Through this research we have come to realize trends between childhood literacy and becoming a teacher has a varied connection. It seems as if the decision isn’t always necessarily based on their literacy, but their literacy plays a role in their journey. Through their literacy, we can see a tool for exploring and realizing their desire to become a teacher.

What now?

Due to the nature of our research question, it’s a bit difficult to answer this prompt. We set out to see if there was a link between childhood literacy experiences and seeking out a career as a teacher. I came up with this question because, as a prospective education major (elementary education/special education dual endorsement), I was curious to see if there may have been a link there. I loved reading as a little girl, especially the Anne of Green Gables book series, but I didn’t feel as that influenced my prospective career choice. However, I had spoken to other education majors who noted that experiences with literacy in their childhood had inspired them to want to teach subjects such as English.

Our results showed varied links between strong literacy experiences in one’s formative years and pursuing careers as educators; while some interviewees responded that their career choices had been highly influenced by such events, others reported little to no connections between past events and current or future goals. While I would of course enthusiastically recommend that all parents or guardians encourage and instill a love of all types of literacy in their children (especially reading and writing), I cannot say that this would definitively lead to children growing up and having their interests piqued in eventually becoming educators.

That being said, I would use this data to recommend prospective teachers to explore and gain an appreciation for literacy. Our research shows that people who had past experiences with and a love for different types of literacy (for example, reading/writing or computer science literacy) had a more solid reasoning for wanting to teach those particular subjects (such as English or computer programming classes). The call to action I would suggest is, in brief, for prospective educators to have a passable appreciation for and knowledge of literacy in a wide variety of topics. This will enable them to be better prepared for classroom experiences and challenges that may arise for different students.

For others studying the same or similar topic, I would certainly recommend them to expand on our initial research question by asking research questions that would accommodate a wide variety of different literacy types. For example, it would be interesting to ask a prospective teacher or actual teacher to rank how confident they feel with a basic literacy of different subjects such as English, science, mathematics, and music, among other topics.

 

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