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Victoria Gutierrez

Professor Cordova

English 116B

30 April 2018

My Personal Literacy Experience

Reading to each other played a huge role within my family. Growing up, I was blessed

with having educators in both sides of the family. My mother and her two younger sisters are

teachers and one is now an Administrator. They always made an emphasis on always putting

school first and to never give up. Although it all seemed to lead back to reading and its huge

impact towards education. My mother has been teaching second grade for 28 years now for

Manteca Unified. She puts a lot of time and dedication towards her student’s success and

preparing them for the third grade. Reflecting back most of my childhood memories are in her

classroom. I would volunteer to go with her and help her prepare any activities she needed for

the next class. Although most of the time, I would pretend that I was a teacher and stand by the

white board as I read to twenty empty desks and of course my mother. As a child, I always had

my mind and heart set towards becoming an elementary school teacher.

Throughout my childhood and elementary school years, my parents enrolled me in

several reading and writing workshops in order to overcome my academic challenges in writing

composition and reading. My parents knew the importance of reading at a young age; therefore,

they purchased literature packages for my siblings and I to always stay busy, even during the

summer. This included a hard cover book, activities that went along with the reading, and a

workbook. It was sent in the mail to us and was something we looked forward to receiving every

month. An experience that impacted me the most was the program “Great Valley Writing
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Project with Technology and Writing Workshops”. My parents enrolled me in this particular

program to practice and improve my reading and writing skills. In addition, I was also learning

new concepts that would help prepare me to be reading at grade level. This program taught me

writing, reading, and communication skills. The skills and qualities I learned at this workshop

were important for me, as I acquired writing strategies and the confidence to become a better

reader and writer.

As I got to high school, I loved having a sense of accomplishment after finishing a book,

it only made me eager to begin another novel. Being a freshman in high school, several of the

required readings were challenging however I knew I was capable towards overcoming the

complexity of the text. In my english courses, we would have a class set of novels, which we

read as a class. For example the vocabulary within the text of, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by

Harper Lee was difficult to comprehend. To help me understand, my teacher would incorporate a

class discussion after the reading session. During these class discussions she would have us pair

up with a classmate and discuss questions we had regarding the text to get different perspectives

of the book. These peer discussions contributed to my understanding of complex vocabulary in

my textbooks.

All throughout my schooling I have developed skills that are beneficial to daily life

situations in and outside the classroom. As I pursue my career goal as an elementary school

teacher, I am aware that it is very important to read to children at a young age, which will even

allow them to expand their imagination. Reading to children and letting them read out loud will

enhance their learning methods. I also have a passion for helping others. I want to make a

difference in the student’s lives that I have the opportunity to be a part of. I do not believe

handing a book to a student and expecting them to read, understand, and apply such concepts is
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the way they are going to learn. Learning new concepts takes time, motivation, and patience

especially for those individuals who have a difficult time understanding and focusing in class.

Also there can be students that are very negative towards the material or simply do not

understand that will require more time to work with these students. Therefore, I would like to

provide and be an assistance to such students because I was in that position. I will encourage my

students to try reading different books they are interested in and let them know it is okay not to

understand the first time. I would have students get in pairs to give them the opportunity to ask

questions and share their thoughts on what they read. This opportunity will help me see which

students need extra help in reading comprehension and which are proficient. I will apply my

personal literacy and writing experiences to my lessons. My goal is to help students to the best of

my ability and improve their skills so that they can be prepared to advance to a higher education

and succeed in their academic careers and personal lives.

Considering my educational experiences in a classroom, reading to children plays a

significant role in a students’ education. Developing consistent reading habits will help improve

their communication and writing skills. To practice, I read to my younger cousins because they

are eager to learn. One of my personal favorite children’s book that I read to them is, Where The

Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. As I read to them, I can determine that they are enjoying

and appreciating the book. You can tell they are entertained by the book evident by their wide

eyed facial expressions. They enjoy playing the role of the main character Max. I see they

understand his role as they march around the room and let their imagination soar.

I am grateful for my parents because they are my main supporters and have motivated me

to always do my best. I graduated from high school with honors and I have received my AA in

Interdisciplinary Studies: Teacher Education Preparation from San Joaquin Delta College. After
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fulfilling these accomplishments I have dedicated myself to work hard everyday to accomplish

my future goals in becoming a teacher. Over the years I have developed several study,

organizational skills, and traits that I have applied throughout my major in Liberal Studies here at

Sacramento State University. I have learned that academic literacy is a necessary trait to classify

and understand a range of different vocabulary terms through verbal communication or written in

context. I want to be able to help students to the best of my ability and improve their skills, so

they become successful individuals and life long learners.