Memories of Learning to Read (Jessica's experiences)

I struggled with learning to read. The reading program at my school in New York had changed their method on teaching reading when I was in 1st grade. I struggled with this new way of learning to read for it did not make sense to me. Therefore I taught myself how to read. Late at night I would get up and sit on my floor and read for hours attempting to understand the words on the page. Every word to me was separate and devoid of the rest of the words that make up a sentence. I was struggling to find the connection between one word and then the next. For hours I would read the same book and study the sentences, the page, and the picture on the page to see if there was a connection. Words never formed pictures in my mind, so I did not see any connection. One night after hours upon hours of reading, the second to last page became a break through. The words on the page, I finally understood, I was so excited that I read the whole book over again, and I understood for the first time. There was no one to share my excitement with; it was a private victory for my learning how to read.

As I moved up in the grade levels the reading level increased and it became more and more difficult to understand the information I was meant to learn. I was sent to the reading room in elementary school and I was in the lowest reading level group in all of my classes. It wasn't until I moved to New Jersey and I was in middle school that reading really came together for me and I moved up not only in my reading level but also in the learning level I was placed. In middle school I read novels and I escaped into the world of books. Reading on my own and for fun was the secret to my success in middle school and high school. I remain an avid reader to this day reading novels.