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Ashley Lukens

Professor Stalbird

English 1101

9 September 2021

Reading for Success

Is reading your least favorite subject? Would you rather be working on any other

subject right now? If your answer is yes, my 8-year-old self would agree with you too.

When I was younger, I moved to Indiana and then back to Ohio. During the time that I

was living in Indiana the school system was not as academically advanced as the

school in Ohio, so I fell behind in reading. I started to dislike reading and I was not sure

why. I would have preferred doing anything other than reading any book placed in front

of me.

I often struggled with reading. When my teacher, Mrs. Winters, would assign our

class with reading a short passage and answering a few questions I would find myself

miserably working on it an hour or so later while I heard the roar coming from the

window of all the other kids in my class outside on the playground at recess. This led

my teacher to the realization that something was wrong with my reading level. It was an

unfortunate time for me because my parents were extremely strict about grades and

were focused on improving my reading. I was enrolled in the summer reading program

at the local library by my parents with no choice in the matter.

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On the drive home my mom said, “Starting tonight you are going to read to me

for 20 minutes every night."

I let out a huge sigh and said, “I don’t want to.” However, this did not change

anything, and I ended up reading the 20 minutes every night. Some nights when I would

read by myself, I would stare at the pages until I decided that it seemed like enough

time on one page, then I would turn the page and repeat the process. At the time I was

incredibly angry at my parents for making me do this program because it was summer

which meant time for playing with friends and having fun. However, today I am very

thankful that my parents influenced me to take part in the summer reading program

because it certainly helped. Even though my stubborn self would not admit it I did begin

to slightly enjoy reading when I would read the book called “Pinkalicious” with my mom

every night before bed.

Little did I know the summer reading program at the local library was just the

beginning of the additional help I needed. In addition, I was placed into a summer

reading program with the school.

I remember the evening my mom said, “Ashley, you will be going to the summer

school reading program for a few hours a day.”

I asked, “How long will the program last?”

My mom said, “The session will be wo hours a day for two weeks.”

I disliked going to this reading program and I was very embarrassed by it. I never

told any of my friends about attending the school’s summer reading program that

seemed like the worst thing in the world to me. I started slowly improving my reading
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skills. I learned how to read passages better and remember the details enough to

answer questions. When I started to find reading a little less challenging, I began to

enjoy reading more.

When I was in fifth grade, I read some of “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books

which I became very fond of. This got me into some trouble though when my parents

went to a parent teacher conference and the teacher told my parents that I had been

reading books that were too easy for me and not challenging myself. My parents then

sat me down and told me about the conversation that they had with my teacher.

My parents told me Mrs. Peters said, “Ashley is not challenging herself by

reading books at her current reading level.”

I was surprisingly in some ways proud of this, I never thought that I would hear

someone tell me that I should be reading more difficult books. This sparked a

tremendous change; I became more inspired to read. I went on with a few more years of

school challenging myself to read more.

Then came the big decision of whether I wanted to take honors reading.

Eventually, after lots of debating and asking my friends what the course load was like, I

decided to push myself and take the honors route.

My friend Alexei told me “The course can be hard, but you get out of it what you

put into it.”

I made this change going into my freshman year of high school. I did not test

good enough to be at this new reading level, but my parents believed in me anyways
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and signed me into the honors class. I was worried about this new change and asked

my mom “What if I do bad in the class?”

She responded with “I know you can do it and even if you do get a B or C, it is a

weighted class so it will be a letter grade higher than you actually get. I am not worried

about the grade that you get I just want to see you challenge yourself.”

With this little bit of reassurance, I felt better making the decision to take the

harder class. I knew that it would be a struggle but that was nothing that I had not faced

before. I dedicated lots of time to reading outside of class. If I did not understand

something in a book that we were reading in class when I got home reading would be

the first subject that I would complete. The class ended up going great and I completed

the year with an A in the class.

I have stayed on this track all throughout my high school career until now when I

am in a college level English class as a senior in high school, that is an entire year

ahead and it is crazy to believe that I used to be behind! I learned that it does not matter

about your background or the unchosen advantages or disadvantages that life throws at

you. What really matters is the time and effort that you put into the goal you want to

achieve. I never thought that I would be where I am today in my reading academics. I

went from having to go to summer school and needing extra help during recess to being

a year ahead. While telling people that I had to go to summer school is still very

embarrassing I am glad to tell my story so they can see how perseverance can lead to

something better. This is just a simple example that shows how you can overcome

obstacles no matter the circumstances.

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