My Reading Journey Part 1
I hated reading when it was required in elementary school. In fact I almost failed second grade since I couldn’t read. I had problems with sight words and that in turn led to comprehension issues. My mother, being an English major and an elementary school teacher worked with me the whole summer on reading. She made sight word flash cards. I remember being quizzed on the flash cards before I could go outside to play. I hated the flash cards and had the hardest times with the “th” words like through, thought, though and so on. I still have a hard time with these words when I do a quick skim through materials.
Once I had my sight words down, my mother would make me read for an hour a day. During the summer, after lunch, she would make me spend time in my room with my vast collection of books. I thought it was tortured to be confined to my room instead of playing with friends. So as first I would flip through the books just looking at the pictures, counting down the minuets. Eventually something clicked in my mind and I started to read the books instead of just looking at the pictures. As it turned out much of what I was reading was what I had picked up in the picture. From then on out, I have been an avid reader.
As a mother with children who also struggle with reading, I can appreciate the heart ache my mother went through teaching me how to read. Both children have reading comprehension issues that showed up in the first grade. Both my husband and I agree that reading is very important in a child’s education and we encourage our children to read on a daily basis. It is a rule in our house that 30 minutes before bed time, they both read. On the weekends, they both have to read for an hour before playing with video games or friends. Since we have started this practice, my son has slowly overcame his battles with comprehension and is enjoying reading more and more each day. My daughter enjoys reading, but is slowly making progress. She compares the pictures to what she is reading and that helps her understand what is going on in the story.
I think being able to identify with students that have trouble reading will be very helpful to me as a teacher and to them as a student. By identifying the problem, I feel that we can work together to find the solution to their issues. There is more than one way to comprehend subject matter.
It is interesting to see that you too disliked reading and then suddenly found a passion for reading. I too had an English major for a parent and was "forced" to read. I didn't really enjoy it. I also had the revelation one day that reading is fun. It is awesome that you are helping your children find their passion for reading. Your desire to help them with their comprehension is going to be great strength in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed your statement about relating the pictures to the text and that is how you transferred from a non-reader to a reader. I have never thought of the pictures as motivation to reading a story.