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Slow reader?
During reading time in first grade, each student would choose a book to read independently. Many of my peers seemed to read rather quickly, but this was likely because they only looked at the pictures. Because I was insecure about being a slow reader, I would put my book back when I was only halfway through and race to finish the next one by the time my peers were done with theirs. Although I wanted to read the full story, I was too concerned about being much slower than my classmates. -
Reading for punishment
Growing up, when I would get in trouble (not remember something important or do poorly on a school assignment/test) my punishment would be to read. -
Birthday Books
Whenever students in my fourth grade class would have a birthday, the teacher would have each student write a letter to them wishing them a happy birthday and talking about anything else we wanted. She would then take each letter and make it into a booklet for the student. I recall struggling with some letters, unsure of what to say to the other student. Letters that I wrote to close friends tended to be less difficult, as it was easier for me to think of things to say to them. -
Class read aloud
Throughout my elementary years, my teachers would do a read aloud. I always enjoyed this part of the day where I was able to listen to the story my teachers told, typically while eating a snack. -
Song writing
When I was about 8 years old, I would occasionally write songs. I would simply write down the lyrics on a piece of paper and remember the melody in my head. Although I knew very little about how to write songs, I enjoyed doing this. -
Plays
My dad would take me to plays when I was young and I really enjoyed them. One time I even brought a friend with me. -
Reading questions
When I would read at home, I was encouraged to ask my parents any questions that I had. Often I would ask them to define unknown words that I came across. Because my dad would often give thorough but lengthy explanations, I went to him for help less and less. So that I could keep on with my story, I would just gloss over the unknown word, relying solely on context clues to make my best guess at the meaning of the word. -
Home read aloud
Throughout my elementary years, my parents would read to me. Although it included bedtime stories when I was younger, it was not limited to bedtime stories. My dad would read novels to me, like Harry Potter for example, after I finished homework and we'd had dinner. Of course some books were more enjoyable than others, but I always liked being read to. -
Writing my own recipes
When I was young I loved to cook and create my own recipes. I would experiment and try different things and then create a recipe for it. -
Daily fix its
Each day in fourth grade, my teacher would give the class a sentence with a certain number of errors that we would need to find and correct. We would then review it as a class. Although I would do fairly well when it came to fixing the sentences, I never liked them because I was nervous that my teacher would call on me to fix them in front of the class. Rather than listening to her fix them, my mind was worrying about the possibility of being called on. -
Dog Walking Flyers
When I was in fifth grade, my friend and I had the idea to start a dog walking/pet sitting business. For this, we made advertisements. Or advertisement was basically a note explaining why people should hire us and what our fees were. After creating the advertisements, we abandoned the idea and moved on to other endeavors. -
Cursive
When I began sixth grade, I was surprised to hear that my teachers did not care whether or not I wrote in cursive. I had been told throughout my elementary years that it would be required and that was why it was important for us to learn. After realizing that I did not need to write in cursive, I didn't. (Only once I got to college and realized I may be teaching cursive writing to my students did I begin using it again.) -
Dad's reading
My dad always loved to read. Although he says he disliked it when he was younger, by the time he had me he always seemed to be reading in his spare time. He had what seemed like infinite library in his office and was subscribed to many magazines. While I read or did homework, he would be reading too but he was never bothered if I interrupted him to ask for help. -
Notes for dad
When I was in fifth/sixth grade, my dad was in grad school. Since he worked all day, he took night classes on certain days. On these nights, I would go to bed before he got home. We had a dry erase board that I would always write notes on for him to read when he got home. The image shows a note I left for him one night that he has refused to erase since then. -
Music
During my middle school years, when I would spend time with my friends we would often listen to music while watching a lyric video to learn the words. We would spend hours in front of the computer reading the lyrics to our favorite songs and singing along. -
Chorus
In seventh and eighth grade I was in chorus. Although I was terrified of ever having to do a solo, I really enjoyed this time. Each Friday we had what we called Jazz Friday. Here we would sing songs that were not going to be sung at our performance. We would read the lyrics off a screen at the front of the room. -
Congratulations
When my dad finished grad school, I left him a note on a dry erase board like I would each night and I also made him a card to go along with it. I was inspired by his dedication and congratulated him on earning the degree. (The card references a joke my dad and I had regarding being scared of clowns). -
Bake from recipes
As I grew up, my dad cooked a lot. He taught me how to cook and follow a recipe. I always enjoyed cooking with him and as I grew older he allowed me more independence. I would read the recipe on my own and follow them as I see fit. (I often adjusted them by adding what I felt would make them better). -
Magazines
During my middle school years, I enjoyed reading magazines in my free time. I mostly enjoyed looking at the pictures and taking the quizzes they had inside, but I would read articles as well. My favorite magazine was Teen Vogue. *The image attached has Maria Sharapova on the cover. I idolized her because she was both a great tennis player and fashion designer; I aspired to be both of these things. -
Journal
In seventh grade, I began keeping a journal. In it I discussed my daily life. I enjoyed doing this because it allowed me to address things that were important to me when I may not have been comfortable doing so with someone else. -
Reading space
Growing up, I would read in the family room where my parents were. The TV would be on and they may have been conversing. Typically this did not distract me. If my dad noticed that I was distracted by what was on the TV, he would turn it off. I never got in trouble for it, but I disliked when he would do this. Oddly I found it boring this way and felt guilty since he had likely been interested in what was on, though he may have been reading too. Now instead of TV, I typically have music playing. -
Twilight
After hearing a lot about the book Twilight, I eventually decided to read it in 8th grade although I had never enjoyed reading prior. I became captivated by the story and spent all of my free time for the next 6 days reading it until I finished the book and moved on in the series. My parents were shocked and excited to see me enjoying to read, but I was not interested in their encouragement. If anything, it made me uncomfortable. -
Shopping for books
After realizing that I could really enjoy reading, I began to search for books to read. Any time that I would be with my dad shopping and he would glance at books, I would do the same. He was surprised but happy that I had taken an interest in reading. He encouraged me to pick out books that I thought I might like, and he would buy them for me.
