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Being Read To...
I know this sounds terrible, but I do not recall being read to at all as a child. -
The Fire Cat
Although I wasn't read to (that I remember), I did have a small set of I Can Read books. Titles I remember: Frog and Toad are Friends, Danny and the Dinosaur, Sammy the Seal and The Fire Cat...my favorite:) -
Alphabatize Your Spelling Words
I remember sitting at the kitchen table in the 3rd grade crying because I didn't know how to alphabatize my spelling words. We moved around a lot (11 schools in elementary) and I guess I just missed that day of explaination. I hated reading and words. -
Where the Sidewalk Ends
I was a "fake reader". I could read some, but I hated it. Especially reading out loud. I think I had small anxiety attacks when it was about to be my turn. When visiting the library, I would check out poetry books by Shel Silverstein. I could comprehend them and I didn't really have to read the whole book. I could get away with small sections and make a believeable book report. -
DK, Non-Fiction Graphic Books
Although I was not a strong reader, the only books I really enjoyed were non-fiction books with many illustrations such as the popular DK books. Perhaps because I could use the text features to get the gist of the meaning on each page. I was very good at using the glossary, index, etc. in any school text book. Mastery of these skills kept me from having to actually "read" anything. -
Blue Birds
I don't remember the name of the lowest reading group, but I was always in it regardless of what grade I was in. When my group was called to the table, I felt everyone knew it too:( -
High School Graduation
I managed to successfully graduate from high school in the top 20% of my class never having read a single book. -
College Graduation
I also managed to successfully graduate from college never having read a single book. However, I was not in the top 20% this time:) I read only when I had to, using my "fake reading skills". I could get by with low grades on quizzes, always managing to make the grade when it counted. No one ever knew. -
Beginning to Teach Others
When I first started teaching, I saw myself in my students. I shared my "fake reading" skills with staff. I also decided I needed to get reading. I tried to read for pleasure, but at this point I never finished a book. I can handle ONLY professional reading, likely because most times it doesn't require I read from cover to cover. Reading for pleasure seemed like wasting time. -
Master's Degree
I was fnally made to read a book during my Master's coursework. It was for a class called Multicultural Literature. I dreaded it terribly. When I finally decided to read the material, it wasn't bad. It was a hurdle I'dfinally jumped. I actually read a book s from cover to cover without cheating and finding the answers by skimming the text. This proved that I could do it, although I still prefer professional books over fiction. -
Twilight
I know, I know..it's not great writing, blah, blah blah. But, this series is the first time I've EVER read a book, much less the entrie series, all on my own. So Twilight critics remember that. It got me to read for fun and made me seek other books I might enjoy: The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, His Dark Materials. I wonder what kind of a reader I might have been if I had found them when I was in the 6th grade instead of in my 30's. -
Reading Today
I think reading is so differentiated that I would not have gotten away now with as much as I did then. Teachers today don't just want to know "who helped Tom build the canoe", but assess how you interact and engage in a text. I share my reading struggles with students to let them know that maybe now they are not good readers, but maybe they could be if they would just start reading...something.
