The first day of kindergarten will always be an everlasting memory to me because it brought up my biggest challenge in life learning to read. Learning to read was a struggle for both Fredrick Douglass and I due to inconsistent teachers, challenges which sparked motivation, and effects on our future because we had to teach ourselves the fundamental of reading.
It is difficult to learn to read and when you have inconsistent teachers. This adds an additional obstacle. Although I was not a slave, the school system had failed me. Due to my birthday I was the youngest in my class, and most of the other children knew how to read while I lacked the skill of reading. I was ignored by the teachers since I did not have the fundamentals; I was left behind …show more content…
Some challenges were motivators to press on while others were bouts of frustration and depression. I did have the support from my parents; my parents recruited the use of outside reading sources and tutors. My life became surrounded by books and frequent trips to the library. I lived in a world of learning phonics, sounding out words, and understanding punctuation which became overwhelming. I always felt like I never had free time of my own to enjoy because I was always immersed in reading activities after school and on the weekends. This made me different from the other children. They would mock me because of my inability to read. My desire to overcome the embarrassment from the other children and the wrath of my teacher was my main motivator. Most of my success and motivation came from my family who read with me daily helping me to learn the fundamentals. Although Fredrick Douglass had challenges he used the obstacles in life he faced to motivate him to be successful in his pursuit of an education. “The first step had been taken, mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” (Douglass 101). Fredrick Douglass formulated a plan that he would use to grab any opportunity that presented itself to read. “The plan which I adopted and the one by which I was most successful was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met on the street. As many …show more content…
What is next? At every grade level it seems like more is required, and I work hard toward those new goals that I have set for myself. I still panic at the thought of taking standardized test. I have been enrolled in many remedial reading classes for extra help. The anxiety can be unsurmountable at times. I have developed an aversion to the subject called English. I always strive to do my best and I do. English has always made me feel like a failure because I am not as good as I would like to be. I have set large goals for my future and reading plays a big part, so I will continue to fight and meet the challenges. I have been inspired to teach my little sister and her friends the fundamentals of reading, so that she will not experience what I did. I plan to continue to look forward in my future, and to not let English be a block to my success. Fredrick Douglass had a sense that his future was “you will be free as soon you are twenty one, but I am a slave for a life” (Douglass 102). Fredrick Douglass felt that reading was of no use to him, “The more I read, and the more I was leaded to abhor and detest my enslavers” (Douglass 103). “As I writhed under it I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing”(Douglass 103). Fredrick Douglass felt that “Master Hugh’s prediction had come true; learning to read for me a slave unless I was free was of
It is difficult to learn to read and when you have inconsistent teachers. This adds an additional obstacle. Although I was not a slave, the school system had failed me. Due to my birthday I was the youngest in my class, and most of the other children knew how to read while I lacked the skill of reading. I was ignored by the teachers since I did not have the fundamentals; I was left behind …show more content…
Some challenges were motivators to press on while others were bouts of frustration and depression. I did have the support from my parents; my parents recruited the use of outside reading sources and tutors. My life became surrounded by books and frequent trips to the library. I lived in a world of learning phonics, sounding out words, and understanding punctuation which became overwhelming. I always felt like I never had free time of my own to enjoy because I was always immersed in reading activities after school and on the weekends. This made me different from the other children. They would mock me because of my inability to read. My desire to overcome the embarrassment from the other children and the wrath of my teacher was my main motivator. Most of my success and motivation came from my family who read with me daily helping me to learn the fundamentals. Although Fredrick Douglass had challenges he used the obstacles in life he faced to motivate him to be successful in his pursuit of an education. “The first step had been taken, mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” (Douglass 101). Fredrick Douglass formulated a plan that he would use to grab any opportunity that presented itself to read. “The plan which I adopted and the one by which I was most successful was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met on the street. As many …show more content…
What is next? At every grade level it seems like more is required, and I work hard toward those new goals that I have set for myself. I still panic at the thought of taking standardized test. I have been enrolled in many remedial reading classes for extra help. The anxiety can be unsurmountable at times. I have developed an aversion to the subject called English. I always strive to do my best and I do. English has always made me feel like a failure because I am not as good as I would like to be. I have set large goals for my future and reading plays a big part, so I will continue to fight and meet the challenges. I have been inspired to teach my little sister and her friends the fundamentals of reading, so that she will not experience what I did. I plan to continue to look forward in my future, and to not let English be a block to my success. Fredrick Douglass had a sense that his future was “you will be free as soon you are twenty one, but I am a slave for a life” (Douglass 102). Fredrick Douglass felt that reading was of no use to him, “The more I read, and the more I was leaded to abhor and detest my enslavers” (Douglass 103). “As I writhed under it I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing”(Douglass 103). Fredrick Douglass felt that “Master Hugh’s prediction had come true; learning to read for me a slave unless I was free was of