PERSONAL LITERACY HISTORY AND REFLECTION Gitchuway 1

Brianna Gitchuway

Personal Literacy History and Reflection

Professor Biggers

ECED 303

26th, February 2022

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Introduction

There are five key components such as: oral language, phonemic awareness, alphabet

awareness, concepts about print, and early writing with inventive spelling. Oral language is when

we communicate words with each other. I believe the children need the knowledge of oral

language in order to listen and speak. Oral language is used to develop the skills to express

feelings and ideas. Children progress in their understanding of words and the ability to use them

to communicate their thoughts and feelings with others. A solid foundation of oral language

helps children become successful readers and strong communicators. “Oral vocabulary and oral

language skills are very important to reading comprehension; readers need to know the meanings

of individual words to understand the text as a whole” (Schickedanz and Collins, 2013, p. 10-11).

When children don’t have a strong oral language, they may need a speech therapist or extra help

in the classroom to get to that point. This can create a child to be held back from being in the

same class as their age group because of the lack of oral language. Children can gain oral

language by listening and mimicking others around him who are speaking.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to understand a child’s ability to hear sounds and

language that children are listening to every day. Phonological awareness is seen in developing

skills by having the ability to identify syllables and rhyming in words, identify words beginning

with the same word, being able to blend sounds into words, and by creating words by moving

sounds. Children are able to follow common progression and others can have a unique

progression as well. “Phonological awareness can be taught in a number of ways, such as in

activities involving speaking or listening, poetry, rhyming experiences, or with chants, songs,

and so on” (Machado, 2017, p. 138). Difficulties with phonemic awareness skills can create a
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hard time hearing or making rhymes, or not being able to break a word into syllables and without

these, it can create indicators of a disability.

Alphabet awareness is having the knowledge of letters of the alphabet with the

understanding that the alphabet represents the sounds of words and language. It is also the

correspondence of spoken sounds to written language. Children start to get an idea of the

alphabet at an early age and they notice when books are being read that have more words than

the pictures they see in their books. If a child doesn’t have alphabetic awareness, it will then be

hard for them to read unfamiliar words by themselves. Concepts of prints allow the children to

understand the pictures in books and objects in the classroom. Teaching print concepts means

that children will recognize print when they are out in the world, they understand that print

carries meanings of the objects or books, and print can be used for writing as well. Without print

awareness children will have a hard time with developing letter and sound correspondence, word

reading skills, and the ability to read and understand text. “ Print conventions are rules for

organizing and using print” (Schickedanz and Collins, 2013, p. 92). Early learning with inventive

spelling helps children to be able to express their ideas of something quickly, and helps them to

begin spelling correctly. Children should be able to sound words out and connect sounds and

letters together. Invented spelling can help build a sense of confidence, pride and control over the

learning process. It allows students to express themselves creatively through writing without

worrying about the spelling of unfamiliar words.

My Literacy Experiences

1. “See you later Alligator. After a while Crocodile”: (Phonological Awareness

(PA)) When I was little, my mom used to say “See you later Alligator” because it

always reminded me that she’ll always be back no matter what. I would then say
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“After a while crocodile” and this reminded me that it’ll only be for awhile and

everything is okay.

2. Repeating children’s words: Vocabulary (V) My mom used to call me a parrot

because I always repeated everything someone would say. If it was a funny word,

I would say it all day until I could get tired of the word.

3. Sounding out words that are easy to sound out: Phonological Awareness (PA) I

had a stuttering growing up and my teachers would help me sound words out

slowly in order to help my stutter.

4. Tracing letters and numbers: Writing (W) Activities I would do with my

grandmother when I was little and spent the weekend over her house.

5. Drawing pictures that represent sounds: Phonological Awareness (PA) I always

would draw growing up because my grandfather was an artist.

6. Alphabet letter magnets: Writing (W) When I was a kid my mom would put the

alphabet magnets on the refrigerator.

7. Asking children where they wanna be in the future: Oral Language (OL) My dad

would always ask me what I wanted to be and I would always answer with

something different.

8. Matching colors: Phonological Awareness (PA) Using flashcards to match the

colors, shapes, and letters as well with my grandma and mom.

9. ‘What other words sound like car?’: Phonological Awareness (PA) Using sounds

to understand rhyming. My grandma would have flashcards of rhyming words.

10. Explanation of using words to describe a picture they made: Oral Language (OL)

As a kid I used to talk a lot because they said it would help with my stutter.
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11. Reading to class: Concepts About Print (CAP) I always had stage fright reading in

front of other children, but I overcame it.

12. Playdough shapes: Writing (W) Making playdough and slime with my mom as an

experiment growing up.

13. Dress up: Oral Language (OL) My sister would play dress up with me, I was

always the pirate!

14. Shaving cream writing: Writing (W) One of my favorite activities growing up

with my babysitter as a kid.

15. Building blocks: Vocabulary (V) My dad would build blocks with me and we

would compete to build the biggest castle.

16. Numbers with puzzle: Vocabulary (V) Sudoku was one of my favorite activities

as a kid.

17. Encourage preschool children to play with print: Concepts About Print (CAP)

Being shown examples of the different color items.

18. Label objects and centers in your classroom: Concepts About Print (CAP)

Learning this as a teacher has helped me.

19. Salt trays: Writing (W) Learning how to do salt trays my first year of teaching.

20. Reading signs such as: stop signs and traffic signs: Oral Language (OL) Learning

which traffic signs are which when I was taking my drivers test.
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Significant Event Map

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Personal Reflection

Ever since I was a child, I was interested in collecting books. I wasn’t necessarily

interested in reading the books, but having them around made me want to read them one day. I

remember growing up with my grandparents and they had a shelf full of books. It wasn’t until

recently when I started reading a series of books that interested me. I started to read thrillers,

love books, and fiction was my favorite because I could imagine myself inside of the book.

Everyday in high school, I used to spend my lunch in the library in order to catch up on my

reading. I tried to make a goal by the end of each week to finish the book I was reading. When I

turned 18 and got my first job, I was able to spend most of my checks on driving to Barnes and

Noble and paying for books I’ve always wanted to read. Because I work 16 hour days and I go to

school full time, I don’t have enough time to read my favorite books.

My mom was mostly on the road because she worked long hours and my step dad used to

read my sisters and I dora books because they were my favorite. When I got older, I stopped

reading dora books and started to read Charlie Bone books. One of the best series to read, in my

opinion. With my mom being an accountant, I saw her more on the computer than her physically

writing on paper. I discovered my mom used to write in a journal every night before bed. She

would write about her day and whether it was good or bad and what she could have done

differently for that day and the other days as well. I never imagined that I would write my own

journal, but I discovered that writing in a journal is very therapeutic when you don’t know how

to talk to someone about your feelings.

The last time I went to a library was when my boyfriend brought me to a Barnes and

Noble in LA. It was the best experience because I have never seen a Barnes and Noble so big

before, filled with every type of book you could dream of. I never thought my love for books
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would be so strong until I couldn’t decide what books I wanted to buy. I knew I wanted them all

and my face lit up like a Christmas tree. One amazing impact that made me choose to be a

teacher was a professor I had when I took my first Child development course at Antelope Valley

College. My professor taught the class everything we should know about children and their

families and how important it is for children to be in school and learn from someone who can

teach them properly. I remember when my professor mentioned that children shouldn’t be

subjected to toys based on gender and I’ve seen it happen way too many times where parents say,

“that’s a boys toy only.” In reality, there are no gender specific toys and children should be able

to play with any toy they want to.

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References:

Machado, J. M. (2017). Early childhood experiences in language arts: Early literacy (11

ed.). Boston, MA. Cengage Learning.

Schickedanz, J.A, Collins, M.F.( 2013). So Much More than the ABCs: The Early Phases

of Reading and Writing. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Allen, E, K.& Cowdery. G, E. (2015) The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood Education. (Pp. 79-117) Cengage Learning.