My mom says it felt like it happened overnight. I was learning to sound out words and recognize patterns between letters and sounds. In my new school, the class size was smaller, and my teacher focused more on phonics and phonemic awareness with me. In 3rd grade, I moved to a different town. So not only did I feel inexplicably behind my classmates, but also my younger sister.
To make matters worse, my sister who is one year younger than me, learned sight reading very quickly. I really didn’t want to read very much at all. I only wanted to “read” books that I’d memorized. I even worked with a tutor on phonics and spelling after school during those years. I was evaluated for dyslexia and other learning disabilities. At the suggestion of my teacher, my mom worked on phonics with me after school and in the summer using the Bob Books. The problem was as months and years passed, I still wasn’t getting it - and it’s pretty hard to love books when people are asking you to read them all day and you just can’t do what they are asking. And the problem wasn’t actually me, even though it felt like it was at the time. They kept telling her not to worry that I wasn’t reading: as long as I didn’t have negative associations with books, I would eventually learn. Talking to my mom, I learned that in 1st and 2nd grade my teachers emphasized memorizing whole words and activities to promote a love of books.
A major reason for this was my first elementary school didn’t include adequate phonics instruction. Despite reading being about 90% of my personality as an adult, I didn’t learn to read until I was 10 years old and in 4th grade. I know how it feels because I was one of those kids. And if you struggle with reading, it’s easy to feel stupid or completely disengaged from school. It’s needed for basically every other subject, even math. Reading is one of the first and most essential skills kids learn when starting school. And when you keep falling behind in 1st and 2nd and 3rd grade and beyond, the problem just gets bigger and bigger. At least, that’s how you’re treated in school.
BOB SIGHT WORDS FIRST GRADE HOW TO
When you are a kid who doesn’t know how to read, it’s a problem. She loves writing about books on the Internet, listening to audiobooks on the subway, and reading anything with a twisty plot or a happily ever after. She has an MFA from The New School in writing for children and teenagers. Alison Doherty is a writing teacher and part time assistant professor living in Brooklyn, New York.
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