For the first six years of my life, I was a boy who savored going to school and seeing all of my friends. Then one day in first grade, during English class, that all changed thanks to a time were we had to read out loud. This day scared me for a while, and caused a fear in me that I wouldn’t let go of for about another eight years. Let me tell you first off, I was not at all the same person in first grade as I am today. For one thing, I was totally inconsiderate to any understanding of the reading system. I am writing about this event for the sole reason that it has changed the way I have live my life up to these recent years. Now that all of that is out of the way, I will continue with a story about a boy who overcame a reading and writing disability and turned it into motivation. …show more content…
As we arrived, my stomach started to turn inside out, and I wasn’t sure why, but I knew when that happens I turn into a nervous wreck. They sat me in the hallway as they chattered about me I was assuming. On our bumpy car ride home, my parents stopped through an ice cream shop, knowing that’s a way to cheer their little boy. They sat me down and told me about how the teacher is concerned with my low-level reading and writing skills. It bothered me very much, that the teacher had never said anything to me one on one. My parents told me that I might be held back, and to stay positive and don’t let this bring you down. This caused so much confusion and discouragement for a seven year old boy. I was still in discomfort after the day reading because of how the kids laughed when I read my
My literacy journey commenced at a young age. My story begins with the typical bed time stories and slowly progresses into complex novels. Some points in my literacy journey have made me admire the written word but other times literacy frustrated me. These ups and downs within my story have made me the person I am today. My parents noticed that my reading was not up to par with other children in kindergarten and I was diagnosed with mild dyslexia at the age of five. My parents provided me a reading mentor named Mrs. Mandeville who has shaped my literacy journey in many ways. Events in my childhood have shaped my literacy in various ways.
Our abilities are often what we use to define our worth. Whether we fail or succeed our future lifestyle is open to our discretion; however, we fail to realize outside influences have the ability to cripple us. One way in which this is true is through the education system. If we fail to meet the average or typical standards of others we often mark ourselves as useless. Children, and adults, facing adversity in literacy see this as a daily struggle no matter what their individual disability is. In “Dyslexia” by Eileen Simpson, and “The Library Card”, by Richard Wright, details are what define their disabilities to their audiences. Through the descriptions presented in “Dyslexia”, we have the ability to place ourselves into Simpson’s point of view; meanwhile, in “The Library Card” it is easy to draw a connection between this story and the struggle of those in slave narratives such as the one written by Frederick Douglass.
The first thing a child learns how to do in school is to read and write. I, unlike most of my classmates, didn’t actually know how to read fluently until the first grade. I remember my Kindergarten class had to read The Polar Express on our own and I was only able to guess what the book was saying. My friend’s dad had to read to me while she read on her own. Reading wasn’t practiced much at home. In fact, my mother doesn’t even remember reading to me, “I don’t remember, but I know I read to you at some point.” The only book I ever found and looked through in my house was my father’s algebra book. That algebra book became my favorite book since I didn’t really have anything else to read. However, after getting the hang
“The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal” by Jonathan Mooney is the story of his journey around the U.S. in short bus nonetheless to meet with different children and their families who have faced challenges in school due to ADD, ADHD, Autism, and other learning disabilities. Jonathan Mooney himself faced the disability of Dyslexia and often had to deal with many challenges in school himself, but he appears to be one of the more fortunate ones, who was able to grow from his disability and ultimately get a degree in English. Needless to say, his book and journey lead the reader to question what really is “normal”, and how the views of this have caused the odds to be stacked against those who don’t fit the mold. Throughout, this story, for me personally however, this story gave several events that I found moving, and had the potential to influence my further work in education.
In the children's book Thank you, Mr.Falker by Patricia Polacco, the character Trisha loves books and wanted to learn how to read. In the first grade she learned that she could not read she had a disability and it was hard for her to read. She started to feel dumb and kids in her class started to bully her to the point where she did not want to go to school. In the end Mr.Falker gave extra help and taught her how to read.
It was finally time to head to gym class in the afternoon where we were instructed to take part of a physical test. This test would determine how fit or unfit we are based on a system that was implemented by those with greater authority, on which concluded that it was on such a scale society should be based on. So it was that afternoon that I preformed the tasks that were instructed on to me and my peers. I was able to completed them to my utmost potential which can be consider to be something not so distinctive. It was on this day that I was mocked by one my peers of my lack of ability to preform the instructed physical tasks, that was a no brainer to such a fit individual like himself. It
My family and I discovered I had dyslexia when I was in the second grade. Honestly, it was quite a traumatic event. What was an eight year old little girl to think about a doctor telling her “she was retarded” (that she had dyslexia.) I pondered long and hard about the diagnosis, but soon learned to accept it. I made it my goal to overcome my dyslexia. That’s the amazing thing about me and actually one of the few factors that drives me to work harder and not be a dyslexic statistics. I knew was an anomaly. I was called out to be different and took pride in the fact that I blossom with every challenge I encounter. My goal now was to always be different: someone who proved the expected failures of dyslexic wrong. I wasn’t “retarded” and I
During adolescence, I began reading and writing through a fundamental learning program called, "Hooked on Phonics." This program consisted of long hours spent reading short novels and writing elementary phrases which were commonly taught in the second and third grade. With the motto, "Improve your child's reading and writing skills in just four weeks!" I was bound to become the next Mark Twain. The method of this course specialized in the improvements of word acquisition rates as well as reading speed; however, it lacked in the area of teaching comprehension. At a young age, I was instilled with the dire need to be highly educated and although I was unable to experience a fun and adventurous childhood like many other children, I am grateful for being raised with a greater knowledge and wisdom than that ingrained in many.
It has been around 14 hours since I have gotten back from the Freshmen Retreat, and I happy to be able to write about the success of the trip in all parts, regarding my personal goal, what I learned about my fellow advisory peers, and realizing a bit more about myself.
The most common learning disability in children does not affect only one aspect of their lives, but alters nearly every measure. Dyslexia inhibits one 's ability to read, write, and spell. About 5 to 20 percent of children attending school have some sort of a disability involved with reading. When thinking of a condition that contains no cure, such as dyslexia, you may imagine a lifetime of complications and difficulties; although, dyslexia does not damage a person’s ability to learn, it merely forces them to grasp ideas and think in their own original way. Multiple obstacles can potentially arise, but successfulness and intelligence tends to prevail, and has in multiple situations. Numerous well known people have personally suffered through
There are many different types of events that shape who we are as writers and how we view literacy. Reading and writing is viewed as a chore among a number of people because of bad experiences they had when they were first starting to read and write. In my experience reading and writing has always been something to rejoice, not renounce, and that is because I have had positive memories about them.
Throughout my life, reading and writing were a positive thing because of the support from the people around. I was never really the confident or extroverted type of person back in the day. This then caused me to be anxious when I read or be doubtful of what I wrote. I can still remember breaking balls of sweats and tensing up whenever I had to read something aloud in elementary. It was a pretty big social problem for me but I can also recall many times where I was laughing and having fun while doing something with reading or writing with my mother. Although there have been many things that affected me so far in my literary journey, my mother has been the most supportive and impactful person to me by reading short stories, going to the library, and giving me writing prompts. One of the activities I liked to do before I fell asleep was to read.
Consequently, when I started school in kindergarten, I had a grasp on the alphabet, spelling, phonics, and reading that a good deal of other kids didn’t. At first I was ecstatic that something I enjoyed and had an aptitude for was a subject at school. Eventually, though, I started to become bored with learning so little in class and turned back to reading to stimulate my brain. By the time first grade started, this was already coming to a head. I went to a charter school where it often seemed discipline was emphasized over learning, and my habit of reading frequently put me at odds with that philosophy.
We all have those days where we feel so hopeless or unable to do anything right. We have all felt that we couldn’t finish school or other life challenges. We question everything about life, that’s what happened with me. I had never had a normal life and now it takes a turn for the worse. I grew up under the circumstances that forced me to become more responsible and mature, which has enabled me to succeed later in life.
When I was younger, I had friends, but I was the person who did not want to dance at birthday parties. I was someone who enjoyed talking to the lunch moms instead of playing on the playground. I was shy and my mom handled everything for me. Until now, I did not know how much work went into raising me. I never knew that there were deadlines to paying bills or that appointments had to be made in advance, but everything changed one morning when I woke up to the blaring sound of my mom’s alarm. I was confused because she was a light sleeper, and I became anxious. I ran into her room, and immediately I knew something was wrong. The death of my mother during the first month of my eighth grade year, as a single event, did not instantly mark my transition to adulthood, but it did change my life forever. My mother died before she was able to watch me graduate middle school, before she was able to teach me how to drive, and before she was able to share all of her wisdom. Her death was the most painful experience I have ever encountered, but I was lucky enough