Literacy and how it has changed me

Growing up, reading was always something that I did on a daily basis. I would sit there and read in my room for hours. Sometimes I would even end up finishing a book in one sitting. Unfortunately, my parents were not the first people who helped me read. I actually had an old babysitter named Joan, who taught me how to read. She really had an influence on my life and my reading skills as well. I felt that by being taught from her, I was able to continue reading throughout my life. At times, however, I would get aggravated because I might not understand what I am reading, but I was still able to grasp the meaning somehow.
In elementary school, I always read during class. I first started out by doing accelerated reader and while doing this I read so many books. I even started reading chapter books. My favorite ones were The Babysitter’s Club and The Boxcar Children series. Those books made me want to keep on reading and never put the book down. I also participated in this thing where we could win Pizza Hut coupons, but this did however involve reading a certain amount of books. I don’t really recall the name of the program, but it did help me in reading and being able to develop other strategies. I continued to read throughout elementary school. All my teachers had different ways of presenting the information to the class and I felt that every year was a new year for me to learn different information. Elementary school was probably my hardest year when reading. My vocabulary was still continuing to expand, however I still had a strong passion for reading.
When high school approached, my passion for reading went downhill. I think the reason for my perspective changing was due to the fact I was reading harder material and was struggling with it. Some pieces I read in high school that I struggled with were: The Great Gatsby, Julius Caesar, Macbeth and Hamlet. There were other pieces that I really enjoyed such as: Romeo & Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men. The readings all consisted of very different material, but I still felt that how the material was presented made it harder to understand and comprehend. Even the teachers I had tried to portray the information in the simplest forms, but not all the time was it that easy to follow. Reading Shakespeare in high school was the hardest for me, because I felt that even though there were the translations, I still was not able to put two and two together. Those types of pieces were very detailed and sometimes in a certain structure that made it harder to grasp. Another thing in high school that I saw improve, were my SAT and ACT scores. Reading was never really my best subject throughout my schooling, but when I took those tests, I got reverse results. Apparently, I had done better on the reading and grammar sections than I had hoped. Grammar was always easier for me, but for the reading part, I mostly struggled with the main idea and vocabulary.
Reading has changed my life for the better. I understand now why everyone should be literate. It can make or break getting a certain job that involves much reading. Any where you go, there will always be reading, whether its numbers, signs or even a book for that matter. Becoming literate is something that took time and patience. I still remember trying to read a book and it would result in reading out loud to me. Sometimes that was the only way I was able to pick up and comprehend the information.