Category: Unit 1 (Page 6 of 26)

I remember my first day of school my heart was as sad as a black stone under the blue sea. I can hear students talking to each other and the teacher talking as well. The teacher provided us classwork which involved History. I was never good at public speaking and which led me to do the classwork for homework. The teacher asked all of us if we had any questions or concerns. I decided to be as silent as a sleeping viper. When the bell rang for lunch, there was a jolt of excitement in the classroom. My mouth was a dry as a bone. I was shy to ask to leave the class to drink water from the fountain.Months on, as the teacher began to have conferences with students she decided to pick on me first. I was so nervous that my heart was racing. When I walked up to her desk I didn’t have anything to say back to her when she had questions for me. I saw ones going down her grading book as tears were scrolling down my face. Little did I know, my procrastination kicked in because I had a bad habit of leaving assignments for last minute or even not attempting them. From then on, I learned my learned my lesson on procrastination and began to do my assignments earlier than they are usually due.Towards, the end of the year I knew right off the bat I was going to have bad consequences. There are pros and cons about being held back in a grade. In other words, I was the type of student was absent often and that told me that issue increases the risk of me getting held back as I did. Therefore, I was struggling on reaching the performance levels that were expected in order for me to be promoted into the next grade. I felt like was not ready to move on to the next grade. At the end of the day, It took me awhile to understand how important school is and how I shouldn’t take education as a joke. I have so many regrets from elementary school days because the amount of effort I put in for my work now should’ve been put for those days too. The major I am going for is dealing with public speaking and I am trying to work on public speaking because when interviews start kicking in I have to be ready to answer questions when they ask. However, I need to start working on group work things as well because I was always the type of student to work solo. With everything mentioned, a question might be left behind by many asking what is meant by standard written english. Standard written english is defined as being utilized in written media which includes books and newspapers. An example of standard written can be when we talk or write to someone its because we need respect to be shown. Standard written english deals with grammar, punctuation and vocabulary. I always had issues with coping with my emotions which had me struggle during the time being in the retention situation. Some students may suffer with coping skills and it takes them awhile to cope with their emotions and behavior. Students have several ways they understand the material that teachers provide to their students. In other words, the teachers that provide work will have different ways that their students will complete their assignments. Technically, When it comes to me I have different ways of doing my work when has to do with math If I don’t understand the way the professor is teaching the material. However, when I got held back I learned that a tutor was the best path to take. I never had confidence or thought of positivity in school work because I never really cared about showing effort in school.  It takes a lot for a student to stay confident and positive when it comes to education because some students may choose to dropout and not show little to no effort in their education. If I could go back to those days I wouldn’t procrastinate like I did and I would have showed more effort in the work instead of slacking. Therefore, I would’ve showed that I cared more about education and focused more. It took me awhile realize that the goals I set for myself is only If i try to put effort and show potential in the work I would be doing. The worst thing a student can do when it comes to education is slack on their work or procrastinate on piling up work for last minute until teachers wont accept the work to be graded. Students should set some goals for themselves and work towards the goals they want to achieve.

Around 2:30 pm. I had to go to my history class to give my speech that counted as a project grade. But there were different ways to do this project. And as it turns out I was the only person in my grade to give a speech. Now that in mind, as everyone presented their projects, I was the very last one to go and present. I could hear the traffic outside of the window as I started to go to the front of the class by the smartboard. As I commenced walking I could feel the pressure all over my body, my legs were shaking, I started sweating and in the palms of my hands, I was nervous. Before class, around lunchtime, my bestie was gassing everyone about my speech. Now, as everyone heard I created a speech, every single one of my friends was itching to hear what I have to say. So basically my essay was about nicotine. Explaining how smoking is bad for your health and how big companies were aiming them at young teens. Which as a result affected the economy and sociality as a whole. Once I started opening my mouth, that’s where I felt the explosion inside of my body. My lungs started to bust. Causing an increased pressure of carbon dioxide to come out. Straightaway if there was a plant or flower close to me then that plant or flower would have appreciated the amount of carbon dioxide I was exhaling. I started to look down at my paper where my speech was. All I saw were just words. Just plain words that for some reason I forgot how to speak. Instead of words flowing out of my mouth, it turns out I had a panic attack which, keep in mind panic attacks comes in different forms. Just instead of having a normal panic attack, I started to laugh hysterically.  Every attempt of saying anything I started to laugh. Knowing that this was a serious topic, normally people giving their speech, usually have a sincere tone. While I was just laughing while giving my speech. That’s where everything started to go into chaos. The whole class including the teacher started to laugh, which caused the whole 3rd floor to hear. The students from other classes decided to come to witness what was happening in that history class. We had unexpected guests come and witness my speech and that’s where for the past couple of days everyone wouldn’t stop talking about my wonderful speech. Well, at least I got a 95 on it while causing a ruthless contiguous laugh across the 3rd floor. Throughout this whole scenario, I have learned that this experience shaped me into who I became the thinker that I am today. It made me realize it shaped the relationship that I had back in high school and how this particular experience relates to Standard Written English (SWE). You might ask what is Standard Written English, while keeping it short and sweet it’s tools that help you write, such as checking for punctuation, spelling, grammar, etc. All of this has helped me enabled me to understand something specific about writing and reading since this has helped me to give my speech in the 9th grade.

Another experience, that had a significant event that impacted my view on education was when I had to apply for a job. It was a nice windy summer. I remembered as it was yesterday, my dad recently got a new job in landscaping. During that time I was in 11th grade going for my senior year. I was currently job hunting. I had applied for an ice cream shop and I didn’t really like the experience to was hella boring, the pay was small and the hours were short. As a result, I quit that job and went on trying to find a new job. Luckily my amazing father hooked me up with his job. Now mind you, I did have some small experience in landscaping all thanks to my dad. That’s because my dad helped around the neighborhood since he was the go-to guy when it comes to gardening. Also, because my dad loves his garden, and when I was un chamaquito, he taught me everything about gardening. While observing and watching and helping my dad as his little helper, that is what got me the job, not the fact that my dad put a good word for me for my future boss. Then, I got a call from my future boss, instantly my heart started to pound as loud as popcorn is popping as a sign that is ready to be eaten and consumed into someone’s stomach. Alright, back to the important phone call. The phone was ringing and my palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. I’m nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready. As my mom blasts her speaker of Eminem. Thanks, Eminem for the wonderful and inspiring words. I quickly answered with no hesitation. Once I started having friendly conservation with my future boss. I started off by telling him what I am good at and what I can do if he shows me the way of this new world of landscaping. He saw the confidence and determination I have for the job opportunity he might give me. He told me that I got the job and that if I am truly my dad’s son then I have already gotten a seat reserved with my name on it. The very next day I walked with confidence to make not only my boss proud of me but most important my dad. I wanted to show him that I have what it talks and I wanted to show him that I am ready to be responsible for myself and that I don’t need to depend on them. Already, I was trying to impress them cuz you know, first impressions are important. Moreover, I was trying to make name for myself and to show who I am. And it worked, I had never worked this hard in my life. It made me realize how much it takes to make some form of money in this country. How much my dad sacrificed just so we can food on the plate. From that day, I became more responsible with my money and always be grateful to have a job. For the past couple of weeks, my boss was surprised by how much I had done recently and he was truly happy with the progress we made. Next came Saturday, PAYDAY!!! Not gonna lie I was curious to see how much I made during this one week. Mind you, I worked for 4 days and once I got my envelope I opened it and inside it was telling me to wait and open once I get to a place a bit more secure. As I got home the next I know I booked it straight to my room. I tire that poor envelope into tiny little ants. And then that’s where I saw it. I made $640 straight cash. No check so no IRS stealing money. That’s where I started to see one teardrop. I finally made my own money. I worked ass off, with all my sweat and hard work I made my first ever money. Will next day I went to the pet store and that’s where I found my son Junior the Hamster. I got him on August 9th and today it’s February 17th, so in a couple of months, he’s gonna be 3 years old. All over, I have learned that this experience shaped me into who I became the thinker that I am today. It made me realize it shaped the relationship that I had back in high school and how this particular experience relates to Standard Written English (SWE). You might ask what is Standard Written English, while keeping it short and sweet it’s tools that help you write, such as checking for punctuation, spelling, grammar, etc. All of this has helped me enabled me to understand something specific about writing and reading since this has helped me to give my speech in the 9th grade.

I can still remember my first semester of sixth grade. Fall 2015, typical hoodie season cold breeze which would eventually turn into jacket wearing brick season. The first day of school was a vibe of anticipation in the air to find out who’s got the same classes as you  and who the new teachers would be like. I still remember 6th period lunch, 7th period social studies and final period was science. 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, sunset would happened later, jackets turned to simple longsleeves, 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. His Cornell note taking are still a format I use to this day. Although after I finished middle school and headed to high school, I went back to my old tendencies and would fool around. 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. That was all to my 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. Who knew a SCIENCE teacher would help my note taking skills. At the time when I learned about the format, it was cool, simple and neat. I would have never thought back then it would impact me the way it has.