Reading For Success : I Am A Staple Of My High School Career

Literacy memories and events began at a young age for me, and while teachers and family members all impacted my opinions and preferences for reading, every book I read and writing assignment given to me helped me form my literacy story and come to enjoy reading. Many literacy moments came from when I was young, like my mom or dad reading to me before bed or teachers reading to me at school their favorite books. All of these memories were accompanied by everyone saying how great reading was, and for a while I didn’t believe them. I had so many forced experiences with reading that it was almost painful for me to pick up a book. But as time went on and the reading I was still forced to do intensified, a better relationship with reading and writing

My mother taught me how to read at a young age. She read to me before I could read which helped me learn new words and develop a basic understanding of literature at an early age. When it came time for me to attend elementary school, I remember heading to the library quite often. Books were organized based on what was thought to be the appropriate reading material for that grade level. I often found myself wandering down the isles with the older kids. I’m so grateful my mother encouraged reading as much as she did. If she hadn’t, it’s very possible I could have struggled with reading. If this were true, I wouldn’t have learned as much as I did, or had the desire to read, which is very important in order to become as advanced in literature as possible.

As a product of South Central Los Angeles the expectations bestowed upon me were less than remarkable. I grew up in a system of public schools where textbooks and classrooms where infested with graffiti and marker lines by students with no intention to learn. As a child growing up this kind of environment I did what I saw around me. Ignored my education and focused on making friends. Both my parents worked full time jobs so time spent with them was limited, I never cared much for reading or writing as a child, books where never a gift; more of a chore that was taking up time from my true interested. It was by these guidelines that I never saw the true magic behind literature until now a grown up.

Many of my teachers were unwilling to spend one-on-one time with me to allow me to understand at the correct pace, that was until last year when Sarah Wansley stepped in and really helped me to understand grammar, reading, and writing. The most recent book I read was Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, although the book was required for a school project I now consider it to be my favorite book. During the research of Alboms memoir I learned not only how to research and look at the background and continuations of some novels, but also that there are books for everyone to enjoy and get lost in no matter how many book you have read and found completely boring. I often found reading to be just that, reading, I never digested and understood the text. I would read a sentence and two seconds later I could not tell you a single word of it, because I was never digesting the words on the page to make sense. That is the main reason I did not enjoy many books assigned for school, I would only read it to answer the questions on the study guide and then a majority of the time I would fail the tests because I never took the extra time to enjoy the

I had a very fortuitous encounter. One day I was at the bookstore in the young adult section and a cover picture of a girl in a black dress crying caught my eye. The book was called Fallen by Lauren Kate, a romantic gothic themed story about fallen angels. It was the first novel I was not forced to read that I liked and finished. Ever since then I have been a zealous book reader and collector. I used to read about 100 pages an hour and about 3 or 5 books a week, give or take. On those days, I seldom came out of my room because I was so wrapped up in what I was reading. Books became a way for to connect to the outside world, especially because I was an isolated person, and to explore other places and worlds I'd never been to. It was a truly an amazing moment in my life. Eventually, I began to write stories of my

My passion for reading began the summer before junior high, the English class I would be taking had a required summer reading list. I had no desire to read “boring books” over the summer and summarize them. Fortunately, my parents made me read the first book and I was hooked. Consequently, I became obsessed (in a positive way) with this unbelievable adventure; “The Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen; transported me to the wilderness that summer and sparked my love for reading. From that moment on reading became my favorite pastime. Literature expanded my world beyond the Rio Grande Valley I visited the “Island of the Blue Dolphins”, and decided I needed dogs with “Where the Red Fern Grows”. I have several beloved books that I never get tired of reading,

Before I was even in grade school, my father was trying to get me to read. According to home I refused to take any sort of lessons. I wouldn’t want to learn how to sound out all of the letters, I didn’t let teachers try to help me, not anything. Now, fast forward about a year, all of a sudden I just pick up a book and read it out loud. I do not remember this moment, but it was apparently a biography about Abraham Lincoln. Everyone in the house, my father and grandparents, were shocked at this. Despite this experience, I didn’t read on my own again for another year or so. I still don’t know what got me to read that book, but I doubt that matters right now.

During our recent winter break, I started reading as many novels, novellas, and biographies that piqued my interest. Once I sat down, curled up on the couch, I would start a story and wouldn’t stop reading until I was done, whether the book was 80 pages or 573 pages. Even if the book was horrible, I would still finish what I started. Although I’m concentrating on college and succeeding, I’m falling in love with reading again. Just during our winter break, I read over fifty novels, biographies, and novellas ranging from science fiction, paranormal romance, history, and classical horror

Since school started I have grown to love reading. In the process of writing a writer

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.

Some of my favorite books, mostly Dr. Seuss, mostly got me going on my reading skills. It was easy. Word were easy to pronounce and they also had pic to help me with words I couldn’t even say. I felt important reading his books. Then, as I got older and my reading skills improved, chapter books came into play. Through my childhood I did not have it so easy. My brother passed and he mostly taught me how to correctly read. So when he left, I was stuck. I had other people in my family to help but once you get use to that favorite person helping you, you get attached. When it came to one of my other brother, it sucked. I usually get talked about constantly by him because he was older and always run his mouth when I came across a word that I didn’t know. Reading books became an easy escape at that age. It was something to do, and kept me occupied without having to talk to myself. It was also a way to read about other people and about their lives, which I think is a reason for my taste in books now. My parents and my favorite math teacher always told me that I'm a very bright individual and my accomplishments in other subjects prove that. I approached and passed science and surprisingly math. They both dealt with reading and understanding things that I needed to know. To me, writing equals to nothing more than stress and frustration. I thought was too stupid to waste effort

I didn’t used to like reading, in fact, I had a strong grievance for reading. It used to put me to sleep honestly. In elementary school when we would read I would fall asleep in the middle of reading. Close to ninety-five percent of the time, it always ended up with me getting yelled at, or told to go back to my seat. It was so boring for me, mainly, because I was reading dumb books, and I wanted to feel older by reading non-childish books. One day, my aunt took me to Barnes and Noble to get a new book. I honestly didn’t even care to look at the summary of the book, I would just look on the cover to see if there was a cool picture. While I was looking for a book, I found a spooky looking book with a guy in a trench coat in front of a red background

Reading became my escape, I read every book in English I could get my hands on, whether it was a forbidden John Grisham book my father left out, or an innocent children’s book such as The Secret Garden. The books allowed me to fly to my own world where I could be anything but a kid stuck away from home. Eventually I read through every fiction book there was in the house, so, I moved on to the less interesting educational books. Immediately, I fell in love, history books took me back to a time before mankind, or to the underground railroad! The math books had better puzzles than any of the mystery novels I had read, the science books answered more than my parents ever could! I felt like my world had been transformed overnight, nothing was(and still is) more exciting than the feeling of learning a new concept, or figuring out a difficult math puzzle. After almost a year of not attending school, I felt like like crying at the prospect of learning something new.

When I was growing up all I had was an education, I had no friends, activities, or even family to look to for support, strength, or a role model. I only had myself, my soul, and my mind, a body to work, a soul to express, and a mind to what? I didn’t know and with no one around me to ask I began to realize, around forth grade during school, minds are meant to be grown. A person’s mentality and intellect are traits not from my religious deity but in turn from education and progression in studies from our school systems taught by qualified educators. This thought sparked me to start realizing what my mind can acquire in literature, so I began reading in my abundant time expanding my previous vocabulary exponentially. In fifth grade I achieved

As a child, my interests were more focused on reading than writing. In elementary school I fell in love with books. Initially I read simple children’s books, much like everybody else in my class, but it did not take long for my passion to drive me to read more difficult writings. Fiction books quickly became a replacement for any childhood toys. Instead of blocks or stuffed animals I would ask my parents for books. Since they were aimed at young readers, they tended to be short. I found myself going through them within days, and then soon several hours. Towards the end of elementary school I was reading series like Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. I was captivated, and reading truly opened up a whole new world for me.