Literature, Reading And Reading: My Journey Of Literature

I would read about three to four books a week because I just loved to see the words come off of the page in my imagination. Although I found passions in other things I did miss writing. My writing stayed stagnant for most of high school. I would sometimes get a low B in English classes but others I found myself with a high C. It wasn’t until my senior year that I found a love for writing again. My senior teacher’s name was Mrs. Delph.

I would only read books that were required for class, and even then I usually would not finish them. Reading was never something that I liked. When I got into high school, I started reading books for fun a little more than before. I was always a Harry Potter fan but since I did not like to read I only watched the movies. I remember reading those books and actually liking them.

In junior year, when it came time to take the SAT’s, I hated it. After I was always forced to read books that were not exciting I never found myself simply reading for pleasure. When I was younger, I was interested in reading. I loved leisure reading and used to get different books from the library at least once a week. As I have grown older, I read dramatically less and reading is more irritating.

When I was in third grade, my teacher always required use to rent out a book every week. I never enjoyed reading because I always felt it was forced, so I would check out a book and never read it. Until one time my teacher asked why I haven 't been doing the A.R reading test and I told her I don 't enjoy reading. My teacher told me to take the whole week to find a book to read so I can take a test. Once I did that, my love for reading began and recently has been coming back after a lost of love for reading.

Be You, Everyone Else is Taken One bad experience I had with reading was in my second grade. I was brand new to the class so I did not know anyone. We had to get into groups of three and take turns reading a book. It was my turn to read and I struggled on every word on the page. I could feel myself starting to sweat because I knew the other kids were judging me.

My parents forced me to pick up the book, and before I knew it, I was enthralled with the story. Having never been a proficient reader, getting through the book by myself was difficult, but the need to understand the story had me rereading every page. Harry Potter contained no profound, life changing morals but it did capture the imagination and ignited my passion for reading. What I had once associated with boredom and saw as a chore, I now actively sought out more, to the point where reading replaced watching television as a favorite pastime. Afterwards, the first books I would read of my own violation all had compelling stories, like Harry Potter, and the more I read, the less intimidated I was of reading.

Oh how I dreaded English 103 online… I stayed up late and spent days thinking and planning on my papers and watching videos ect. Sometimes as I read through the discussions I was discouraged and amazed to see such great writers, I wondered where did they learn this great skill? English class or their upbringing? I know everyone is different and learns differently and we all have our own language, way of speech but I’m as near close to skill writing as some of my class mates. It was also very discouraging to get low scores after I thought I was doing great, I reached out to my counselor and the writing center, in which they helped me a lot.

Along with those classes, I have had many teachers help me find a newfound love and hate for the subject. Freshman year was my toughest, most unproductive, year by far. The teacher assigned papers that were pointless and she chose books that interest her. Much of the work she assigned was busy work, she did not care if we grew as writers or if we understood the concept behind the assignment. After a month, I was looking for a way out, I bit off more than I was able to chew.

I have almost always felt this way about reading and writing. In the second grade I remember being assigned a book report and I waited until the night before the report was due to even start reading the book. I naturally picked The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss due to it being incredibly short. Even in the second grade this book was below the reading level expected of me but I really did not care. Throughout the entire assignment I was complaining to my mom that “this is a waste of time” and “I hate reading”.

My expectations were that it was going to be a long, boring, and torturous few months trying to digest the material. Overall, I would have to say that I was right, but there were a few stories that surprised me. As an adult, my tastes and interests have changed, and I think that the struggles of the characters in some of the books I read in the past can be equated with the struggles I endured as well. Understanding and Appreciation In high school, I did not appreciate the stories that I was forced to read. I could not see how I could relate to any of the characters I read about.