Jennifer Le Malcolm Campbell eke? wo English 1101 ean a be Mere ber 8", 2014 re . % ws Octobe OU ce ACR weet We! ne Ve ‘The Struggles of Reading in the a Grade Ttwas a windy day and my classroom was in a trailer, and there weren’t any air ‘conditioners available| I stepped inthe classroom and was wearing a red jacket my cousin bought for me for my birthday; it was my favorite. My teacher would write assignments on the board so we would have something to do before class actually started. I yemember having to write about Yor how looa?'S peciGy my favorite book in an old, torn-up notebook I’ve had® When I saw the assignment, T thought to myself: when was the last time I actually read a book? Better yet; when was the last time 1 voluntarily read a book and enjoyed it? I struggled to find an answer to these questions. I would reading more books. : 35 ‘What motivated me to read the books-wes-n0t becalse shat actually interested in books, butltol|GEAR parties. GEAR was an abbreviation for “Grab Everything And Read,” To attend a GERY, See ‘ozar party, a student has to read a certain amount of books and earn AR points. AR stood for \ike aes own, nap( Asem Renn , and the points can be eared by taking AR tests, In GEAR, another >“ requirement was to have a certain average percentage. The lowest percentage possible to attend ) GEAR parties was an 85%. So I thought that meant that only smart kids could attend the parties. Reading caused me to think that the faster I read, the more books I could comprehend, and the better I scored on the AR tests would pen meprtthe category of being ‘smart. When T— a,untess only Lexi Hon yonce © was prepared to take this challenge of being in she’ GEAR party, I rushed to rie brary inmy __Le2 aM school with a tingling feeling like I was having some adrenaline rush. When I stepped foot in the library, I read the sign and I felt like my stomach dropped Sithe ground, |Sadty, 1 could only t wWhaich check out two books ata timgaEisls made me feel like I wouldn't be able to succeed in my goal. . Bethsmiuces oct seall, oy replay this with wll Souths seal sa “ejay n\. send offelings myself, 11 ‘many Books, eh \——_—_——_* and eh4\Cé would read some of the easy books that were for kindergarteners or first-graders, allowing me to exchange books more frequently. I thought that this would give me a chance to earn some quick points and I was hoping to boost up my percentage to at least an 85%. I would read so quickly aking and memorize each fact and statement each character quoted, planning onto-také-the test on the same day. Although this plan seemed to have worked, I checked my average every time I took a test and my final average was a 56%. That.pumber made me scream inside. 1 was confused and © (A) sctry showed my teacher. She looked at me and said, “Sweetheart, these books are not second grade level. They lower your score.” I was shocked and surprised. I felt so stupid when she told me this. I looked at her with a dejected reaction on my face, “Can I take these books back to the ken, library? I don’t want to read kid books. I want to read big books for big people.” She chuckled & . A RRerentius' and nodded. The assistant teacher, who had a weird last name(s0 I just called her Mrs. Linda), | “te Wrecause 4! escorted me to the library to let me check out more books. ( Ae orrelonr oe This whole GEAR party thing was the only thing I had in my mind at the moment. I wanted to go to that GEAR party, and nothing was going to stop me. I personally walked up to my librarian and asked, “Where are the second grade books?” She smiled at me and walked me over to them. “Are you going to be in the GEAR party this year?” asked my librarian. “No,” I responded. “I don’t have an 85%, but I’m going to try really hard to be in it.” My librarian asked, a “what is your average, sweetie?” I told her, and she had thiseaction of shock. She said the worst thing ever that brought my entire world down Why don’t you go back to class? I don’t think) you'll be able to achieve that score at this time. You only have a week, honey."\My librarian, who is suppose to motivate students to read, told me to quit reading and how I couldn’t succeed. L obeyed her request and walked back slowly to class, thinking how my librarian declined my need of reading, This was second grade, and all the motivation I needed was to show her I could achieve this goal of mine. 7 : Bidet} core Wud LT aon I walked back into the classroom, empty-handed. My teacher-hagne-cereerrorme ore pW Va geting Untotne _smsiving back to class without a single book that-wee-suppose-trhelp-me-get-in-thet GEAR party. She looked at me and walked me back to my assigned seat in class. She noticed the gloomy look, ‘ot ‘on my face. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “I see that you don’t have any books. Where have ee _you been?” glared at her and responded, “There is no Paint in trying if you don’t have = anyone/ qeypende bark we tohelp you." saw the awkward reaction she nepiedhe-bwel-with, She quickly disappeared ( en Could pore before I-earrsay anything else\ This moment made me realize that without help, there can never és Ip, be a winner if. is enou; \otivation rete te Ries POH ID RAR SBE tare ot deat eo ‘hat da my mother took me home from school and T dT til a i= depressing look on my face. “What’s wrong, Jen? Did something happen at school ean asked beemse. Phang et Conic my mother, I was so happy she asked me thaly#fthat point, the only person L-hopeet+o help me was my mother. I told her, “Mom, I want to read more books. Can we go to the library?” “Oh no, Tean’t take yoy; have a lot of paperwork to do when I get home. Maybe you can ask your + father to take yous" res om. 1m sorry.”} The response my mother gave me grandfather y rane ne moe = 2 Beteeen ome ay te made my heart drop. The caly poson 1a help nb asda ielp out her own a unsn ld even eble ae A (dia e&Tughconds house. aD daughter. Once I arrived at my-heme, I rushed to my telephone Bee Criceted toy Revo Ukese 70% ore) best friends, She was in a different class than me, but she was on of the Smartest people that I— knew. Her name is Linh Le. She wasn’t related to me at all, but it was a good thing that she wasLe4 always there for me when I needed her. When she answered my phone call I told her about my situation. Fortunately, she already earned enough AR points and as steady been put on the list to attend the GEAR party. “It was pretty hard to eam the points, Jen. There weren’t a lot of books left for me to read since I read most of the second grade books already,” said Linh. “I had to read a lot more harder books and’had to read it a few times before I took the test.” She suggested that I took some of the books she read for the AR tests. I would look over some of the books. Some of them didn’t have any pictures, and some had over ten chapters. I looked at the size of the books Linh ‘aas.given me. They were thicker than the size of the small part of my pinky. I was shocked but I was taking all the help I can get. She gave me the series of Harry Potter books, Bunnicula, and another number of books that were a little more advanced {hg I Much Pei wos, expected, I didn’t want to challenge myself too -hard, but I decided that any help I secetve -~ better than nothing at all. stayed up all night trying to comprehend the first book Linh gave me. When I finished the first Harry Potter book, I told my teacher, “I’m ready to take a test for a book I read last night.” She looked at me with a worried look on her face. “What grade level is the book, Jennifer?” she asked me. “It is in the third grade level, I think. I think I can do good on the test.” T responded: I put my proud face on and was smiling with joy. Isat ieee sore and tookshed test. When I finished it, the score popped up after I clicked the submit button. I eared a 96% on the test. | was screaming with joy on the inside and then I checked my average. It was now a 62%. It boosted up six points and I was so excited. I ran to my cubby and grabbed the next Harry Potter book and began reading in class. From then on, I read five Harry Potter books and my percentage was 82%. I was so Cor ae tags invited to thrilled and I had only two days left until the deadline people gaing-tothe-GEAR party. I. Les incomportses decided to read some second grade books, which-her-felt like the kindergarten books I read before. I realize that cree became a little easier for me to understand and I took three more which beougt Ze rNvedtie testsand:ny averageswas thomen-86%. [told my teacher and she was usupisd She gave me a proud look and ads “go to the library and tell the librarian before eetno late" rushed to the library in the cold weather, wearing my favorite red jacket. I looked at the list and I Sae that I was the only one in my class who was attending the GEAR party. “You actually ‘made it on the ligg}’'m impressed,” said an unrecognizable voice behind me.I swerved around eGo © 3 5em colon ‘“aad.it was my librarian. “I’m hoping to see you at the GEAR party.” I nodded my head eur te cxf a ouggeation, Pec ditinekiis, ony walked back to class with a grin omamy-face* ‘The day of the GEAR party, there were so many of my peers attending the event. When Howe ack ‘everyone had arrived at the party, the librarian announced-wheever had the highest percentage in each class. When it was my class’ turn, she said my name and gave me a medal. This medal T Ni + SLtemP’ ue made me so hi . It holds the femory of me achieving something that se-many_peopladeeided- ue trou Ewas hensek Vel? by pe many M peteaieipenedll, (GE bik vs terol Gens cheese vier Ri her Roless Woh a badd PARES, Acawnwmor weecks reu'son, even orter My WN ona. The Slory mds Voppily, 7° tock's nic ~ Malasore wer ee bre ed tk) ing to cemember keer Xings iv Nae past Lense / a Le di, by wt, “Contd VEE GONR Tener vem beast we Seamek a bit chepdy. ~ Det be ocak ta expind your uscabvlory ween SC Haat You, Want te Keep people (nMeestedd os -The wishules you dhimakE wee cepeters ve WW a Des Whe all & the mistakes Geyer on Vln WAL Sa Ut twa, Such a> dialoyt, 2° Qoumoner, Vr4/4 - Cennoe Dolio motivation.