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Dad's Encouragement
My father always told me as a child "There is nothing you cannot achieve in life, all you have to do is read." He said this to encourage me to value having strong reading skills so I can always refer to the knowledge people share through text. Source for picture : https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-31995871-little-girl-reading-big-book(https://www.timetoast.com) -
Kindergarten Lesson Picture Source: https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2015/04/01/motivating-young-learners-3-spelling-visualisations/
When I was in kindergarten, my teacher assigned a spelling homework assignment. I was very grateful that my mom had me do it independently because the next day, another student claimed he could spell "summer" correctly, so our teacher had him go up to the board and write the word summer. Because he hadn't done the work himself, he was not able to spell the word. That taught me that if I wanted to be good at reading and writing, I needed to do the work and practice myself to improve my skills. -
Reading Level Improvement
In second grade, we did independent reading time, but the books were all separated by levels. My teacher moved me up a reading level in front of the class. I remember feeling so proud, excited, and accomplished. Picture source: https://www.warrencountyschools.org/olc/2448/page/79873 -
Impressed Uncle
When I was around eight years old, my uncle came to stay with us for the summer while he was in law school. One night he was studying, and I asked him if I could read his textbook to him. He was super impressed with my ability to read at that level. He said, “Wow, you can read so well. You should be so proud of yourself!” That experience encouraged me to keep reading and challenging myself. Picture: https://spanishschoolhouseblog.com/turning-tears-to-smiles-ways-to-ease-separation-anxiety/ -
Spelling Words Out
Before I was able to spell quickly, my mom and Pops would always spell out words when they were talking about something they didn’t want me to hear. Funny enough, that motivated me to learn how to spell so that I could understand their conversations. Picture source: https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/happy-black-family-at-home -
Teacher Called My Mom
When I was in third grade, my teacher called my mom and told her what a great job I was doing with my reading and writing. That day after school my mom took me to the store and let me pick out whatever I wanted. This experience showed me that my mom valued my accomplishments in literacy and that I should keep practicing my reading and writing skills. Picture source: https://www.edutopia.org/article/phone-call-home-makes-all-difference -
Angry Teacher
In fourth grade, my class didn’t do so well during a literacy unit. My teacher yelled at us because he was embarrassed our scores were so low. This experience was very discouraging because I knew that I tried my hardest. Looking back, I can now see that he was probably frustrated that the teaching techniques he used weren’t as effective as he thought they would be. Picture source: https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=school%20teacher%20angry -
Sci-fi Books
When I was in elementary school, many sci-fi books were popular, and I wanted to be involved in the trends, so I got the books and read them. If any words were challenging, I asked my mom what they meant, and I sounded them out. It felt so good to discuss the books I read with my classmates and made reading an enjoyable experience. Picture source: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Divergent-Trilogy-Divergent-Series-01-Hardcover-9780062024022/15228162 -
Summer Reading Challenge
I challenged myself the summer before I went to middle school to read at least 15 chapter books. I felt very accomplished when I reached my goal and my family was happy for me. Picture source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/girl-reading-a-book-at-the-beach-gm1039952522-278417330 -
Challenging English Course
Because I am a student who likes to get straight A’s, when I had to take an English class my first semester at college, I was expecting to do well. I then found out that the course was very challenging and had a hefty workload, and even though at the end I did get an A, there were a lot of ups and downs. Overall, having my professor push me to be a better writer has helped me succeed in college. https://onlinedegrees.bradley.edu/blog/college-professor-requirements-steps-to-become-a-professor/