“Ok class, it’s time to choose your independent reading book for the week”, said Ms. Mazzone. “Oh great, the worst part of my week is here again”, I thought to myself, and started to sweat. Everyone got up and went to the red and yellow book bins. Because I’m in the fourth grade but on a first grade reading level, I had to choose from the green one. It was so humiliating. Everyone knew what the green bin means. Even worse than my reading was my spelling, my spelling was at a kindergarten level. Because of my atrocious spelling, I would get pulled into the hallway to use text to speech for assignments and tests. Everyone in the classroom could hear everything I was saying and hear my frustration. Me: (to text to speech): Severus Snape (text to speech writes) Venomous Snake Me: (loud enough for everyone to hear) SEVERUS SNAPE!!!!!!!! (text to speech writes) Venomous Snake Me: NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Ms. Mazzone, I need help!!!!! I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. “Why am I the stupid one? Why did I have to get stuck having dyslexia?” From pre-k three all through elementary school, every day was agony. The frustrating thing was that I actually loved listening to books and watching educational videos, and I loved to learn. My roadblock, my dyslexia, was giving me severe anxiety and causing me to melt down in school. I felt like I was trapped and I could not escape. I had no self-esteem, felt dumb, and doubted I would graduate from middle school. Fast forward to March of 2020, a turning point in my story. While others struggled during this time, I excelled academically and it was because of my favorite teacher, my mother. While I was sitting in on google classroom meetings, my mother, a high school teacher, was teaching her classes in the room next to mine. I was in awe listening to her lessons and the bond that she had with her students. While her class was working on independent assignments or during her lunch break, she would hear me struggling. Once she saw exactly what I was having a hard time with she would spend the rest of her day working independently with me. We spent hours studying for tests, working on written assignments, reading books, and working on coping skills for me to use during class time. Because of my mom, I found my voice participating in class discussions, discovered that using notecards was the best way for me to study, and no longer cared about taking longer than everyone to finish assignments. I enjoyed class more now that I wasn’t comparing myself to others. I now felt a confident and it was all because of my mother. She has so much patience for not only me, but her students as well. When middle school began in September, I was ready! I achieved the honor roll during my two years of middle school and all four years of high school. I even was inducted into the National Honor Society. I am so proud in all that I accomplished. I envision myself as a secondary special education history teacher. Because of my struggles with dyslexia, I feel that I will be able to encourage and inspire students who are just like me. I will make sure that they know anything is possible, even making it to the National Honor Society and graduating high school with honors. I would love to give them the strength and confidence that my mom gave not only me, but her students as well.

“Ok class, it’s time to choose your independent reading book for the week”, said Ms. Mazzone. “Oh great, the worst part of my week is here again”, I thought to myself, and started to sweat. Everyone got up and went to the red and yellow book bins. Because I’m in the fourth grade but on a first grade reading level, I had to choose from the green one. It was so humiliating. Everyone knew what the green bin means. Even worse than my reading was my spelling, my spelling was at a kindergarten level. Because of my atrocious spelling, I would get pulled into the hallway to use text to speech for assignments and tests. Everyone in the classroom could hear everything I was saying and hear my frustration. Me: (to text to speech): Severus Snape (text to speech writes) Venomous Snake Me: (loud enough for everyone to hear) SEVERUS SNAPE!!!!!!!! (text to speech writes) Venomous Snake Me: NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Ms. Mazzone, I need help!!!!! I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. “Why am I the stupid one? Why did I have to get stuck having dyslexia?” From pre-k three all through elementary school, every day was agony. The frustrating thing was that I actually loved listening to books and watching educational videos, and I loved to learn. My roadblock, my dyslexia, was giving me severe anxiety and causing me to melt down in school. I felt like I was trapped and I could not escape. I had no self-esteem, felt dumb, and doubted I would graduate from middle school. Fast forward to March of 2020, a turning point in my story. While others struggled during this time, I excelled academically and it was because of my favorite teacher, my mother. While I was sitting in on google classroom meetings, my mother, a high school teacher, was teaching her classes in the room next to mine. I was in awe listening to her lessons and the bond that she had with her students. While her class was working on independent assignments or during her lunch break, she would hear me struggling. Once she saw exactly what I was having a hard time with she would spend the rest of her day working independently with me. We spent hours studying for tests, working on written assignments, reading books, and working on coping skills for me to use during class time. Because of my mom, I found my voice participating in class discussions, discovered that using notecards was the best way for me to study, and no longer cared about taking longer than everyone to finish assignments. I enjoyed class more now that I wasn’t comparing myself to others. I now felt a confident and it was all because of my mother. She has so much patience for not only me, but her students as well. When middle school began in September, I was ready! I achieved the honor roll during my two years of middle school and all four years of high school. I even was inducted into the National Honor Society. I am so proud in all that I accomplished. I envision myself as a secondary special education history teacher. Because of my struggles with dyslexia, I feel that I will be able to encourage and inspire students who are just like me. I will make sure that they know anything is possible, even making it to the National Honor Society and graduating high school with honors. I would love to give them the strength and confidence that my mom gave not only me, but her students as well.