Is a fine mid summer morning, I am on my way to school for the first time in the US. I just move here, 3 weeks ago to be exact. I am so nervous, like I could pass out at any moment. My first period was English which scared me so much because I can barely speak the language. But that is not what I am here to talk about. Let’s talk about my second period math! God I thought that I was going to enjoy that class more after the what happened in my first period class but was I wrong. I enter the classroom with so much confidence and it soon disappeared when we started doing work. I am in the back left of the classroom. When the teacher starts to explain things I just stare blankly at the board not understanding one thing she is saying. The curtains are up so there is a bunch of sun light coming through the windows, isa bit calming how nice it looks outside. I try to focus back into class but I can only focus on the chatting but not actually what it is being said.
I eventually put two and two together on what we were being thought but I didn’t understand how to do it the way the teacher was doing it, I know how to do it the way I was thought in DR. I mean is math what matters is to get the right result. The teacher comes over to my table ask asks how is it going, I show her my work and she says it’s not right. I just look at her with a confused expression, I got the same answer as my peer so why is it wrong? I can feel my anxiety creeping around the corner, I can feel the way my hands are sweating, the way my leg is bouncing off the ground. All I want to do is get up and go home. Ms. Taveras tries to explain me how to do the work the way she thought it but I’m not able to understand, so I ask her if I can do it the way I know it. She says no, that she will count it wrong. Which makes no sense to me, the school system makes no sense to me. Why aren’t we able to use our own knowledge on understanding on things? Why do we have to do it the way the teacher does it? Yes with time I started to understand and learned how to do it her way, with her help of course but I couldn’t understand one thing (I still can’t). What is wrong with letting students do things the way they know how to do it?
You raise some really important questions within this terrific scene. If you want to keep going with this for your Education Narrative, that would be great — I’d love to see more about your experiences in math and elsewhere. Nice work!