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Letaeja Fitzgerald
Professor Raymond
UWRT 1103 104
06 July 2014
Reading is Fundamental
I remember going to my nanas house and having my aunt, Marquita, read The Share
Bears to me. I would listen to her read the same book over and over again I would memorize
every word, and every picture. From the beginning when Papa Bear shared his sandwich with
Baby Bear, to when Momma Bear shared her blanket with Papa Bear. Each picture contained
something new and interesting to me. Soon I was able to guess words based on what I
continuously heard. I loved the book so much that I took it from my nanas and brought it home
for my mom to read to me. It was with my mom that I began to comprehend words, I also began
to learn different letters in order to make my own words.
Most of my childhood was surrounded around my familys religion. My great-
grandmother, Mary, is a minister so we would constantly sit around and listen to her tell us old
bible stories. My favorite story was the story of David and Goliath. That story in particular
taught me many life lessons that I still hold near and dear today. It helped me realize the
importance of my faith and how with faith anything is possible. The story talked about how God
gave David the strength to defeat the giant Goliath. No one believed in David and they thought
he was stupid to want to fight Goliath. I can relate to David in that sense because there have been
many times in my life where no one believed I could do a certain thing, but despite the adversity
I kept the faith and succeeded. A good example was my experience in kindergarten; I was very
advanced when I started school, which was apparent because I was only four when I began. I
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already knew everything they were planning on teaching me I was very bored in class. My
teacher would tell me that I was lazy and that I wouldnt get as far as the fifth grade. I used her
intrusively judgmental behavior as fuel to make me work harder to not only prove her wrong but
to prove to myself that I could do it, despite adversity. As a result of the constant criticism I
experienced in Kindergarten I began to get better grades and was invited to attend the AIG
(Academically Intellectually Gifted) program. I reached the very goal I set for myself and it
made me feel wonderful. Reading and writing naturally came to me so I never struggled with
either of them. Every year I would receive the reading award for either my class or the entire
grade. While I was in the AIG program I attended an advanced creative writing class, although I
was only in the second grade I was already a strong writer. In that class my teacher opened my
mind to new possibilities.
I learned how to use my imagination in my writing. I was so use to sticking to one
specific prompt that when given the freedom to choose a topic to write about I eagerly accepted
the challenge. I would go home, make my entire family sit in the living room, and I would read
my stories. Granted, family members are kind of obligated to say good things about my writing
nevertheless, it was a confidence booster. My family helped me a lot, they were always
supportive and understanding of me. It was easy to get everyones help because at that time I was
the only child. Once my little brother, Nehemiah, was born I was kind of on my own as far a
academics went, but I was fine with that because at that point I had already became comfortable
with school. Honestly, without every one of these experiences I wouldnt be as motivated to
excel in school or even life.