Dwayne Roberts JR
Literacy Narrative ENG 122
Reading didn’t come easy to me in school. I was at a lower reading level than most of my friends and this became a big problem. I had meetings with my parents and teachers about this. I never enjoyed reading because i wasn’t good at it so I didn’t try my best . I never read out loud because I was too shy to and when i did i always messed up so didn’t read out loud unless I was forced to. After about 3 meetings with my teachers and parents we started to try something new. I knew at first it wasn’t going to be fun because it had to do with reading and writing. Me and my Dad talked on my struggles with reading and, how I was not enjoying it at all. We talked about my shyness on reading in front of people.
When I was in the 3rd grade my Dad made me read the dictionary
every night for 30 minutes a night. He told me that this wasn’t a punishment and that I would thank him later in life for doing this. He said due to my struggles in reading and writing that if I had a better vocabulary That this would help. This method indeed helped me a lot. At first I didn’t enjoy reading the dictionary I mean what 3rd grader would ? But I stuck with It and it improved my vocabulary tremendously. My reading and writing skills improved a lot over that year. My father taught me a very important lesson when he did this. He showed me that learning never stops. It doesn’t stop if you are 8, 18 or 81 you can always learn something new. My father wasn’t a “Book smart man” he went to a public high school in Houston Texas, and joined the Navy two weeks after graduating. He taught me how to have a great work ethic and to never stop. He is always learning something new and he is the reason why i’m the hard worker I am now. He said to me that he understands reading a writing doesn’t come easy to me he showed me that you can overcome this struggle with it by working hard at it everyday by reading the dictionary at night. This is not only the oldest memory about reading a writing I can remember it’s the most important one. This memory not only connect directly with literacy narrative but, it is a contributing factor to the person I am today. My father wasn’t going to let me struggle in reading and writing. He was going to do whatever he could do to help me with this challenge. Reading the dictionary at night as a 3rd grader not only allowed me to be a better student, it helped me become a better person. It helped me expand my vocabulary and, this not only helps as being a student but as an employee and other various things. This time spent with my father not only served as a learning opportunity but also a bonding time between us. My father and I are very close and he is not just my mentor and idol he is my best friend.This is just one of the many examples of my father teaching me having a good work ethic and how to be a better human being. My father’s values turned into my values like Alexie. Unlike Alexis father my dad wasn’t an active reader. He can read very well, and wishes he had more time to read but other obligations haven’t allowed him to read as often as he wished. When he went back to school for HVAC he had to read for his classes. We both did our homework together. I cherish these times like how Alexie cherishes his time with his father.I feel that i can connect with him a lot in the way that we both respect and love our fathers a lot. When I was growing up there wasn’t a lot of kids my age that lived on my street. With this said I spent a lot of time with my father. We would plant things in the garden and we would talk a lot. He gave me a lot of life lesson while we garden like the importance of being patience. I was upset when the plants didn’t grow as quickly as I wished they did. My father told me that good things come with time and he was sure right. Patience has been the biggest factor to my success without this I am nothing.
Reading the dictionary as a 3rd grader not only widen my vocabulary but, opened my mind and turned me into a open minded thinker. Being a open minded person will set you up for success. Like Alexie my father is my idol I strive to be like him everyday. We both share this same connection and both of our fathers have brought the importance of reading. Alexie and my father are very much alike they both always want to learn more. Alexis father was always learning something new by reading. My father is always working on something and, learning from what he did good or bad he elevates himself. He is always working on his Mustang and learning new things on it or what he should do different. We spent a lot of long nights together in the garage putting a new rearend in it. This is my most valuable time spent with my dad. Unlike gardening I actually put his teaching into action. Everything he taught me as a boy from reading the dictionary to being patient gardening helped me to become the young man i am today. A strong work ethic was put into place for me at a young age like alexie. Helping my father work on his mustang was a quiz and reading the dictionary was homework to help me prepare for this quiz without patience that I learned as a boy we would of never finished this project.
Without a strong role model I don’t think I would’ve read the dictionary at night for 30 minutes a night as a 3rd grader. Without my Dad i would of fell behind in school and struggled. The importance of having someone like this in your young Literacy life is not stressed enough.
