In my sophomore year, my English teacher named Mrs. Henry asked us to read The Great Gatsby over winter break. Coming back from the Christmas break on a Monday, Mrs. Henry gave us a test worth, twenty percent of our grade, to reflect over the book. Once we took the test, she said they would be graded in about two days. I contemplated whether I did a great job or I bombed it completely. When I received the test, I barely failed it and disappointment really took over me. Even though Mrs. Henry offered redos in the next two days after we took the exam, and would the second attempt grade would replace the first one, I still wanted that passing high grade on the first try.

I took the redo and redeemed myself greatly,, by getting a ninety-five on the second attempt. I knew I worked hard during those two days to prepare for the test. Mrs. Henry even told my mother, at a parent-teacher conference a week after the second attempt, that I made her proud on redeeming myself dramatically. I felt very accomplished and relieved.

Overall, I learned that if you do not first succeed, always try again as you may better yourself and feel accomplished!

  I have never read a full book since the 6th grade.

Sure, it might be crazy hear for some readers, but if you are a student like me, it is believable. Literacy has been one of those things in my life I’ve never really understood. Surprisingly, after being tested in multiple creative writing exams, passing them, and being GT in the field of reading and writing had just felt annoying to me.

My reading and writing capabilities were first challenged at the beginning of freshmen year when I was asked to write myself, yes, myself, a letter in which I will open in my senior year. Prior, I had known how to write essays but honestly never really cared for what I wrote. I did not know how to start, nor I knew what to compose myself. I did not want to find a letter my senior year in which later-on I would ask why I wrote it. Doubting my abilities, I asked my English teacher at the time, Ms.McElyea, for tips that would not disappoint myself in this non-important-but-important letter.

With the helping hands of my teacher, I was able to successfully write a great message that I will hope to read in my upcoming senior year. In this small task, I learned that writing something as simple as a letter to yourself requires you to thoroughly think through what message you are trying to confer on to the reader. Moral of the lesson; don’t underestimate or overestimate your capabilities.

People questioned my ability to comprehend book discussions or chapter discussions in class. However, I was luckily able to come up with my strategy of reading books or any piece of media in a short amount of time. This skill, believe it or not, developed not long after I watched a video on YouTube of a man who read a book a day. Fascinated by the skill it took to be able to do that I decided to find my way of completing tasks like that.

The way I was able to do this is by looking at the most critical nouns in the main pages of the book or piece of media. By eliminating all unnecessary words from my reading, I can comprehend the main message portrayed by the author of the book or media.

Though this form of text read is useful at times, it did not come in handy when I decided to take the AP World History class.

Sophomore year, I decided to challenge myself by engaging and taking the AP World History class. This type, of course, is challenging as the work consists of mainly reading and writing. However, it pays off because some colleges and universities give credit to students that pass the AP exams. I am glad and extremely proud to say, I failed my exam. Why? Because I knew I had tried my best in the writing part of the exam and I knew even though I might’ve struggled in remembering the historical aspect, I knew that my writing skills were clear and easy to comprehend. Ms.Santana, my teacher at that time had us write until our hands would break as by the middle of the year we were being assigned different writing activities such as note-taking, writing essays, and even just plainly studying for the tests she gave us every week.

That class took a toll on my time management as well. I had to plan out everything I did outside of that class to fit into my schedule correctly. I remember having to sometimes not sleep at all in order to finish an essay that was due the next day, it wasn’t because I hadn’t started prior to that night but instead because of my scheduling and most importantly carefully structuring out the prompts that were given to us in order to gain a perfect score. Most of the time I increased low scores but with more and more practice over time, countless essays and late nights later I was able to start becoming a better writer. I realized that the experience of staying up until sunrise many times and typing over 100,000 words was noticeable when I was able to get a commended score on my English II exam. The skills that I had learned in a history class were so helpful in my other types.

I continue to strive and become better in every assignment I conquer to write. Sure, being somebody that does not really read as much as he should do give me setbacks a sometimes but knowing a few skills does come a long way. Literature now is not a boring subject, in fact, it is one of my favorite subjects in school.

At the age of two years old, my little cousin A.J. was diagnosed with severe autism. At the time that of the prognosis, I had barely reached the age of eight years old. Finding out about autism bestowed a challenge upon me. Grasping the idea of the big topic of autism frightened me. In order to explain what exactly this fancy word meant, my mother set out to find a way to demonstrate the meaning of it through literature. Being a teacher, my mother had access to a plentiful amount of resources related to autism. She then came across the novel, My Brother Charlie.

My Brother Charlie is an amazing novel about a set of twins, one in which has autism. Throughout the novel, Charlie’s sister finds ways to handle the situation bestowed upon them. By reading this book, I was able to understand just how common this disorder is and how others learn to handle it.

After reading, I looked at A.J. in a whole new light and learned to love him even more. I gained new skills in knowing how to associate myself with him and how to better read him. Throughout the years, our bond continues to grow.

A.J. and Jordyn

A.J. and Jordyn

Here is a link to the Barnes & Nobles website where you can purchase the book: My Brother Charlie available at Barnes and Nobles

Here is a link to an audio reading of My Brother Charlie: Audio Reading of My Brother Charlie

https://youtu.be/pZXD-5F4oxQ

To learn more about autism, visit the link below

What is Autism?