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Parent reads to me every night.
Every night one of my parents would read to me. My mother would typically read me short children's books such as Dr. Seuss, and my father would read me books like The Hobbit. -
Trouble reading and writing
When I started Kindergarten my issues with reading and writing became evident. I could read but I had a hard time reading on my own because I would switch letters in a word. This caused me to not like reading. -
Started getting pulled from class
When I entered 2nd grade I began to get pulled from class to be one-on-one with a teacher. We mainly focused on my ability to read out loud, and writing the letters 'd' and 'b' in words. I would constantly use the other in words, and I was below my reading level. It frustrated me because I knew my reading/writing is what held me back from being put in the advance class where most of my friends were placed in. -
Reading: My Anxiety
I hated reading. I began developing anxiety around reading. I would freak out at the prospect of being selected in class to read out loud. I would figure out the pattern of the teacher's selection, and figure out where in the text I would be asked to read. So I would read over and over what I would read out loud ignoring what others were reading. So when my name was called I could read it out loud without stumbling over my words and not stopping to figure out the words. -
Learned to "cheat" the system
I was a very slow reader. It would take me twice as long to read anything. We were assigned a book "report" project on any book we wanted that contain chapters. By the time our project was due I had only read about half the book, and so I quickly threw together all the information I had read. I stretched the information to make it appear that I had read the whole thing. When I received the feedback I learned I can "cheat" my way to a good grade with doing less than others. -
Harry Potter
I discovered Harry Potter book series. I saw the first two movies and feel in love with them. My oldest brother told me about how it was based on a book series. I began reading the book series, and it was honestly the first time I actually enjoyed reading. It made me push through the frustration of how slow I read, and having a hard time sounding out words I did not know. -
Points for reading
In school they would assign a point goal for reading. We would read a book and take a test on said book. We had to reach a certain number of points within a time frame. This took away my newly found love with reading on my own. It took my books and turned them into assignments. Which drained any kind of motivation to read outside of school. I often didn't complete these assignments. -
State Testing
It was that time to take proficiency tests in high school. I breezed through all the subjects with ease, but the last test was reading. I panicked all the way through, and towards the end I was running out of time. I noticed that the tables around me were becoming more empty, and the proctors announce that we only had 5 minutes left. I quickly just bubbled in answers by coping the person next to me because I had to catch the bus. To my surprise I passed all the exams which meant I could graduate -
After graduating High School
After high school, I began to love reading once again. This love came back due to reading comics and graphic novels. With being out of school I could just read for me. But once college came around I fell back into hating reading once again because my speed at reading hindered me with reading the content for class. Several classes I just didn't read textbooks and just made sure I listened in class. I was able to retain the info, but when that didn't work I looked for videos on YouTube to help me. -
Learned to Enjoy Reading
I enjoy reading but only when it is recreational. With no deadlines to reach because I still feel like I read terribly slow. I know I am much quicker than I used to be in my youth, but I still experience some sort of anxiety while reading outside of the books/comics I read for fun on my own. I make sure to read a novel a month, and not beat myself up if I don't finish it within that month. I tend to enjoy horror books. Currently attempting to read "House of Leaves".
