Written Language Literacy Narrative

Reading through elementary school was one of the most tenuous struggles I’ve endured in school. When taking reading assessments, the context of excerpts was nonexistent to me, I would write absolutely whatever came to mind just to fill the time. It kept me in earlier reading levels, behind the class. It was frequently mentioned to my parents that I needed some sort of help with my attention skills, sometimes suggesting medication. Because I was so behind, I found myself repeatedly reading the same stories. It was embarrassing to check Dear Dumb Diary out of the school library while my friends would be bringing stacks of Harry Potter books home. At heart, I knew I had it in me to read something more profound, and I would on my own time, but it meant nothing if I couldn’t move past the low level I was at.

Though a “Hands-off” approach when teaching isn’t a useless method, it can cause young students and students with learning disabilities to become even more confused. When working “with students with ADHD, it is of course a challenge, but when you’re told a child needs assistance in any way, not campaigning for their welfare is only holding them back. Besides ignoring a student’s struggles when learning, assisting them to understand the context, asking questions to help analyze the text and correcting them when they’re wrong is much better than allowing them to suffer the consequences of simply not understanding the curriculum. Teaching them to deal with it themselves might cause them to gain an inferiority complex, where they

might feel worthless compared to students who have an easier time learning. “Distractibility is a common symptom of ADHD — something that he may be unable to control. And when you repeatedly punish a child for behavior he can’t control, you set him up to fail. Eventually, their desire to please you evaporates. He thinks, ‘Why bother?’ The [teacher]-child relationship suffers as a result.” (Carpenter).

Upon entering middle school, I was very excited to begin humanities courses. It was a fresh start with english; no more reading levels or questioning and re-questioning my ability to be a good reader. I was placed with a teacher who I loved. She would let us use her first name, Leah, with no prefix attached. She was honest and funny, and would sometimes curse during class (which, at the time, was the most vulgar and exciting thing an 11 year old could witness). I would pay attention, raise my hand, and share ideas with my peers about what we would be working on. Yet again, I found myself at a standstill with reading. I could never keep my eyes in my book during reading hours and would get distracted, sometimes distracting others. It was too much for me, and frankly too much for Leah to focus on.

Through the middle school’s after school program, I became a part of the rock band. It was the main reason I decided to go to this school. Music is a language that has always felt natural to me. With my dad being a trained musician, it was prevalent in my home, waking up to him practicing the same familiar tunes from guitar books or singing along to “The Hunchback of Notre Dam” while my aunt accompanies me on the piano. On my own time I would mess around on the guitar my dad had gifted me, and write songs on the ukulele I asked for. I learned on my own how to become comfortable with it, and set myself up to understand how to make music my own way. The first time I came to the rock band, the instructor seemed unsure of me, considering

the fact that I’d never attended lessons for singing or guitar at the time, but I assured him that I could do it. When he gave me a shot, he quickly realized that this is something I belong in. Band was my favorite place to be, I loved playing with my friends and challenging myself to try new things during rehearsal.

Leah was worried for me, during parent conferences she expressed her concern with my learning habits to my mother. In response she relayed the issues I had in elementary school, but assured her that there are some things that I can certainly focus on, like music, that I spend hours at a time doing. They realized it could simply be a conflict of interest, the books in the classroom were absolutely boring to me. Leah had a sit down with me, and asked me what it is that I, myself, as Sarah, not as a student required to read, would like to pick up. I told her I started reading a book called “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” by Mark Haddon at home and that it was obscure but interesting to me. She suggested that I bring that into class, and to forget about reading levels.

This felt weird, reading a book for class I’d once seen in the clutch of a high schooler after not being able to read what was in the sixth grade library. But it was what I liked and what made me care for reading. I didn’t feel behind, I was excited to read and write about my book. More than anything, I felt understood. The teachers at my old school didn’t seem to want to work with me, or explain the issue to me. Instead they’d just worry my parents and I was left in the dark about it all. I’m thankful to have been given an opportunity to work with my teacher and to find what it is that works for me.