Through the years

 Growing up learning how to read and write was always a struggle for me. Just learning how to read was always a struggle for my sisters and I. We always told my parents that we wanted to be teachers and be very good script writers, is what my mom told me. Through the years, many things have impacted the way the I have developed, not just as a person but also the way I read and write. Without my English teachers along the way, I would have never learned how to write. My high school years of English i was practically failing their classes. I had no idea why. My first year of college was even more of an anxiety attack because knowing how bad I thought I was in English scared me to know what was going to hit me in college. Being able to have an English teacher for freshman composition that told you exactly what to do with your writing and not just put a letter grade on the paper and hand it back was absolutely amazing. It helped me so much and has helped most likely the majority of the class. So just a way of saying thanks!!

  For seventeen years of my life, I would never have pictured myself to be writing the way I do

today. Being the third child out of four girls, my mom and dad always expected a lot from me. My

parents always taught me to work hard at everything I do and give nothing less than a hundred

percent. Whether it was school work, sports or even just small chores around the house, my parents

always expected the most out of my sisters and I. My family has had an outstanding impact on the

person I built up to be and made me the hard worker I am today.

Between the ages of five and six years old, I remember having the hardest times with reading and writing. It was that age where every kid was competing between how smart and good they were at reading, writing, gym class, and even how good you were at doing the monkey bars at recess. I remember sitting in my second grade class, Ms. McGuire was the teacher and there was this one kid Nathan who had a problem with reading. He would get very nervous and embarrassed when the teacher would call on him. He would start to stutter, talk very low so nobody could hear him and pretty much just hide his face when he would get called on. Nevertheless, when the teacher wasn’t around all the bullies in class would make fun of the way he read and how red he got when he was picked on. My teacher would ignore the fact that he didn’t like to be picked on to read and it almost seemed like she would do it on purpose to embarrass him. I was petrified that I would become like Nathan and get so embarrassed because I wasn’t such a great reader either. But I remember forgetting about myself as a reader and thinking about how bad I felt because not even the teacher would help Nathan.
I sat right behind Nathan until one day I changed my seat before everybody got to class. I sat right next to him instead of behind, and decided that I would start to help him as much as I could. Furthermore, we worked together as partners when we got into group work and he honestly started to see a change in the way he read. Nathan was more confident in the way he read because I told him to not worry about what people thought about him and the way he read and to not listen to what the kids said about him. Shortly after, the teacher also started noticing the improvements in his reading. She noticed how much that I helped him with his reading and she told me to stay in for recess one day. Thinking that I was in trouble, I was really nervous and scared. I was thrilled that I ended up not being in trouble and asked me if I would like to start helping another kid in my class who I was friends with. My teacher ended up calling my mom and telling her about what I did and my mom was very proud of me. Helping other kids, actually improved my reading and writing skills as well.

In third grade, the reading and writing got more difficult as the time flew by. It seemed to be a lot of different material which was harder for me to understand. My progress report for first quarter seemed to be below average work and my parents started to get involved. My mom and dad always wanted us to strive for the best. I remember reading a book with my mom every night and if I couldn’t pronounce a word, she would always say, “If you could pronounce this word right, I’ll give you a dollar!” It actually made me pronounce the word right, but I never got the dollar she promised me.

My dad ended up getting sick with amyloidosis and my entire family got very distracted from going back and forth to the hospital or just running errands with my mom for my dad. My mom always told us though to always get our school work done first before we did anything else. My sisters and I always brought our homework to the hospital because we loved when our dad helped us with our homework. I remember fighting over who was going to do their work with him first. As time passed by, my mom and dad always focused on their kids no matter what the situation was and always wanted us to understand everything that was going on at home and at school.
Unfortunately, my dad passed away at the end of third grade. It was the worst time my family ever had to overcome. My entire family was heart broken and traumatized that this happened. It came so sudden and happened so quickly that we barely saw it coming. We would have never thought that this would happen. I actually took it the worst. I didn’t want to go to school, I didn’t want to go anywhere except stay in my house and look at pictures and things that had to do with my dad. Most of all, I didn’t want to leave my mom’s side because seeing my dad leave so quickly I didn’t want the same thing to happen to my mom. My mom asked my teacher for all my class and homework for a week and a half and my mom took off work to stay home with me. My mom forced me into going back to school when I didn’t want to, but I know that she was just trying to do what was best for me. No matter what the situation was, my mom always wanted me to concentrate on my school work and especially during obstacles like this I wanted to make my mom proud because I know how upset she was.
I now realize that I have to strive for what is best for me especially when it comes down to schoolwork. My teachers who were confident in me have taught me a lot of reading and writing but most of all, my mom and dad who always wanted the best for their children. Without reading and writing, there is no communication; and with no communication, you don’t have a future. Reading and Writing are the most key subjects that you must have to be successful in my opinion.