Académique Documents
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Culture Documents
Sierra Gentry
READ 3311-020
14 September 2016
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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
Cultural Background
with diverse people that most children from small towns may not have. Most of my memories
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
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
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
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