5 Image Story

If I was asked if I was a reader I would probably have to say no. I wish I was a reader, but I did not have time in high school to do very much else besides school, activity after activity and homework. Yes, I would read the occasional book for an assignment but I did not get to read very much outside of homework assignments.

The first experience that shaped me as a reader was probably learning how to read. If it had not been for learning how to read when I was little I would not have been able to go to school, read or do anything that I do now. We are very fortunate in this country, we are offered many wonderful opportunities that some people around the world cannot even dream about having, and one of those is schooling and being able to read. 

 

As a young child in school teachers and administrators try their best to get young children excited about reading by offering incentives and programs that will keep students involved in reading throughout all of their years in public education. This was the second key moment that shaped me as a reader. Throughout all of elementary school if we met our goals we had incentive parties or some other kind of reward that encouraged us to meet our goals and helped us to love reading. These incentives did help me enjoy reading because lets face it, what kid didn’t like getting something extra that you normally don’t get at the end of a quarter.

When I moved past elementary school to middle school is when reading became tough for me. Teachers made reading more of a chore and less of a fun activity that would be rewarded. Sometimes there would still be a small reward that would be put on if each student met their AR goals, but it was not celebrated the same as in elementary. AR goals are a point system that are school district used for reading. Each book that you read had a certain number of points that could be achieved if the test was passed with 100%, and by the end of a quarter each student had to reach a certain number of points. The student did not set the number of points that they had to reach, the teachers did, which made it that much worse for students and more stressful if they could not reach that goal. Having a set AR goal and not being able to adjust it to fit me is where I started to dislike reading, and started to push back when it came to reading for fun.

 

When I got to high school I found out that AR goals did not exist anymore and that probably made me the happiest person ever. In high school, there  were less requirements for books and reading and I could have more fun with what I read. This really helped me get back into reading. However, even though there was less requirements, I had a lot less time to read. I was involved in a lot of activities, two sports, and a ton of organizations, plus I had to do school work on top of everything else. With everything I did and had to do for school, I barely had time to read. Even though I got back into reading, there was just no time between hockey, soccer, National Honor Society, being the president of 3 4-H clubs my senior year (and other offices my previous years), choir, band, marching band, jazz band, Music tech, and Junior Leaders for 4-H as well. It was hard for me to balance my time and it came down to reading was not a top priority.

 

The last key event that shaped me as a reader was this past year, my senior year, when I interned in two kindergarten classrooms at my local primary school. Part of my duties in both of my classrooms was to take a small group of kids out into the hall and help them read through a book. At first it was a little rough. The kids did not know very many of the words and could not remember the words that I helped them sound out. Then one day, everything changed. Everything started clicking for the kids and it was amazing to see them start remembering and learning. That moment is exactly why I am here at Chadron pursuing a degree in Elementary Education, for that amazing moment when a child understands what you are trying to teach them.

 

Even though I am not a reader per say, I hope to help my future students learn to love reading and build a passion that cannot be ruined by future teachers or students around them. That is my goal to change the lives of my students no matter what, where or who I teach.