Lizabeth Anne Downing's Page

My favorite memories of reading when I was much younger were when my mother would read to my brother and I just before we went to bed. She would tuck us in our little beds with our stuffed animals and then she would read until we fell asleep. When we were younger she would read an entire children’s’ book and as we got older kept it to only a chapter or two. We went from Uncle Peter’s Russian Fairy Tales to Franklin W. Dixon’s “The Hardy Boys”, the Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis, John Christophers Tripods Trilogy, Anne of Green Gables Series by Lucy M. Montgomery and finished with Roots by Alex Haley when I was in 5th grade. Nighttime reading became common place for many years in our household and created shared experience for the three of us to discuss the books at the dinner table. I absolutely loved the Tripod Trilogy series because it was seeing a world that “might be” from the world that was no more. Anne of Green Gables is among my personal favorites because of the rich poetic and lyrical feel in the way that it was written as well as the depth of emotion and life that Montgomery is able to capture within the novel. Falling asleep to hundreds of stories, safe and warm provided ample motivation to read myself

My second favorite memory of reading was in second grade when we got to write and publish our own books in DEAR time: Drop Everything And Read. This is where I really fell in love with reading and writing and really began to own the process for myself. It never occurred to me before this time that I could be an author myself! I loved group times where our teacher would have us sit on this colorful rug and read aloud and show us the pictures and then going and creating our own. It was marvelous! My teacher and my parents gave me the understanding that the opportunities to read, write and create were limitless and I am incredibly grateful to them for this gift.

I think my third favorite memory is a collaboration of the many times I curled up in a big chair to read through the American Girl series as well as peeling through the Baby Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin. Pizza Hut’s Book It! Program also kept my motivation! I can say that I have learned that I am a thoughtful reader whom always tries to glean understandings and wisdom about the life I live from the books I read. I see them as insight and revelation for my life more than entertainment.

My love of reading has carried into my adult life to some extent. I wish I could say that I was a ample reader now but the only books that I seem to be reading is textbooks from Lipscomb or the Bible. It seems as though there is never enough time to read as the demands of living as an adult in the 21st century do not allow for it.

My personal literacy experience as a youngster will come in very handy when I become a full time teacher. Not only will I have a mental list of books that I know that my students will love, I can also align books I have read that I know will fit well into lesson plans or insert them into thematic units that I will plan throughout the year.