Personal Narrative: Advanced Math

Every night my mom would read me a chapter or two of a “Junie B Jones” book. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to read by myself. I enjoyed reading when I first learned how. The first series I really liked was “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. I’ve read every single book in the series. Whenever a new book from the series would come out, i’d get it first thing the next day. I never really read that often after I finished the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. Those books really entertained me and anything else I read from the point didn't sway me. In fourth grade, I had a really awesome teacher that was really hard on me, but I really believe she helped me the most. I don't remember everything we did, I really don’t remember most of the stuff we did. I just remember getting to 5th grade and writing was so easy for me. So was math, science, etc.

Throughout elementary school, we have always been told to read books. Some books for enjoyment, but the majority solely for educational purposes. The one question that I continually asked myself was, “Does reading really make me smarter?” Within hours of reading my textbooks, I find myself downing another cup of coffee, struggling to get through the tedious lines of ink. Not only was I uninterested in what I was reading, but I felt disconnected from the true meaning of the material.

My personal trainer saw how corpulent I was, so he decided to put me on a strong weight loss program.

Growing up I was a very avid reader. I remember the first books I successfully read by myself. They were a series directed towards preschoolers called, “Where’s Spot?” written by Eric Hill. There are over twenty books in the Spot series and I’m damn sure I read every single one of them. I would come home ever day after preschool and kindergarten and read the Spot books aloud as I was walking around the house. If you can’t already tell, I was a very self-absorbed child. And although the books are extremely simple, with about one word on each page, and any human being older than ten can probably tell you the exact plot simply based off of the title, I always prided myself in being able to read them. However, soon after I found reading to be a lot less rewarding because as most self-centered children I sought recognition for all my actions, as a dog seeks a treat for being able to do a trick. It became something I was expected to be able to do instead of something I was special for doing.

Reading was the new outlet for my imagination and the stories I read fascinated me. They weren’t too unlike the scripts of computer games or the own stories I came up with on my own, but books actually had the action and emotional aspects written out. And again, while my peers were reading things about growing up, things that had morals and would teach valuable lessons (I remember one book about a shoplifter who had to do community service at an animal shelter), I read real fiction: Jurassic Park, Dragonriders of Pern, Lord of the Rings… Stuff of fantasy and science-fiction that let my mind stray from reality. Stuff that kept my imagination alive while I was being forced to learn multiplication and the names of countries. Of course, my teachers encouraged me to keep reading, as long as I wasn’t doing the reading in the middle of their lectures. But it wasn’t because of their influence, however, that kept me interested in books. It was because I loved it. It put pictures into my head and made me think. So I kept reading. But even then I knew reading wasn’t enough… Yes, the stories were fascinating, but they weren’t what I wanted. Back then I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but as middle school came to a close, I found it.

English was always my best High School subject; Math and Science were always my worst I took three years of Special ED Math and Science.The High School I attended didn't offer multiple Special Ed math classes options. My schedule never featured a Lab Science or an Algbra class. I completed the minimum three year Math and Science requirement on time. It was a tedious task. I was excited to pursue a writing degree. This decision was based on my early childhood writing dream. I knew that I wanted to become a writer when I was 4 or 5.

I picked up one of the books and fell in love with all the things that it could teach me. My mother who was a special education teacher at the time had always pushed me and my siblings to read. She brought home tons of books for us to read. When I told her I found a great book on horses she was so proud, and from that moment on I have always had a love of reading. My love for reading has grown so much that I now read everything in sight, but reading wasn’t enough for me as it turned out. From all the great books I read I started to come up with ideas about new exciting books people could write, that I could write. So during my eight grade year my burning desire to write a book compelled me to finally do so. I used three notebooks and a ton of lead and wrote my story. When I was finished, I typed it up on my computer and printed it out to show everyone I knew. When people saw that I wrote a book they were proud of me and this pride made me want to continue, but sadly school activities took up all my time and I was unable to finish my second book. My story of how I learned how to love to read and write isn’t quite like Sherman Alexie’s superman moment but it is

When I was in fifth grade, I was taking third grade math. I could not, for the life of me, figure it out. Math was a huge struggle, and it still is. However, now, I am in Algebra II. Algebra II is a junior class and I am taking it as a sophomore. I have worked very hard to get where I am. This situation has made me realize a couple things. Number one: it is OK to ask questions. Number two: If you work hard, you will accomplish something.

How often does somebody in their teenage years wet themselves in middle of class? I just so happen to know a girl like that. Part of it was even my fault.

My teacher, classmates, and I would read the Magic Tree House series aloud in class. That series definitely influenced my enthusiasm towards reading at a young age because it made me believe that if I read a book, I would become a character. Surprisingly, my arm never became tired after constantly raising my hand all day to volunteer to read out loud. I was eager to present my reading skills to the entire class. I began reading more difficult books as I went into the fourth grade. The students at Brookland were required to take Accelerated Reader (AR) tests over the books we read. We had to reach an AR goal each nine weeks of school. Which meant we had to read books, take tests over them, and pass them in order to get the points. If you met your AR goal, you were able to go on a fun field trip at the end of the nine weeks. The trips were always to the movies or the water park, so I worked very hard to reach my AR

When I was younger, my parents made a board with all of the qualities of me and what I aspire to someday. Every night in my cozy, warm, bed, I would read all of the words individually; thoughtful, honest, confident, dependable, self control, humble, caring. Reading this every night fulfilled me in a way I can’t put into words.

Then one day in eleventh grade I was sitting in class contemplating my future, and how my standardized test scores would have a major impact. At that moment I realized there was one thing holding me back, my reading. It was just something I hardly ever engaged in during my classes or outside of school. I had great comprehension skills but my reading speed was terrible. Therefor, I went to my Advanced Placement Language teacher, Mrs. Smith and asked for help. I started reading books outside of school on my own time for the first time in years. There was one particular author I greatly enjoyed and that was John Grisham. After a few weeks I was reading an entire book every four or five days. Plus, during a study hall period in school I would go to

Now as a sixteen year-old, I read copious amounts of articles and books. I am also making what the North Carolina grading system considers, “spectacular” grades. It was not always like this as I was scattered in second grade. I was doing the opposite of what I am accomplishing now until I had a breakthrough in January of 2007, during second grade. I credit this breakthrough to reading. Along the way, I had my family, the reading class, and my supporters reassuring me.

A couple months ago during my math class I had noticed that there were other kids making fun of my friend Aj and I noticed that there was an open seat so I asked the teacher if I could move to that seat. When I sat down I had asked if he was ok and I remember feeling really good about myself when I saw him smile and say thanks; it made me feel so good knowing that I was there for him when he had no one else to talk to. I am always looking out for my friends

As a child, my interests were more focused on reading than writing. In elementary school I fell in love with books. Initially I read simple children’s books, much like everybody else in my class, but it did not take long for my passion to drive me to read more difficult writings. Fiction books quickly became a replacement for any childhood toys. Instead of blocks or stuffed animals I would ask my parents for books. Since they were aimed at young readers, they tended to be short. I found myself going through them within days, and then soon several hours. Towards the end of elementary school I was reading series like Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. I was captivated, and reading truly opened up a whole new world for me.