While I was in daycare, I would sit next to a couple younger kids and I would “read” books to them. I would sit there and look at pictures and at that time I would just make up the words, having no idea what the story is about. The little kids loved it, but I was always curious about what it was really about. Days were getting shorter and I was getting older… Then school started. Reading and writing has never been my the most sturdy subject, ever since I started school. I would struggle like no other! Most of the time I would be sent to sit at this one table that had the smallest and most uncomfortable chairs I had ever sat on, with the kids that struggled. It was the most awful and embarrassing thing I had ever experienced, some kids would sit there staring and laughing at me because I couldn’t read properly. Later that year, in that English class I would wish I was smart and could read like them. I still do to this day, but not as much because I’ve gotten over that stage. The teacher that was in charge of the “slow” students would make us sit there reading the same book over and over. I …show more content…
I was so terrified! I still wasn’t pleasant at reading but, I thought I was getting better at reading. We used to have this one day every school year that you wouldn’t do anything but read all day. I didn’t think it was that fun because I struggled so badly. During that time I would use my time to just sit there, most likely talking to the friend I was sitting next to the entire time. I hated reading so much that I would make up excuses why I couldn’t read or why I never finished the reading assignment. I never really had the motivation to take time and sit down to read. Then high school started and I learned that we had to read a lot more, especially in front of the class. I would get so embarrassed that my face would get so red, my mouth would get so dry, and I would struggle more than
Beginning in grade school students are taught a basic curriculum for English, some of the basics being: five sentences equaling a paragraph and five paragraphs equaling a essay. The beginning of the English learning stage is a time to get engaged in reading and writing. Honestly, most children when they are younger start loving to read and write but do they stay that way throughout middle school, high school, or even college? No, nine out of ten times kids who started out loving to read and write end up dreading it. But why? Every students has their own personal reason. Some may have never fully understood how to read or write and was to embarrassed to speak up others may have disorders such as dyslexia which makes reading and writing difficult. In my case I had a passion for reading and writing when I was younger. As I grew up I did not like the material that had to be read or the papers that was required to be written; but since I knew the work had to be done accurately in order for me to pass the class I learned to tolerate the subject.
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.
My relationship with writing has been much like roller coaster.Some experiences I had no control over. Other experiences were more influential. Ultimately it wasn’t until I started reading not because I had to read but because I wanted to, that's when my relationship reached change. I would have probably never cared about writing as I do today if it weren't for the critics in my family. When I was a child, my aunts and uncles always been in competition with who's child is better in school. I have always hated reading and writing because of the pressure to prove my family wrong was overwhelming for me. I had to prove them wrong and show them that I was capable of being "smart" which according to them was getting straight A's in all your classes.
The first thing a child learns how to do in school is to read and write. I, unlike most of my classmates, didn’t actually know how to read fluently until the first grade. I remember my Kindergarten class had to read The Polar Express on our own and I was only able to guess what the book was saying. My friend’s dad had to read to me while she read on her own. Reading wasn’t practiced much at home. In fact, my mother doesn’t even remember reading to me, “I don’t remember, but I know I read to you at some point.” The only book I ever found and looked through in my house was my father’s algebra book. That algebra book became my favorite book since I didn’t really have anything else to read. However, after getting the hang
School was an overwhelming place for me as a child. The teacher told my mother many times that I was great at socializing, although, I took too much time cleaning my desk and thus never finish the assignments. The teacher would send me home with simple books to practice reading to my mom. I would bring them home to read to my mom, but my mom never wanted to listen to me read and so I never practiced reading. She later told me that she felt they were “stupid.” To this day, I wonder if she knew the effect she had on my reading development.
Personal narratives allow you to share your life with others and vicariously experience the things that happen around you. Your job as a writer is to put the reader in the midst of the action letting him or her live through an experience. Although a great deal of writing has a thesis, stories are different. A good story creates a dramatic effect, makes us laugh, gives us pleasurable fright, and/or gets us on the edge of our seats. A story has done its job if we can say, "Yes, that captures what living with my father feels like," or "Yes, that’s what being cut from the football team felt like."
As a child, I have always been fond of reading books. My mother would read to me every single night before I went to bed and sometimes throughout the day. It was the most exciting time of the day when she would open the cabinet, with what seemed to be hundreds of feet tall, of endless books to choose from. When she read to me, I wanted nothing more than to read just like her. Together, we worked on reading every chance we had. Eventually I got better at reading alone and could not put a book down. Instead of playing outside with my brothers during the Summer, I would stay inside in complete silence and just read. I remember going to the library with my mom on Saturdays, and staying the entire day. I looked forward to it each and every week.
My first experience to literacy came as a young adult. I have always been reluctant with my education, because of the family problems I experienced growing up. The harsh treatment our family received growing up made it very difficult to study in school, my body was physically in class but my mind was not. The trials and tribulations I went through growing up as a kid continued throughout my teenage years. Dropping out of high school I believe brought upon literacy difficulty. At the age of twenty-three, I finally had enough of feeling undereducated. Living in my mother’s basement with no job and an 8th grade education, the walls started to close in on me as my frustration became greater by the minute.
Growing up, I was always insecure about my academic performances because I was about a year younger than most of my classmates. My reading was underdeveloped, and my teachers were concerned about my ability to read more mature literature. To aid my reading disabilities I was placed in an intermediate class. However, the class did not push me into the level I was expected to be. In other words, they "babied" me and have me read at the "level" I was capable of. So like any other American school, they just push you along to the next grade. It wasn't until I started the fourth grade, and I was shown the power of reading independently. I used my struggles to read, as my motivation to excel in reading.
I understood what I was reading, but my fluency was sluggishly slow. I would also replace the correct word with another that meant the same thing. I would have to leave class and go to a reading teacher everyday. When I got to a certain age, I realized how humiliating the situation was.
Every student learns how to read differently and some students are able to catch on very fast, while others, like myself struggled significantly. With the help of teachers, special education providers, after school tutors, and the help of my parents after many years of practice I was finally able to learn how to read. Reading is not the ability to verbally say what the printed word is, but comprehension is also an important factor. The best advice I would encourage teachers to understand is that parental involvement as well as a teacher’s involvement through encouraging the student to never give up is fundamentally important to their success. Learning difficulties can be incredibly frustrating, but with out the support a child will continue to struggle and may never master how to read.
Many students are taught how to read from his or her peers. When I was younger, I learned how to read in kindergarten. Throughout my education, my reading level has increased. I personally have had many challenges when it comes to reading. Most of my reading challenges have come from not being able to concentrate or make connections within the story line.
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.
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.
Reading and books became a real struggle for me from elementary all the way to high school because I found it hard to comprehend the books that I was made to read. These books were not interesting to me and I found myself starring at pages for hours at a time and would not know or understand what I read.