Imprisoned by My Fear of Reading

As kids we are exposed to many different thing in many different environments like reading and math in school, or swimming and music in someone's time spent away from school.

The beginning on my literacy journey was a difficult one. Partly because I am dyslexic, and partly because I was not motivated by traditional things. I did not care about reading or writing. I did not want to waste my time with it. Nothing about it interested me. I felt that I was already going to fail at it no matter what. So whats the point? If some lady told you that no matter what you are going to have a hard time reading and writing because thats “how God made you” would you really be motivated to read and write? She said in that it didn 't mean I was not smart, but that I just couldn 't read or write as good as everyone else. This lady was the school psychologist, who tested me for learning disabilities in the first grade. After hearing the verdict from her I had no intention of being good at anything that had to do with reading or writing. It was dead to me.

I have a passionate desire to excel in my academic life. My early elementary school years were arduous because I have always been a very stubborn person; and at the time, I had simply decided I did not want to go to school. However, about halfway through my 1st grade year, I decided that I could no longer go without giving my best academically and I turned my stubborn rebellion against school into a

I have excelled at every subject, achieving various honors throughout my years at Bellefonte. I have challenged myself greatly by taking various engineering classes at the high school, so that I can see what is to come in my future. These courses are designed to push students outside of the normal classroom routine, making me focus on real world applications of the material. In these courses, and all of my schoolwork I strive for perfection, pushing myself to my limits to achieve it. When faced with challenges I strive to overcome them in any means necessary. I strive to have challenges in my schoolwork, so that I can push myself to solve them. I do not back away from any challenge, rather I seek for them to show myself, and others what is

If I could describe my relationship with reading and writing it would most likely have to be, improving. Of course I would assume the same happens to all students that their reading and writing skills improve as they continue with their education. For me reading has been a passion, so my reading skills are pretty advanced and I can say I am able to read well. In my case, being a child of two Hispanic parents, I do have a slight accent that can get in the way and make my reading a bit rough. Usually it is not so bad, only on certain words that either I do not know how to properly pronounce or certain letters that my accent acts as a physical barrier where I have to sound it out more carefully or work around my accent. While that is the #1 major setback I have during reading. Even with that setback I can still say that I am confident in my reading skills, reading at a well speed, improving, reading various books all that combined allows to be able to read almost anything. What I do enjoy about reading is that I see it being able to bring myself into that world that the author is writing about or to envision the story they’re telling as a movie. I like the idea of just sitting back or laying down with a good book for hours and getting deep into whatever I am reading. Personally once I pick up a good book it is usually hard for me to put it down without the paranoia of not knowing how it ends will eat me up and I usually finish a book within a few days.

Throughout my years of schooling, I have become ambivalent about reading and writing. I have struggled in school to make myself enjoy writing. I didn’t mind reading as much, as long as it was to my interest. It has differed throughout the years I have been in school. Some years I have enjoyed both, reading and writing, and other years I have not liked either. Getting myself to enjoy reading and writing has been quite the adventure.

Our teacher then gave us a reading schedule for the month, when to read about 15 pages on a given day. We would also have one five-question quiz per week on a day following a reading homework day to keep us in check. Normally I’d be nervous for these sort of quizzes, but after my failure on the first test I was motivated to redeem myself. I saw these assessments as practice for the eventual test, a sparring for the big fight. I had to take these readings seriously however, so I decided to take notes during the read.What was supposed to be a 45 minute task turned out to be a 2 to 3 hour burden. I was determined never to skip any scheduled reading as a quiz could occur the next. Sometimes I would stay up late just to finish writing and it wasn’t simple side notes, I wrote down the complete sentence word for word. When I finished a unit, the notes accumulated to a minimum of 9 pages.However, my hard work was not in vain as I aced the quiz, and the quiz after that. Before I knew it I aced the test, and the test after that. I am honestly glad that I failed that first test, otherwise I do not think I would have developed such a work

When I was two, my parents relocated us to Muskogee, Oklahoma. It is from these early days that literacy took control of my life. As a younger child, I do not remember a moment when books were not a crucial part of my existence. I eagerly awaited my father’s payday every week because that meant I could go to TG&Y and purchase a new Golden Book. Two of my favorite selections over the years were Little Brown Bear and Grover Takes Care of Baby. I may not have been able to read all the words, but through the pictures and my mother’s encouragement, the stories began to take me away. I did not understand the sacrifice my parents made for this opportunity until I was grown, but as an adult, I am extremely grateful for it. Without their support and encouragement of my literacy adventure, I would not be where I am today.

I have always been more of a passive person. I grew up with my three younger brothers, and even though I am the oldest one, they still picked on me or even excluded me because I was the only girl. I didn't like to fight anyways, so I usually never did. I was not very determined in school either. I loved school from the start and I still love to learn. Since I did like it, the curriculum came easy to me. I passed classes easily, but I never did my homework or I did it at the last minute. As I got in middle school, I procrastinated projects and homework still, but did it well enough to still pass with great grades and excellent recommendations from most of my teachers. School came easily, but if there was something that required extra effort or seemed to hard for me, I would not do it. I was always a person to go with the flow and not step out of my comfort zone.

According to the different tests that I took for this assignment in order to identified what type of personality I have, I am a persevered person. I am accomplishing my goals in life. I considered that little by little I had been learning lessons through out different experiences. For instance, I immigrated to USA and it was a challenge to me to adapted to this country because there are people from different nationalities with their cultures. I was born and raise in Venezuela, my mother is from Venezuela and my father is from Dominican Republican. Even though my father is from Dominican Republic I feel that there some people from Dominican Republic that are not well educated. They emigrated and they do not want to be productive, I do not want

The theoretical framework is founded on the pretense that much has been written concerning the problems that many students have with the comprehension of reading materials, especially content texts--science, math, and social studies. Alexander (1988) suggested that these children may be those who have little trouble with their basal readers or trade books, yet are unable to derive meaning from what they read in content area textbooks.

Shawkat M. Toorawa writes in Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur And Arabic Writerly Culture about the fear of the existence of books in the Arab world in the 800s. This fear of books is still shared by many today, especially rulers. Although during this period, books were not common because they were more expensive, books were starting to become more popular. Furthermore as books became more popular, people grew more uncomfortable with the power of written words and the way it changed the Arab world. For example, in the 700s, orality was reliable and the most popular mean for one to share their stories, poems and much more. At the time, legitimacy rested with the authors and not the books. However, just 200 years later in the 900s, books became more marketable because of the discovery of cheaper paper. New occupations such as copyists, stationers became popular because they were needed to assemble and reproduce books. This changed the class structure by allowing copyists, stationers and many more to join the upper class. At this moment, copyists defined what good books were and thus were important members of the literary society. In addition, the more accessible books were becoming, the more different genres of books were published. Thus, authors of poetry, fables and other genres were also given room to join the literary class. Furthermore, books transformed the meaning of the word adab. The word adab now means literature. However, during the 600s, adab stood for beautiful letters and

When it comes to school, I have tried to better, challenge myself and further my academic

Students having hard times in comprehending the thought of the text and what the author implies. It seems to be reading by words but not reading between the lines. It is important to know how comprehension plays an integral part in a manner of thinking and conceptualizing facts and ideas from the

With so many ways to describe who I am, I think I will start off with the basics. I am a college student that attends Drake University. I would identify myself as hard-working, responsible, and persistent. At the beginning of the term, I identified myself as how I felt in the moment with answers such as tired, hungry, and bored. Yes, those were traits I identified myself within the moment, but now I try to look far and beyond the present. I want to identify myself as someone who strives to achieve everything she ever wanted, including graduating from college, with honors and getting involved within the college community. I want to be able to identify with things that have meaning and substance that I have always strived for including being determined and self-reliant.