About Me

Hello!

Welcome to my very first blog post! In this post, I will be sharing some things about myself that I hope will help you get to know me a little bit better. My name is Kelsey Golden. I am 23 years old and live in Hubert, North Carolina. I am not married and do not have any children. I graduated from Swansboro High School in 2008 and then received my Associate in Arts from Coastal Carolina Community College in 2010. I still live with my parents in the same house we have lived in for almost 20 years. My family and I moved to the area when I was about three years old. I have an older sister, Ashley (31) who works in the engineering department on base at Cherry Point. She and her husband, Chris, have two children, Peyton (7) and Reagan (3). They are a couple of crazy kids but they put so much joy in our family’s life. Almost all of my relatives (immediate and extended family members) were born and raised in West Virginia. I am the only North Carolinian among them. My family moved to the Tar Heel state before I was born so that my dad could attend school to fulfill his calling of becoming an ordained minister. He graduated from Campbell University in the early ‘90s while pastoring a church full-time in Benson, North Carolina. In 1994, we moved into the house we currently live in. Since moving here, my dad has pastored three different churches, all of which we are thankful to have been a part of. My mom has worked at a car dealership in Jacksonville, North Carolina for about 16 years. She works as a title clerk and helps everybody there with various things. I work part-time as a receptionist right next door to her so it is great to be able to speak with her throughout the day. There is one more important member of my family that I could not forget to include: my dog Napoleon! He is an 8 year old brindle Boxer and weighs about 85 pounds. He may look big and intimidating but he is probably one of the gentlest dogs I’ve ever met. He’s lazy and can often be found eating and sleeping all day. However, he loves to go outside and run around the yard. In my spare time I mostly enjoy being with family and friends, going to the beach, baking, and going to church.

Although I would love to venture out and do some traveling, I rarely have the time (or money) to do so. I have visited a few states—all within driving distance. A couple years ago some of my family and I rode a train from West Virginia to New York City. That was a very interesting experience, one I don’t think I am willing to go through again (13 hours cramped on a train—no thanks)! Other than a few trips to Disney World, I think that is the furthest place I have ever traveled to. Some find it amazing that I have never flown on an airplane but I hope to venture out on one someday soon. Although I am still young and have a long of life ahead of me, I feel that I have had positive experiences so far. I think it has a lot to do with how my parents raised me and how they have helped me throughout everything. I am so blessed to have them. They give me so much support and encouragement! As you know, I was (and still am) a pastor’s daughter. I have spent my entire life in church and honestly feel that is where I received interest into entering the teaching profession. I grew up helping watch babies in the nursery, helping with the preschoolers, and assisting with other programs offered for children. I currently teach a class for 1st-3rd graders on Sunday nights, volunteer in the nursery, and help teach Children’s Church. I believe that my constant exposure to children in such ways has helped me see that I have an opportunity to reach other children by teaching them in school. I have always enjoyed being around children and feel that being a teacher would only bring more joy into my life. It is my hope that EDN-340 will equip me with the necessary tools and information to help children learn how to read. Reading is probably the most important subject learned in school. We use reading and writing every day to communicate and gain information. I know that I will be required to work hard and keep up with my assignments every day. I hope taking this course will help me see what reading exactly is so that I will be ready to help my future students succeed and exceed in the subject.

The Reading Autobiography Survey posted on Blackboard really got me thinking about what reading exactly is. Like many other adults, I would say that by now, reading comes natural to me. I see it as the visual and/or oral translation of written words. It is amazing to me how a mixture of 26 different letters (in the English language) can be formed to make thousands and thousands of different sounding words. When it comes to reading and writing I feel pretty confident. There are definitely times where I can read relatively fast and then there are times where I have to slow down and concentrate in order to fully comprehend what the sentence or paragraph is trying to say. I believe that it's important to expose children to the act of reading as early as possible, even as infants and babies. When children are old enough to begin Elementary school, reading should first of all be fun and exciting. If students enter school with the idea that reading is not fun, then they will probably not get anything out of the experience. For Elementary school aged children, reading should also be relevant for them. When learning to read, I think students should be introduced to words and books featuring pictures of things they know or are familiar with such as animals, toys, and their favorite cartoon characters. I feel that the most important thing a child can have when learning to read is a strong, reliable group of people supporting and helping him/her through the process. This means that teachers, parents, and other adults in the student’s life should work together to make reading a priority at school, home, and everywhere the child goes. I think that this helps the child see that the adults in his/her life see reading as an important task and will want to try hard to do their best to learn. These “learning to read” experiences should be positive; especially since the child will more than likely remember them for the rest of his/her life. As a child, I think I had an overall positive experience with reading, seeing as though I do not remember much about it. I cannot recall any traumatic experiences with it but do remember the fun thinges. My teachers would read stories/books out loud in a rocking chair as students gather around the round, colorful rug. Books were assigned to each student in my class and reading logs were sent home for parents to help with reading and sign off on the required readings for the night. Oftentimes, students were able to choose books from the library and read them at free time and at home. I can remember a program our school used called Accelerated Reader (I’m sure you have heard of it before) which was intended to encourage students to read books on their level and earn points.

When it comes to reading, there are many characteristics that “good” teachers must possess. First of all, I think a “good” teacher shows a lot of patience. It’s no secret that reading can be a hard concept for some students to grasp when entering Elementary school, so they may not understand at first. Teaching this requires a lot of time and patience on behalf of the adults in a student’s life. In addition, I think “good” teachers are creative and flexible when it comes to teaching students to read. Not every student learns the same so a teacher must be able to change his/her method of teaching reading from child to child. I have never taught a child to read before but I am ready to be able to help students in such ways. I am aware that there are many different ways to introduce reading to students and I am eager to learn how to approach such a task. By taking this course, I hope that I am able to develop a better understanding of how to teach reading to children for it I believe it is one of the most important things to learn. With all things in life, I believe practice makes perfect and we become “good” at what we do. The same goes for reading-whether you are a child or an adult. I know many people my age that cannot read very well and are afraid to read aloud in front of others. I think being “good” at reading means that someone is confident in the task and sets aside time to practice (alone or with others) strengthening the skills reading requires. At this point in my life, I feel very confident in my own reading. I think I have always been okay with my reading and can’t remember facing any difficulties in school with it. I grew up having my parents read to/with me and helping me with reading assignments. My parents were always involved in this aspect of my life and I’m truly thankful for that. My grandfather used to be a teacher and I can recall him reading things to me and turning my visits with him into fun learning experiences. When I got older, he would remind me of the use of correct grammar, punctuation, and other reading tips. I will always remember attempting to help him with the crossword puzzles which involved a lot of reading, thinking, and concentration. Looking back on my own experiences with reading, I can say that reading has not been a struggle for me thanks to the excellent instruction of my teachers in elementary school as well as my family.

As you know, there are a lot of things to say about teaching reading and what it means to children--more that can be added to a discussion such as this. I hope that I can use my own experiences to help my future students in the classroom.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog entry and learning more about me. I can’t wait to learn new things about each of you.
Thanks again,
Kelsey Golden



My dog Napoleon and me



My family