Literacy History

  

      Hi everyone! I am Jennifer Aguilar but you can call me Jenn. I am in my junior year in NJCU majoring in Mathematics Secondary Education. I took this class for a variety of reasons but the most important reason I chose LTED 305-1457 is that I want to be informed about the evolution of public education in the United States. I also want to learn other people's views on evolution and their debate to reflect on a personal and political point so I can advance my knowledge.  I want to harness and improve my research and critical analysis skills for my future career. You may be wondering “Jenn shouldn’t you have these skills already? Is it really necessary to know about the evolution of public education if you are just a math major?” My answer to those questions is that we as educators have to understand the environment outside and inside because that all ties into the education of our students. 

        The first I remember ever picking a book or saying my first word was in kindergarten. I remember this book I chose from the school mini library The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Kindergarten, as I remember, was like my loving home and the people I was surrounded by were like my family. I believe the first teacher who made me love education and books for the first time was Mrs. Rivera. Funny right? How can I remember her name after 21 years but it's because she made an impact in my life that I will always be eternally grateful. In kindergarten we also had to learn how to sing My Little Sunshine, it was the showcase for the end of the year. Every class had different colors of the rainbow and our class wore the color orange. I remember because I was jealous of the team after us, they were yellow. I think learning how to speak and read made me love animals, music, colors but most of all the bond I had with my teacher Mrs. Rivera.

Being literate or loving literature wasn’t very easy for me when I started elementary. I struggled with speaking for a while, the subject I hated for that reason was my English classes. I don’t know why and till this day I still don't understand how I struggled so much even now while writing this blog I feel I don't seem to make sense. Funny, right? Probably as I grew older I started to understand more things or my environment a bit more. I started to pick up the conversations at home but it wasn’t English. My parents spoke Spanish at home because dad came from Honduras and my mom from Ecuador and being in the USA for a few years they really couldn't speak English. My first language was Spanish and I believe that after elementary I was confused with the English language. I believe that is why I was slower than most kids and couldn’t learn the easy words that everyone else knew so it was harder for me to read, write and talk. 

Emerson Middle School

    I had to receive speech therapy in the first year of my elementary school, Robert Waters School. The challenges I faced was when my parents couldn't help me with my English homework so I had to read everything 3 or more times till I was able to understand the question that I was asked by the teacher or my homework. After the years went by I still struggled but I found some interest in literature starting from seventh grade. I realized I had a talent and passion for poems. I love writing my own poems and reading them. My teacher Ms. Simone wasn’t a role model for me but she was the first teacher who introduced poems to me that made me want to write my own stories. Then eight grade I found passion in reading specific genre books like mythology or young adult novels. After a while I found my love for graphic novels because it was particularly hard for me to picture the image and then focus on the main ideas of the book which really made me bored reading a regular book. 

Union City High school

        Even though I found a bit of enjoyment in literature I still struggle with the critical analysis part of it. In highschool I met some strict literature teachers. Their name is Ms. Dejesus and Mrs. Hernandez. Ms. DeJesus would make up a summary for each chapter we read in the book, keynotes, main ideas, questions and vocabulary. I really enjoy the activities we did like presentations on short stories or projects that involved us to write about topics we enjoyed. Later in the picture Mrs. Hernandez was my honors literature teacher and she constantly challenged us with questions and symbolism. I feel scared remembering those days but also a huge satisfaction because after passing through those classes my English really improved. Right now I still feel unsure about my literacy skills but I do love challenges. I know that every class I take or the conversations I have in my outside life will develop my literate skills. In my spare time I read and write and improve little by little.

Let's have a great semester and continue to grow our literature!

1st  through 3rd

 

4th  through 6th

My family