EED 470 Reading Strategies Essay

Ever since I was younger I have always tried staying away from reading. The only person in my family that likes to read is my mom; however, she does not read often. Once she picks up a book, she cannot put it down. My dad on the other hand, never picks up a book. He and I are one in the same; we do not like reading because we have a hard time comprehending what we read. My brother also does not like to read. He does not like reading because he has a learning disability. My mom always had an extremely tough time getting him to read. Overall, my literacy experiences at home are few and far between.

In order to truly and fully understand my history with reading, we must go back to the beginning of my narrative. The earliest memory of reading that I can recall is my mom reading me stories like The 10 Little Ladybugs. I absolutely loved when my mom or dad would read to me, and I wanted it to stay that way. I had no intention whatsoever to explore into my own individual reading endeavors. It seemed that my prayers would be answered, at least for a few years. It wasn't until I was in first grade that reading came back into the forefront of my very short attention span. We had started learning how to read, and I wanted nothing to do with it. My teacher, my parents, and even a few of my friends would try and get me to open a book but to no avail. This utter refusal to read

All of my life and still today I don’t like reading. It all started when I was in second grade, my parents thought that I had ADD because I wouldn’t sit still and I would only read for 10 minutes max. My parents took me to get tested for ADD and learning/ reading disorders. When I got tested by a lady in Iowa City, she asked a whole bunch of questions, had me take a lot of computer tests, and read passages from books. When the day was over she figured out that I needed glasses. So she sent me to her husband who is an eye care professional to get me set up with some glasses that I liked. Not only were they just one lense glasses but bifocals. All of my elementary years I had to be in special groups, at certain tables, work with different teachers,

For some people reading can be a difficult experience. For me it became difficult at the age of five years old. I really wasn’t an educational kid I was more of a kid that like to play with my toys and four brothers, whenever they came home from school. As I grew up reading became a little more difficult for me to master, at times in my middle school my teacher Mr.G would test us on how well and skilled we were at reading. Every day when it was time for him to test me I would get nervous and started to stubble on words and fail my test. By the time I was in high school I learned how to take my time and read, which has help me to progress my reading skills over the years.

I remember as a kid, how my parents use to take me to the library every month pick out a book. My parents would let me take at least two to three books home with me and they would read to me every other night before bed. When I first started elementary school, my parents learned that I had a learning inefficiency. That was when I was put into to the special program with Ms. Quick. When I started to progress in school my parents were literally forcing me to read a book every other day. As started getting older, I started to not to like reading because it was always little things that I would struggle with but my parents didn’t give up on me. From third to fifth grade, my parents were making me read chapter books; every night before bed my parents made me read a story to them for thirty minutes and afterwards, they would ask me to give an explanation on what I read to them. By the time I started junior high, I was a great reader. From then on, I had no problem with my reading abilities.

As a reader, I have always struggled. From the first time, I began to read to now. We never understood why until I was in sixth grade. In sixth grade, I was tested for dyslexia and as a result we found out I was dyslexic. Through my grade school and high school years We did everything and anything to help me to read better.

When I was little, I would enjoy reading books such as, Henry and Mudge, and also Captain Underpants. These were some books that I was able to understand because of them being less rigorous. As a grade school student, I was never the strongest reader. It was hard for me to understand and comprehend the material I was learning. In class, we would read short chapter books together as a class and take brief quizzes on the chapter then after. I believe the turning point to becoming a substantial reader happened when my family and I moved. I attended a different school in a different school district going entering fourth grade. Switching schools I think has benefitted me, and I think it was good I was still little because I felt as if the new school district I was in, District 303 in Illinois, give students more assistance and one-on-one to help us become stronger readers. When my class would start reading in class, I would step out of class and meet a

My reading history began with my mom reading to me when I was a child; I loved Dr. Seuss books, the Disney books, and Scholastic books. When I entered school, it became apparent that I had some kind of reading/writing disability; I was never diagnosed with Dyslexia officially but that’s what my family and I say I have. Now that I’m older, I think it’s more of a Dysgraphia

Over the years there have been many theories and practices of teaching and learning literacy across preschool, elementary, middle and early high school. A few of the theories and practices of teaching and learning literacy are Freebody & Luke’s (1990) Four Resources Model, a cognitive-constructivist view of reading (Graves, Juel, & Graves, 2007), and a complex theory of the reading process (Clay, 2013).

All throughout kindergarten and first grade I scraped by with the littlest reading skills. My parents started to notice I was struggling; my mom would read with me all the time but for some reason I could not figure it out. It was time to begin a new school year, and not being able to read well can make it a difficult time for someone my age.

As a child, I struggled to learn to read. I was a slow reader and it often took much longer for me to read a story or a book than it did my peers. Reading was not enjoyable, so I procrastinated on completing homework and I never read for pleasure. Avoiding reading because it’s not fun makes it hard to improve. When forced to read, I would usually choose books below my reading level so that it would be easier. I wanted to like reading - I enjoyed going to the library and to the book store. The smell and feel of a new book was captivating, but trying to understand difficult words just frustrated me. During most of elementary school, I had an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) and was pulled out of class during the day to go to Resource. Unfortunately, that wasn’t helpful as I ended up missing important lessons in my regular class and, as the most advanced student in Resource, I most often served as class

I was raised to love reading from a young age and that is exactly what happened. I learned how to read when I was about two years old and I haven’t stopped. There were stages to what and how I read, advancing with age. The levels of my literature preference is split into three separate intervals.

In Kindergarten I remember having to read short story books. I was so bad at reading and felt so far behind everyone, it was extremely frustrating. The truth is I felt stupid. It was very exciting finishing a book successfully but I was not confident when reading. My teacher would get frustrated with me as if it was the easiest read in the world. If you fast forward about 15 years, I’m driving in the car with my little brother who is in, 6th or 7th grade. He should be at a fluent reading level by now. I asked him to read a billboard for me, confident he could read it. He said angrily that he was not going to read it because he knows how to read. Reading did not come easy for my little brother, he was informed of his dyslexia at a young age. I think my

When I think back to the earliest reading moments of my life, I go back to remembering when I was around six years old. Every time the sun would start going down my mother and I would crawl into her bed and pull out a book. I would always get to choose what we would read that night. Most of the time I would pick Dick and Jane, Junie B. Jones, or Dr. Seuss books. Growing up, my mother always read to me every single night. I have always had a hard time with reading because of my dyslexia. My mother would always encourage me to read, and would tell me “ Practice. Practice. That are is the only way to get better. Practice makes perfection.”.

I started reading at about 3 and a half years old. I would constantly have my parents tell me the sounds each letter made, pointing to fridge magnets, magazines, and anything else with words. I began to memorize the sounds that went with letters, which led me into being able to put the sounds together when the letters were strung together into a word. I learned how to speed read in 3rd grade, and would even annotate in the margins as if I was conversing with the characters and the author before I knew it could help me academically. I would challenge myself to see how fast I could get through a book. Despite my love for reading, I do not do it nearly as much as I would like nowadays. I do not have enough time to devote to a book, and when I am reading I like to be very involved in the story.