Reading Reflection #1: Strategic Reading Comprehension and Motivating Contexts For Developing Offline Reading Comprehension
“Reader” has long been a facet of my identity. I was one of those kids who would bring a book to read at the table when out to eat with my family. My “journey to reader” wasn’t always a straight line though. Due to a surgery, I missed the first couple of months of 1st grade, which set me back in my reading development for the rest of the year. I remember reading haltingly and nervously, slowly sounding out each syllable and for awhile just not enjoying the process. Thankfully my parents were able to get me a reading tutor the following summer, and I somehow made up for lost time. Then came college, where, as an English major, I suddenly had hundreds of pages of reading to do each week, and I just couldn’t do it: I couldn’t comprehend complex text at that volume. So I froze in anxiety about it and just… didn’t attempt to. I’m not proud of it, but my inability to successfully complete and comprehend all of my reading led me to even attempt very little of it. My “reading” at that time i