Literacy Autobiography - Secret Diary

Secret Diary

I never understood diaries or journals.  Part of this was because nobody in my household seem to use one.  I didn’t have the “read this book before you go to bed” family.  Not ignorant, but not too exposed to furthering education.  Therefore, reading and writing weren’t too high on the priority list.  I would always hear my friends talk about a diary, but then hear them say “no you can’t read it”.  Like I said, I never understood diaries.  Maybe my confusion rested with the fact that people constantly mentioned them, but never let anybody read it.

My wondering mind drove me to find out the secrets of “using a diary”.  Honestly, I thought it was about writing secrets that you couldn’t tell even your best friend.  On a trip to Walmart, I slipped this all black and white composition book in my moms cart; composition because the colorful and fancy ones were expensive.  Very, very anxious to see what the talk was about, I opened my composition book, wrote the date, my name in a cute font, and wrote what I did that day.  Ill never forget when my little sister walked in and I immediately hid my book.

Until that day, I never understood a diary.  I was able to right about any and everything I wanted to.  I expressed what made me happy that day, what I wanted to say to my mom after she made me mad and most importantly, what my crush said to me that day.  As typical as that sounds, that’s exactly what my first three pages consisted on.

Being able to write how I felt after something happened everyday was my in my diary, my outlet.  I used this tool to compose letters I was too scared to actually write to someone, vent my anger about someone, and about exciting news.  The ability to write from topic to topic was what interested me the most.  I never had to show or tell anybody my “body of work” and I never did.  I found this same diary in an old shoe box last year.  I was able to reflect on how I wrote and why I wrote years later. 

What I will carry back to my grade level and content area is the value of writing about topics you’re interested in, or about how you feel.  These may be very secretive, or something you want to share, but what’s important is the ability to air out your thoughts on paper.  What’s grand is the importance of being exposed to your own writing abilities, and reflection.

Literacy Autobiography - Lack of Literacy in Math

Lack of Literacy in Math

“Turn to page 53, read the scenario, and using words only, write our what steps you would take to solve this problem.”  That was what my Warm Up (quick task to get the student settled and involved for class) said when my freshmen class walked in.  After they took their seats, stated the assignment, I walked around, monitoring their progress and answered any topic related questions.  Everybody is working diligently, and extra quiet, when a hand pops up.  “Yes Tre?”,I said.  “What does Sam drove 4 times more than Vance but 2 times less than Mike mean?”

I know my face said everything I wanted to say.  So before I responded, I took a deep breath, read the scenario again myself, and walked to where Tre was sitting.  To my surprise, Tre wasn’t the only students stunned by the scenario as six more students yelled “yeah whats 2 times less than mean?”.  I nearly fell to the floor because I thought this was probably the easiest scenario to get them started on word problems.  I was absolutely wrong, again.  My students didn’t understand the word problem.

As shocked as I was this day, I knew I couldn’t freeze up.  So I went to the board and underlined every key word in the scenario.  One by one we unfolded the statements and turned them into numbers and variables.

Quickly, I learned that students may understand the numbers side, but turning words into numbers was a challenge.  As easy as I thought the assignment was, some of the students were hindered by the lack of literacy, therefore, simply unraveling the text to create an expression was impossible.  Going forward, I didn’t start a lesson off with a word problem until I knew that every student was able to read, understand and formulate expressions using the literacy skills and mathematic skills they had already acquired previously.  

Literacy Autobiography - The Barbershop

The Barbershop

It’s a normal Thursday afternoon.  The barbershop is full of people waiting and kids screaming.  I asked my barber how many people were ahead of me, and to no surprise I had at least an hour wait.  So I sat down next to the guy reading the newspaper and played Candy Crush.  I glanced over a couple of times while he shuffled through the pages to see what the news was, but it became a little awkward so I kept to myself.  An hour later, I was still waiting, so I walked to my barber to ask about the time again.  He said “give me about 30 more minutes and you’re next”; the typical response when you’re behind.  

Before taking my awkward seat, I notice a book piled with someone else hair.  I questioned my barber about the book and all he could say was “just read it”.  Now he’s a well educated man, and I have at least 30 minutes left to wait, so I grabbed it and took a seat.

“From N_____ To Gods” the title read, so I know I was probably trotting down the wrong.  I read the first chapter of a glorifying, truthful and down right uplifting book that extended my wait time from 30 minutes to an hour to 30 more minutes!  I was wrong about this whole reading thing.  This book kept me away from the barbers chair for nearly 2 hours!

This “book” kept me in my seat!  This “book” changed my assumption of reading.  Whats so significant is that when I was younger, I would always assumed that when people were reading the newspaper, they were good “readers”.  Because I never really did that, then I also assumed I was on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Or when people were sitting down at parks, they loved to read and were clearly better readers than me.  I’ve always been intimidated by a “book” or more so by a person with a book in their hand.  I felt their knowledge, literacy or intellect was way higher or better than mine.

What I learned from this was to not be afraid to just read something.  I didn’t have to read a newspaper, or walk around with a book in my hand to be knowledgable or sharpen my literacy skills.  All I had to do was pick up a book, more importantly, pick up a book in my spare time!  What I want my grade level students to learn is that picking up something to read, is better than not reading at all.  Whether you’re reading the newspaper, CNN updates, researching your favorite sports team, all of it is reading.

Literacy Autobiography - Mrs. Peele

Mrs. Peele 

I remember it like it was yesterday.  Sitting in Mrs. Peele’s English class was one of the best high school experiences ever.  She was my mother’s English teacher, so I just knew this would be a breeze for me.  I was always excited sitting class with the students who carried a book with them wherever they walked.  This was all until I realized, I really hate reading!  Not hate too much, but enough to have never, ever voluntarily read an entire book from cover to cover.  But, anything for Mrs. Peele.

She assigned us to read A Child Called It; and ofcourse, plenty of chapter or section questions came along with it.  Dreading the day I’d have to read a book, on my own, at home, after basketball practice and before dinner.  So, like the good student I am, I grabbed the book and took it home.  I remember laying on my bed, just about to skim through a couple of pages to answer the questions, when I read some words that caught my attention.  

Here I am laying on the bed, comforter wrapped around me, crying and reading a book about a kid who was tortured everyday by his alcoholic mother.  She allowed her son to sleep in the basement, with scraps to eat for dinner and old clothes to wear to school.  “It” caught my attention.  I was finished with the entire book before 2 days later. 

I will never forget the way this book made me feel; and for that reason alone, this was my favorite book.  This moment, as sad as it was at times, opened my eyes to reading an actual book, cover to cover.  It grasped my attention so quick that I couldn’t let it go.

The reason I was able to finish so quickly is because it was something I was interested in, not because it was a grade.  I read it because it caught my attention and kept it.  This is what I have to do as a teacher of math, and literacy.  In math, I have to relate the skills they need to learn to something that interests them.  If I want to excel them in literacy, I have to give them something that will get, and keep their attention. 

Literacy Autobiography - “Ms. Taylor, this is Math class, not English”, said Davis.

“Ms. Taylor, this is Math class, not English”, said Davis.

Davis, a taller and bigger than usual football player sat in my Math 3 class every day, and complained nearly every day.  “Ms. Taylor, this is Math class, not English”, said Davis.  This is the response I would get every Wednesday during a class event we call “Writing Wednesday”.  Writing Wednesday is an opportunity to present a topic to the students, whether content related or not, and allow them to write about it.  I would always read their writings, and reply.  

Not only was he against reading, but Math wasn’t his favorite subject.  I would turn to him and say “the purpose of the assignment is to collaborate different content areas; plus, you need to know how to read and write to know Math.  Although you may think otherwise, I care about what you think and feel; and that’s what you’re telling me in your assignment”.  He would listen and do the assignment, but still hated it.  As long, drawn out and serious as my response may have been, I still didn’t get through to Davis.    

As a beginning teacher, I knew I would plan some things, and kids would immediately shoot it down!  That’s almost a given.  But I wouldn’t let his outbursts or negativity towards writing hinder me from given the assignment.  I vividly remember a Wednesday in October where I had cancelled the Writing Wednesday assignment to do review for an upcoming exam.  Not surprisingly, the students were excited, not for the review, but because they didn’t have to do a writing assignment.  

As the class was coming to an end, Davis came to my desk and handed me a folded paper.  Judging by his posture, he was either upset or sad.  I opened the folded paper, and read the title, Free Write.  Davis had just lost a family member due to gang violence.  Unfortunately, it was someone he was really close to, and didn’t know how to respond to the hurt he felt.

I didn’t know how important Writing Wednesday was until I didn’t extend the opportunity.  When I responded to Davis writing, I nearly cried because he was the kid that hated the assignment but still did it when it wasn’t assigned.  Davis writing ended with “let me know what you think” because he knew I would respond, creating a dialogue between two people that could trust each other.  At this moment, I realized how important literacy was. 

About Me

Howdy folks!

Welcome to my BlogSpot.  I'm Lavasia T. and I am enrolled in the Masters in Education - Secondary Mathematics program!

A little about myself.  I'm from a small town in eastern NC called Robersonville.  While in high school, I enlisted in the North Carolina National Guard; I'm currently in drilling status.  Since I've enlisted, I've deployed once, Iraq in 2009-2010.

On a less frighten note, I graduated undergrad at North Carolina A&T State University with a B.S. in Economics in May 2013!  Aggie Pride!

Right now, I teach Math 1 and Math 3 at T W Andrews in High Point, NC (Red Raider Nation).  So Ill have grades 9-12.  I'm going into my second year, and yes, I'm still nervous.

I love to shop (for shoes of course), have fun with my family, travel, hike (just kidding), and travel...and shop!!!  Oh yeah, I love love love seafood and ice cream :)