My love for reading began in second grade during Ms. B's class. She was my favorite teacher. Growing up, reading was interesting to me, but it never was something I would voluntarily do. Interestingly, my feelings changed that very first day of class in 2006
I walked in excited to see all my friends and eager to be back at school. Shortly after the morning announcements were played on the loudspeaker, Ms. B began her introduction of how our class would run.
"Our course will include a lot of reading and some writing."
Immediately after those words came out of her mouth, my initial reaction of the class changed. I was no longer excited. I was nervous as to how on earth was I going to succeed in this course.
As a child, reading was hard for me. I was born with a visual processing disorder. This means that my ability to process information resulted in misunderstanding or overthinking in my little brain. When taught new information, I was often left frustrated and puzzled as to how the topic made sense.
This disorder manifests in different people in different ways. Some people mix up certain letters and confuse the order. With me, I found that I can read a line over and over again, but it did not make sense unless I read it aloud to myself. Due to this disorder, my love for learning lessened because of how hard I had to work. For me, learning took much longer than it took my friends. This made me feel less confident in my work.
This day it seemed many of my friends were frustrated as well. Once Ms. B finished her instructions, many of my peers let out some annoying noises, so I was glad I was not the only one having difficulties with our course guidelines.
After she finished speaking, Ms. B pulled out a chart with each of her students' names on it. She said, "I know reading is not fun for everyone, so to make it more enjoyable, I will reward each book completed with a sticker and sometimes with a prize."
We smiled and looked around at each other and murmured, "Did she say prize?"
Ms. B assigned us our first reading: "Junie B. Jones." She told us to read the first chapter in order to be prepared for tomorrow's class discussion.
Before bedtime, I decided to read. I moved my mother's dresser chair to a place where no one else would hear me. I opened the book and began to read the assigned portion out loud to myself. Junie B. Jones' character was very spunky and full of fun. She was always getting herself in trouble or causing some sort of mischief. I could hardly wait to read what would happen next. For example, she was the class clown and would make jokes. It was fun reading about a girl who was not constantly perfect in class. Due to the excitement and constant surprises in the book, I ended up reading over eight chapters in one sitting. I could hardly believe it myself. Reading has always been such a struggle for me and here I was enjoying myself and Junie B. Jones adventures. If my mother had not called me from the kitchen to get ready for bed, I would have continued to read all night long!
As the months passed in Ms. B's course, I waited excitedly for each book assigned. Reading started to become a part of my daily routine. I brought along a book with me wherever I went. Whether in the car, at dinner, or to a friend's house, I became obsessed with reading. My mother began to take me to the bookstore to buy Junie. B Jones and Magic Treehouse books. Before I knew it, my chart was filled with big, bright stickers showing off the progress I had made.
Whenever my eyes set on a Barnes and Noble or a nearby bookstore, I will walk inside to take a glance at the newest reads. Sometimes I wonder to the back where the children's books are and remember how my love for reading blossomed. Passing by classics and favorites, I can't help but smile as I remember how my love for reading began in Ms. B's second-grade class.
