I can still remember my first semester of sixth grade. That fall feeling of light orange leaves on the ground and the crunch noise made when you stepped on them, typical hoodie season , cool breeze which would eventually turn into jacket wearing brick season later down the line of the fall semester. First day was a day of anticipation in the air to find out who’s got the same classes as you  and who the new teachers would be like. Then the first week is full of introductions to teachers, the material and of course your classmates, the people you’d spend your semester with. Earlier classes were easy to get through although I would not care and fool around with my boys every now  and then. I still can remember the scent of jolly ranchers that would hit you once you entered the science room. Mr. P always had a bowl of jolly ranchers for students to grab ONE. Mr. P,  off the bat was different from most teachers as he didn’t teach the way other teachers would teach. Every Monday he would give us 10 mins to setup our Cornell notes for the week. Cornell notes were so cool to me because it made note taking cool. I wasn’t just writing whatever the teacher wrote on the board but little bullet points of what I understood from the slide. Mr. P would play ball with us during our lunch break, he would later on be our basketball coach along side the P.E teacher and he ran the Lego robotics after school I would eventually enroll in. As the seasons changed, the Sun wouldn’t set till like eight, jackets turned to simple longsleeves, after school ball at the park was frequent, my spring semester of sixth grade started, I guess I got too comfortable around Mr, P since I would just fool around in science class and not care thinking him and I were cool. He wouldn’t call me out on my behaviour, right? Instead of saying “I’ll have a chat with your parents on the phone later today” like most teachers would say, he would threaten to kick me off the basketball team or robotics program if I kept fooling around. This kept me in check in his class only. The following year during the spring semester, my teachers would tell me to do work or else they’d let Mr. P know about my misbehavior. This would actually lead me to do work and take notes in every class with the Cornell note taking format. My grades would only rise from that point on.

Throughout my whole school life,  Mr. P was the one only teacher that was able to control my behavior and actual had me invested into his class. Today I can look back and be real with myself, I was a mess of a student in my early years. I wouldn’t like me if I were my teachers.  His Cornell note taking format is a writing skill I use to this day. Although nowdays it is harder since I have some classes online others in person. High school was rough since I did hang around the wrong crowd for the most. One thing that did stay consistant throughout my time of high school pre covid, was my note taking ability. Although I still was a distraction in some classes throughout my two years, and a half, of high school, my teachers always praised my notes I would take. Specifically my Global History teacher, who was intrigued with my notes and how I neatly categorized title of the sldies shown on the smart board with a simple bullet point I thought of the readings. Teachers from IC3 digital literacy to my forensics teacher liked my note taking. All thanks to a middle school science teacher, Mr. P.  My final year and a half of high school was all online, so I had to type my notes which wasn’t the same. Now that I’m in college and taking this English course, I’m hoping to use that format of note taking when possible.

 

During my 2 years at high school I lost an imporant figure in Mr. P, he did push me to be great academically and made sure I did work. Entering high school I lost that. During the early lockdown phase I would mediate a lot since I had nothing to do. During this time I had time to reflect on my high school experince. My act went back to a distraction in high school since Mr. P was out of the picture in my life. But high school was a fun experince in my eyes since I was hanging around with any crowd. I entered high school without knowing anyone since all my middle school peers all chose diffferent schools. Since Mr. P wasn’t here I went back to fooling around in classes and this somehow made me find friends. It was fun just jumping around the mixing pot of personalities and characters I would meet my 2 years of high school. I had my main circle of friends but for the most part I knew anyone in all of my classes I had. When my teacher in any class was absent and a sub was in charge, I’d sign in and walk down to the cafeteria, doesn’t matter what period lunch it was, I would always dap (handshake)  up anyone I knew. What I’d notice is a lot of people with a hall pass down in the cafeteria chilling all period long till the bell rings. They’d basically cut class the whole period while their teacher probably had the idea that their student went to the bathroom the whole period. Summer before junior year was a time I thought to myself, this is it, this year will reflect on what college you’ll enter, what your future will be. So my fall semseter of junior year I did amazing grades wise. No skipping, no lates, and all work done. I felt great heading into my spring semester but before the first week covid hit and I lost my chance at great in person work.

The educational system in my particular school was messy to say the least. Fights were an event daily, you’d be chilling in Spanish class when all of a sudden you get a text telling you to come down to the cafeteria, there’s a fight. You’d raise your hand, go to the ‘bathroom’ and head to the cafeteria to see what’s going on. High school compared to middle school for me was wild. My middle school was filled with mostly white folk who were on the wealthier side of things. My mom enrolled me there thinking it’d be good for me, even though at times I felt left out since they always had cool stuff and new sneakers while I only had a pair for the whole school year. But in high school it was mostly black and hispanic. Sure you had asian, white, arab ethnicites, but majority was black and hispanic. In high school I felt like I fit in. These were students like me in a sense. But I quickly caught on that in a high school with the majority being minority, there was a lack of technology, and my high schoool was supposed to be technical. My middle school had iPads, Macbooks and iMacs in every class. Whereas high school only had desktops in the computer lab. The difference in tools for students to use was noticable. My time reflecting during lockdown made me realize many in high school just didn’t care or were aware that they are lucky to have education while other kids around the world don’t have what we have. Instead we only care about fights in the staircase, cafeteria or after school. I was able to reflecting on my misbehavior and I took online classes serious although not many showed up to zooms. I stayed consistant although it was hard sometimes with WiFi connections and you just miss being in a class room.