I once thought of myself as a slow learner. My friends and acquaintances seemed to have knowledge and experiences unknown to me. I now realize I was a sheltered learner. My sensory input was limited. What I saw, read, heard, and even did, was limited to what my parents, teachers, preachers and even my spouse, thought I should experience.
Reading, which once seemed restricted to school books, the Bible, and parenting books, became an adventure to a new life. I acquired new desires, dreams, goals and thoughts. I developed a can-do attitude instead of a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to living. Instead of spending countless hours watching television, I checked out books from the library. In waiting rooms I would
select magazines with unique articles and short stories. Reading has brought about a greater open mind.
My hearing improved. Not that there was anything wrong with my ears – I just wasn’t listening. I was tuning the world out instead of experiencing it. There was a whole world outside school, church and babies crying. I began to listen, really listen, to the storie...
Richard Wright, in his essay “Discovering Books,” explains how reading books changed his outlook on life and eventually his life itself. The first book that widened his horizons was an overtly controversial book by H. L. Mencken. I have a story not so dissimilar from his.
I began to read not out of entertainment but out of curiosity, for in each new book I discovered an element of real life. It is possible that I will learn more about society through literature than I ever will through personal experience. Having lived a safe, relatively sheltered life for only seventeen years, I don’t have much to offer in regards to worldly wisdom. Reading has opened doors to situations I will never encounter myself, giving me a better understanding of others and their situations. Through books, I’ve escaped from slavery, been tried for murder, and lived through the Cambodian genocide. I’ve been an immigrant, permanently disabled, and faced World War II death camps. Without books, I would be a significantly more close-minded person. My perception of the world has been more significantly impacted by the experiences I've gained through literature than those I've gained
The power of reading may be evident to many people around the world, but to others it may not be realized until that one magnificent work that changes the meaning of literature forever to them. Literature has never been my strong suit, but throughout this course and after many readings, literature began to speak to me. My perception of literature immediately changed after reading the short story The Lottery by Shirley and the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.
As a child, I have always been fond of reading books. My mother would read to me every single night before I went to bed and sometimes throughout the day. It was the most exciting time of the day when she would open the cabinet, with what seemed to be hundreds of feet tall, of endless books to choose from. When she read to me, I wanted nothing more than to read just like her. Together, we worked on reading every chance we had. Eventually I got better at reading alone and could not put a book down. Instead of playing outside with my brothers during the Summer, I would stay inside in complete silence and just read. I remember going to the library with my mom on Saturdays, and staying the entire day. I looked forward to it each and every week.
My dad taught me that books could be my teachers, my mom taught me that our backyard could be my classroom, and my sister showed me that you could bring books into the swimming pool. I did not know it when I would spend hours in the pool reading a book that my parents weren’t encouraging it in vain, but my family life, for good reason, was centered on books. We were the planets orbiting around one sun that was the bookshelf. Little did I know that books would be the catalyst to academic success in my early life, and I owe it all to my family. Although a life with a book in your nose might seem boring, I was never bored. Living through the characters vicariously, I explored Narnia with Lucy, attended Hogwarts with Harry, and rode dragons with Eragon. Of course
I’ve always taken after my dad, so it should not have been a surprise when my reading habits took after him too. My whole life I have been able to sit and read for hours on end without disturbance, however as I began to read your book The Book Thief I felt a shift. It wasn't your book per say. It was more like the entrance to a new era. The hours I spent on the fantastical worlds turned into minutes, and the time I spent with my mom became time spent with my father. It just took your book to realize what was truly happening. I was growing up.
In a world dominated by technology, reading novels has become dull. Instead of immersing into books, we choose to listen to Justin Bieber’s new songs and to scroll through Instagram posts. We have come to completely neglect the simple pleasures of flipping through pages and getting to finally finish a story. Sherman Alexie and Stephan King’s essays attempt to revive this interest in books that has long been lost. They remind us of the important role that reading plays in our daily lives. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” for instance, demonstrates how being literate saved the narrator from the oppressive nature of society. The author explains that even though he was capable of reading complex books at an astonishingly young
For me, life was a constant loop; wake up, go to school, do homework, fall asleep. Everything was ordinary and boring. I soon realized that something was missing. I decided to confront my parents. They gave me the same answer that they’ve given me for years, “Just read a book or something”. I wanted to tell them I’ve tried, but they didn’t care. It was just another normal day and my English class was taking a trip to the library, but what was I to do there? Sitting down in one of the chairs, I grabbed a random book and started reading. Little did I know, it was going to change my life forever.
Ever since I was a child, I've never liked reading. Every time I was told to read, I would just sleep or do something else instead. In "A Love Affair with Books" by Bernadete Piassa tells a story about her passion for reading books. Piassa demonstrates how reading books has influenced her life. Reading her story has given me a different perspective on books. It has showed me that not only are they words written on paper, they are also feelings and expressions.
Being a self-directed learner motivated by your own needs and wants entails certain criteria. A key concept of self-directed learning is to put yourself to have no external motivation or at least very little.You must be the director of your life and education not allowing menial disturbances to interfere. You have to be very independent In your decisions and lifestyle. Being independent gives you a strong base for your personality, not allowing it to be easily diminished. Being strong and independent allows you to not be weakened by failure and to be more persistent in your work. If you fail at a task you 're more willing to continue if you have a strong independent lifestyle.
Reading was never something I fussed about growing up. As a child, I loved genres of realistic fiction. I was hooked on The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley, Goosebumps, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, Judy Moody, and especially, Zoobooks and Highlights magazines. My mother was always ready to help build my reading and writing skills. She took me to the library constantly to feed my passion for books and knowledge. I loved exploring the shelfs, organizing the books, and filling up my library cart. I tried keeping a diary in elementary school to keep track of my outings with my parents and grandparents to museums, zoos, movies, and libraries. This flash of writing enthusiasm was spun from books I read in the 4th and 5th grade that were
I remember that, when being taught to read I already knew more words than I had realized. Watching my dad’s finger skim under the words as he read them had helped me subconsciously learn those words. I learned to read and write at a much more accelerated pace than my peers. I felt impatient with those who lagged behind, not realizing that not everyone had been given the same advantages as me. The moment I started to read on my own, my great aunt, a retired kindergarten teacher, would send me a box of books she had used in her classroom every year for my birthday. Throughout elementary school, when I received the box, I would bring it up to my room and practice reading all the books on my own. Being able to read on my own opened the door to a world I hadn’t been able to reach without help
I have gained some insight from certain readings. "Who Shall I Be" really struck me in a good way. It talks about the reality of positive and negative consequences resulting from some sort of change. Changes can be dangerous at times. Not physically, but mentally. I guess it could be physical in some situations. I feel I have become a more mature reader since high school. Reading experience leads to reading success. That’s my opinion. I used to not be able to focus when I read, but you just have to stick it out and read and read and read. I feel I am a focused reader now, I try hard. I have also gained mental reading confidence. You break that down.
Growing up, I was a slow learner, I know the term "slow learner" have different definition such as retarded, dumb etc. for some people but I am not retarded nor am I dumb. Slow learners are people who learn slower than his or her peers, he/she might have to read repeatedly before they can fully understand something clearly but a faster learner gets it once. Even though there are multiple disadvantage of been a slow learner, there are also advantages as well, most slow learner remember stuff that they are interested in such as cars, subject, class etc. I become a slow learner when it come to learn new language or understanding what am reading sometimes, the class or subject I like the most, I tend to learn a lot from and the classes or subject that I hate, I tend to not pay attention in class and learn few things that is important for me to use to pass the class, I would only pay attention
Just like waking up in the morning and inhaling my first conscious-breath of the day, reading is something essential to me. As I child, I used to dream of having my own and private reading place where I would sit and spend my whole day reading my favorite books without any disturbance. Thanks to my dreams, I now have a wonderful private library in my house. This place is not similar to any other ordinary library but a mini place where you can find a massive number of interesting books of different varieties.