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A New English Teachers Literacy Narrative Like a host of other writers and English teachers, I cannot seem to recall

the specific moment in which my love of reading and writing was born. my moms love of La!ra Ingalls hat I do remember, however, is

ilders Little House series "which I read more than once#,

Nancy $rew, and the %ardy &oys' my grade school days of competing for (i))a %!ts &**+ IT, program' my co!ntless visits to the p!blic library' my sitting in o!r old sycamore tree reading and writing poetry' and my second-grade teacher, .rs. Lancaster, complimenting my story /*h, No, 0!dolphs Nose is 1reen2 as one that reminded her of a Golden Books story. ith s!ch a childhood filled with many special memories of reading and writing, it is s!rprising to me that !nlike those children of middle-class homes, I cannot remember my working-class mother ever reading to me or her reading at all, as she stated that reading gave her headaches. 0egardless of my growing !p in a working-class home with parents who rarely read anything b!t the newspaper, my mothers desire for my own emancipation became evident as she drove me to the p!blic library, spoke of those stories that interested her as a girl, and listened to my re-telling of the stories I had read. .y mothers drive for my enhanced literacy, co!pled with many of my p!blic school teachers enco!raging words of my writing, have all shaped my literacy narrative, yet there is one incident in partic!lar in which my own drive for my literacy finally became evident to me. After watching the 3456 movie adaptation of .arsha Normans (!lit)er (ri)e winning play night, Mother starring 7issy 7pacek, I was s!ddenly inspired to start writing my first /novel.2 At nine years old, I spent an entire afternoon crafting my characters, determining their dialog!e, and creating the plot of my story. $issatisfied that I was !nable to finish my tale

before my bedtime, I remember awaking in the middle of the night, reaching for the sheets of paper containing my prose, and finishing my story Good Night, Lindsey. .y eagerness to become a writer and the f!ry in which I composed this story has forever remained a delightf!l memory. .y inability to sleep witho!t my finishing my tale was my first revelation that writing was one of my passions. I remember how pro!d I was of this great accomplishment, so I co!ld hardly wait for my mother to read my eight-page tale. This moment marked the beginning of many writing e8periences. I wo!ld later write poems that were p!blished in poetry anthologies and win awards for many of my academic essays. Altho!gh not all of my writing was well-received, my love for writing co!ld not be bottled. As I progressed thro!gh middle and high school, I contin!ed to read literat!re, write short stories, and enroll in honors English classes, and event!ally grad!ate with a &.A. in English Ed!cation. 7!rro!nded by a great appreciation for literacy, I never reali)ed my love for writing was a !ni9!e one. The disc!ssions held in my !ndergrad!ate pedagogy co!rses revolved aro!nd eager st!dents whose lives wo!ld be changed by o!r innovative teaching techni9!es, integration of technology into the classroom, and the !se of ro!nd robins to disc!ss o!r literat!re and poetry readings. These magnificent visions paraded in my head as I prepared for my first day as a high school English teacher of :!niors and seniors. ith a bright smile and eager attit!de, I strolled

into class and began teaching my st!dents with the same enth!siasm I attached to writing since the penning of my first novel. .y fervor was met with great apprehension, disdain even. .y st!dents were not eager to learn abo!t ;ames <enimore =oopers Leather Stocking Tales or Edgar Allen (oes /The 0aven.2 Their enth!siasm for writing abo!t these literary pieces was far from appealing' I was cr!shed. I had spent my entire childhood and ad!lthood immersed in the literary dance of >

reading and writing. I had anticipated sharing these profo!nd e8periences with my own st!dents. ?et, my st!dents bro!ght only a love to see my class end, so they co!ld go on to the ne8t class of the day. .ost of these working-class st!dents had other obligations and other interests that transcended their English teachers concentration. 7ome of my st!dents wanted to write well, b!t were ashamed of their writing skills. *thers knew eno!gh to /:!st get by2 and did not want to learn anything more. This passion for literacy that enco!raged me to write my story Good Night, Lindsey was a passion that I had failed to consider wo!ld be shared only by me. .y own e8periences co!ld not change those of my st!dents. This moment was tr!ly a defining one for me. *nce I reali)ed that my st!dents might not be arriving to the classroom with the same :oy I approached my own writing e8periences, I knew I had to reconsider my approach to the teaching of writing. The first reconsideration involved my creation of the learning environment in which my st!dents wo!ld participate. Armed with this newfo!nd knowledge that my st!dents wo!ld not be as eager as myself, I now begin every semester with the 9!estion, / ith a show of hands, how many of yo! love writing@2 I ask this with an I-know-this-is-going-to-be-a-low-n!mber-grin, and I have not been proven wrong yet. As!ally one or two hands wave in the air. I la!gh and remark / hat@, 0eally@,2 .y imaginary astonishment elicits la!ghter from the rest of the class and leads me to disc!ss my story of when I knew writing was in my blood. .y st!dents seem immediately interested in hearing abo!t my desire to be an a!thor at the age of nine, th!s helping to establish my credibility as their writing teacher. .ore importantly, however, I !se this story to seg!e into my narrative of teaching my first :!niorBsenior English class. .y st!dents la!gh again beca!se many of them seem to relate to my high school st!dents. Then, I e8plain that I embarked !pon 6

this teaching career beca!se I have a great passion for writing and the teaching of writing, b!t I do not e8pect them to have the same passion. A s!dden sigh seems to emerge as my st!dents reali)e that this writing teacher is one who !nderstands their writing fears, th!s the disdain that my high school st!dents e8hibited is rarely seen in my c!rrent classes. In addition to my showing my classes that I do not e8pect them to all be lovers of writing, I try to enco!rage my st!dents by asking them to share their strengths and those items in which they are passionate. I !se their proclaimed strengths to remind my st!dents that altho!gh they may discover many areas of opport!nity to improve their writing, they cannot forget that their val!e is not dictated by their ability to write an essay. 0ather, I e8pect my st!dents to see the val!e of literacy in o!r society, and I hope they will attempt to strengthen their own literacy skills. As well as creating a comfortable writing climate, I have also learned to be more accepting of my st!dents work and ideas. I know that my basic writing st!dents may not withstand the harsh feedback they may have received before entering my classroom. +nowing how diffic!lt it can be to receive criticism of ones ideas, I have taken great effort to enco!rage my st!dents in all of their ideas. Also, I do not approach writing with a red pen, most teachers weapon to mark !p their st!dents writing and wo!nd their morale, and a readiness to find every error the st!dent may make. Instead, I try to look for those strengths in my st!dents writing and frame the constr!ctive feedback with those positive ones. .y e8periences writing as a child and teaching my first English classes, helped shape my teaching in many ways. In order to create the classroom that is cond!cive to learning and thinking, I always begin my class detailing my e8pectations, which are not that my st!dents arrive to my classroom with a great passion for writing. This conversation lends itself to C

dispelling many fears in which my st!dents arrive. In addition, I follow !p with positive, constr!ctive comments regarding their tho!ghts and ideas, th!s creating a classroom that many of my st!dents have eval!ated as a tr!ly worthwhile e8perience.

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