How a Teacher Inspired My Reading Abilities
Overview
A personal reflection essay describing how Mrs. Mortimer, a teacher, transformed the author's attitude toward reading by introducing interest-based book selection and critical reading comprehension strategies. The paper illustrates how guided instruction in finding relevant texts and asking analytical questions about narrative, detail, and authenticity developed the author's reading motivation and abilities from childhood into adolescence.
What this reflection paper covers
- Introduction establishing reading as a multifaceted process and the author's initial disengagement with reading
- Mrs. Mortimer's pedagogical approach: selecting interest-based books and employing guided questioning strategies
- Application and progression through recommended titles and independent reading development
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How a Teacher Inspired My Reading Abilities
There is more to reading than just having knowledge of letters, sounds, and words. It examines a series of written symbols and derives in-depth meaning from them. In other words, it is a multifaceted process consisting of recognition of words, comprehension of their importance, fluency, and motivation. Growing up, I found reading maddeningly boring. Within moments into a book or a short story, my mind would wander as I just read the words and sentences without making meaning out of them. One day, however, Mrs Mortimer made me want to read more because she had some exciting points about it, which made me change my attitude and improve.
According to Mrs Mortimer, the first step towards proper reading is finding books or topics that interest the reader. Back then, my topics of interest included animals and zoos. Thus, if I needed to enjoy reading, I needed to find books along this line of thought. Finding a book of interest is important because it motivates one to continue reading while expanding one's ability to read other books. My first book was The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, a story about a young boy raised in the jungle by animals. Reading it made me feel like I had embarked on an adventure.
Once I had a book that interested and excited me, Mrs Mortimer said there were several important questions I should ask myself while reading.