Blog Post #2: My Literacy Experiences in Junior High School and High School

It just so happens that I went to two different junior high schools, and two different high schools, and it was a long time ago!   How in the world can I remember that far back?  It's pretty blurry and vague, to say the least.

So, after a bit of pacing around and getting myself calmed down, some memories started to come back.  And, I'm going to first take the liberty of sharing some experiences I recall from my elementary school years.

I was a voracious reader.  I devoured young reader books like The Hardy Boys and The Happy Hollisters.  I warned you I was going way back! I would often read these books over and over, and I even recall challenging myself to read three of The Happy Hollister books in one day, which I did.  I'm sure there were others, although I know I didn't read any Nancy Drew.

Another one I couldn't put down was the World Book Encyclopedia set my parents had. There was a different volume for every letter of the alphabet, but the letter 'C' had two volumes, and the letters 'U' and 'V' and the letters 'X', 'Y', and 'Z' were combined into their own volumes.  These facts may not be interesting to anyone else besides me, but since I'm on a roll I think I remember actual photos from those books, too.

And I could spell!  I almost got to represent my grade in a spelling bee, but blanked on the word "hotel."  I spelled it "hotol."  I recall actually being more than a bit relieved.

But things change as kids get older, and in our family that meant periodic job transfers for my father.  We relocated to another state in the middle of 7th grade, and to be candid my adolescent years were pretty awkward.  I can remember vividly what the school looked like, as well as the feeling of loneliness and not wanting to attract attention.  To this day I feel as if my "radar" is tuned to these kinds of kids.

Interestingly, I recall reading Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in the seventh grade.  I liked it, and I liked acting out the parts in class.  I like going to the theater.  I encourage my own kids to participate in theater at their schools, too.

In high school we relocated once again, sigh, this time in the spring of my sophomore year.  I remember a few of my high school teachers, including one English teacher in particular, a small, soft-spoken older woman that taught junior year Honors English.   This class was always quiet and, to me, intimidating.  I didn't feel as if I could keep up with the rest of the class, and I wince when I recall class exercises when we would as a class critique each other's writing.  It seemed like death by a thousand cuts, and it was painful.  I realized my studies would not be going in a direction that would include English or Language Arts classes.   I dropped down to mainstream English for my senior year, and took only the minimum English requirement in college.  I have to say that over the years I haven't done a lot of pleasure reading, maybe reading one or two novels a year on average.

I can say that my high school junior year English class was a turning point.  I may have been over my head academically, but in typical teenage boy style I did not talk to my parents or teacher about what was happening in class.  Of course, they did not reach out to me about things, either. 

It's a bit difficult to find the correct words, but it is as if I still have a bad taste in my mouth from that class, and one of my highest priorities is to keep that from happening to my current and future students.