Reading Woes Ever since I can remember I have had a difficult time reading. I would dread being chosen to read in front of the class because I was so embarrassed by my reading skills. I had a difficult time recognizing words and read painfully slow. I was very aware that I was not intellectually equal with my peers. I had always strived to be, just an average reader. I had the same teacher for second and third grade. Her name was Mrs. Combi. Mrs. Combi was an older women, who loved her job and was dedicated to teaching students. She had great patience with students, especially those in my situation - a student who was at a below average reading level for their grade. I remember sitting in a reading group only consisting of me and two other students Mrs.Combi reading a super easy book. It was humiliating as a second grader and especially a third grader. I recognized that other students in my class were starting to notice I wasn’t like them, they were pulling ahead of me academically. I vividly remember sitting in my remedial reading group listing to my peers read. All I could think about was how painfully slow they were reading. It was so slow, that what they were reading was hard to process and comprehend. I couldn't help but wonder if when I was reading, is that what …show more content…
Johnson's office. During that meeting he had asked me several questions about reading. Did I like reading? Did I struggle with reading? At the end of the meeting he suggested that I take the Read180 course next year, typically and eighth grade course. Mr. Johnson explained that he wanted to get me help with my reading skills. The conversations about my reading skills continued to reassure me that I had a problem, placing me below my peers. I begged my parents to not make me take the class, I didn't want to be surrounded by people I didn't know all year. I was afraid of not being normal or being looked at
Who am I as a reader? I think of myself as an average reader. I first began to read, when in elementary when the English teachers, told us we had to read a book, and from there, I began to read books. I didn’t really like to read books, but we were told to do so. The book which I had to read in elementary school, were not bad for a little child to read. The books could have been better, as of now all the elementary books are good in some certain circumstances.
The teacher walked to the front of the room with her book in hand and as she got closer to the front, Paul got lower in his seat. He knew what was coming next; it was time for the class to read the next chapter. The teacher would start reading and then call on different students to read as they moved through the chapter. This scared Paul right down to his toes. He had read in front of the class before, but it was what followed after class that worried him the most. The taunts from the other students like “retard” or “are you stupid or what?” This type of relentless teasing would continue until gym class where he could hold his own ground again. He did not have any problems in gym; class he was good at sports and liked to play. The reason that Paul has so much trouble reading is because he has Dyslexia.
The causes of reading difficulties often arise because of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, poor preparation before entering school, no value for literacy, low school attendance, insufficient reading instruction, and/or even the way students were taught to read in the early grades. The struggles that students “encounter in school can be seen as socially constructed-by the ways in which schools are organized and scheduled, by assumptions that are made about home life and school abilities, by a curriculum that is often devoid of connections to students’ lives, and by text that may be too difficult for students to read” (Hinchman, and Sheridan-Thomas166). Whatever the reason for the existence of the reading problem initially, by “the time a [student] is in the intermediate grades, there is good evidence that he will show continued reading g...
My achievement of becoming literate in both English and Spanish, after overcoming a myriad of obstacles distinguishes my literacy history. Writing was one of the things I didn’t like to do as a child. I always thought writing was a waste of time and that I wasn’t going to need it in life. Even though I didn’t invest much time writing, I was one of the best writers in all my classes, probably because I was very dedicated in the other subjects and I loved reading adventure books. I learned how to read and write by the age of four, since in my native country “the Dominican Republic”, kids are enrolled in school at the age of three; usually parents start their child’s education at home before that age.
The common learning disability in reading is called dyslexia. Reading problems occur in a student when they have difficulty unders...
Mrs. Plot, one of the hardest English teachers in Murray County High School, was my teacher that year. She was a very determined and driven teacher that did not tolerate her students to fail her class, even if they were lazy. I had heard horror stories from her former students, but she was nothing like they said she was. She was the only teacher that I have connected with all throughout school. I looked forward to her class every morning because she always made learning fun. Mrs. Plot gave out good advice about English, but she also gave me personal advice and was more of a friend to me. She always knew what to say to me when I had problems. She motivated me to do better with my writing; we went to a journalism class together every week that year. Mrs. Plot deepened my love for reading and writing. Without her, I would not be the kind of student I am today. On every assignment in her class, I got the most feedback and it helped me out a lot. It took me a long time to become a decent writer, but with her help she sped up the process. I put all of my effort in every single paper I have written, especially for her
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
All I could remember on my journey to literacy was my concern over my brother and sister’s ability to read and write including solving math problems. That did not really motivate not to become literate; I was extremely playful as a child. What I am able to remember is my first day of school, I cried like a baby when my mom dropped me off. I soon began to grow out of my baby stage and school became really interesting. Even though it was not as hard as it is now, the value that pushed me to be literate was how my teacher was able to discipline students if they didn’t give the best to their education.
When I was in the first grade, every week the students did reading board where they sat in the hall outside the class and the teacher told us to read as many words as possible. This reading board created great anxiety and resentment toward my classmates proper spelling and word usage. When I misspoke, or used a word incorrectly, the teacher placed me in a lower reading level than my peers. I was upset because, my friend kept moving up and I was still stuck in first grade reading level. I learned that I had a learning disability, which would be the greatest challenge in my life.
My Michigan is an old teacher of mine his name is Mr. Stem, he was my science and math teacher for 5th grade,, I had trouble mostly in math and he knew i was good at it so if he knew I needed help he would help me understand what we were doing in class same with science, if i ever needed help with either of the subjects i knew he would be there to help me just like any teacher would, he was a really approachable teacher even outside of school you could walk up to him and he would help you if you needed it, last year he retired and I am happy he was one of the teacher that I had to help me through Math and Science in 5th grade which made 5th grade so much easier because he was so approachable and easy going. If you ever needed him he was there
My perfect day would start out with Abby and I playing the Wii. The game we would be playing is Michael Jackson: The Experience. Abby would probably beat me because I'm not that well of a dancer. After that, we will play some board games, preferably The Game of Life, Clue, and Trouble. Then we would put together some puzzles.
Like reading, in the beginning, I saw writing as a chore, something you only must do when you needed to do homework or at school. It was something your teacher made you do in the beginnings of class to “open your mind.” I hated the idea of writing about how my Christmas was or what I did over the weekend. It was all too tedious and boring, because it was never about what I wanted to write about, fiction.
There are many different types of events that shape who we are as writers and how we view literacy. Reading and writing is viewed as a chore among a number of people because of bad experiences they had when they were first starting to read and write. In my experience reading and writing has always been something to rejoice, not renounce, and that is because I have had positive memories about them.
Did I fail to mention that “Hooked on Phonics” was for an age group younger than me? I think that’s the real reason I was so closed minded to doing this program. Not only has my summer been terminated, but now I’m taking a reading program for age group younger than myself! I’m sure if I knew what it was like to be insulted, I would’ve felt that way! Since my parents both worked full time jobs during the summer, they weren’t around to help us, so of course we had to get a tutor! The tutor wasn’t that bad; she actually turned a very dull and pretty boring program,
When people were called up to read to the teacher it was during independent reading time, so it felt like the entire class could hear what you were saying, and they could hear every mistake you made. Reading in front of the teacher I would struggle when sounding out words, and I was always nervous that my classmates would hear this. After all the reading tests were complete I was put into one of the lowest groups, I was no longer in the top reading group, like I was in elementary school. All throughout Middle School I struggled to find time to read, and whenever I had the time I choose not to. I felt like I shouldn’t read because I wasn’t good and it was no longer fun for me.