Language and Literacy Development
Once upon a time a very, very long time ago I learned how to read and write. But how did I acquire this ability? For me, learning to read and write happened in school. I can remember the first characters I learned about were “Dick and Jane”. There was not as much material and emphasis on teaching your children at home how to read and write when I was growing up therefore the responsibility was mainly on my first grade teachers shoulders. I must say Mrs. Davidson did an excellent job because in no time at all I was reading everything I could get my hands on and loving every minute of reading. Writing I did not care so much for because I had horrible penmanship, to this day I am ashamed of my handwriting!
I lived out in the country and the city where I went to school did not have a library and the “mall” with a Barnes and Noble in it had yet to be built. The only access I had to books in the summertime was an organization called the “Bookmobile” which was basically a mobile library on wheels like a RV that came to a specific location twice a month. My mother made sure she kept the car on that day so she could take me and my two older brothers to the Bookmobile so we could check out books to bring home and read. I can remember my mother waiting patiently in the car (because the Bookmobile was so small) while we all made our selections. I would always take the maximum books
allowed because I loved reading which enabled me to go to far away places and take part in others adventures. Throughout the summer I would run out of books to read because of the limited availability of the Bookmobile, I can remember reading some books several times over because I enjoyed reading so much and these books were all I had.
Once I had mastered my reading it became an intricate part of my learning about the Bible in my church, I no longer depended on the Sunday school teachers or Pastor to tell me what was written, I could read it for myself. In my Wednesday night class it was part of the curriculum that I read certain passages for memorization in order to earn stars and pass steps in the missionette program the church offered.
So, my language and literacy developed through a combination of school where I learned to read, family as my mother gave me access to books during the summer and my community church which allowed me to achieve goals by reading.
Once upon a time a very, very long time ago I learned how to read and write. But how did I acquire this ability? For me, learning to read and write happened in school. I can remember the first characters I learned about were “Dick and Jane”. There was not as much material and emphasis on teaching your children at home how to read and write when I was growing up therefore the responsibility was mainly on my first grade teachers shoulders. I must say Mrs. Davidson did an excellent job because in no time at all I was reading everything I could get my hands on and loving every minute of reading. Writing I did not care so much for because I had horrible penmanship, to this day I am ashamed of my handwriting!
I lived out in the country and the city where I went to school did not have a library and the “mall” with a Barnes and Noble in it had yet to be built. The only access I had to books in the summertime was an organization called the “Bookmobile” which was basically a mobile library on wheels like a RV that came to a specific location twice a month. My mother made sure she kept the car on that day so she could take me and my two older brothers to the Bookmobile so we could check out books to bring home and read. I can remember my mother waiting patiently in the car (because the Bookmobile was so small) while we all made our selections. I would always take the maximum books
allowed because I loved reading which enabled me to go to far away places and take part in others adventures. Throughout the summer I would run out of books to read because of the limited availability of the Bookmobile, I can remember reading some books several times over because I enjoyed reading so much and these books were all I had.
Once I had mastered my reading it became an intricate part of my learning about the Bible in my church, I no longer depended on the Sunday school teachers or Pastor to tell me what was written, I could read it for myself. In my Wednesday night class it was part of the curriculum that I read certain passages for memorization in order to earn stars and pass steps in the missionette program the church offered.
So, my language and literacy developed through a combination of school where I learned to read, family as my mother gave me access to books during the summer and my community church which allowed me to achieve goals by reading.
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