Patty's Literacy Story
Davidson, Patricia

[Music Plays]

>>PATTY: My earliest memories of writing was writing my name. It was critical to write my whole name, Patricia Davidson, so that I could get a library card. I wanted to check out books from the bookmobile in my own name and the library would not let me get a card until I could write my name on my own. My mom would check books out for me but it was important to me that I got my own books. I can remember that by age five I got my card, wow, and we would ride our bikes to the bookmobile once a week and we could spend hours in there and take home tons and tons of books. I loved, loved, loved reading. In terms of school memories, by the time I started school - I'm not actually sure if I was reading the textbooks or just remembering them from what my older brother and sisters had read because I'm the forth of six kids. Every memory I had about reading is really positive. When I think of writing in school, which I'm sad is a real negative, I'm not sure if it was in first or second grade I got my assignment back and in big red letters it said that I did not use enough adjectives. So on my very next writing assignment I probably used twenty adjectives in one sentence. I was probably only six or seven but I can still remember it being written down for not using enough descriptive words. I'm such a big reader, I loved and still love reading biographies. I think that I must have read every biography in the children's section in the library while I was in the Panama Canal Zone. I especially loved the ones about science, even though I am not a scientist maybe that's why I married one. My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Brown, in the Canal Zone was my hero. We wrote investigative reports on everything. We went places and then wrote pieces on the places we went. I loved her, in fact I kept in touch with her through letters until she died in her eighties. As a teacher, I want my students to enjoy reading and writing. I want to share my love of words with them. I want them to see reading and writing as a pleasure and enjoy the sound of language.

>>STUDENT: I was one of your students sophomore year; I just want to say thank you for helping me love words and I always remember Fridays because you always got so excited and you were always like, "Friday!" and the whole class got so excited. So thank you for that.

>>PATTY: Reading and writing play a large role in my family now too. Both my husband and my son are computer scientists. Email, reading, and writing are essential for their jobs and they have brought me along. We're always reading something. Reading is an escape and a real joy and I still have to read before I go to sleep even if it's just for two minutes before the book falls in my face from exhaustion. 

[Music Plays]