Parental Advisory
My mother helped develop my reading and writing skills throughout my years of education. By helping me overcome my learning barriers, I was able to start truly understanding what it meant to enjoy literacy. I was taught a different way than in school, and this allowed me to learn from a unique perspective. My mom made practicing interesting, this way of feeling about school made me want to get more involved into my education. She taught me the way to open my mind to school, when all the other children would talk about how much they hated it. Because of my mother, I became a more distinguished and adaptable student.
My mom used to have me read a book series called The Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne. Reading these books helped me form the relationship for reading I have today. When my mom and I first started reading, together we would alternate reading chapters. Eventually I started solely reading each chapter as my mom listened. This way of reading allowed me to progressively increase my skills with reading. Unlike the other kids at school, I would read Magic Tree House every night, slowly becoming better at reading aloud. This kind of reading taught me how to read long stories and connect the flow of each sentence, making it sound smooth when reading line to line.
The outside practice from school made me advance my literary skills, not only when reading out loud, but also speaking out loud. My mom made reading interesting, when someone has the same type of interest for reading and listening to me read it makes it that much more enjoyable. Because of my mom my childhood books I have a certain place in my heart for a reading.
The reason why I liked reading so much was not only because of the books I was reading but who I was reading them with. When the new Magic Tree House book would come out, my mom would drive us to the store the same day. Because my mom made the effort to go buy the newest book, it made me look forward to when I would read. Reading at night felt like I was separated from the rest of the world, and it was my escape. We would read every night until I either fell asleep or until we finished the book. I can remember it being difficult to keep the book open, and by the end of the night my hand would hurt. Thanks to my mom, I would not mind reading, while the other kids would complain about having to read every night for homework. Reading brought me away from the rest of the world and its conforming nature. I began to learn that stereotypes of how things are suppose to be, are just other people’s opinions.
When I was learning to write, my teacher noticed that I was holding my pencil differently than other kids in the class. My teacher concluded that the way I was holding my pencil was what made my writing less illegible. I had my fingers arranged so that my thumb was wrapped around the pencil. While most of the kids in my class had their fingers all near the tip of the pencil.
Because of my teachers biased view I had to adapt to a whole new style of writing. For a couple weeks I switched how my fingers gripped the pencil. I soon learned that this effort did not show to be worth the result. The change in writing style caused me to fall behind the other students in pace. Switching to the “normal” way of writing made me realize that I shouldn’t follow what other people do because it’s what society tells me I should do. Consequently, I realized the real effort I should have put in was in the beginning practicing my own writing technique.
When I switched to the common way of holding the pencil it took me longer to write. When I was only halfway done with my writing workbook, the other students would be waiting for me to finish. This was because I was not accustomed to writing like the other kids in my class. It caused the whole class to have to wait for me every time we had a writing assignment. The kids would glare at me for not being done, and would ask the teacher to start the lesson without me. This felt like a lot of pressure on me as a 3rd grader, and as a result i would skip questions just to get my work done at the same time. I started to question the reason why I had to write a certain way rather than doing what’s natural .
After no success of improving my writing appearance or speed, my mom and I decided that I should just write my own way. After breaking away from my teacher’s idea of helping me write, my mom helped me practice writing. I would write long letters to my grandparents to practice my neatness. To work on the quickness of my writing, I would make up stories and write them down for my mom to read. My mom helped me improve my writing because she saw how my writing held me back from completing my goals. I concluded that although my writing style strained my hand, it seemed to produce the best outcome for my success.
These lessons taught me that it is better to do it my own way rather than trying to catch up in someone else’s way. There was no reason for me to try and write differently just because it is not as neat nor “normal”. My mom made realize that what other people say isn’t always necessarily true. Not only did this help me write more fluently, but also made it more interesting to write, due to having my own unique way that I held the pencil. My mom helped me develop into a free thinking person, being able to figure out what’s best for me. Because of my mom support I was able to enjoy reading and writing, and without her guidance with my literary skills, I would have never done things my own way.
