Hannah Durham

Literacy is everywhere in our lives; at home, at school, your job, and in your community but have you ever thought to break down your literacy? Literacy can be split into four different areas or facts of literacy such as: (1) literacy opportunity, (2) literacy instruction (3) cooperation, (4) socio-emotional quality. Literacy opportunity looks at the direct relation to the child and a form of literacy. Literacy instruction refers to the sponsors in the childs life. Cooperation is the active participation from the child when it comes to their literacy instructions and understanding their role with their literacy. Socio-emotional is the affective factor of literacy such as the bond between the child and their sponsors. For all intents purposes I am combining my home literacy and my school literacy together to show how my literacy falls into these four areas. Ever since I was little I have been given many literacy opportunities both at home and at school. As far back as I can remember our house has always been full of books for all different ages. I remember there being a shelf beside my bed that held the kids books in the house. We had books such as the Dr. Seuss beginner books and chapter books but those were for my sister Amber. Although it was not until I started school that my opportunities blossomed. As soon as you walked through the doors there were signs and banners hung on every wall and from the ceiling. Every class room had shelves full of books; we would even create our very own paper books to take home with us and read. My kindergarten year is the first time that I remember ever going to a library. One day a week the whole class would take a trip to go browse the shelves and pick a book to read. We would come in and the librarian would sit us down at little tables and read a story before we were released to look on our own. I just remember being so amazed at how many books were in one place and all the bright colored banners about reading and books. After we would find the book we liked we would check it out, take it home and read it then bring it back the next week. It was not until the first grade though that my school and home literacy

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would truly collide. Even though I had books I seldom remember actually picking them up to read them. That year my parents were informed that I was not up to the standard of reading that was expected from kids my age and because of that I was being placed in a special extra class called reading recovery. During this time I would meet with a lady and she would make me read aloud to her out of one of the many books in the room. I would then be given the book to take home and read it with someone else and have them sign a paper saying I had read it. This literacy opportunity made very sure that I was having direct contact with books and other forms of literacy. During this time if you look at my writings I was having trouble with a couple of my letters being switched such as my bs and ds. My family tried to help me with this by using the phrase bees buzz to the right yet I continued to make the mistake.

After this class I began to read a little more each year gradually picking up reading habits and vocabulary as I went. I find certain books that I took a liking to two books; The American Girl series and The Berenstain Bears books.

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These two series were most of my reading material between the ages of 8-11 years old. When I reached the 5th grade my teachers and parents were also told that I was no longer to read the Berestain Bear books from the library because they were too easy for me and I wasnt being challenged enough by this series. Books were not the only form of literacy that I was exposed to. I had other things such as the writing test, homework assignments, even a county wide contest called Young Authors. When it comes to my literacy instructions my school literacy greatly influenced that of my home. While at school we had reading time but most the time I found myself just wondering off in space thinking about playing outside or drawing, yet I knew there was one place I would have to read and that was reading recovery. Every day at the same time I would meet with my teacher and read aloud to her and sometimes other kids that were in the group as well. While I was in reading recovery my parents and I were given strict instructions as to what I should be doing each night of the week. Every night I would sit down after dinner and read the book aloud to either my mother or father. My father was not the one I was fond of reading to because he was very determined that I was going to learn even if I didnt want to. When reading the books to my father he would pay close attention to every little mistake that was made and would make sure I

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knew what it was. One day we were reading a book and I skipped part of the sentence and he made me read the page backwards until I read the correct way forward, which happened almost every time I read with him. Although I absolutely hated it, it really helped me focus on what I was reading so that I didnt have to read the page backward. Whether my dad knew it or not he was very greatly pushing me to become a better reader and graduating to the next grade. Even now I find it very easy for me to read things backwards and I am wondering if this is due to the way my father made me read when I was younger. Once I started getting into high grades I was expected to take A.R. test. This test was to make sure that you were reading and understand the books you checked out from the library. The way this works is the child opens the program on the computer and finds their name. After this they type in the book that they want to test on and then they are given 5-10 questions based on the reading. The school required you to read a certain amount of books, take the test on your book and then you received a certain amount of point based on the grade of the test. By having to take A.R. test I was pretty much forced to read in my spare time. The picture below is an example of the screen I would see during one of my Accelerated reader test.

For me cooperation was something I was made to do to start with then it became something that I didnt mind. From a young age I hated reading and writing it just wasnt my

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thing. I wanted to spend more time outside playing or drawing. Then once I entered school it started to become clear to me that I needed to cooperate in order to better myself for the future. By doing the things I was supposed to in reading recovery I was able to graduate to the second grade and I also saw my grades improve. After becoming a better reader I really started to interact more with my literacy environment. For example I had a book about insects which I would open up find a cool looking bug read about that bug then sit down and draw it. This allowed me to combine my literacy with something that I already had a passion for. The older I got the more I participated in my literacy instructions. I began writing entries for a writing contest called Young Authors. This contest was not just county wide but also state wide. For this contest the teachers would give us a prompt and we would write on it. I participated multiple years. For example in second grade we were given the prompt was to write about something that meant a lot to you. That year I wrote about my great grandmas quilts that she made for my mother. That year I won county, I was then published in a book and allowed to read it aloud to the public in the mall. I realized that in doing even the smallest literacy instruction that I was becoming an active sponsor in my literacy.

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The bonds and relationships I have created with people help shape the socio-emotional aspect of my literacy. At school I created bonds with the schools librarian. I began spending a lot of extra time in the library. Instead of going outside I would go shelf books and spend the time reading in the library. During this time she would always set books aside for me and when I was done I would always get a piece of candy. I also created bonds with my friends who would also accompany me in shelving books in the library. Also my best friend and I began reading a book called Snail Mail No More. This allowed us to connect through our readings and talk about what we liked and didnt like in the story. Although I think the greatest bond I made was with my father. This was the one time where I got his full attention and he really influenced the things I do today both in my literacy and in life. I have seen that my literacy can create many great and strong bonds with people in my life.