Throughout my life, reading and writing have impacted me in a negative and a positive way. My passion for both reading and writing did not begin similarly to that of my peers in elementary school; however, as time goes on, I began to fall in love with other people’s works in literature. Starting off in elementary school, and progressing through middle school, I was not fond of the concept of reading, but I was able to shift my mind in high school by discovering the books I was passionate about. To start off, my journey begins in elementary school.
As a student attending Rochester Elementary School, I was very eager to read books with my class, because my parents would read me bedtime stories every night before bed; however, elementary school was vastly different from what I expected, in the way that I was excelling in one stage, but not in another. In kindergarten, I was able to write faster than the other kids, but when it came to reading, I was fairly sluggish. At first, the teachers would attempt to make me read while the other kids worked on other tasks, such as times tables, but I had no interest.
This all led up to my third grade year. During third grade, my teacher recommended that I was extracted from class after lunch and brought to a room with the para to read aloud; unfortunately, my passions for reading and writing quickly diminished. I was a slow reader and discovered that my eyes tend to skip lines of text and replace words with different words that are one or two lines below the line I am attempting to read. As a result of skipping text, I had to read more than any other kid in the class to try to train my eyes and brain to stay on the correct line.
Going through my elementary school life, I stayed away from both reading and writing because they only caused me stress and made me want to avoid learning altogether. After the troubles of elementary school, I moved up to the middle school. Middle school was a time where I was still trying to discover who I was and what I wanted to be in life, and had no time to read. Although I may not have read the books we were assigned in class, I was able to write about it based on what other people informed me with before our papers were due.
Surprisingly, I was able to pass with high grades, but I did not retain anything from the books because I simply would not read them. At home, my mother never knew that I did not read the books in class; however, she did understand that I was not going to read a book on my own free will. Sadly, she was not pleased that something she loved so much was something that made me want to tear my hair out. Mother would always take me and my brother to Barnes and Noble to select books for class, and instead of picking out a book that the other students would read, I would choose books about real ghost stories.
I was able to be interested when we had to sit down in class and read silently; sadly, I was only able to pay attention for a short amount of time before I wanted to move on to the next page to see the pictures of ghost sightings. I realized that reading about the unexplainable was enjoyable, but I was not able to get through middle school with only ghost stories. In class, my teachers would make me read aloud and that would terrify me. As a middle schooler who could not read aloud without adding words to the text, the other students did not want me to read aloud.
I was very similar to Alexie in his school, “They wanted me to stay quiet when the teacher asked for help” (Sherman 29). As a result from the nervousness, I would become red in the face and shake during any time I had to read to the class. Thankfully, this all turned around for me in high school. During my early high school years, I began to read to myself at my house. Just like Alexie refused to fail, neither did I, “I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. (Sherman 30).
Just like before, Mother would take us to Barnes and Noble and instead of picking out a ghost story, I picked out something that seemed a little more interesting, books about war. The war book was about the weapons and tactics used during the beginning of World War I. I took a liking to the nonfiction books more than the fiction books that we read throughout middle and high school. It started out with only reading when the internet was slow or when Mother would make us.
I enjoyed looking at the pictures of the weapons and masks used to protect men from the deadly gasses that were used in trench warfare. Although I did not complete the book, I really loved it. After understanding that I enjoyed nonfiction, I moved onto a different selection of books. I knew that I wanted to read literature that is beneficial to my future career, this is why I chose to read about mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, and the minds of serial killers. As a future FBI agent, these books quickly pulled me into the world of daily reading.
I was able to come home from school and read in my room for hours and fully enjoy what other people’s writings had to offer, similar to Alexie learning how much he is passionate for literature, “I read books late into the night, I could barely keep my eyes open. ” (Sherman 30). The thought of being able to attain information that many people do not know is very amusing. I was able to retain knowledge and be able to recite the different illnesses, and the symptoms to those interested in learning about them.
This love of reading was new and very addicting, getting through my first book was tremendous, but also disappointing because I fell in love with the authors writing, but had to put the book down. When it comes to school, I still do not necessarily fancy the reading we have to do, but Greek Mythology is a different form of reading that is new and enjoyable because of the unexpected stories that have been passed down through generations. In conclusion, reading and writing has affected my life in many different ways, being both negative then transferring to a very positive way to learn.
Although reading may have been difficult for me in elementary and middle school, high school changed the entire way that I look at literature. From struggling to stay on the same line in reading to being able to recite certain lines of text without struggling was a lengthy task, but in the end, taking my time and falling in love with topics that I cared about paid off because now I am able to read aloud without hesitation and feel comfortable opening up a new book of experiences.
