#1

Going through a pile of my kids’ old books, I came across the easy reader series we used when they were in first grade. I was reminded of Mrs. Passada, my remedial teacher all through elementary school. I met with Mrs. Passada several times a week. There were never more than a couple of us in her classroom at a time. We never talked to each other, even though we were keeping the same secret— none of us could really read.

I had problems tracking words and struggled to understand what I was reading while I was reading it. Mrs. Passada put me on a strict diet of SRA books. I worked through them, hoping that when I got to the end that my teachers would stop recommending I be pulled out of class. The thing about SRA books is that they never really end; they just keep going in an endless rainbow array of color-coded levels.

The school librarian once told me that to be a good writer you have to be a good reader. Mrs. Passada always just said to practice. Huh, funny that.

Photo by Robyn Budlender on Unsplash