Why I Want To Read?

1004 Words3 Pages

When I was in first grade, I came to the realization that I was unusual for how much I enjoyed reading. I was sitting in class looking at other kids meander their way through the assigned picture books, and I noticed that while I finished reading early and sat there hoping for something more, my peers were hard pressed to pay attention. It seemed like I had sat there waiting for new material to read a hundred times when my teacher asked me if I wanted to read a chapter book, After a tentative yes (I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting into, but I had heard about older kids reading chapter books), my teacher went behind her desk and returned with something wonderful: a Magic Treehouse book. I cracked it open, smelled that distinctive smell …show more content…

Around that time, I would read newspapers to my grandparents without knowing what they meant. My mind was hungry for stimulation (something I later learned is due to ADHD), and I started reading everything I could understand at home. When I ran out of things to read, my mother, despite not having much money, would buy me educational books. My favorite one was an encyclopedia. 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. I was often chastised for not knowing when reading time was over and it was time to put away the books. I also got in trouble for reading ahead during group reading and as a consequence not knowing where we were when I was called on to read aloud. Still, I enjoyed reading more than anything else and I wasn’t going to

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