My Earliest Audience

In reflecting on my earliest experiences as a reader, it occurred to me that early literacy activities in my life that have centered on reading and being read to were a natural extension of my relationship with my mother and father. Reading was always something that happened organically. One of my earliest memories is sitting on my father’s lap, reading from a book that we selected together from my “library.” I read a chapter or so out loud to him every night, and I looked forward to what happened in the story as much as I did to this quiet time together. And then there were our family’s “movie nights.” When I was a kid, you could buy large records of popular children’s stories such as Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. The record albums often housed a book as well, and you could read along in the book as the record played. Our “movie nights” consisted of one of these record albums, taped to the wall in our living room, against which shone a flashlight that I propped up on a couple of books in between the “audience seating” of two folding chairs. When show time began, then and only then could my father, who also served as “projectionist” and who was given very explicit instructions on how to operate the “projector,” turn on the flashlight to dramatic effect. I read the stories aloud, complete with different character voices, and usually mimicking what I’d heard on the album. When we came to the end of a “scene,” the flashlight was to be turned off so that I could turn the page, scotch tape the new page to the wall, and the new scene could begin. Needless to say my parents were very patient people.
 

This led me to think about ways in which my parents were the earliest audience for my compositions. The earliest stories I made up were often acted out. They were usually stories connected to and inspired by the stories I was reading at the time. I wanted to “wow” my audience—in this case, my mother and father—because I wanted them to feel moved the same way I had been moved by what I’d read. Because I knew my audience well, I was able to consider strategies (no matter how rudimentary and unconscious) that would reach them. And because I knew that my parents would always be encouraging and supportive, their enthusiasm motivated me even more.

It seems to me that it’s important that students learn how to read early in their lives; of equal importance is the ways in which they’re introduced to reading and literacy-centered activities. I believe this is what Erika Lindemann means when she writes, in part quoting Marilyn Cooper, that “Writing is a way of living in social groups, of interacting with others and having them interact with us. ‘Writing is a form of social action. It is part of the way in which people live in the world. Thus, when thinking about writing, we also must think about the way that people live in the world’” (33). Families are a fundamental early social group that also shape our attitudes towards reading and writing. Parents can frame reading and writing in pleasurable ways that invite participation from children willingly rather than begrudgingly. If family dynamics and routines are built around literacy, reading is the rule and not the exception. When your earliest audience is people you know and trust, it’s easier to develop a symbiotic relationship with reading and writing that fosters literacy growth.