When I was little, I loved to have my parents read to me all the time. At first, I didn’t learn to read because I didn’t want to read the “Learn to Read” books and preferred for my parents to read to me. I remember sitting with my
Growing up with my parents, I found reading to be very fun but for religious purposes and newspaper about the incidents taking place in certain countries. Through my parents, reading started to seem like it can be beneficial if we want to know what is going on in the world and the rules and regulations of one’s religion. Although I was required to read many books for school, my parents reading habits made me feel as if I should copy them. My mom and dad would always read books or newspapers at a certain time and sometimes discuss it with each other. My parents occasionally told me that I should leave aside school books at times and read the books they do because I can learn a lot and discover many things I did not realize before and
Before I began elementary school, I enjoyed reading picture books, the touch and feel books and pop-up books. I loved the author Dr. Suess, because he was funny and because I loved the rhyming he did in his writing. I can remember before bed, my mom or dad would read to me until I got old enough to read myself. My mom has always enjoyed reading, if she is not reading a book, then she is reading a recipe or a magazine. My dad on the other hand, I have only seen him read one book, besides reading manuals for his tools. Reading was not a big deal in my house, all of us kids were told that we needed to read, but they did not force us to read. This brings me to Richard Rodriguez’s essay, in his household reading was not as important, but once he got to school, he realized that reading is one of the main activities. I can relate to Rodriguez because in either one of our households we weren’t told that we had to read before we did something else. Once I got to elementary school is when I realized that reading was not for me. Before school, I enjoyed reading, then once I began elementary school, I was forced to read, take tests over books, and read out loud in front of the class which made reading a chore.
Growing up I was a very avid reader. I remember the first books I successfully read by myself. They were a series directed towards preschoolers called, “Where’s Spot?” written by Eric Hill. There are over twenty books in the Spot series and I’m damn sure I read every single one of them. I would come home ever day after preschool and kindergarten and read the Spot books aloud as I was walking around the house. If you can’t already tell, I was a very self-absorbed child. And although the books are extremely simple, with about one word on each page, and any human being older than ten can probably tell you the exact plot simply based off of the title, I always prided myself in being able to read them. However, soon after I found reading to be a lot less rewarding because as most self-centered children I sought recognition for all my actions, as a dog seeks a treat for being able to do a trick. It became something I was expected to be able to do instead of something I was special for doing.
Lacking experience in writing and reading, English is my most feared subject. It is the one and only vulnerable spot in my in my mind. I hate writing and I hated reading, other than sports pages in the newspaper or sports books. My earliest time that I started reading
Ever since I was in elementary school, I was never able to grasp what I was reading. It was always a chore and I would speed through it or avoid it entirely. The extra help I received was meant to help me provoke, my eventual, love for reading, but at the time only made me feel as though I wasn't smart enough to read what everyone else my age could. While most kids would push themselves to read books like Harry Potter, I was the kid who was still reading the Magic Treehouse series. It was through the assistance of my parents encouraging me to read 30 minutes every night that caused me to love reading and become the reader I am today.
I’ve never put much thought into what defines reading or literacy. I know that they are life skills that are necessary for a person to have a functional place in the world. Growing up it was expected that you learned how to read, write, interpret, clarify, summarize, and
If you couldn’t read or write, how would you tackle your daily life? Being literate is a crucial part of everyone’s life; reading and writing are essential for a person’s success. Every single day, it’s used, whether it’s for an Advanced Placement Language class or reading a billboard as you’re driving past. As a child, I grew up reading on a daily basis and I believe that I am as successful as I am on behalf of it. Countless memories have been created, thanks to the multiple books that have been read and the umpteen amount of papers that I’ve written. Throughout the numerous years of my education, my teachers and parents left a long lasting impact on my reading and writing skills.
“Why is it so personal?” My past with reading and writing has not been a constant thing, I’ll admit. Growing up, the word reading would be met with a consistent groan by most of my family. Writing would probably hold a worse reaction, but no one in my family really wrote beyond the grocery list. When I was young, my favorite books were either the short informational books about animals, or the Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony Diterlizzi (I never read them, just looked at the pictures). The best thing about books was being able to leave class to go to the library and get read to. Books just weren’t very important to me, or anyone I knew.
I preferred listening to storied by others rather than do it on my own. At time of course I would do some reading on my own but I always found it extremely challenging. It wasn’t until about the second grade; whenever I was first exposed to brick and mortar schooling that my ability to read became the most challenging. This is about the time I started to notice that all the other kids were excelling with their reading abilities at a much faster rate than I was. I wasn’t fitting in with the normal standards for my age. I felt stupid. I was bumped down into reading lower level books than the majority of the class and this whole time I never understood why. The only thing I understood was that people looked at me differently. People judged me base on my ability to do what seemed like a very simple task to so many. But little did they know, I was
I can't help but laugh when going through my old IEP paperwork from grade school. Most of the teachers concerns were my reading skills, and handwriting. The school threw me into handwriting classes grades 1-5. I'd miss a 1/4th of my regular class just with that. Jokes on them my handwriting is still terrible. From reading all of their paperwork and the dates on them, the reading concerns came from right after my mom passed away. I was more than capable of doing well in that area. In fact, I really loved reading and still do. I just didn't want to be there. I didn't like my peers, and I didn't like them asking about my mom all the time. You know how kids are, they are vicious and sometimes said mean things kids say. The teachers didn't help
Reading As a Reader My experience with reading started as most do. I was exposed to the easy-readers that every little tot has seen. Obviously, I learned to read and write in kindergarten and beyond; I owe some thanks to the teachers of my early years. I was never much of
For as long as I can remember I have loved reading. When I was younger I would read just about anything I could get my hands on. Cereal boxes, shampoo bottles, just about anything. Reading was my favorite past time and no one was more thrilled than my parents, who took it upon themselves to brag to everyone that I loved to read. As I got older, however, I became less interested in reading. The books assigned to us in school were terribly boring and they successfully ruined reading for me. They made my once favorite pastime seem like a chore and I was convinced I would never love reading like I used to.
This brings me to elementary school. At this point in school my teachers wanted every kid to start reading out loud. I did not like this at all. Why? Well, because my issues with speaking make it hard for me to form words while reading out loud without needing the help of the teachers. This gave the kids around me a reason to make fun of me. This its self-made me hate reading. Ultimately my teachers did everything in their power just to get me to love reading but that involved reading out loud as well. So, I crafted up a plan of my own. That plan was for me to read aloud at home; I would sit in my room and read almost anything until I felt comfortable with reading aloud. Shockingly it worked wonders. By the time I hit the sixth grade I no longer had speech classes and I was comfortable with reading out loud, but I refused to volunteer to read.
The Importance of Reading and Writing Reading and writing are both important; you can’t have one without the other. They are skills that are increased constantly due to little things that most times are not noticed. Whether it is from a book to a poem, there will always be a way that it helps out your school performance. Reading and writing in general only helps absorb information, and enhance leisure or school related writing tasks. It has also made life itself so much easier because reading and writing are so beneficial for school and for life. How much you read and write today, will somehow affect your future job, family, position, or even your salary.