The Moment That Made Reading Enjoyable
Before this moment reading was a chore to me. You could not get me to read unless it was completely necessary. Throughout my childhood like most children I was read to, but when it came to reading on my own it seemed so boring and unnecessary. My mom has always loved reading, and my older brother only read if it was completely necessary. I’m one of three brothers, and my older brother, who was kind of like my idol at the time was the guy who did work on anything he could get his hands on from bicycles to cars. In other words reading wasn’t really something I saw as “cool” in any way.
In the 4th grade I had a teacher that showed me that reading could be so much more, an adventure if you will. He showed me that everyone likes different books for different reasons and helped me find my own interest in reading. When I first started the class I remember this teacher giving all of us a nonfiction book to read, some kind of history based story, and I remember dreading reading it. Once we had all read it he asked each of us what our favorite parts were. As I look back I see now that it was to give him a basis to see which direction to go with each of us. For me that direction was towards fiction and fantasy books, which is where my mind truly flourished when I was reading. It changed my whole perspective, all of a sudden I could have a whole different world in my hands. This specific moment occurred in an English class that year. We were required to read for the class, but we were not required to read a certain genre. This inevitably led to me finding books that I not only could read, but also thoroughly enjoyed. Throughout my time in that class this teacher would recommend books for me, or new genres until I found what I enjoyed reading. I wasn’t instantly enthralled though, many genres and books were not for me at all.
This teacher still sticks out in my head as one of my best teachers to date. He was the only teacher that tried his hardest to make everyone see reading the way he did. He saw it as a way to learn and progress, a way to see the world from other perspectives, and most importantly as a way to keep your mind occupied and constantly imaginative. His class was just like a normal English class, but where he really shined was the moments when we went to the library. Everytime we went he would sit at a table and we could walk up and ask him what books he would recommend. Thinking back on it he always knew what book to give me next, and I always loved them. I look back on my time in that class and think about how much it really impacted my life.
As the semester went on we had to write book reports each week on a few chapters from a book we would read, which kept me busy finding my favorite parts from books I loved. I would be able to write the book reports for weeks off of a book I read in a day, but most of all I was having actual fun doing something that had always be boring to me. The semester went on with book report after book report, and with every book I learned more and more. I started reading higher levels, much higher than my classmates because my mom loved that I was reading.
After I really started reading my mom and me became much closer. It gave us something to constantly talk about. I remember the day I came home and told her that I really loved reading. The expression on her face is forever in my memory, I hadn’t seen her excited like that. We would talk about the books we were reading, we would sit and read together when we had free time. We didn’t even need to talk, it was just better to have company while we explored our own stories. That stuck with us and is still a connection between me and her to this day.
Without this moment in my life I may have never read for pleasure, or learned as much as did through reading. After that class I did not just start reading a little bit, I was reading a book every few days. A series every week or two. I would run out of books and find new authors. Me and my mom would make trips to the library so often, and the book store even more. Reading has taught me so much, and this memory over time has completely changed my point of view. This moment effected everything from how much I learned to the very close connection I have with my family. Me and my mom still read together during the summer just like we did years ago. My brother was no longer an idol, more of a older friend, because I no longer needed an idol. But this wasn’t a bad thing, if anything it brought us closer because we are very different and once I realized that it made it easier to relate and learn from each other. I was my own person, and that was okay.That class forever changed my life, and I can confidently say in a vital wonderful way.
