Reading As A Reader : My Experience Of Reading As A Reader

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.

My reading experience has had a lot of ups and downs. I was never an over-achiever in my language arts or reading classes, which has affected my passion for reading. A lot of my opinions about reading have changed even just since this summer. I don’t have any recollection of reading before kindergarten except for learning the letters. Kindergarten was a struggle for me, but after kindergarten to third grade. In third grade I peaked and absolutely loved reading and writing, but it faded in middle school and has been fading since then for me.

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

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.

I’ve always been an avid reader. When I was in elementary school, my mother would take my brother and I to the library every week to pick out books. I would take the books to school and read them all in one day. I loved reading so much that my teachers would call home and tell my parents that I was reading my library books during class instead of my textbooks. Reading has always been a major part of my life. I used to aspire to become an author. I even wanted to become an editor at one point. I used to make daily household newspapers and magazines for my entire family to read and enjoy. My strong love for reading certainly came in handy during my freshman year of high school.

Ripp points out in this article is the importance of keeping the students interested and engaged in books. For any number of reasons, such as trying to fit in or juggling priorities in general, students often completely give up on reading for enjoyment, and, as Mrs. Ripp mentions, “There is no year that we cannot lose a reader.” In essence, the point she is trying to get across is that students of any age are prone to developing a negative attitude or outlook towards reading. For some students, this might come as a result of being a struggling reader, while for others it may be as simple as not knowing how or what to read for pleasure. Where these issues are concerned, Mrs. Ripp has taken it upon herself to instill a new – or renewed – love and passion for diving into a good

George R. R. Martin once proclaimed, “A reader lives a thousand lives”, which means that I have lived more than my terse eighteen years on this earth. From my parents reading me the classic Goodnight Moon every night, to my three-year-old self loving If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Chrysanthemum (which I strongly felt was written after me), I had an exemplary start when it came to the world of literature. From this introduction, I continued to immerse myself in books while other kids’ interest in books faltered once the pages were no longer filled with pretty pictures and enormous letters. My love and fascination, however, only grew stronger over time and as my skills advanced, I started to go through books so fast that I needed to buy five at a time in order to keep myself entertained by their stories. I have enjoyed my

: When I was in preschool which was when I was about 4 or 5 years old, I saw all of the teachers reading and I wanted to learn for myself how to read. I went home and I asked my mom "Can you help me learn how to read please." So my mom and I began the slow and steady practice of reading. I was persistent to learning how to read at a young age because I felt like it was something no other kid my age would want to do at that age. I started with simple books for about 8 months

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

As a kid I used to read a lot and my family use to read to me. Reading was my favorite thing to do, but as I got older I got out the habit of reading. I stopped reading because there were a lot of distractions, such as watching TV, and being on my cell phone all the time. Dr. Seuss once said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” I absolutely love that quote it inspires me and motivates me so much. I have so many early reading memories, school reading memories, and some reading obstacles that I have had to overcome, all influencing my current approach to reading.

My senior year of high school felt like it would never end. College applications, financial aid, and constant school work rarely allowed me time to read the way I did in the past. With this in mind, my love of reading never died due to the words of a close friend. Written inside of a copy of J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit-my favorite book- is the quote my mentor said to me the first day of high school. “Never forget the journey,” he noted, “for it is the most important part of the adventure.”

I always hated reading books in school. For one thing, the material usually wasn’t interesting, and on top of that, if there was anything exciting to learn, we would be hand fed the material instead of being allowed to figure out the purpose for ourselves, and to interpret the literature as we please. This was detrimental to my progress, especially since I find that I learn from works of literature best when I when I am given the material and left to myself to interpret it on my own. Thankfully, during my junior year, a new teacher came up to Utqiagvik, and his teaching methods and material would earn him the respect as one of the best teachers Barrow High School would have. However, it was the book Fahrenheit 451 that he assigned us to read that would have the most profound effect on me, more so than any other book.

For as long as I can remember, reading has always been a hobby of mine. Both of my parents encouraged me at a young age to pick up books, and they furthered this by reading to me often. They influenced my interest in fiction and nonfiction, and when my sister was born, I would do the same for her. Even though I still like to read, I have found more hobbies and my interests have changed. Nevertheless, I still have the same enjoyment reading my favorite literature that I had when I was little. Also, I have developed a fondness for writing in the last few years as well.

Reading has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was a little child. I grew up as a normal child should grow and eventually I had to start learning for me to fit in society. My literacy started many years ago, after I knew how to talk and communicate with people. Reading my alphabet was quite stressful and I had to be given a hand by my family members. I remember my parents reading with me and it was the most meaningful and memorable way to spend time with me. This is because I liked reading a lot and I was eager to learn so that I could fit in with my older siblings. My favorite books were storybooks taking about adventures and fairytales

From the first day I read a book in school, to the last day of high school, and now in college not one day has gone by that I have not read something. From “The diary of Anne Frank” in elementary school or “Romeo and Juliet”