Resetting Reading
Four days a week, a high school senior came to my kindergarten classroom to help our teacher with whatever she needed. Let’s call him Tony. I have no idea if that is his real name or not. I honestly cannot remember his name. Tony was always there during reading time. We would get the cue from our teacher and rush over to the corner of the room where the books were stored. Every day, I would carefully select my book for that day, and every single day, I would turn around and discover a horde of kids swarming our high school helper. The loud, obnoxious girl was always the first one to Tony with two or three books in hand. She would be reading aloud to him. I dejectedly walked over to a corner of the room, sat down, and began looking at the pictures of the book I had carefully selected. You see, I did not want to show off to Tony. I wanted him to read to me because I could not read. I hadn’t learned yet. I got nothing out of reading time during kindergarten because other students were hogging the people who could read to me. This went on for the entire year. I did not learn how to read in kindergarten. I probably could have said something and received some special tutoring from a teacher. Or, the teacher could have discreetly told Tony to make sure I got at least one story read to me each day. Instead, I kept my mouth shut because I was embarrassed that I could not read. I did not want to face ridicule from my classmates. I did not even want to tell my mom. She is probably hearing this story for the first time(Hi, Mom! I love you!). I thought I was the only one who could not read. In reality, I probably was not the only one who could not read. In fact, I seem to recall that, at the beginning of the year, there was a good number of us who could not read. But, as the year progressed, more and more of my classmates became able to read. Meanwhile, I sat in the corner feeling sad and embarrassed. By the end of the year, I knew something needed to change. I could not endure this in first grade as well…
IT WAS TIME FOR A RESET!
The Problem
I was embarrassed and ashamed of my inability to read. This was especially hard because I loved stories and storytelling (and still do). I was being deprived of stories. At the end of kindergarten, I made a vow. I would no longer be unable to read. I promised myself I would be able to read by the start of first grade.
My Why
Embarrassment was a big factor in why I wanted to be able to read by the start of first grade. I knew reading was important in many areas of life. I did not want to fall behind.
Who I Wanted to Be
There was also this recognition at a young age that life wasn’t always going to be fair. No one was there for me as I sat in the corner of the classroom by myself. They were trying to teach us to read in kindergarten, but it was not working for me. They did not succeed in teaching me how to read. I knew I needed to take control of my education. I wanted to be a reader and did not want to rely on anyone else to tell me stories. I wanted to be a person who could, not only learn how to read, but also set challenging goals for myself and accomplish them.
Strengths-Based Strategies
I had no idea how to teach myself how to read. But, I was determined. I used that determination to find a way. What I did not know at the time is that my IQ is in the 98th percentile, so I’m sure that came in handy as I designed how I was going to manage to learn how to read. I knew the sounds the letters made, so it just became a matter of figuring out how to put them together. I think, once I made that realization, it became easier for it to click.
Furthermore, there was a mental shift that happened for me. I went from “I can’t read” to “I will learn how to read.” This is a growth mindset, and it was key in learning to read for me. To learn more about fostering a growth mindset, read my four-part blog series on having a growth mindset:
Did It Work?
Yes. On the first day of first grade, I knew how to read. Did I manage to just barely read by the start of first grade? Not really. At certain times of life, I have been a voracious reader. For example, in the sixth grade, we were required to give one oral book report for every month in the school year. This did not mean we were forced to stand up in front of the class once per month and talk about a book we had read. We needed to do that nine times by the end of the school year. We could do that as soon as we finished a book. That meant some of my classmates did one per month. Some had to do several during the month of May. I, however, was done doing book report months before the school year ended. I was, in fact, the first person in my class to have completed all nine book reports, just narrowly beating my friend Martin (not his real name) to that mark.