Literacy History Blog - Assignment 1

        

        Hi, my name is Isabel Anaya and I am majoring in Mathematics and Secondary Education. I have been attending NJCU since fall 2018. The reason why I decided to major in teaching is to encourage young students to do well in school and prepare them for the future. I want to be a teacher who supports, guides, and helps students no matter academic level, linguistic languages and cultural backgrounds. As an educator I want my students to feel comfortable and welcoming in class. I am currently working as a substitute teacher teaching English Language Arts (ELA) to my middle schoolers. I hope by taking this class I can improve my literacy skills based on reading, writing, and critical thinking in order to conduct a better lesson plan for my students.
        My earliest experience of becoming literate began at home. Coming from an immigrant family I was raised to speak in Spanish. My mother taught me at an early age how to read and write in Spanish. As a child I grew passionate for reading when my mother began reading many short stories in Spanish. I remember watching all the kids tv shows in Spanish. Once I began school in kindergarten I was obligated to learn English right away. Throughout my years in school I was discouraged because I was considered below average in English based on reading and writing. There were times when I felt eliminated from the group due to my academic skills. I was placed in bilingual class up to the 6th grade. I felt that I didn't have the potential to be in a regular English class. I decided to stop speaking Spanish in school so teachers wouldn't assume that I had difficulty with English. Until my high school freshman year, an English teacher allowed students to feel comfortable in class by allowing the students to speak another language besides English. The teacher inspired me to improve my writing skills. She told me I can be a good writer. All it takes is practice. My teacher helped me to be prepared for reading and writing at the college level. She made me realize that I can be an excellent writer, it all depends on me to put in the effort. 
        I felt more literate once I started to embrace and accept who I am. Able to accept that I can speak Spanish is a privilege coming from my parents. I started to apply Spanish classes in all my high school years to be fluent in Spanish again. The kind of reading I enjoy is hearing other people's real life experiences who struggle like me. For example, people who struggle to fit in American society standards due to race, religion, or anything. Able to hear other people's point of view makes me feel that I wasn't alone. Also, a book called ,"Oh the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss explains about seeking new opportunities, being fair minded, thinking positive, and trying new things will help you in life. My role model would be my parents because they have proven to me that despite moving to a new country. They never gave up on living a better life. My parents never gave up their hopes and dreams.
        Today literacy means to me to spread a word such as sharing your life experiences. Telling your story can reflect many people's lives. People might feel the same way as you. Letting people know that what they are struggling with is real. I believe using literacy impacts my life by sharing my story as this blog assignment. What inspired me to develop literacy is my career being able to help my students who struggle with literacy just like me. I want to be able to help them and achieve their goals to become a better reader or writer.

"Oh the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss