I kept looking at the clock and hoping time would go by faster. Tick-tock, tick-tock, that sound echoed in my ears. I knew that class would not end before I had to read a paragraph from the history book in front of all my classmates. I didn’t mind reading. In fact, I was pretty good at it. All I kept thing was I hope I don’t miss a word. Everyone will laugh. Third graders can be harsh. I knew my teacher, Mr. Sheldon, just wanted to torture us. My palms were sweaty and I couldn’t stop shaking my leg under my desk. Okay, there were six students ahead of me before it was my turn. I knew that meant I was going to read the sixth paragraph. I began to read the paragraph to myself to make sure I knew all the words. Phew, I knew them all. It was almost my turn to read. I looked again at the clock hoping it gave me good news but no such luck. It was inevitable, I would have to read. I remember reading the paragraph with ease. Once I began I calmed down a bit. It wasn’t as hard as I thought. After that moment of agony, I realized that I was not getting tortured by my teacher. I knew that doing this was helping me. I knew that reading aloud broadened my vocabulary and spelling, improved my confidence, realize that I wanted to become a teacher, and helped me develop a love for reading.
I never realized that vocabulary and spelling go hand in hand with reading. When I was younger, I never was very good at spelling and weekly vocabulary homework. It was a real struggle and took a while for me to comprehend what I was reading. The more that I read, the easier it was. Reading forces me to look at words that I may have never seen or heard otherwise. While I read, I am able to see the words used in different context. If I come across a word that I do not know or understand I just to look up the definition. Reading has helped my vocabulary immensely.
I never realized that reading aloud would improve my confidence. As a child I have always been pretty shy. I would never be the...