Personal Narrative: My Senior Year Math Class

Teachers are the subject in that they have knowledge that they then infer knowledge onto students. Students, in turn, are objects that receive, memorize, and repeat. The concept of banking prevents students from using their full intellectual capacity.

My palms were sweating, my heart was racing, I had no idea what to expect or who I was going to meet. I was never the type of girl to embrace new situations, I hated change and I wasn’t very good with meeting new people. I figured once I got to high school it would be my chance to start all over, turn the page in my book of life, and flip over a new leaf. I wanted to finally be the girl that fit in with everyone. I had imagined myself going to parties with big groups of my new friends, having sleepovers and doing all of the things cool high school kids normally do. I was certain that my high school career would be just like one of those really corny teen movies and I would live happily ever after with the homecoming crown and the boy of my

Junior year. My junior year I realized things about myself that I hadn’t previously known. Things I’ve never done before and things people thought I couldn’t do. Situations I thought I wouldn’t be in and there I was. Junior year, I did it.

For many years education in the United States has been taught the same way over and over again. It has put children through many years of boring lectures to learn something and eventually will be forgotten. In the Banking concept Freire gives his opinion on the traditional way students have learned for many years. He Calls it the Banking Concept of Education, it is when a student knows nothing and the teacher has to educate them with boring long lectures that will eventually be forgotten by the school year is over. This form of teaching has not really helped students succeed especially when they get to the college level. It has not let students think about what they are learning and think critically about everything they are learning. The banking concept way of teaching has only let students learn a ton of materials but not so much in depth because of a lack of time and too many topics to cover. Students today have been struggling to succeed in their future because of the banking concept, and some countries have already passed the education in the United States.

The “banking concept” was followed almost immaculately in my bio two class. My class consisted of about 29 people, a rather large class but not to the point it would impede classroom discussion. All of the high schools across the district had recently synchronized their classes and material, which gave teachers deadlines on where they should be at specific points throughout the year. The primary objective of our teacher was to meet deadlines while his students received “acceptable grades”. The teacher regarded the textbook as

Strategies that I have seen implemented throughout the semester, at Lincoln High School, include connecting learning to real world experiences. This strategy was implemented when the class went into the community for lunch; this experience taught student’s social skills, practiced balancing money, and proper manners. The class would practice how to properly order food items, developing skills such as speaking clearly, eye contact, and stating “please” and “thank you”. Each student has a “school bank” (a wallet with cash for lunch outings); the students determine their current balance and the food items they can order based on the meal price and their personal budget. After each outing, the students balance their new “school bank” account amount (students complete the same tasks when they bring in money to add to their account). These real-world connections increased students’ knowledge of financial budgeting, proper behavior to utilize in public settings, and how to properly communicate wants in a restaurant, store, or even home. Making connections between the lesson and prior knowledge is another strategy that I saw implemented throughout the semester. For example, when cooking, the students

By listening to the teacher and understanding what is teacher asking me to do, helped me to become a better learner. This is the way I used to get better on collecting notes.

Remember going into second grade and fearing those one minute division tests? I remember very clearly how afraid and intimidated I was. I panicked because I was scared that I was not going to get a good grade on it. To my surprise, I did not get a high score on it compared to my classmates. I was devastated because I had tried really hard on it. After that, I hated math until seventh grade. Math was my worst subject, and I acknowledge I was terrible at it. I hated it so much that after years of hating it, I developed a passion for math. After some years of practicing math, I fell in love with it. Entering middle school, Algebra was introduced. I loved Algebra because I was not only adding numbers, I was solving for certain variables at the

Junior year at Tucson High Magnet School I was enrolled in College Algebra a class I was having difficulty in. First semester had already passed and I received the letter grade D. I knew I had to work harder and study more especially if I wanted to get a better grade point average in order to get excepted into Universities.

The banking concept is a term used by Paulo Freire to describe the “traditional” educational system. With this concept, students seem to learn all they need to know by narration of the teachers. “Narration leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated account”(Freire, page 1). Because of this method, students are being referred to as depositors since teachers’ deposit information into their brains and the students receive, memorize and repeat. This concept has shown that people lack creativity, knowledge and individuals cannot be truly human. Students tend to lack critical consciousness and the more they accept the role of the teachers, the more they adapt to the world as it is. As Paulo Freire discusses, “ The Banking Concept of Education” he also proposes a way to improve education by introducing us to the “Problem-Posing Approach”. By doing such, he informs us that this approach is an alternative learning method that is efficient and an effective solution to the banking approach. I personally believe that all students should be taught with the Problem-Posing Approach since the Banking Approach is not a sufficient way of learning.

Freire has made valid points as to why the banking concept of education can be poor at times. Freire expresses the attitudes and practices of society within the banking concept of education and lists that the teachers know everything and the students know nothing (319). When my teacher messed up halfway through solving the equation and I caught the mistake should I have not said anything because teachers know everything, right? In reality people make mistakes as do teachers.

Once cheer try outs for my senior year rolled around it was hitting me that I was a senior. We had cheer camp and I realized that was my last ever cheer camp for cheer in high school. Once school was starting and we had to get prepared for football season it really hit me that I was a senior, I wasn’t quite sure how to really take it. I didn’t think me becoming a senior would come so quickly and so fast. I can remember homecoming week like it was just a couple weeks ago, now that went by super fast and I didn’t really realize it till about a month ago. To me time fly’s by when you’re having fun, senior year is probably been the best year yet. I’ve had more memories my senior year than probably any other year. When basketball season came around

Repetition and memorization become more important not just to the teachers but also to the students. Additionally, instead of explaining the topics the teacher “...issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize and repeat.” (Freire) According to Freire, the banking concept creates robots and restricts them from developing creatively and into the people they are meant to be. They are to adapt to the oppresing world and not change it.

Being a freshman is the hardest of your four years in high school. Have you ever been pressured to be the best person you can be? This is how my year was as a freshman. Freshman year was the most different I never thought I would of found my way around the school when I first started to go there. Freshman year was the best year throughout my years of high school and it was the only year I had friends. During this year I had a lot of anxieties which dealt with me thinking I’m gonna be alone and not have any friends throughout the year to support me through the whole thing. Also, I would think of the pressure of not doing good in any of my classes so I would think it would affect my GPA in the future. The transition from middle school to high school was a different type of thing to do.

The problem posing method is a solution to the banking method because it encourages critical thinking. Without critical thinking a students brain is useless. They will never challenge theirself to learn on their own, and it will always be forgotten. It also promotes two-way-communication,and sudent-teacher comunitcation is essential so the teacher knows if the student doesn’t understand the text/information being taught. And last, but not least, it utilizes different learning styles.