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Development of Reading ability
Development of reading skills
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Recommended: Development of Reading ability
I learned to read in the quiet of an upstairs bedroom in our house in Duluth, the room where my little brothers slept side-by-side in cribs, where nobody would think to look for me. I was 3 years old, and I did not recognize the words on the page by looking at them, but had to work at them, sounding them out, saying them aloud. At some point they became not just letters or sounds, but actual words with meaning, words connected to other words, words that said something, told a story, and I picked up speed and read and read and read, chattering away out loud. My big sister finally hollered from down the hall, “Shut up! You’re driving me crazy!” but my mother came to my defense: “Leave her alone; she’s reading!” Magical words that came to define …show more content…
That would show me to be an amateur; also, it would slow me down. Sitting on the floor, book propped against my knees, back against the wall, I read until my voice was hoarse. At some point I realized I could manage it silently, but out loud was easier and had the added benefit of annoying my sister. Reading to the class On the first day of kindergarten, Mrs. Pedersen told us that we each needed to bring in 50 cents to pay for the mats we napped on at midmorning. I was the seventh Hertzel child, and we had a bunch of these mats rolled up in our basement. My mother wanted me to let Mrs. Pedersen know that we didn’t need another one. But how? I was shy, terrified of speaking to adults. So I waited until my teacher stepped away from her desk. I slipped over and found a pencil and paper, and I printed, “I have a mat at home,” and left the note for her to …show more content…
Didn’t everyone? Mrs. Pedersen kept an eye on me after that. There was a library in the back of the kindergarten room, a little nook with spindle-back chairs and low shelves of books, and most days she came back there and gently took a book out of my hands and urged me to go do something else — choose an instrument from the music box, or take part in one of the group games. I followed her into the middle of the room, looking back longingly at that sweet corner. Nobody else ever went back there; nobody else seemed interested in books. I didn’t understand why I had to keep leaving. One morning, Mrs. Pedersen was called to the office for a phone call, and she asked me to read to the class while she was gone. I grabbed the book she had taken away from me the day before, only half read. It was a collection of Ukrainian stories, and I had been in the middle of “The Spiders’ Christmas Tree.” I would read that to the class, and thus find out how the story ended. The other children sat on the floor, and I perched on the teacher’s big chair and opened the book. In the story, spiders crept into a poor family’s home and spun their webs all over the Christmas tree — they were trying to make it beautiful, but instead they ruined it. I needed to know what happened. How would Christmas be
No one would talk to her, recess was spent in anguish, and she would find garbage and spoiled food in her book bag. As she progressed into 5th grade, some of the social atmosphere began to shift in subtle but profound ways. Being accepted into a clique is all that matters. Instead of being admired for class participation, as in earlier years she was laughed at and labeled as “teacher’s pet.” She said the rules were simple “shun or be shunned—if you weren’t willing to go along with the crowd, you would become the reject.”
It took me awhile, but finally I started to get faster. I read every time I got. Out loud. In the car. At recess. Eventually I even read in my head.
When I was just under two years old, my parents walked into my room to find me propped up on the floor reading Goodnight Moon. They were amazed, as they should have been; children don’t usually begin to read before they go to school. A few weeks later, they walked in on the same occurrence except something was off; I was holding the book upside down. What they realized was that I was not actually reading; I had memorized every word on every
When I Glanced inside the torn cardboard box that had “Family room” I discovered one of my mom’s old book named Petals on the Wind written by V. C. Andrews. While she was putting her already read books on the empty oak bookshelf, I asked her “would I be able to have this book?” Despite that it was a book above my reading level, she generally smiled and agreed. Over the years while we sat there watching television, my eyes would wonder like an antiquarian over to the old and new novels. Having my imagination running wild and wondering what type of adventures or mysteries lay inside. My family was firmly about education, with a father that was completing up his Masters and a mother who was continually reading, they both pushed us in the same direction.
I taught myself to read when I was twenty years old. The book I started with was I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou.
Ron Padgett, the author of Creative Reading, recalls how he learned to read and write as though these things happened yesterday. Like Padgett, I tried recalling my reading and writing history.
For the spring term, the faculty made changes and Philip got assigned to Miss Narwin’s homeroom class. Things got worse when Philip was assigned to her homeroom as if being in her English class wasn’t bad enough. When Philip got back to school he found out he was assigned to counseling. Philip was furious and still wanted to get out of Miss Narwin’s English class.
My literacy journey began long before I had actually learned how to read or write. While recently going through baby pictures with my mother, we came across a photo of my father and I book shopping on the Logos boat, a boat that would come to my island every year that was filled with books for our purchasing. Upon looking at this picture, my mother was quite nostalgic and explained how they began my journey to literacy through experiences like this. My earliest memory of experiencing literature was as a small child. My parents would read bedtime stories to me each night before I went to bed. I vividly remember us sitting on the bed together with this big book of “365 bedtime stories for 365 days” and we read one story each day until we had
Throughout my childhood I was never very good at reading. It was something I always struggled with and I grew to not like reading because of this. As a child my mom and dad would read books to me before I went to bed and I always enjoyed looking at the pictures and listening. Then, as I got older my mom would have me begin to read with her out loud. I did not like this because I was not a good reader and I would get so frustrated. During this time I would struggle greatly with reading the pages fluently, I also would mix up some of the letters at times. I also struggled with comprehension, as I got older. My mom would make me read the Junie B. Jones books by myself and then I would have to tell her what happened. Most
The night before, I didn’t practice my English so I knew what to say. By now, I knew most of the words, so I would just let my heart guide me. Besides, my cramped old house, which is actually just a junky garage in an abandoned alley, is too small to let out my feelings. Once I got to school after a cold walk in the snow, I placed myself by her locker and waited. Fourteen minutes had gone by, and still no sign of Lily. I only had a minute to get to class now, so I hurriedly collected myself and ran to my locker. I was disappointed, knowing that without Lily here, it would be the hardest day of school. I opened my locker and to my surprise a note fell to the floor. I quickly picked it up and gazed at the neat handwriting that clearly spelled my name.
When I was younger, about five years of age, I had started using a reading and communication program called Hooked on Phonics, a program you can use at home that teaches a young child to be able to sound letters and words. Eventually at older ages, this program introduces you
Reading was never something I fussed about growing up. As a child, I loved genres of realistic fiction. I was hooked on The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley, Goosebumps, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, Judy Moody, and especially, Zoobooks and Highlights magazines. My mother was always ready to help build my reading and writing skills. She took me to the library constantly to feed my passion for books and knowledge. I loved exploring the shelfs, organizing the books, and filling up my library cart. I tried keeping a diary in elementary school to keep track of my outings with my parents and grandparents to museums, zoos, movies, and libraries. This flash of writing enthusiasm was spun from books I read in the 4th and 5th grade that were
helped me realize that all books have a place in our libraries, we just have to expose kids to good pieces of literature so that they can see the “crappy books,” the ones with no plot or in this case of the reading, an ending. Also important to talk about why books are considered good pieces of literature. Prior to this
I remember that, when being taught to read I already knew more words than I had realized. Watching my dad’s finger skim under the words as he read them had helped me subconsciously learn those words. I learned to read and write at a much more accelerated pace than my peers. I felt impatient with those who lagged behind, not realizing that not everyone had been given the same advantages as me. The moment I started to read on my own, my great aunt, a retired kindergarten teacher, would send me a box of books she had used in her classroom every year for my birthday. Throughout elementary school, when I received the box, I would bring it up to my room and practice reading all the books on my own. Being able to read on my own opened the door to a world I hadn’t been able to reach without help
Bonnie the secretary introduced me to my new teacher. As Mrs. Bonnie was leaving the room, my new teacher Mrs. Evaheart introduced me to the class. As I stared at the class I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. I wanted to go back to my old school where I had friends, knew almost everyone, a place where I didn’t feel lonesome, a place anywhere but here. As I saw each and every one of my new classmates faces the utter dread that I felt slowly began to fade as I saw a familiar face. Seeing one of my former friends give me a renewed hope that maybe being in this school won’t be so bad after