Why I Don 't Type On The Home Row

At the age of five, I learned of my struggle concerning the topic of writing. In kindergarten, this wasn't too much of a problem (because of the lack of writing-based assignments). Once I got into first grade, where the level of difficulty increased, I learned that I was not a good writer. When I say I wasn't a good writer, I do not only mean my writing quality, I also mean the physical act of writing. To get over this, I was required to practice writing at home, along with being given extra/specialized homework. With all of this help, I learned to be better at handling my writing

My first experience to literacy came as a young adult. I have always been reluctant with my education, because of the family problems I experienced growing up. The harsh treatment our family received growing up made it very difficult to study in school, my body was physically in class but my mind was not. The trials and tribulations I went through growing up as a kid continued throughout my teenage years. Dropping out of high school I believe brought upon literacy difficulty. At the age of twenty-three, I finally had enough of feeling undereducated. Living in my mother’s basement with no job and an 8th grade education, the walls started to close in on me as my frustration became greater by the minute.

It was not until I reached kindergarten where I first learned how to write. Having parents that were not fluent in English and worked almost all day, I found school being the gateway to my academic success. Learning how to trace letters were the first steps to my literacy journey. Every morning, I would sit in my assigned seat where I had my very own box that contained my crayons. My first task was to trace my name on the paper with crayons, something that every kindergartner is anticipated to fulfill. I remember having so most trouble, everyone has trouble from time to time, but in my case it was all the time. Once the bell rang for recess, all the kids ran right past me to go play outside once they finished writing their name successfully. I was always the last one to go and my teacher, Mrs. Ross, would have to slowly spend more time with me, holding my hand and tracing my name so I could get the hang of it. I did not have the same help at home as I did in school. Unfortunately, my parents could not help me with any of my school work; I either had to be self taught or I had to turn to my teacher for assistance. “The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me.” (Hellen Keller) I can relate to this quote because my kindergarten teacher was someone who inspired and motivated me to go past all odds. Like Hellen Keller, meeting Mrs.

Last week we wrote a blog and one of the questions was “How did you learn to read and write?”  I found this question interesting because I never had really thought about the moment when I actually learned how to read and write. My mom was the first person to expose me to reading and writing. A popular tactic she did to make sure I was staying engaged was to read aloud stories and make me follow along with her. My mom would read me many different stories like Tarzan, Bambi, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Lion King, The Jungle Book, and Hercules. whatever I wanted to listen and follow along with, she would read with me. This really helped with my want to read. The books contained a lot of adventure, which made it easy as a kid to follow along with. I became to gain an imagination and then all of a sudden reading was easier.

Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning from an early age, as it unlocks access to the wider curriculum. Being literate increases opportunities for pupils in all aspects of life and lays the foundations for lifelong learning and work.

    As a child I was a very eager learner, I always wanted to learn new things to feed my brain. My desire to learn how to read started when I was introduced to the book, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” Since I didn't have the ability to read at that age, I would ask my mom to

During adolescence, I began reading and writing through a fundamental learning program called, "Hooked on Phonics." This program consisted of long hours spent reading short novels and writing

During adolescence, I began reading and writing through a fundamental learning program called, "Hooked on Phonics." This program consisted of long hours spent reading short novels and writing

Like many children, I learned to read and write around the age of five at both home and school. I learned to read by reading Dick and Jane. The writing was simple, but I loved the stories. That was always my favorite part

In elementary school, I loved to read. Writing was not a big deal either due to the fact that we did not have to write four page essays. It was in first grade when I started to like reading. Reading has just been freshly introduced, considering we had only completed one year of school. My teacher always read to us and I wanted to read those books as well. Throughout elementary school I started to read Junie B. Jones books, which were my favorite. All of the books were about a first grade girl and her different adventures. I had always enjoyed reading those books. Each book had a different topic which I would always relate to in some way. Although I liked to read, I did struggle with reading comprehension which made me dislike writing as well. I hated having to read and then go and write about it. To this day, I still do not like reading comprehension, but my feelings toward reading and writing have changed.

My literacy journey had begun earlier than most kids, according to my mother. I started reading in kindergarten, with help with the BOB books and the PBS show Between the Lions. I don’t know when I had started writing exactly, but I remember clearly writing short stories about my cat Stormy in 3rd grade. At that time we had to write weekly short stories, and I only ever wrote about my cat. In 4th grade, I had started exploring writing more; I would write plays for me and my friends to practice during recess. Most of them, I’m happy to say, were actually educational, so my teacher had even let my friends and I perform one about early-American settlers in front of our whole class.

My literacy skills began to truly develop while sitting on an orange and blue tapestry that displayed all the continents and listening to my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Green, read an African folktale, this is when I began understanding literacy. She read slowly and pointed to every word, and used lots of enthusiasm when she showed us the pictures. She finished reading, and now we are at our desks, and singing the alphabet song.

Through the years of elementary school, I excelled in reading because of the comprehension I had and my love for books. We were always required to read a book, because we needed a certain amount of accelerated reading points each month. My favorite books were Junie B. Jones and Captain Underpants. I enjoyed reading during these years because it came natural to me and I admired the fictional aspects of books and the way they could make my mind run wild. The teachers I had I credit some of my success to because they helped me succeed in reading during elementary school.

In a world driven by technology, it is easy to throw away learning methods of the past in favor of following up and coming trends. However, when it comes to writing by hand versus typing, the advantages to learning of writing by hand far outweigh the ease of use of typing. Through academic research of college note-takers and primary students as well as research on how the neuroscience behind hand writing works, it is proven that hand writing is superior to typing for learning.

High school was when I developed a curiosity for writing. I had known from my previous experiences in middle school that writing in a classroom setting was exhausting and boring. Adding extra words to try to fill the last half page of a length requirement became dreadful back in sixth grade. I felt my writing was not interesting, but the