A New Introduction

How would you describe the best reading experiences you could possibly have? The best reading experiences for me have always been reading to my daughter and nieces. When they were babies, they would just sit there and listen as I read them stories and changed my voice for different characters. They would smile and look intently at the pages of the books as if they were characters in the story themselves. They would smile and clap and try to mimic the noises as they listened. Late evening stories at bed time would be awesome. They would fall to sleep as I would read the stories and it always melted my heart. The joy I experienced while reading those sweet babies’ stories even make me smile now. They are growing up so fast, but they still find a book and ask me to read to them.  How would you describe your very best writing experiences? My best writing experiences happened when I was able to write on a topic that was important to me. It pulled a lot of emotion and allowed me...

Describing myself in one word… SUPPORT That’s who I am and that is what I do. I actually didn’t chose this word. It was revealed to me. It represents who I am. I am a lot of things to a lot of people. I am a wife, mother, worship leader, sister, daughter, aunt, cousin, granddaughter, daughter in law, god mother, friend, niece, and educator… just to name a few! But, in all these titles, I have found one common thread. Support! I am constantly providing support to everyone.  If support were an acronym for me, it would be S -Shape - I shape the external form, appearance and characteristics of others U -Unmask - I expose true potential that is hidden P -Provide - I make connections for resources available to those in need P -Produce - I yield results; making what seems impossible come into existence O -Observe - I am watchful, paying careful attention to those closest to me R -Reform - I assist those around me in redirecting with the intention of setting the...

My slice of life came the other day when I had the idea to implement something I had heard discussed in one of my classes. My peer, in a brief description, referenced an article she had read about students with reading difficulties reading to dogs and how their scores went up tremendously. She shared that the children had found it easy to read to the dogs because they were nonjudgmental, and they listened and didn’t interrupt them to correct their mispronunciations and so on.  Well, I thought that would be a great idea to try at home to get my daughter to read more. Epic Fail!!! While my daughter tried with all her might to get the pooch to listen, he was not having it. The more she read, the more he barked! He ran around the kennel and would not get quiet for one second!!! She was so furious. She stormed out of the room and said "I can’t do this with him! I’ll just have to read to my dolls." Now, why didn’t I think of that?!?!?!!!

My secondary literacy years were not very exciting. I remember in 7 th grade, my ELA teacher was not very interested in teaching. I recall her saying she just wanted a job until she passed the Bar Exam. She never put anything on the walls of the classroom. It was a cold room. Blank walls, desk and chairs. No color at all. She never showed an interest in the class or the subject. I remember reading Lord of the Flies and thinking, I do not understand anything in this book. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but I was intrigued. The story itself was good, but I did not understand the premise. The author’s intent was never explained to me. When I asked questions for a better understanding, she insisted that I was “stupid” and continued other hurtful comments. She even suggested that I should be placed in special education class down the hall because I lacked the intelligence needed for her class. Well, this experience put me I a bad head space. It caused me to doubt my abilities and to ...