When I was five years old, I started kindergarten at my school. Whenever we started reading a story, our teacher always made us read out loud. I hated that because I didn’t know that many words and I would have to stop and sound out most of my words. I sounded like an idiot because none of my other classmates had as much trouble as I did.
Every week our class had to vote on which story we were going to read and everyone had to read out loud. I was hoping I could get out of it by pretending to be sick but of course that didn’t work. My classmates started reading one by one and then finally it was my turn. I was trying to read well but I felt pressured. All the kids were looking at me instead of the story. I just stopped and started reading slowly and sounding out the easiest words. As I came across a word I didn’t know I started sounding it out like I was taught to do. When I thought I had the word right, I said it. When I did my teacher glared at me and quickly corrected me which made me feel stupid in front of the whole class. It turns out that the word I thought I had right was a cuss word. Some of the other kids started laughing at me so I guess they knew what the word was and what it meant. I was so embarrassed and I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel the way I did. That’s why I think reading is the most important thing to learn because without it you may look bad and people may make you feel stupid. And, of course, no one wants a teacher to make them feel stupid in front of the whole class! Maybe if she had quietly taken me aside and helped me understand more of what I was being asked to do, this never would have happened. I learned that, to this day, I learn better when teachers and my classmates don’t make fun of me!