one

example of how to encourage a diverse classroom. Proper communication is also key to any

parent-teacher relationship because parents need to be aware of what their child is learning and

where they need additional help. It is important to encourage the families of students to be

involved in their students education even if it is as simple as reading out loud to their child.

Without this involvement, the student may be at a disadvantage to students who have had

experiences with reading before entering school.

Being welcoming to all students and making a comfortable learning environment is

another important element that I would like to implement in my classroom. Because I was raised
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to be friendly and respectful to all people, I plan on treating my students the same way and

encourage them to do the same. If my students are comfortable in their environment, ideally, they

will be more successful. I would like my students to be comfortable enough to ask myself or

their peers for help because they can learn a lot from each other, and no one should ever be

ashamed of asking for help.

I would love to have the same effect on my students as my elementary school teachers

did on me. These teachers encouraged and motivated me to find books I liked and to read and

write for fun. Somewhere during my schooling, teachers took the enjoyment out of reading and

writing. Someday, I would love to be the teacher that encourages their students like mine did. I

plan on having a decent sized classroom library and a book making center for students to explore

reading and writing great books. Having reading material over a variety of subjects and difficulty

levels is important to consider because many students have different experiences with literacy

prior to entering the classroom. I never want to come to a point in my teaching career when my

students feel like they dont have the opportunity to enjoy reading and writing.

Conclusion.

There are many factors that contributed to my love of reading, but the most important

factor was my parents reading to me as a young child. As time went on, reading and writing

became more of a chore than a pleasure activity. Good readers and writers are made from people

who are passionate about reading and writing, so teachers should be teaching their students how

amusing these activities are rather than giving them irrelevant tasks to complete. Because I have

had experiences with both kinds of teachers, I will know how to release my repressed readers to

explore the all of the wonders literature has to offer.