My weekend is all booked!

Hi! My name is Sharai Christal Moreno-Hernandez, because my name is hyphenated I constantly get asked if I am married, the answer is no. Long story short my parents have been together for years but decided to get married by church a couple of years ago, which then resulted in the modification of my name. Also, my name sounds incredibly different in Spanish (I like it better in Spanish but most people can’t pronounce it, so I go by “Sherry”). I am a sister, daughter, mentor, swimmer, lover of ice-skating, resident advisor, student, and if all goes well I’ll eventually become a teacher (though I feel like I can consider myself a teacher despite not having the title yet). I come from Santa Rosa, which is the perfect location to live in because you’re 45 minutes away from the beach, everything is at perfect distance, and you’re surrounded by beauty. I spent my entire childhood in Santa Rosa and leaving for college was the first time I actually separated from my town. That being said, I am incredibly family-oriented. I love, love, love my family. Even though I am in my third year I still cry every time I hug my parents goodbye. I know teaching isn’t the most popular profession but I’ve had unconditional support from my family and friends. I’d say they and my future students are my motivation. I want to be the students’ support system. My parents, sisters, and pets are my number one supporters (I have two cats and two dogs, I love them with all my heart). When applying to colleges I initially had started as an environmental science major because science is a field I consider myself good at and I figured I could pursue teaching; however, I quickly realized before my first year started that I not only wanted to teach science, but I just wanted to be a teacher in general. To wrap it up, while at Chico State I’ve been involved in a variety of clubs but I think the best choice I could have made was apply to become a resident advisor. Through my job I have built a great number of friendships and have built connections with students who become my friends/younger siblings. I can’t emphasize the feeling you get when you realize how much the residents rely and love you.

Aside from who I am I wanted to blog about something that was brought up in class yesterday. We were assigned the reading “A puzzle to the rest of us”: Who is a “reader” anyway? By Bronwyn T. Williams. What I took from the reading were the different definitions that lead to what a reader was and the influence a teacher has in his/her classroom; depending on how he/she views who a “reader” is. The article did a great job in describing different types of readers and in providing examples as to what the term “reader” entitles. After the reading we were asked what it meant to be a “reader” so my focus will be on that today. What does it mean to be reader? The question was asked and I instantly thought about a person who read for fun. While there are multiple types of readers, I believe to be a reader it means the person unknowingly finds himself or herself making person connections, despite what the text may be. A reader is someone who can’t help but put themselves in the reading and builds some sort of connection to the reading. A reader closes a book/finishes a passage or sentence and feels like they’ve gained something, they might not always know what they gained but something in them has changed. That being said, the connection I just mentioned isn’t the only one, the connection the reader makes is up to them, what I am suggesting is that they build some sort of connection. I consider myself a reader because I find myself reading for enjoyment and becoming passionate for all that I read. I enjoy reading multiple types of genres. Outside of school I read fiction, my only problem is that once I pick up a new book I can’t stop reading and it does consume a lot of my time. I am currently working on starting a book and slowly going through it, I tell myself it’s like watching Game of Thrones (which is my favorite show), while I want to know what happens next I tell myself to set the book down when I finish a chapter and continue the next the day. I’ll admit, most of the time my out of school reading does not connect with the reading I do for school. Don’t get me wrong; I love school, I swear! I just take my personal reading as a distraction and a de-stressor. When it comes to the readings for school I still make personal connections but the connections are different. With school readings I try to think of ways the readings relate to not only myself but also how they relate to my future students. Overall, I still believe everyone is a reader; they just have to find the right book, passage, or billboard that sparks their interest and the timing as to when a person becomes a reader is different for everyone.