Final Semester Post

I am more excited now than I ever have been about teaching my students literacy in the social studies. Literacy in social studies is about learning how to question, how to research, and how to develop arguments. Through using diverse texts in my classroom, I am not only teaching my students to look at things differently, but I am honoring the diversity of learners in my classroom. I will encourage my students to discover and formulate new knowledge through the assignments in reading, writing, and speaking I will require of them. I am excited to be teaching at a time in the world's history where information is so readily accessible. I am excited by the opportunity to have my own ideas change as I continue to question my own knowledge. Using every chance that I get to make the students in my classes feel valued through literacy is really important to me. I want my students to take the risk of writing! I want my students to know that people listen when they speak and because of that, they should know how to speak well. My synthesis of my Language, Literacy, and Learning in the Content Areas course is brief, but essentially and critically changes the way I approach my pedagogy as a social studies teacher. When my students and myself learn more deeply because of the way I integrate literacy in the classroom, we all benefit.

Practicing Teaching Analysis

The teachers that I have observed this semester did not do as great of a job at supporting English Language Learners as I would like to in my own classroom. I saw opportunities for vocabulary instruction, but it was minimal in execution. However, over the course of my experience in the secondary education program, I have seen teachers that do a good job of supporting ELL students and use every opportunity they see for vocabulary instruction. I think it depends on how important the teacher feels that vocabulary instruction is. The teachers I saw that were better at it were middle school teachers. In middle school, everyone is learning vocabulary, not just ELL students. In high school, teachers sometimes assume that their students have the same vocabulary they do (which is not true 9 times out of 10 even for non-ELL students). In my teaching career, I would make sure that even if I am teaching seniors in high school that I am incorporating some sort of vocabulary instruction.

Critical Literacy

Critical literacy is the ability not only to read something and understand it, but it is the ability to read something and question its value, find answers, and make connections. If students don't have the language skills necessary for critical literacy, however, it can sometimes be challenging to get on that thinking plane. The beauty of the situation, however, is that there are millions of texts that can be drawn from. Millions of texts that don't necessarily require a college-educated parent teaching you their vocabulary. Please do not get me wrong. I am in no way saying that because we have these texts that we can just forget about teaching students vocabulary and language skills. But what I am saying is that if I can use critical literacy in the classroom myself, then I may be able to close the gap if only a little between the critically literate students and the functionally literate students through the use of multiple texts. Having an understanding of how critical literacy can change the classroom environment is important. In my own classroom, this means really using a variety of texts, perspectives, and opinions. It means working to the point where all of my students can say they really can interpret those various texts. It means honoring these various texts as valid sources of learning. I know that my own critical literacy (constant questioning and researching and discovering and interpreting) will change my classroom, my life, and the lives of my students.

Field based interviews

The educators that I interviewed for this post are involved in three very different parts of social studies education. The first, Mrs. Croshaw, teaches 5th grade at Wilson Elementary School. The second, Mrs. Morgan, teaches US and world history at Mountain Crest High School. The third, Dr. Spencer Clark, teaches pre-service teachers how to teach social studies at Utah State University. I was equally impressed with what all three of these educators had to say in their interviews.

Both Dr. Clark and Mrs. Morgan emphasized the need for many types of texts in the social studies classroom. They reminded us that there are always going to be multiple literacies in the classroom and that we should strive to develop those in our students. Both Mrs. Morgan and Mrs. Croshaw cited lack of time as one struggle with literacy in the social studies content. Mrs. Morgan meant it in that she admonishes future teachers to be willing to take the time to assign and give assessments that really can measure literacy skills in the content. These activities do take time for students and for teachers. Mrs. Croshaw meant it more in a manner of speaking to the fact that other high-stakes tested areas of content take up the majority of the time in her classroom.

To me, the most meaningful interview was with Mrs. Croshaw. She said some things about social studies that were really good to hear from an elementary school teacher. (Elementary school teachers sometimes get a bad reputation for avoiding social studies or for not teaching it well.) Mrs. Croshaw told me that every year on the first day of school she tells her fifth-graders, "By the time you leave my class, social studies will be your favorite subject." I loved this! In 5th grade in Utah, students study US history. Mrs. Croshaw explained to me that she specifically uses the social studies to teach and reinforce literacy skills. She is using multiple texts in her classroom, teaching her students to cross-reference to check for accuracy in research, and to read deeply then discuss what they have learned. She often has her students perform short skits for each other- if you have to reenact an event, you really have to know it!

All three of the educators I interviewed are doing literacy right. I love social studies and I am passionate about the importance of literacy in social studies. These interviews made me honestly excited to begin my teaching career and I look forward to implementing methods they all suggested to me.

Text Set

This text set has been extremely valuable for me to compile and I am excited to share it with you. Similar to many of my colleagues, I feel that my content area (the social studies) lends itself so well to a huge diversity of texts. Exposing my students to texts that are not only from the past but also from our present is very important to me. Texts that allow students to realize connections that they may not have had before speak directly to my purpose for teaching. Texts that can be used to inspire students to make a change in their world are what I want to incorporate most in my teaching.

Text 1: Facebook. As a teacher of the social sciences, I find this tool for social interaction a text that my students can and do freely access. I argue that through Facebook (and other social media), we can see a change in the history of social interaction and significant social change. One lesson plan I wrote last semester pushes students to plan and implement a school-wide activity embracing diversity. What better way to engage their peers than through a Facebook event? I also think it is important to teach students how to use social media like Facebook with discretion and to their advantage. Not to their own or to others' disadvantage.

Text 2: The Grapes of Wrath: Film, 1940. This film is one that literally changed my study of US History. Now, I understand that the book is excellent, too, but I feel that students should learn how to analyze film and understand it in their world. This film has the potential to prove to young students that black and white movies aren't boring. :) The Grape of Wrath also contains so many political and social concepts that can be discussed as parts of this film are shown.

Text 3: The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation This graphic adaptation of the United States Constitution really is an example of many graphic adaptations, histories, or historical fictions. I have been exposed to several in my teaching and I think students can learn to read these adaptations well. Because of the digital literacy that many of our students are so skilled with, they quickly grasp the interplay between text and graphics. This skill is an important one to develop for students and I like the added ability I have to differentiate using such texts in the social studies.

Text 4: Grunt: Pigorian Chant from Snouto Domoinko de Silo I love this album! I heard a couple of these songs in a history class. These "Pigorian" chants are in PigLatin and are a humorous and engaging way to explain the concept of Gregorian chants in class, or can be used as background to group work during a unit of study.

Text 5: Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration I honestly think this text speaks for itself, however, I will elaborate. This video offers another humorous representation of a historical concept, which seems to be something that is trending. I like this one in particular because if my students laugh, I know they will understand the concept of the oppressed and over-taxed and under-represented colonists.

Text 6: Our Documents This government website is an excellent source for students and I love it as a text. The website contains 100 of the United States' "milestone" documents along with descriptions, background, photos of original documents, and of course transcriptions. All of the additional information provided allows students to really gain deeper understanding and frankly, can make my job of explaining documents as an educator in US history a little bit easier. I also appreciate the fact that included on the website is an explanation of why these 100 were the ones chosen.

Text 7: Number the Stars: Lois Lowry, 1989. The reason I like Number the Stars as a text is because it is written at a 4th grade reading level, but addresses advanced concepts. I also like this story because it is fiction and the author does a good job of relating the life of the character to young readers.

Text 8: The World Map- Maps are critically important in all of the social sciences, not just geography. This map shows a different perspective on the world than students in the United States usually see. I like it because not only does it force students to really know the world map (and I will always have a globe in my classroom, as that is the most accurate way to present the world map), but it forces students to question why this is so different from the world map they have seen their whole lives. What does it mean to have the United States and Europe at the "top" of the map all the time? Now, labeling this map as "upside-down" defeats the purpose, so I would have one in my class without that label, but you get the idea.

 Text 9: Political Cartoons in relation to current events- This political cartoon is an example of one that could be used as a text. When reading this cartoon, there are so many different things a student has to understand about current events, about the picture itself, and those being represented. Political cartoons are another opportunity to assess whether or not students grasp something by whether or not they laugh. The title of this cartoon is
"New Secret Service Detail."

Text 10: Driving Miss Daisy: Film, 1989. The reason why I like this film as a text is because it does not at any point say anything about the Civil Rights Movement explicitly. Students have to be able to read situations. One of the best scenes for portraying the violence that was going on in the South during the 1960s is when Hoke is driving Miss Daisy to her synagogue and traffic is all backed up. Hoke goes to investigate and discovers that the place of worship has been set aflame. 

Texts 11 and 12: The news. In this world of increasing polarization, it is so important for my students to be able to read and understand and have an opinion about the news. They need to understand political bias and motivations in the news and they also need to know how important it is to get their own news from a variety of sources and search out truth. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ and http://www.foxnews.com/ can often offer different ways of telling the same story. I hope that my students can come to appreciate why the news is so important and also learn to always question. 

Text 13: The Animaniacs: Presidents, State Capitols, and Nations of the World. Now I understand that these videos are really silly. But so will my students. These texts can help students in social studies classes- legitimately- because I can use them to engage students. Not only can I engage students, but I can ask them, "If you know these were made in the 1990s, what do you notice has changed since then?" Students should then be encouraged to notice names and borders of countries in Africa in the Nations of the World video, obviously two more presidents have been in office (and maybe 3 by the time I can use these in a class). I also want to students to continue asking questions, "What underlying messages does the Presidents video support and why?" "What countries get enunciated clearly and slowly at the beginning of the Nations of the World video and which ones get rushed through near the end? Why?"

Text 14: Dr. Suess: The Lorax, The Sneetches, and The Butter Battle Book
To me, Dr. Suess is an excellent source of texts, even and I would argue especially, for older students. These three books are a few of the ones that I find particularly meaningful for the social studies classrooms. The Lorax can be used in a sociology or economics class easily and The Sneetches can be used in a US history class during a unit on the Civil Rights Movement. The Butter Battle Book offers one of the best representations I have encountered in text or in film of the Cold War and can be used in a world or US history class.

Text 15: The Right Stuff: Film, 1983. This movie is a long one, so I would only be using pieces of it in the classroom. The history of the start of the NASA space program is outlined in this film and there are great vignettes of Lyndon B. Johnson. This is again a great Cold War text.

Text 16: Go for Broke! Film, 1951. Okay, I know there seem to be a lot of movies in my text set, but I feel that they are such excellent ways for students to learn to read their world. This movie tells the story of the U.S. 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a Japanese-American Battalion of soldiers that fought in World War II. One of the biggest issues that can be discussed as a result of this film is the racial segregation of troops. This film can also accompany a sub-unit on Japanese-American internment and relocation.

Text 17: A Rumor of War: Philip Caputo, 1977.  This book is a soldier-journalist's memoirs from the Vietnam War. Used with discretion in the classroom, I think think this book can provide a really different and interesting perspective on the war. It doesn't have all of the negative commentary that other journalists from the period give, but at the same time, doesn't glorify the war. Certainly portions of this book could be used.  

Text 18: The Jungle: Upton Sinclair, 1906.  This book is another one that would have to be used with discretion, just like any source we bring into the classroom. What this book offers is not only a snapshot of late 19th and early 20th century America for an immigrant family, but it is also a piece of history in and of itself. The book was a catalyst for change in the meatpacking industry in the 20th century and it changed the way a lot of Americans viewed big businesses. 

Text 19: "Allegory of the Cave," The Republic: Plato, c. 380 BCE. Some of you may be thinking, "Isn't Plato a little advanced for our students?" My argument is simply, no. This particular piece of philosophical work can be used to teach so many concepts. Not only can we teach what an allegory is and how we see it in literature throughout history, but we can teach about power through this text. Who holds power and why? What gives power? I read this first as a junior in high school and as a class, we drew pictures representing what was going on in the text.

Text 20: ARTstor. Many of you have possibly heard of Jstor, an online resource of scholarly journal articles. ARTstor is similarly an online resource but instead of journal articles is a vast digital image library. This is an amazing resource not only for teaching, but also for students in their study of pretty much anything in my content. Images are SO important as a text in my content. 

Text 21: American Progress: John Gast, c. 1872. One of the images that I find fascinating is this one, an American propaganda painting. This painting has so many different pieces that have to be analyzed when "reading" this text that I really appreciate not only its value as a painting but the commentary it provides on majority thought during the period.

Text 22: Topography of Faith, USATODAY interactive map, 2007. This map is an important type of a text. There are so many maps that students encounter every day, and many of them include a breakdown by state. Students need to be able to interpret data and understand what maps like this represent. As an Alaskan, however, this map doesn't sit very well with me... as a student in Alaska, I was often offended that we (and Hawai'i) just got left out because we weren't a contiguous state. So I will make sure that my students realize that there are in fact two states on this map that got left out.

Text 23: This Day in History. The reason why I like "This Day in History" as a text is because it goes through some major points in the video presentation they have each day. It also allows students to click on different things that interest them (down the left hand side of the site). They can see what happened "this day in history" in music history, automotive history, Hollywood history, etc.

Text 24: The Smithsonian Institutionion This website is an excellent text. Online exhibits like this one from the  American History Museum allow for students to explore exhibits and read (in English and in Spanish!) about different artifacts. There are so many resources just from this one website that teachers and students can use.

Text 25: American Experience is probably one of my favorite historical documentary series'. PBS does a great job of telling stories accurately and interestingly. Many of the episodes are available online and can be accessed freely. One of my favorites is called "Triangle Fire."

Text 26: The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, 1794. This book gives a distinctively different perspective on slavery. I like the fact that Equiano credits literacy as the one thing that really helped him gain success.

Text 27: Awakenings: Film, 1990. This is one text that I would use in a psychology class. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it. Awakenings encourages students to ask questions directly related to understanding psychology and the application of the field in real situations.

Text 28: Crash Course: World History. I discovered these 14 YouTube episodes recently and pretty much fell in love with them. As far as understanding world history goes, if students can grasp everything in one of the 9 to 13 minute episodes, they really have to understand the overarching themes and concepts.

Text 29: Library of Congress I know I keep saying that I love my texts, but I really do love this text because it is a million texts in one! The Library of Congress website has prints and photographs, historic newspapers, sound recordings, film clips, and so much more. This text, like several of the others I have listed, is not just for use in a social studies classroom, but can be used all across the content areas.

Text 30: "Strange Fruit" Billie Holiday, 1939. This song is one that I think is very important. If I were to use this in a class, I would make sure to have a print-out of the lyrics for my students to read along with as I play the audio.

The moral of this story: There are SO many texts to use in the social studies and they can be found everywhere. I am more excited to be a teacher and to incorporate literacy in my classroom after having compiled this text set.

Digital Literacy

I use the internet almost every day, and I think I have since my first day of college. My use of the internet is mostly for communication purposes, but I also use it fairly often for research work. Other than checking my email, paying bills, and using Facebook, I probably use the internet weekly. I also use my cell phone daily. I mostly use it for text messaging friends and family- my phone is not a smartphone so I don't always have the internet in my pocket, like my parents do (who, by the way, are 30 years my senior). I use a kindle for recreational reading and a couple of word games maybe twice a week or so. My use of technology for educational purposes occurs probably 4 times a week. My thoughts about incorporating technology and digital literacy in the classroom have changed quite a bit this semester as I have taken an instructional technology class. There are so many cool ways we as teachers can engage our students in an interactive way with technology. Not only do I have access quickly to information like current events, museums and virtual field-trips, I can create a space for my students to reflect together on the way they interpret this information. There is a possibility that I will be doing half of my student teaching placement with a virtual charter school- this is a little intimidating to me simply because I wonder if I will be able to keep up with how quickly my students will be learning and using new technologies. However, I am excited by the opportunity to get resources to my students quickly and make sure they understand concepts by corresponding with them digitally. For my students that may not be as familiar with the technologies being used in class, I will make sure to assess where they stand and scaffold that learning, just like I would with any other area of study. I view digital literacy as very similar to linguistic literacy- the level of fluency with it you attain, the more successful you can be with using and implementing it in your life. And as the language of technology is constantly being added to, we will all have continual learning to do as we add to our digital vocabularies.

Affective Dimensions of Writing

I have developed throughout my life a perception of writers as artists. I see them as glasses-wearing, hot-beverage-drinking, studious individuals. Now this notion of writers is generally creative writers. I realize as I reflect on my feelings about writing that I really don't consider essay writing art like I do with creative writing. This is interesting to reflect on when we examine the fact that the majority of the writing I have done in my adult life has been formal essays. I do write greeting cards, emails to family and professional associates, Facebook posts, and the occasional journal entry. My formal writing that has actually gone through the editing process is much higher quality work-- but that's just it. It's work. I wouldn't say that I dislike doing this kind of writing though, it just takes more time and effort. I think that as a young writer, I was given opportunities to do creative writing and poetry, but for some reason, it never really stuck. I definitely have developed a preference to express ideas in more formal writing. In the social studies, formal essay writing is important, but expression of ideas through things like historical fiction and social satirical writing is also important. I want to give my students opportunities to write casually, too. Journal entries will be fairly frequently used in my classroom and writing assignments other than essays will also be used and created. I am excited by the prospect of using so many different kinds of writing in my classes as I become a teacher.

Research Articles & Abstracts

I was excited to get into reading my articles. I chose one article (authored by Chinnery) then found another that was written by another researcher in response to her writing. I was excited to be part of that conversation and I have learned a lot about historical consciousness, historical thinking, and literacy in the content of history (one of my several content areas as I am a social studies composite major). 

Chinnery, A. (2010). “What Good Does All This Remembering Do, Anyway?” On Historical Consciousness and the Responsibility of Memory. Philosophy Of Education Yearbook, 397-405.
Historical thinking is an important skill to have in society today. Thinking historically allows us to look at situations outside of ourselves and develops a moral responsibility. The author of this article highlights the fact that there has been a shift in the way teachers and students are approaching history. Rather than one linear story of progress, the focus is now on first person narratives and other such documents as legitimate sources of knowledge. Thus, we have seen a shift in history education from an emphasis on historiography to “historical consciousness.”
She presents two interpretations of a term now popular in the field: “historical consciousness.” One of the ways this has been defined is the ability to read and analyze primary source documents, to take different historical perspectives, and understand the moral obligations we have on our present lives because of what we know about history. The second definition sees historical consciousness as a kind of debt that the present owes to the past, changing the way we think about our present. Essentially what the author breaks this down to is learning about the past versus learning from the past.
The author challenges the idea that personal testimonies are superior to other kinds of sources when studying history. She speculates that the generation of students that are so accustomed to personal testimony or hearing others’ personal accounts that personal accounts have somehow lost their power as a teaching tool. This is a big deal in the field because what kinds of sources we expose our students to can really change the way they access the content and how they build literacy in history.

Li, H. (2010). On Living and Learning in Between the Past and the Future. Philosophy Of Education Yearbook, 406-409.
The author states that Chinnery is correct to value this critical historical consciousness; however he believes that it can be gained not only in the ways she outlines in her article. The author suggests that the process of teaching students to be historical thinkers mandates that we as teachers of the subject must be aware of the politics surrounding the field of study. Because students have to learn about the past from somewhere, it has become a very political process deciding what students should and will know about the past. And not just in the classroom, more at the curriculum development level where the process is so political. The author also reminds us that students today do not all have the same culture and worldview and will therefore likely learn differently from different kinds of sources. We cannot rule out a method (i.e. using person testimonies from historical characters) just because it doesn’t seem to work for one or a group of students. He reminds us that simply learning about the past does not necessarily make students develop a moral compass about how to deal with the future. The author challenges the notion that we learn about the past only to improve our futures, but rather that we learn about the past also in order to understand our present.

Burenheide, B. (2007). I Can Do This: Revelations on Teaching WithHistorical Thinking. The History Teacher (Long Beach, Calif.), 41(1), 55-61.
Historical thinking is not the same as historical knowledge. History has traditionally been seen by students as boring and a useless subject that does not have any real bearing on their lives. This problem stems from the fact that the design of history curriculum has been so broad and has not allowed students to learn deeply. In order for deep learning to happen, and for students to learn how to think historically, teachers have to be committed to the fact that understanding, investigating, and analyzing history is a literacy skill that our students do need. Students can make the curriculum matter to them by forming opinions about it. Forming opinions is a literacy skill that is used in my field all the time. The author of this article suggests that we compare what we are having your students do to the activities that historians do. Historians don’t just read for content, they dissect documents. They write about the discoveries they make and about their opinions. They read what other historians have to say. Students can go beyond this in proving what they know, but it is a good line of thinking to start from. Historical inquiry is also part of literacy in my field. This essentially means that we are asking questions about history and finding those answers based on investigation and analysis of texts.

Most of the reading that happens in my field of the social sciences in secondary schools comes from textbooks. Textbooks can be wonderful, but to me, they should never be assigned to be read cover to cover. The most life-changing reading I have done in my discipline has been the reading of memoirs or personal accounts of historical events. If the accounts exist, it is fascinating to see multiple accounts of the same event. I am not saying that reading in my discipline has to be the most rigorous thing my students have ever done, but I am saying that difficult reading that has real meaning will be more useful to my students' learning than easy reading that has little real meaning. Historical fiction can be used very effectively in the classroom as long as teachers make sure to explain which parts of the story are the made-up parts. I hope that my enthusiasm about these primary source documents and historical reading will help my students be more excited to read and to learn. However, I am realistic and I know in my experience there have been many teachers that were excited about their field and the reading in it and I just didn't get the memo. Other ways to encourage students to read is to make sure they know how the reading relates to them. Every opportunity to make a connection from a historical character to one or all of my students will be taken.
The writing traditionally done in the social sciences is persuasive writing. For example, "Write a three page essay outlining the causes of the Civil War. Did these causes warrant a war? Argue your point." This type of writing can allow teachers to make sure students understand concepts, however, it often does not allow for historical empathy (understanding multiple perspectives about an event and understanding the places and lines of thought they were operating from). I enjoyed being in social studies classrooms growing up in which I was allowed to express my understanding of a concept or event through alternative methods such as reenactments, projects, or debates. I believe that when I employ the use of these types of assessments in my classroom, they will allow my students to learn more deeply than they would. If you have to reenact a historical event, you really have to know about it and you really have to do your research and reading.

As I reflect on my experiences as a reader, I realize that it has only been as of recently (as in, since being in the secondary education program) that I consider myself to be a good reader. My entire life I have equated being a good reader with being a fast reader. I now know that speed is not the key to reading. I really love reading historical fiction or historical nonfiction. When I'm reading historical nonfiction, and it is well-written, it seems like I can really get into the story of it all and put the book down and realize, "Hey! This isn't made up!" (Don't worry history friends, I make sure I'm reading from credible sources.) I also have thoroughly enjoyed reading general fiction books like Harry Potter, however, the books I remember loving the most from my schooling were books like Number the Stars, Johnny Tremain, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I can't really remember an entire period of time when I have disliked reading, only things I would rather have been reading than other things. Reading was something that was encouraged in my social groups and in my family culture. In fact, for a while after I got my glasses in fifth grade, I tried out the identity of "nerdy reading girl." It worked for a while, but then it just turned into "smart girl" then "college-bound girl." I do know that my brothers were not as encouraged to read as I was and I think it really has shaped part of their lives. There are things that we don't have in common now because they don't have that shared experience of reading with me.

As I consider how this influences the way I will foster literacy and a love of learning and thereby reading in my classroom, I am reminded that there are so many different kinds of texts that students can learn to read. I can provide as much time as possible for students to read in class and outside of class so they hear the message that good readers are not measured by speed or number of pages. Good readers are measured by comprehension and evaluation. And I can teach them skills to become better readers and thus better learners. This will build their own confidence as readers and I will work to reinforce the identities they shape in my classroom as good readers.

Literacy Autobiography

My first memory of learning to read didn't involve reading at all. I memorized Dr. Seuss' The Foot Book from cover to cover. It had been read to me so many times that I had figured out which words went with which pictures. My mother has always been a recreational reader and encouraged all of her children to be readers, too. When I called and asked my mother to share with me some of her memories of my learning to read and write, she said, "Well, reading just came naturally to you." I chuckled to myself because of the discussion we had recently had in class about how unnatural of a process reading is. She shared memories of taking my siblings and I to the library on a regular basis. She told me that I was blessed to not have any reading or learning disabilities and that as a young student of reading, I did very well. She credited Sesame Street and the computer game Reader Rabbit with helping in my learning to read. I remember thinking how cool my mom was when I was young because she could read so fast and because she read so much. My dad always encouraged us verbally to read, but I rarely saw him read anything other than the newspaper until I was well into my teenage years. He claims that he is a slow reader and that he isn't good at it. I consider myself a "slow reader," too, but I really do enjoy reading when it is something that I am interested in and can comprehend (with or without hard work). There is a distinct beginning to one memory I have: when we moved to Alaska, my family started a habit of reading difficult religious texts together. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that my dad's work schedule had been all graveyard shifts when we lived in Utah and when we moved to Alaska he worked more normal hours. Comprehension was not emphasized by my parents in this reading- and I don't blame them. They probably would have gotten easily discouraged and given up if they knew how little was "sticking". In my defense, I was twelve and it was at 5:40 AM (before my siblings went to school and my dad went to work). More of the content would "stick" as I grew older. My parents played an important role in my development as a literate young person. However, I definitely benefited from teachers that cared about me and about my abilities as a literate being.

As my personality as an individual developed, so did my personality as a reader and as a writer. I became the only person in my household that gained literacy in music. This new "language" that I could "speak" became a huge part of my life. All of my friends spoke this language, my first boyfriend spoke this language, and I thought I would become a teacher of music. I fell in love with this kind of literacy. In high school, I had some very challenging teachers that encouraged me to read things that I hadn't encountered before. I took a philosophy class my junior year of high school. This is where my first experience with real academic texts came into play. The language was so new and so difficult for me that I often could only read portions of the assigned reading and understood even less. But I was able to push through and ask for clarification. I didn't love this kind of reading. Little did I know at the time that I would be doing so much of this historical and philosophical reading in my college career. Once I did get into my current major, the reading required of me was more familiar. I enjoy reading and analyzing documents, books, letters, historical artwork, and anything that tells or has a story behind it. It still is not something that I would say is easy for me to do, but it is something I can do with much more confidence now than when I began as a sixteen-year-old.

My writing literacy skills developed partially independently from my reading skills. I loved writing for fun as a young student. And I loved when my teachers purposefully made writing fun. The most fun came in forms of writing poetry and creative short stories. I felt like writing was something that came easily to me. I was always complimented on my vocabulary. As my writing began to require research, it suffered. I was not taught very good research techniques and was not taught how to interpret my findings. So naturally, my writing got much better once my reading of academic texts developed. Once I understood what I was reading, I was more able to produce my thoughts in writing about those texts.

As I think about my experience with literacy and how it will effect my teaching, I am struck by the fact that as soon as I was taught the methods that worked for me and was given opportunities to practice those methods, I learned. I know that many of my students will come into my classroom not knowing how to access the type of reading I will want them to do. It will be my responsibility to teach them those methods that will help them learn. I realize that it might be a challenge for me to put myself in my students' shoes. For me, generally speaking, the first technique I was given allowed me to access the reading and writing fairly well. A lot of my students will need more than one technique. And all of my students will need to be allowed the time and space to make mistakes and learn from them as they become more literate persons. Teaching literacy skills in my classroom will be about giving my students the tools they need to dissect historical documents, to understand reports about current events, and to write about the thoughts they will have in response to those things.

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My name is Stephanie Ito. I am a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, a neighbor, a student, and a soon-to-be teacher. I love spending time with my husband and our families. I like watching game shows like The Price is Right or shows on the Food Network when I have the time. I like cooking and I like to try out the things I learn from Iron Chef and Chopped on dinners for my husband. He is sweet even when it turns out poorly. I love to do laundry- in fact, it's not even a chore to me. I used to do all the laundry for my family of six starting when I was probably 12 or 13- all by choice. I don't have all that many inhibitions socially. Sometimes I make a fool of myself, but I usually get over it pretty quickly. It bothers me when people don't say "hello" back to me or respond when I make a joke while standing in line at the grocery store. So in this blog setting, it may be a process for me to learn to be really authentic when I am most true to my personality in direct personal interactions.

I love the fact that my chosen field of study, the social sciences, allow me to study the connections people make. We make connections across time (history), across space (geography), through trade (economics), through politics (government), and through and across social groups (sociology). The way we perceive these connections relate to our world view and our own personal stories and situations (psychology). I want to be a social studies teacher in order to show to my students these connections which allow them to interpret and analyze the world they live in.