Megan Grable

Brandman University

Professor Caroline Dias

Signature Assignment Personal Literacy History and Reflection

October 13, 2019

 1. Introduction

All learning is on a continuum. Before a child can learn algebra, they must learn

numeracy. Before a child can speak, they must have the ability to receive and understand

language in its varying forms. Communication at an early age is the parents reacting to the

child’s communication, which is crying. Children respond better to a form of communication

called “parentese” which is described as “the high-pitched vowel rich sing-song speech.”

(Machado, pp. 170) This type of communication helps the child absorb language and develop

his own form before he can utter his first word. Children develop language on a continuum,

where thy begin to add more aspects of their communication to their skill set, from crying, to

cooing, to babbling, to word like sounds, to first words. All these occur prior to the first word

being spoken, but all are forms of communication just as important as actual spoken words.

Similarly, the development of reading and writing skills occurs on a continuum, the children

should have access to a print rich environment to help make connections to the language they

are using and the written words. They must have access to materials that will mark paper and

have the freedom to explore these materials, including little tastings even, to understand what

they can do and how print has meaning. As we see in the book, So Much More Than the ABC’s

by Judith Schickedanz and Molly F. Collins, “You can think of writing development in three

major stages; (1) emergent, (2) beginning conventional, and (3) more mature conventional.

Developing skills in writing takes years.” (Schickedanz & Collins, pp. 121) To make these

connections the child must be supported in this by adults with intentional practices. With the

right supports the child will learn how to read, write talk, and understand all forms of

communication.

The development of language and literacy standards is crucial because when we can

standardize the way that we teach the children in our care as well as standardized the

expectations we have of children we are able to be more objective in the way that we teach.
“clear, research-based expectations for the content and desired results of early learning

experiences can help focus curriculum and instruction and increase the likelihood of later

positive outcomes.” (Strickland& Riley-Ayers.) By knowing what is expected of the children at

each development milestone, we can predict what we should continue to work on with each

child. When we can’t standardize out expectations, that can lead to subjective observations and

assessments, where a judgement call can be made regarding how well the child is developing.

The use of effective curriculum is to implement intentional teaching practices that will support

the standards the teachers are trying to reach for each child. Without a clear curriculum, the

schedule, lessons, and activities can lose intentionality and the children will not receive as

meaningful of an educational experience. A holistic curriculum that supports all parts of a

child’s development is best. This kind of education should allow for both a balance of teacher

directed and child directed play. The importance of peer to peer communication in play is

outlined in the paper The language of play: Developing preschool vocabulary through play

where researchers from various university psychology departments across the country talk of

this saying, “Play provides a way to scaffold children’s vocabulary development through

engagement with words in meaningful contexts.” (Toub, et. al) When a curriculum is well

implemented the teacher can conduct objective assessments on each child, having a good idea

of where the children are developmentally. There is a level of accountability in the teaching

practices and the outcomes that children show. We are able to see how the practices that are

implemented are working for the children. Professional development and teacher education is

crucial in creating intentional and meaningful lessons for the children. When a teacher has a

good understanding of not only the activities that they’re implementing, but what are the

outcomes they are looking for, what skill are they working on during this activity. When

reading a book, are they looking for expressive language from the child for two to three-word

sentences or are they looking for the child to be able to recognize the first letter of their name?
“Described in broad terms, teachers of young children need to know the importance of oral

language competencies, early literacy experiences and family literacy in learning to read.”

(Strickland & Riley-Ayers) A strong home and school connection I important in creating a

lasting language and literacy development. When the same activities and support are shown in

home as well as school, the child has a constant exposure to a print rich environment,

immersive phonetical and vocabulary exposure. Opportunities for conversations and

communication are critical for a child’s development.

2. My Literacy Experiences

1. Playing word games with my parents, as they took with me everywhere.

Language rich environment. (PA)

2. First word, “Button” at 10 months. (OL) (V)

3. Being read to by my older cousin. (PA)

4. Reading Horton Hatches a Who by Dr. Seuss with my Mom (PA) (CAP)

5. Writing and drawing in my coloring book at the table with new color

pencils (W)

6. Getting a puppet theater from the library and playing puppets with my

younger sister (OL) (PA)

7. Entering a Christmas coloring contest as a 4-year-old and winning

second place. My Santa was a red circle with arms coming out of the body. M-E-G

was written by me. (W)

8. Reading books in kindergarten. (AK) (CAP)

9. Copying a book word for word in first grade and trying unsuccessfully to

pass it off as my own writing. (CAP) (W)

 10. Reading books to my younger sister (AK) (CAP) (PA)

11. Reading s scary story about a ghost that tried to drown a little girl in

third grade. Checking that book out over and over the entire school year and

rereading it.

12. Got my own library card (CAP)

13. My parents bought me as many Babysitters Club and Fear Street books

as I could read, while in elementary school (CAP)

14. Writing my short story for my 4th-grade class (W) (AK)

15. Writing my first story on my own, that took up over 60 pages. There was

no narrative structure.

16. Reading She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb in 6th grade (CAP)

17. Reading Jewel’s A Night Without Armor in 8th grade (CAP)

18. Beginning writing poetry in my journal (W)

19. Performed in the musical “Annie” playing Grace, Daddy Warbeck’s

assistant. (OL) (V) (CAP)

20. Having two poems published in my high school literary magazine in my

senior year (W)

21. Writing fanfiction in my mid 20’s (W)

22. Setting a goal of reading at least 100 books a year since 2005. (CAP)

23. Competing in NaNoWriMo in 2013, 2015, and 2016. Wrote two stories

totaling over 50,000 words each. (W)

24. Doing the #Womenreads challenge in the early 2010’s where I only read

books written by women.

25. The birth of my sons, in 2011 and 2014 to have a new generation to read

to. (OL), (V), (PA)

  My first word “Button” at 10 months old

 Being read to by my parents as a young child.

 Learning to read in kindergarten and realizing how much I love it

 Begin writing and realizing that my handwriting was very poor.

 Having my parent buy me as many books as I liked and getting a library card

 Beginning to write stories and poems on my own to sort out my feelings about

the world around me.

 Reading books that were far above my age range and learning about the adult

world through them. (My parents were great at censorship when I was a child.)

 Setting goals for how many books I could read in a year and meeting that goal.
3. Significant Event Map

First word, “Button” at 10 months

1.Entering a Christmas coloring

contest as a 4 year old and winning
second place. My Santa was a red
circle with arms coming out of the
body. M-E-G was written by me

1.My parents bought me as many

Babysitters Club and Fear Street
books as I could read, while in
elementary school

1.Began writing poetry and stories

in my free time in junior high

1.Setting a goal of reading at least

100 books a year since 2005.

The birth of my sons, in 2011 and

2014 to have a new generation to
read to.
 4. Personal Reflection

My love of literacy has always been a part of me. From as early as I can remember, I love

books and the transformative power that they held for me. Reading was often a way that I escaped the

world when life was getting too much for me to handle. As a teen I turned to poetry and story writing

as a way to process the events of my life and how I should handle them. Having the support, I had

from my family in this literacy journey made a large difference in my love of literacy. Because my

parent s bought me books, took me to the library and red to me often, I was able to feed this love with

more. Allowing me to explore reading materials that may have been above my reading level allowed

me to scaffold my language and literacy development. I learned new words, new concepts, new

vocabulary using these books, and had I stuck with books that were geared toward my actual age, I

would not have learned as much about the world around me. I was able to write as much as I wanted,

with family buying me journals to write out my thoughts in. I was able to work on these in my free

time, even getting a poem published in my school literary magazine because of this support.

The advent of the computer, has done a great deal for my writing, as it has made it easier to get

my thoughts out as quickly as they form. It has, however not helped my still poor penmanship,

something that I’ve always struggled with. I think have such bug ideas that I want them out and I don’t

take the time to write legibly. In all honesty, I didn’t learn how to write a well written “G” in cursive

until I was married and it became the first letter of my last name. I think the opportunities that I had as

a young child being read to and being asked to read to others including my younger brother and sister

have shared who I am as a literate adult. Reading to my children now is an important part of my day.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing my two young boys reading a book, especially when my 8 year

old brought a book on our last camping trip and finished it halfway through the trip, causing us to have

to buy him a new one.

 My love of reading has absolutely impacted the way I teach in the classroom, I feel it is

important to have a variety of book in each classroom. I think having nooks about themes that we are

teaching, social emotional issues the families are having, and books than the children can recognize

themselves in, are all vital to a classroom. When a parent comes to me with a struggle they are having

with their child, I often will research and find a few books that the parent can read at home and that we

can read at school to help support the child. If a child is having nightmares at home, I will recommend

“The Night Knights” by Gideon Sterer and Cody Godbey. If a child is struggling with playing with

others, I recommend the book “How Do Dinosaurs Play With their Friends” by Jane Yolen, in fact,

her entire dinosaur collection is a mainstay in my classrooms as the topics range from birthdays to

staying safe and I have never had a class who didn’t love the contradictory language and dinosaur

illustrations with the correctly identified type of dinosaurs.

Literacy has a large impact on my life, both professionally and personally. I use books, whether

it is reading or writing, as an outlet for thoughts and feelings to this day. There is a quote from the

writer Annie Dillard, that sums up my feelings about books, “She read books as one would breathe air,

to fill up and live.” (Dillard) I try and bring that same energy into reading for others as well. I pride

myself on being able to recommend a person’s next favorite book. I want to expose children to books,

to markers and paper, to being able to talk and read, and understand the world around them through

communication, through language and literacy.

 5. References

Dillard, A. (2013). The Living. New York: HarperPerennial.

Machado, J. M. (2016). Early Childhood Experiences in Language Arts: Early Literacy. 11th ed.
Belmont, CA: Cengage

Schickedanz, J. & Collins, M.F. (2013) So Much More Than the ABC’s; The Early Phases of Reading
and Writing. NAEYC Publishing, Washington D.C.

Strickland, D. & Riley-Ayers, S (n.d.) Early literacy: Policy and practice in the preschool years.
Retrieved on February 28, 2013, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/11375/.

Toub, T. S., Hassinger-Das, B., Nesbitt, K. T., Ilgaz, H., Weisberg, D. S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., …
Dickinson, D. K. (2018). The language of play: Developing preschool vocabulary through play
following shared book-reading. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45, 1–17. doi:
10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.01.010