New Literacies Autobiography

By: Ashley FeehanGED 803112-8-2012

“Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as

if you were to live forever.”-Ghandi

My Family• My family includes my mom, dad, and two brothers. Since I

can remember, my family has always encouraged and supported me to be successful.

• There was a high value of reading and writing in my household. We has a library of books, including encyclopedias, in our house and we read them often. My parents also had us write letters to anyone that gave us a gift.

Here is a picture of my Grandma Marilyn reading a book with my

brother Matt and I.

I went to Lorne Street Elementary School in Northridge, California.

I loved school and tried hard in all of my subjects. Here is a picture of me and my friend Megan creating a project in second grade.

I loved reading as a child!!!!

• My mom and I would often go to the public library. She helped me get a library card and we would check out books together. Since I was the only girl at home, this enabled me to pick out books that weren’t in our

home library.

Books I loved reading as a child

Besides reading I have an extreme passion for music. I love the feeling it gives you, the emotions it evokes, and the way the words are put together. I believe that my love for music stems

from my childhood and my dad’s band.

My dad has been in a rock band for over thirty years. Growing up, his band would have their practice in our garage every

week. Below is a picture of my dad’s band, Full Throttle, performing at a house party.

He is the man in the back on the left.

I always have listened to music non-stop. When I was in elementary school, my favorite artists were:

TLC

Brandy

Mariah Carey

Salt-N-Pepa

I can remember buying their tapes and reading the

booklets as soon as I opened the package. I would read all

of the lyrics to the songs before I listened to them. From that point on, I have

been extremely impacted by the lyrics of songs.

On top of reading and music, I loved watching TV and movies. Some of my

favorites were:Television Shows:Saved by the Bell

Family Matters

Movies:Steel MagnoliasMrs. Doubtfire

Spaceballs

When I was in elementary school, my dad received his A.A. in

Computer Technology. We had a computer in my house and my dad showed us how to type on the

computer. My brothers and I would play these typing games on the computer and it was really fun.

When I started middle school, I got my first magazine subscription to Word Up Magazine. I would read the magazine cover to cover the

day I got it. I would also put the pictures up in my room.

During middle school, my friends and I started a music group. None of us had any

known talent with singing, but we still thought it was a good choice. The group name was

J.A.M.M., which stood for Jennifer, Ashley, Michelle R., and Michelle J. We wrote one song together and nothing

else happened with the group.

My creative writing expanded and grew a lot during high school.

I started writing more songs and poems. I am not always good at

expressing emotions verbally, so this was a way for my to express it through written

words.

In high school, I had a 9th grade teacher, Mrs. Stout, who greatly impacted my writing.

• Mrs. Stout taught me how to:– use an outline to write a quality essay

with complete paragraphs– use correct word choice

I didn’t know it then, but what I was being taught would help me tremendously in college.

During 9th grade, I got my first pager!!!!

• My friends and I would use pagers to write short messages. • We would use pager code, which was a set system of numbers

that visually represented the letters of the alphabet.• For example, the letter h was “4” and the letter m was “177”.• Here is how you would write “How are you” – “40111-6123-4011”.• When you finished typing your message in the phone, you would

end with your pager code number. My number was 21 so when the message ended with “21”, my friends knew it was from me.

• This was something very impactful for my friends and I and we used it constantly to communicate.

• I look at pager code as the stepping stone to text messaging.• I still know pager code and could still read or write something

written in it.

During high school, my favorite shows were:

Moesha

TRL:Total

Request Live

Dawson’s Creek

Beverly Hills, 90210

After high school, I started college and was required to write many,

many papers.

I was required to do research

on topics relating to my

courses.

I had to write

reflections on articles

that I had to read for class.

I had to cite my sources accurately to avoid plagiarism.

My computer played a huge role in my college experience.

I used my computer to stay in contact with my friends and family back home. We

would email, instant message, and share pictures.

I used my computer to access Blackboard, which was necessary for some of my class.

We would also use online forums to have

discussions.

I used my computer to watch DVDs and

listen to music.

I used my computer to type all of my

assignments for my classes.

I used my computer to

research my topics for my papers I had

to write.

Other ways I used my computer during college:

I used my computer to read

news articles.

When my best friend graduated college, I decided to make a

video for her.I had no experience with video making, but I tried my best. I used a handheld

video recorder and filmed our friends and her family saying short messages to her.

In between people being filmed, I filmed pictures of her throughout her life. It was an amateur video, but it turned out good and she thoroughly enjoyed the video.

After graduating college and my teaching

credential program, I started teaching in

California. The next year, I taught ELL in Barcelona,

Spain.

While living in Spain, I tried to read books in Spanish. It was interesting to be using

the skills of a beginning reader of using pictures to tell the story since I wasn’t

able to read the words.

I also watched TV in Spanish, which was

another difficult challenge. I had to rely on reading the

TV show by using the characters’ body language

and the settings. This helped me comprehend what the plot was of the

show.

After returning to the U.S. from Spain, I started teaching 2nd grade.• I used many different types of text during my instruction:

– videos– songs– poems– stories– online resources

• At my school, my class was required to perform for our Kwanzaa night and for our poetry jam.– I wrote songs for both performances, as well as

choreographed the moves/dances. I was very excited to be able to write these songs because it was something I have always enjoyed doing.

Now, I am teaching kindergarten and just

finished writing our song for our performance on

Antarctica.In class, we also use our SMART board to look at

pictures of Antarctica, so the students have a better picture of the

unique continent.

I am also a graduate student and have found myself reading academic material and writing

academic papers. Luckily, I am able to pull from my previous education to help me be

successful.

My love for music has only grown larger. I still listen to the same artists since I was younger, but I have started listening to more country

music as well. Some of the artists I listen to are:

Melanie Fiona

Drake

Rascal Flatts

Beyonce

My favorites throughout my life:

• Book: Summer Sisters• Author: Emily Giffin• Movie: Steel Magnolias• TV Show: Sex in the City• Singer: Brandy• Songs (there are many): “Hello”, “Fall”, “Hey

Mama”, “Keep it Between Us”, and “Water Runs Dry”

Personally and professionally, I have opened my mind to what fits under the literacy umbrella.

I wish music would have been more of a component during my K-12 experience, rather than just at home. I think I would

have enjoyed projects more if I had been given the flexibility to write a song

or make a video.

I never realized how private I have been about my experiences with literacy. Most of

my close friends don’t know that I wrote poems when I was younger or that I was

briefly in a music group. The things I wrote were very personal and I don’t always feel

comfortable exposing those emotions. Even as I get older and write academic papers, I

notice that I don’t like too many people reading them.

The types of texts that I

love:

Magazines

BooksJournal Articles

Websites

Music

TV shows

Movies