It's been a spell since I last posted, y'all!
I caught one of those wicked flu bugs and this illishness has lingered for weeks.
Ugh.
Anyhoo, I'm finally feeling like myself again and glad to be back on the internets.
Shall we?
Cool!
September was National Literacy Month. I had planned to post about literacy, but caught the flu-plague and...well, yeah. This message isn't month specific, so...
I couldn't read until I was in the second grade. I'm not dyslexic. Rather, I was one of many people who don't respond to the traditional methods of teaching folks how to read.
My inability to read wasn't discovered until midway through second grade and, in keeping with the tone of things throughout my grade school career, the discovery was theatrically humiliating and took place in front of the entire class.
My second grade teacher, who I remember as an absolute horror who only spoke to me twice and smelled sharply of bleach (don't ask, 'cause I sure as shit don't know why she smelled that way), hauled me in front of the class to read something or other. Trapped, I confessed that I couldn't read the material. After some grilling in front of my peers, she then half dragged half hauled me out the door and yelled at me for lying to her for most of the year. She sent me to the principal's office and my mother was called up to the school and then all hell broke out as my mother went off on every adult present for failing to teach her child to read.
She pulled me out of that school and then spent two weeks teaching me how to read...the hard way.
Pause...wince at the memory...continue.
Basically, my mother taught me to read through threats, yelling and humiliation.
She checked Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak out of the library and told me that if 3 year old chil'ren could read it so could I. Since she used the term "dumb ass" liberally throughout her speech, it wasn't exactly inspirational. I sat there, mortified and nauseous, staring at those damn wild things and the strange groupings of letters on the page and was convinced I'd never understand how they all fit together.
This new book was like all those other books...a symbol of my flaw and my failure.
Eventually the pictures...those amazing illustrations...captured my attention. I followed them from page to page as they told a story that took me away from my miserable reality.
And then I went back went through it again, over and over, each time looking at the letters that became words and trying to connect them to the story being told by those amazing pictures.
Those wild things...and the letters that became words that joined into sentences to tell the story...all came together to make sense over the next few days.
And one day, with the faint sound of my mother's fussing coming from the front of our house, it all clicked.
Amazing.
'Twas like discovering a never-ending treasure!
Looking back, I'm convinced the written language finally clicked in my mind because I have a strong survival instinct (wince) and because Maurice Sendak's illustrations are so fantabulous that I simply had to know what they related to.
It's strange to recall all of that now, while sitting on my couch surrounded by snoring sorta-beagles and piles upon piles of books. I am a voracious reader. Once I found the key to all those shapes on a page, I fell in love with reading and would often beg to go to the library and load up. Some of my best memories of childhood are of the library...the feel and smell of books and sound of pages turning as a story is revealed to a reader.
I didn't read until the second grade...until a book reached out to me...until Where the Wild Things Are.
I hadn't thought about that long ago month of discovery in forever and a day, but when I heard that a movie version of Where the Wild Things Are was in the works all those memories came flooding back.
I used to be embarrassed by the fact that I couldn't read until I was in the second grade...
...but now it is one of my triumphant memories.
10 sentences containing just 338 words changed my life forever.
I plan to see the Where the Wild Things Are movie.
But not a day goes by that I'm not proud to be able to say that I can highly recommend the book...
For information and resources about literacy visit the National Institute for Literacy.
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What a great story...well, okay, some not so good stuff, too. But I also think that lots of kids aren't ready to read before about second grade. I have four kids, none of whom really 'got' reading until about that age, all of whom are strong readers now. I was an involved mom, (over-involved in the case of the first kid, less so with later ones) Unfortunately the educational system has a target date by which kids are supposed to read. Kids who don't fit the model often get sidelined into special needs categories when what they really need is just a bit more time to mature and develop. Then when it happens--it all comes together for them with a rush.
But here's to Wild Things!
Thanks! I agree. Too often folks approach these things like items on a to-do list and most people don't fit into the same timetable. And yes, when it happens it comes together so fast it's hard to remember that it wasn't happening before.
Here's to reading and to Wild Things!
Until second grade, the school system was testing me for dyslexia and other complicators because I couldn't read. By fourth grade I was reading Lord of the Rings with a blanket stuffed under my bedroom door so M&D wouldn't see that my light was still on.
Although the school system was wrong in your case, you were very lucky to live in a system that identifies and tests for problems that young.
Yes, absolutely.
Damn. That was powerful. I was lucky in that regard, I suppose: I can't even remember learning to read; it just sort of happened at some point. I'm reasonably certain it was after I was 3 but I think I was reading in kindergarten (and because of when I was born, I was 4 when I started kindergarten).
Now, telling right from left and tying my shoes and riding a bike...
But given how I love reading I can't imagine not being able to, let alone being tormented and humiliated and threatened until I got it.
And I agree about Wild Things. Great book. Very thoroughly loved in my house; last time I checked, years ago, it was falling apart. And the trailers are costing me a fortune in nostalgiometers.
Your teacher sounds like my first grade teacher, who I swear must have hated children based on the way she treated us.
Great story Shark-Fu. It's a shame how adults (especially parents and teachers) don't realize how easy it is for a kid to fall through the cracks. For me, I couldn't tell time on an analog clock until I was about 10. I was also too embarrassed to tell anyone. It wasn't until my family went to Disneyland, and I found a Goofy watch that ran backwards. I absolutely loved it! So my parents bought it for me, and I first learned how to tell time backwards. It's awesome when you find that one thing that just makes it click.
shark-fu, i cried when i read this.
my younger brother didn't read until about the 6th grade. when he was 5, his kindergarten teacher told him it was okay if he didn't learn how, because he was going to be an athlete. he believed her. and he believed he was stupid.
then, when he was about 10 or 11, my mom found the goosebump books by r.l. stein, which were the first books we had ever found that he didn't feel like a baby trying to read, and didn't struggle with to the point of tears.
he still struggles... and yet uses his struggles to empathize with others in the same boat, and passes on what he has learned about the different ways people learn.
thank you for sharing this story.
I didn't learn to read until second grade as well. I seem to have always set my own priorities and learning to read simply wasn't one of them. Neither was learning to spell my own name!
My teacher gave my parents a textbook filled with short stories and my father spent every single bedtime trying to get me to read along.
Despite it slightly impeding my early childhood education, and frustrating the heck out of my parents, I still don't think stubborn on a woman is a bad thing.
I don't really remember this, but I was in remedial reading until 3rd grade, and my mom also taught me how to read after she got frustrated with the schools for not being effective. I never learned my multiplication tables well until almost high school. I think my mom used flashcards or something to help me read - and now I LOVE reading (I actually majored in English). I think a lot of parents (and the school system) take what happens in the younger years far too seriously. I actually read really fast too. I even like reading boring stuff.
The little boy I tutor started reading whole words today, after months of recognizing what sounds each letter made but not piecing them together. I've never been prouder in my life.
I was an early one with reading. My best friend at the time was a grade ahead of me (she was the youngest in her class, I was the eldest of mine) so I sort of tagged along with her at first. My mum supplied books, too.
Reading one of the greatest joys in my life.
My SO falls in the other category: he is a dyslectic, and had trouble learning how to read. His teacher(s) seem to have decided that he was slow to learn, and put him in a special needs education. He still doesn't read many books, but he turned into an excellent engineer. He read electical circuit schemes I certainly don't understand. And it's one of the great joys of his life.
Here's to reading! To schemes, LoTR, Wild Things, Goose bumps, to Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guin, Ottfried Preussler, Thea Beckman!
I was one of those kids who had it easy and simply began to read early and never stopped. (Except for a few months in kindergarten after my teacher announced we'd be able to read AFTER we finished learning our letters; I took this as a pronouncement and adored her so much I stopped reading until we reached Z.)
But I think this can be a huge issue for schools. So many teach only one reading method. There's Phonics OR Whole Language OR ...; kids for whom that particular system doesn't work are left to struggle through on their own because classrooms are too crowded for individual attention. Some kids who just need a bit more time are treated as cause for panic, especially as test scores become the only method of evaluation, and some kids who have real learning disabilities are just passed along due to mandatory grade advancement, especially in elementary school.
But reading is such a necessary skill and can be such a pleasure. I still remember the excitement of a trip to the BookMobile or, even better, the occasional drive into the city to visit the real library. I constantly had bruises on my legs because when I had a new book I couldn't put it down to see where I was going. Any ideas on what schools can do to make sure all kids experience the wonder of a really great book without harming those who simply need a little more time?
While I could technically read in first grade, I found it abhorrent. I was in the "stupid" group who read pages with big words instead of the "smart" groups that got to read the interesting books with all the little words on them and because I felt like I was stuck at that level, I didn't start liking reading until halfway through second grade. I can't remember what changed but I spent the next 5 years reading everything I could get my hands on. Books are what saved me from crippling loneliness in 7th and 8th grade. I wish I knew what happened to make me like reading but the only thing I ever got in trouble for in middle school/elementary school was reading under the desk, but it took me a while to get there. I think it's crazy how kids are now expected to read books at 3. I worked at a pre-school for a year and even the two year olds were expected to read their own names. I think it's good to familiarize kids with letters starting early, but the stuff they were doing at three, my school didn't do until 6. And that was only 14 years ago! It's so weird how quickly these things change.
Neither of my children could read until about the middle of second grade, and I am convinced my 2nd child would still not be reading if he hadn't been fascinated by The Far Side (heckuva thing to learn to read with...much less explain to a little kid).
Their schools threatened to hold them back if they didn't start reading which incensed me.
I was an early reader, and that was not easy either...during read aloud times I would read ahead in the book, not know the place when it was my turn and then be accused of not being able to read. One of my teachers thought I was lying about the numbers of books I read, and another also though I was lying because I was reading adult books by the time I was in the third grade.
I hate the way the educational system makes so many of us detest learning and school -- there's so much to love about it!
Elementary school teachers often picked on me because I couldn't read aloud until I was 10. It caused me to avoid books altogether. That all changed when the cover of The Man Who Was Poe (Avi) grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. It was the first book I ever read silently and for pleasure. Ten years later, I am a Fiction Writing undergraduate.
Elementary school teachers often picked on me because I couldn't read aloud until I was 10. It caused me to avoid books altogether. That all changed when the cover of The Man Who Was Poe (Avi) grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. It was the first book I ever read silently and for pleasure. Ten years later, I am a Fiction Writing undergraduate.
Elementary school teachers often picked on me because I couldn't read aloud until I was 10. It caused me to avoid books altogether. That all changed when the cover of The Man Who Was Poe (Avi) grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. It was the first book I ever read silently and for pleasure. Ten years later, I am a Fiction Writing undergraduate.
Sorry that my comment posted three times! That often happens when I comment on Feministing. :-(
Thanks for sharing!! my 6 year old daughter read her 1st book this morning!! I am so proud of her! she has been trying so hard, and finally the idea of sounding out each letter just clicked! (oh and we got the whole tying our shoes thing down yesterday -- its been a great week!!)
Interesting story - thanks for sharing. I was reading recently that until fairly recently in human history, most people were taught to learn by threats and intimidation (think monks and nuns.) It's amazing that many people still find the experience enjoyable after that, isn't it?