Learning to Read

I have sat pondering the answer to the question “How did you learn to read?” for the past twenty-four hours or so. I’ve gone back and forth about it a lot and have come to the conclusion that I didn’t wake up one morning and say to myself, “Hey, I can read!” Instead reading to me was a process, a very long and painstaking process. Learning took time, a lot of time.

It started with learning the ABCs when I was around the age of two and a half or so. Once I knew my ABCs I learned what sounds each of the letters made. My parents would read to me and I was always curious about which words looked like what. For instance in the child book See Spot Run I wanted to know which word was see or spot or run. I began recognizing the letters and putting them together into small words. My vocabulary was small and I would have to ask my mom for help on a lot of occasions, but I kept reading gradually getting better.
When I was in first grade I was put in the “advanced” reading group in Ms. Sherrill’s class. We would read books like Goosebumps and Box Car Kids, while the other students were reading simpler, shorter books. They were books that didn’t have chapters. I felt so cool because I was able to read chapter books when I was in first grade. I felt like a smarty pants. Now I know that being labeled as “advanced” is only a term. Studies have been done that prove that children who perform below average on placement tests, but were told they were “advanced” would actually begin performing at that “advanced” level. I’m glad I was labeled as such because it has helped me become who I am today, but I do realize now that it’s only a term… but back to learning to read now. I remember being told that I was able to read at a senior in high school level once I reached sixth grade.

I also remember that in kindergarten I was so excited about reading that I would teach my sister how to read every day after school. She is two years younger than I, so wasn’t going to start school for another two years. My parents were so pleased with how well she could read after I finished kindergarten that they enrolled her for following fall. She started kindergarten a year after me when it should’ve been two years. Now she is going to school to become an optometrist. I don’t know if the two have any correlation, but if she ever makes more money than me, she owes me big time.

To sum things up, reading wasn’t a wake up one morning knowing how to do it type thing, but rather it was a long process that took a lot of trial and error. Constant help from my parents and teachers have allowed me to be a good reader. It’s a good skill to have, but it has also been many years in the making, not an overnight osmosis type thing.