Vanessa Paredes: Welcome To My Mind and Thoughts

1.Hello everyone! My name is Vanessa Paredes and I am a Chico local. I just moved back from the beautiful city of San Diego after five years to complete my liberal studies bachelor degree. I have been working with children for seven years and it wasn’t until my third year of working with children that I realized my love for working with children and passion for education and enhancing the minds of the little ones. When I’m not spending time laughing and playing with tiny humans I am with my adorable and energetic Boston Terrier, Ojie. I also love the outdoors, painting, and being a homebody.

2. I believe the phrase “being a reader” is fuzzy. I struggle with this question because as some of my peers mentioned during class, we are all readers. We read signs, captions, menus, etc. However, all though I do understand and agree with this, my personal opinion of a reader; based on movies and personal experiences, is someone who takes on the many stories and conflicts in their reading. They transform into the characters in the book and they are passionate about reading. I think they do this because they identify themselves with the books they read and they find comfort and company with books. They can feel what happens in the books and it changes them. That’s why this question confuses me. Is being a reader someone who reads on a daily basis or can we make classifications, such as a “dedicated reader” or “average reader”?

Outside of school my reading consists of the weekly CNR, lifestyle blogs, articles on current events, Nylon magazine, and any thrift store books I can get my hands on. I believe I do read more differently out of school. For example, out of school I read about things I love or find interesting therefore I read desperately and fast always trying to get to the climax or ending. Although I do try to enjoy the story and chapters, I find myself skimming pesky details to get to the bigger parts. I think I subconsciously do this to separate the two different readings I do (school and personal) and to have more control over the way I read. Whereas in school, attention to every word and line is extremely important. I think my reading outside of school does and doesn’t connect to the reading I do for school. One way it does is because I am still analyzing major ideas and breaking them down. I also still annotate and highlight as I do in school. In contrast, my personal reading is about pleasure. It’s a time where I unwind, relax, and separate from the world. I do not have to memorize topics and terms and stress over being tested on them. A takeaway I got from Bronwyn William’s article was that by making clearer what we mean when assuming the reading roles, we are alleviating the intimidating and possible negative connotations that come along with the obstacle of reading.