I know many people who encountered the struggle of dyslexia, but I can truly see that impact on my younger sibling Christopher, and my dear best friend Diana. Diana has been my best friend since fifth grade, and we have been in the same classes ever since until college. She calls me every now and then to tell me how much she is struggling at SAC State, how difficult it is for her to keep up with her grades. She was diagnosed with dyslexia in middle school, and I remember how cruel kids were with her. No one wanted to use her in group projects, or presentations, or in anything, because to them she was dumb. Very similar to Cook, when everyone expected him to fail fast during spelling bees. Besides all the bullying, all she did was smile and at least I thought ignored what they said. When we were in high school, she confessed how awful it was to be so ‘slow’ at everything. It took her three times to pass the English CAHSEE, but she persevered and she did accomplish it. Diana was very patient with herself through it all, and still is. I called her recently to let her know I was using her for this essay, and her response is very similar to Cook’s, “Having dyslexia is not easy, very hard actually, but you must find different alternative strategies to deal with it in a positive way.” In comparison to Diana, Christopher struggles with it…
On Thursday, September 15 at Cohasset Elementary school in Van Nuys, I worked at my practicum site for the first time in a Head Start class of three and four year olds. My goal for this first class was to become familiar with the children and the classroom routine. One of the first things I noticed was that all the children and the teachers are Hispanic and speak Spanish, although the class is mostly taught in English. I experienced a diversity issue between myself and the staff and children in the classroom. The main barrier I faced was the language. Some of the children spoke only English in class, others spoke a mixture of English and Spanish, and some spoke only in Spanish. Speaking some Spanish helped me, but the children spoke so softly…
I don't remember specifics on how I learned to read, but I do remember learning how to read at an early age. My mother was an elementary school teacher and spent a lot of time working with me on my letters and sounds. I remember doing a lot of flashcards with my mom on the different letters and phonemes. I also remember my mom reading to me a lot, especially at night. I would sit in her lap and follow along as she read. As I became a better reader my mom would stop at different words and let me read. I always enjoyed reading with my mom and was excited when I could actually read the words with her.…
My education will never be complete. This knowledge affords me the ability to grow each and every day. It teaches me to question the world and to learn from these questions. I learn through different lenses and circumstances I experience each day. At seventeen, I am nowhere near complete. I am young. I am flawed. I am naïve. What I have learned has led me down different paths in order to achieve different milestones on my own journey. I am strong. I am creative. I am poised...but most importantly I am learning. My education has allowed me to learn about myself, about others, and about the world. I am evolving through the educational process and through the effort of acquiring knowledge. I have no idea what I will learn tomorrow --some days…
My early literacy experience was not a big of a deal for me at an early age. When I was in school I always took a reading and writing course with a grain of salt, it was just one more class on my schedule. Literature did not really appeal to me in my early experience. I always think that why do I need to take a literature course in order for me to succeed in the future.…
Last year in 6th I had a teacher who taught literacy. She impacted me when I had her. She made me love literacy more than I use to. I learned more about commas, exclamation, and stuff like that. Since I knew what to do, I could probably eventually publish one of my stories. She also had made me motivated to make more stories. I had not made stories like I thought I was when I was in 5th grade. I did not feel motivated like I was in 5th grade. And I used to love making these stories. I did not feel motivated anymore like I use to. I would usually get compliments for making my stories and that motivated me, but I did not have anyone to help me so I did not feel motivated. Until I made my first story that year. I gave it to a lot of people,…
It’s a bler, trying to look back on when I was a preschooler, so first grade was a mess. First grade is a life changer. Going to Tri-Point in Piper City not even for a full year. Tri-Point is a small old school just like ROWVA. I remember changing schools because my parents got a divorce. We moved to Peoria and lived there with my mom's parents. I got transferred to a Catholic school. Every Wednesday the whole place went to church right across the street. It was the worst thing ever sitting in the old creepy church listening the Father talk about only “God” knows what. My teacher's name was Mrs. Heartstick, no I did not make the name up. She grossed me out. He hands very dry and cracked, they looked like an old man's hands who had worked his whole…
One of the main drawbacks of being labelled as having a dyslexic profile is the feeling of shame. Most people with dyslexia, especially adults, tend to hide their difficulties. They might feel as though showing other people around them that they have dyslexia might lead to them being stigmatised by society. Gerber, Ginsberg and Reiff, in 1992 explained how dyslexic people tend to internalise labels given to them by teachers, classmates and also family members. This internalisation of labels leads to them having a poor self-concept and lack of…
My literacy journey has been going full speed since I was able to comprehend the words that my parents spoke to me. Growing up I was a swift learner, so the concepts of reading, writing, and spelling came quick to me. My perfectionist tendencies assisted me in my motivation to learn to words, how to spell them, and how to use them. My parents took notice of my accelerated learning ability, so they pushed it fully. Going to the library was a fun activity that usually occurred once or twice a week, where I was encouraged to explore all of the books and figure out what I liked the most. They would challenge me by assisting me in figuring out things on my own, instead of babying me through everything that I found confusing.…
Growing up I spent most of my childhood in Vietnam living an ordinary life. My parents were not risk-takers until they decided to quit their career as educators and move to the United States. Knowing that life in America will be challenging for immigrants, we mentally prepared ourselves to be fearless and get through every obstacle that is in our way. No matter how prepare we were, being a newcomer was frightful. When I first step foot on the land of promise, there was a mixed emotion suddenly rushed through me as a signal telling me life here will not be easy. We faced will endless obstacles and the language barrier is the most, the biggest challenge for us. Personally, I think learning a new language is difficult and requires a lot of hard…
Everyone has different way and opinion about how to read and write. Reading is basic life skill written or printed. Writing is activity or skill of marking words on paper and composing text. some people do not like to read or write. Some have a specific place to read and write and some have problem with language, because their English is a second language that makes a little bit harder than everybody. The hardest problem of all of this is when someone is blind or deaf that way is consider to me as a challenge when they try to do the best to learn.…
Believe it or not I have not always been as bright as I am now. There was a time when I was the kid who struggled in many of his classes, not the one that people went to for advise on a subject. I hated school because it was extremely hard for me. I was born on May the 11, 1994 in Nashville tennessee. I came from a well to do family and when i was of age was enrolled into private school where i spend the rest of my schooling up through high school. It was evident at an early age that there was something different about me. the first sign was my speech impediment, for the life of me i could not say the letter S every sentence i spoke was a struggle. Then it was reading and spelling. I was behind most of the other kid in both, I read slower and could not spell the same level words as the other kids. It was so bad that in kindergarten i was made to repeat it. Then came elementary school which went much better then preschool had gone, but i still struggled with things. Then in the third grade my parent took me to get tested to determine my mental ability. That is when i found out i am dyslexia. dyslexia is a learning disorder characterized by difficulty reading, spelling, and in young children affects there speech. This was devastating to me, because as a third grader all i wanted to be was normal, and at the felt like people would think i was retarded. through all of this my parents only encouraged me, telling me that i could overcome this setback. That is exactly what i set out to do. Starting in the fourth grade every afternoon i would leave school and go straight to tutoring at the learning lab. I hated this because while all my friends were playing at home i was studying but i knew that it would be worth it. My parents also made me take adrenal which i thought was super embarrassing and i can remember to this day hiding them in the cracks of the table or under my chair so i would not have to take them.…
My memory of my how I became literate is and always will be a part of me that I will never forget. I suppose I heard the sounds around me and connected them with emotions. Crying, I noticed, got a quick response from my parents, and usually some food. My communication development was identical to every other child learning to talk. Listening. But everyone has a story behind their literacy. Mine was one day, when we were driving to the grocery store, with the radio turned on, my jam turned on. It was the ABC’s. This song was unexpected, not only because of its difference in the nature of the regular pop songs, but that it was a new song altogether. Nonetheless, I began to rock along with the catchy tune of the song. I longed for more and demanded it…
Growing up I had to struggle with my learning disabilities add to that having to learn a whole new language it made my life a challenge that I had to overcome , as well as learning from the many failures that came with it. Imagine sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher talk about verbs, pronouns and action verbs, but the only thing you know it that you don’t seem to understand a word that she is saying. Being a Hispanic female means that the first language I learned was spanish, my family all spoke spanish and so did the people around me. When I was nine years old my mother was told that I need extra help in school because I had a learning disability. I didn’t understand thing as fast as others and I would confuse many words around.…
One of the most important times about my life was when i realized i actually had to try in school. I came to that realization shortly after my freshman year when I failed my math and world studies classes and had to take summer school. there wasn't anything that made me have to buckle down it was all my choice because i was 16 no job, no car, and failing my classes. after my freshman year i realized that i was hanging around the wrong crowd and started doing some stuff that i probably shouldn't have.…