READING…

I can remember when I remember reading, it was more so recognition.  When I was really young (around 2), I remember my mother asking me to come to where she was reading the newspaper and I would see images that I recognized.  I knew what the logo/branding was for places I had been or places I loved to go.  I was always observant as a child so I made sure that wherever I went, I paid attention to little nuances that made that place unique.

My mother would ask me “what is this?” or “what does this say?”  I would then respond, “McDonalds” or “Park-N-Shop” (which was a grocery store that we frequented when I was younger).  This was a time when ads would appear in the newspaper – not as separate circulars or anything like that.  I had learned my letters at that point and my recognition also became more about memorization of sequences of letters.  I knew what “Park” looked like in the “Park-N-Shop” logo due to its recognition, so when I saw P-A-R-K together in anything else, I could identify it as the word “park.”

I can’t say I remember the title of the first book I read on my own, but I do remember that it was a book/tape combination.  It was a blue book that had a plastic protective covering around it and on the back was a small, plastic case where a yellow audio cassette tape went.  I could put the tape in my mother’s handheld tape recording and play it while I followed along in the book.  This advanced my recognition and memorization skills.  This has led me to think that is reading actual identification of words and sounds or it is more recognition and memorization of characters?

I can remember reading “Little Golden Books.” These were small, thinly bound books with gold adhesive binding on them and they featured stories such as “The Poky Little Puppy” and other Walt Disney based ones.

I used to have a collection of those on a bookshelf that held the TV at my grandmother’s house.  I always remember seeing that train on the back of the book that featured characters I was familiar with who also had various little golden book stories about them – many of them I owned.

I would go to the library periodically with my mom, but nothing was greater to me than just reading at home.  I did not particularly like going to the library because it was so overwhelming to me.  You had to be quiet and I was a child who liked to talk to himself.  I also cannot remember being read to as a child, but I do remember being told stories.  These stories were not fiction stories, but were stories about my family and friends of the family that I could turn into my own stories.  My imagination was pretty vivid.

WRITING…

As far as writing goes, I cannot remember my first encounters with writing as much.  I do remember when I was in school, approximately the 3^rd grade, when I learned how to write in cursive, my class used to practice on the landscape, grayish lined paper with the pink line at the top and the mixture of dotted and solid lines.  We also used to write with the FAT number 2 pencils (which were great for pencil fighting might I add).

As for writing at home, I do not do much writing at home now because I have do so much reading and writing at work.  Home has become a place for me to collect my thoughts and just relax.  I have found that I am not productive when I am at home – unless I am doing some light grading.

I have never kept a journal or a diary.  There are times where when I feel a little bogged down or “stressed” that I will write some of my thoughts down just to keep my sanity.  Sometimes those thoughts include “to do lists” (which I love), places I would like to visit with the year, and how I am currently feeling at the time.  Writing is an important part of my life, but I tend to keep most of my writings internal until I have to let them out.