HI! My name is Anahi Flores and this is my second year at NJCU. I got my associate degree at HCCC and now I am going for my bachelor's. My major is elementary/secondary education (pre-k to 6th grade) and my minor is psychology. I am not sure what I want to be either a teacher or a counselor. But my overall goal is to graduate with my bachelor for education. I enjoy working with kids from different ages and seeing them how they develop and grow. On the left side is a picture of me, i recently dye my hair dark brown so I might look different now. On the right side is a picture of my boys. The oldest is 6 years old and the youngest is turning 4 soon. So I am a full time mom, full time student and I have a full time job so I barely have free time for myself. But when I do have, I usually rest. I enjoy going out with my kids, to Walmart or Target runs or just go to the park or get ice-cream, just spending time with my kids. I am excited to learn new things in this class and how this information could help me in the future.
Books wasn't my biggest hobby when I was young. I barely read books. The only time I read books was at school with the teacher in the classroom but at home, literacy wasn't encouraged as much. Both my parents speak Spanish and while growing up they didn't understand English at all. They both couldn't help me with homework or read the story the teacher will send for homework. When I started Kindergarten, I was put in a bilingual class but I remember the teacher spoke more Spanish than English. Entering the 4th grade, the school decided to switch me in a all-English class and I remember it was a hard year because I had to learn new words, read and understand the lesson of the day. But the teacher will have a one-on-one with me on her free time. I felt more discouraged when I was learning to read because I struggle to pronounce the words and I felt embarrassed to read aloud in the classroom. I felt as if the students were laughing at me or looking at me funny because I am reading slow and couldn't pronounce the words right. I did try to read growing up but I would get frustrated when I couldn't sound out the words so I would skip to the words and continue reading. If I read more growing up, I feel like I would have improved my vocabulary much better.
I began to feel literate when I was in 5th grade. Unfortunately, I had to repeat the 4th grade because of my grades but I felt that my English language develop entering the 5th grade. Although I felt embarrassed reading out loud but I found it very helpful or getting into groups to read and take turns. I had a friend who helped me read and pronounce the words I couldn't because she notice that I will get upset with my self. I do appreciated my teachers from elementary school because they will first read the book with me individual and then when I go home, I will reread it by myself. Interacting with other kids also help me learn new words. Now, I enjoy reading books but I wouldn't say its my hobby, but I encourage myself to improve my literacy. One way I continue using literacy is trying to read at nights when I have time , I usually look at articles, events in the news before I go to sleep. Another way is writing on my notebook about my day, or how I was feeling.
I feel like literacy is very important for young children because it helps them learn how to read or write and not struggle as much as I did. We need literacy in order to engage with the written words in everyday life.
