Personal Narrative: My Class System

Over the past eighteen years I have been alive, there have not been any real challenges I have faced in my pursuit of education. I come from a family of immigrants that managed to find themselves a good life, away from the ghetto and the poverty line, through hard work. Both my parents had to move to a place away from everything they knew to learn English as a second language to give their children, myself included, a better chance at life, and I can gladly say their effort was not in vain. If there was one thing I struggled with in pursuit of my education, it would have to be myself.

Last year I took a few classes at Columbus State Community College. There were definitely some changes that I had to make so my life could still run smoothly. Some of the things that changed were my extracurricular activities. I had to swim less often than before because I had classes or homework that I needed to do. My study habits didn’t change very much, surprisingly. I still did my work sooner instead of later. I won’t say I always did it as soon as I could because while that would have been optimal it didn’t always work out. And I made sure I always got the work that was due first, done first. Also during the school year my classes at Columbus State were on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In addition to those I still had all

In this class, I have learned many new skills to improve my writing, and I have also learned new grammar rules. In regards to my writing, I have learned the importance of freewriting when beginning to write a paper. Additionally, I now know to allow ample time for revising and editing because I can look at my work critically for mistakes and make necessary changes. Furthermore, I have learned about grammar rules such as pronoun-antecedent agreement. This rule is something that I know subconsciously, but being made aware of it has allowed me to find mistakes I make more often.

What well in your classes? What did you need to do differently? What is your plan for success this semester? In this class, what will you need to do to be successful?

I was in 7th grade and didn't know everything was about to change. My mother wanted to get a job and this meant she wouldn't be able to be my teacher anymore. My parents decided, after three years of homeschooling to send me to public school. This was so it would be easier for my mother to get a job and not have to deal with being our teacher as well, because that would be too stressful. I didn't know very many people and wasn't used to being with large amounts of people for long periods of time. Eventually, I got settled in and started to make friends.

Throughout my lifetime, I have had the honor and privilege of being able to handle and accomplish the many difficult responsibilities in my life. The accomplishment that I am most proud of, and that was the most dignifying, was successfully being the Class President. The honor, distinction, and achievement made my ambitions come into fruition, for I now had the opportunity to act like an adult, and to make long lasting positive impact within my school. It was this experience that led me to become full-fledged adult, for I know had to manage, organize, and lead as an adult.

I am a first grade Dual Language Spanish teacher in an urban district in the state of Connecticut. I teach Language Arts, Math, Science and Social studies in Spanish to my 23 homeroom students, 10 boys and 13 girls, and teach Spanish as a second language to 24 students that are in my Dual Language English partner’s classroom. In my homeroom more than half of the students are English Language Learners, and for many of them this is their first year in an American school. I also have 5 students with special needs. In my Spanish as a second language class I have English Language Learners, but there are no students with special needs.

How to start? Well it was 5th grade; and I went to creeds elementary school where we had two separate classes. Each class stayed together and moved to different subjects as a group. During the Second Quarter a new student joined our 5th grade class and I remember first seeing her in the hallway and I was like “dang who is she”. Later I found out her name was Harley. The only problem was that she was in the other class. So when we would get ready to switch subjects we would be able to see the other class in the hall. This quickly became my favorite part of the day because that meant I got to see harley in the hallway.

I didn’t realize how lonely it get’s when you’re left home alone while the rest of your family are out doing fun things. Sister at an indoor water park and your parents out on a valentine's day date, while i’m stuck at home doing classwork. I couldn’t do anything with any of my friends for about a good 9 weeks as a result of nearly failing Biology in tenth grade with a sixty-five percent. I had to overcome this challenge by working hard to pass all of my classes, and my life has changed for the better with the realization that hard work pays off.

I really started to go and develop in the 7th grade. I started to take school seriously. Before the 7th grade, I did care about school but I wasn’t serious about it. I used to mess around with friends in class, do my work sloppy, and not taking time to study outside of school. When 7th grade started, I told myself that i gotta focus on my education because it will prep me for the following school years and develop good habits. During the year, I put school as a higher priority than other things like video games and sports. My grades were good except the one C grade I had in English class. Overall the next two years my grades were great, I had only A’s and B’s in my classes. Once I entered my sophomore year at Puyallup High School, my focus

This is the fifth time. Twelve years ago I entered this school for the first time, only for preschool instead of my senior year of high school. Returning to my original school inevitably conjures a sense of nostalgia, as if twelve years have only measured a few days. I witness time in its true, ephemeral nature; I question where the next days will bring me.

I have not had many jobs. However, the few that I did were meaningful and taught me a great deal. One such job was the one I held during the summer of my sophomore year. I worked at one of the many North Star Charter schools that serve students of several minority groups in my hometown of Newark, NJ. During my time at North Star, I helped design curriculum for the General Educational Development (GED) program. I gained insight into methods used to teach adults, some far removed from high school by as many as twenty years. I had the opportunity to see how the teachers would adapt the methods originally used to teach their elementary students to educate their GED students. This experience sparked my interest in alternative methods of education

I have become more proficient in my note taking because I used to write down word for word, but now I only write what's necessary while trying to summarize it. I have also become better at organization skills because before it was just the outer surface that looked clean. Before, I would have all my folders and notebooks organized, but what was inside them was really messy and unneeded papers. Now, I cleaned my folders and got rid of the notebooks I didn't use. I have become better at class participation because I participate a lot more than in the beginning of the school year.

My struggle was school, when i was younger I never wanted to go school but my mom always forced me to go. As I got older, school became a frustration because I had to go for 8hrs, always had homework,and class work to do. Then I started to get bad grades like D, and F my mom wasn’t too happy with my grades, so she began to take away things that I love like games, toys, and my tv,she said if I want my things back I have to make good grades, so I started to do my homework, and class work. When I started doing my work i was getting better grades like A and B but I still hated school.

I have always been good at math, science, and history. On the other hand, I really struggle with grammar, spelling, and just getting myself to read different books. Since I was taking a college class online this first semester I decided to us it as my goal. I also have a hard time with taking hand written notes, and one of the first things that we talked about in Composition was how hand written notes can help in remembering the material better. My finalized goal was, I am going to take hand-written notes for my college class Developmental Psychology.