At primary school I was able to read for myself some of the books that were meant for grade ones up to grade four leaners books and also had little assistant from my teachers and mother with all the words I did not know at the time. From then I had favorite books that I could read fluently and understand. These included Tom and Jerry, Cat in the hat, the three little pigs and much, much more that I used to read on a daily basis for my family and friends. The love of reading made me a very imaginative kid and a curious one at that, every week I wanted a different career when I grow up, which was very interesting and confusing also for my mother. Throughout primary School and high school my love of reading and writing grew and so, did the number of books and also my ability to pronounce and understand English.
It wasn’t until I started first grade that I finally started to appreciate some of my mother’s hard work. At the beginning of the year, everyone had to take a reading level test. I did well. I was able to use my reading skills. I would read to the class, I would read to my parents, I would read to my grandma, I would read to my brother and sister and I would read to my dog.
On my first day of kindergarten my mom took me to school. She walked me to class and stayed with me for a few minutes then she had to leave to go to work. I was okay for a little while then I started crying. I did not have my mom around and I did not have my grandmother around. My teacher let me call my mom and my mom told me “I was a big boy, I have to go to school and that everything would be ok, stop crying and that she loved me”.
Pre-school is where I started to learn words, and was able to read them off of books and posters. I know that I was not able to speak English well because my parents would talk to me in Tagalog. Tagalog is the main dialect of the Philippines. Through watching videos, I know that I spoke fluent Tagalog and very little English. The torture of not being able to speak fluent English lasted until I was in second grade.
I’ve always been a person with a growth mindset, I can thank my dad for that, and this book just seemed to be a great fit for the type of reading that I do for fun outside of school ,so I felt it would be the best fit for me. As I began reading this book, I had already learned about the immense power of effort and where the right amount of concentrated and well preformed effort could take anyone. However, I had no idea of this “fixed mindset” which caused people to believe that effort was not as powerful, as I know it to be, but actually bad. I learned so much about the extent that the fixed mindset can take you. It can take someone who as all the talent in the world, such as one of my personal heroes Billy Beane, and force them to fail at their true dream and passion.
My parents came home that night and told me what Mrs. Brandt’s concern was. They told me that I would be going to Sylvan Learning Center to get extra tutoring on reading and comprehending. I told my parents that what Mrs. Brandt had told them was all a lie and that I would not be attending Sylvan. They sat me down and told me the importance of comprehending what I read. They said that if I did not increase my comprehension level I would struggle in literature the rest of my life.
Her rule was that they only got to watch a certain amount of television a week, and had to read a certain amount of books along with writing a report on every book they had read. With their mother’s help, it made them enjoy reading & writing. They soon began to be good readers. And that was the time when Ben discovered he had an interest in
Throughout my twelve years of school there have been four teachers that have really stood out to me, and I hope to impact my students’ lives as much as they have mine. When my mom and I moved to Franklin, she worked at Needham Elementary School. Miss Marchant was a first grade teacher there, and she is the very reason why I want to be an educator. Ironically, I never had Miss Marchant as a teacher. Instead, everyday after school I went to her room to help her do anything she needed.
My interest in writing led to my desire to read. Mrs. Byrd, my kindergarten teacher, first taught me how to read books. During class one day, she asked me if I wanted to learn how to read. She always saw me trying to read different things so she started helping me with reading books. So beings that I was curious about everything I did not turn her down.
She wrote to pass the time and as a way to cope with hard times. She wrote in her diary for hours each day for 2 years, describing everything that happened to her during the Holocaust. You could definitely say nothing about the Holocaust was a joyful experience for her. Another thing about Anne was, she was an intelligent and creative girl for her young age. Her creativity and intelligence contributed to her amazing writing skills.