Personal Narrative: How Boarding School Changed My Life

I was told in the 4th grade that school will get harder and harder, I was told that middle school and high school will get harder than elementry school.

During the time residential schools existed, the Aboriginal population of Canada was forced to endure appalling treatment. Residential school is regarded as a thing of the past by high school history books, but is that really true when the oppression and abuse that occurred in residential schools has had a long-term effect on Aboriginal peoples? Intergenerational effects of residential schools include post-traumatic stress disorder, high rates of addiction, abuse and violence, probable deadly illnesses, and elevated statistics of suicide in Aboriginal communities. A substantial number of authors, historians, and researchers attest to the fact that residential schools have influenced a number of generations of the Aboriginal people of Canada.

I realized that the girls I was hanging out with didn't like me for who I was, they only liked me because of the guy I dated. Ellie was having a bunch of girls over one night but didn't invite me, which I thought was weird because she was one of my really good friends. I texted her and asked her what was up, and why I wasn’t invited when everyone else was. She told me that they were probably going to meet up with the guys that night and that if I wanted to come over I would have to ask Joe if it was okay with him. These words have stuck with me, and have never left my mind. After this night everything started to change for me. Life became hard, I wasn't living anymore; I felt like I was going through the motions putting a big smile on my face acting like nothing in the world bothered me. When really, I wasn't happy. I had been friends with these girls for awhile now, way before freshman year but when it came to choosing who they would still be friends with they chose my ex boyfriend, not me. Not only did I get my heart broken, but I lost the people who I thought were my friends. I started off my sophomore year to a rough start. My grades were absolutely horrible. I didn't feel the need to try anymore. Then I began to see the light at the end of the

It was early July in Southern California: the sun was high, the air was warm, and the palm trees were swaying. Unfortunately, the bright sun could not light the darkness of the pit I had been slowly falling into during my tumultuous school year at my new charter school. On that day, when the other girls were tanning beachside, I was sitting deskside. I was trapped in a tiny, moldy, yellow-carpeted education office at the school I had transferred to the year prior. Like my fading hope, the dusty chandelier was barely hanging on from the ceiling. The room’s peculiarity added to my anxiety, as I felt failure lingering in the musty air. Though I had been sheltered by my parents’ optimism, I knew what I would soon hear: “I am so sorry sweetheart,

In the past year, a lot has changed for me. I lost a grandfather to cancer, then a month later an uncle to a gruesome semi accident. My grandmother on the other side of the family barely remembers me due to alzheimer's, and my mom lost her job but is now working over 1300 miles away in Florida. If someone would have asked me at the start of my Junior year what I expected to happen, I wouldn’t have listed any of those. As anticipated, it was not easy dealing with a downfall of events like that, but the way I was raised helped me cope with it all. I started out at a small private school, where Religion was just as important as Math and English. How we were to act was drilled into us, and after I switched to public school, there was a noticeable

Fulfilling god’s plan, America forced Native Americans to attend boarding schools where the ideals of Christianity were implemented. In Abigail Graham’s article, “The Power of Boarding Schools,” a History of Education professor at Indiana University writes that boarding schools is a tool used to reinforce one’s ideas into individuals. Graham writes, “Boarding schools...significantly impact the social development of their students; for this reason...schools used [this] as tools for reinforcing power relationships and cultural identities.” America’s goal was to eliminate any existence of the Native’s culture by constantly embedding the values of being an American and being Christian inside the school. The boarding school is completely new to the Natives, and having someone tell them what to do was something unheard of. Within a school’s system—the students have the least authority, the teacher is second in line, and the principal is the highest. The students were of Native American descent, of course the teachers were white, and this demonstrates the power relationship with the Native Americans and the Whites; the whites had more power than the other race. Children were targets because if America were able to change the younger generation’s ideals, than as they get older their offsprings will be what America envisioned, a non-Native American who has no knowing of their culture. In Mary A. Stout book, Native American Boarding Schools, the author mentions that boarding schools

Clothing was all basically the same ill-fitting, shabby and, in the case of winter clothing, not enough protection for the season.

I started middle school at Bethany Middle school, I had my two older cousins going to school with me. One is the same grade I am and the other is two years older. It was nice having them but we all hung out with different crowds and sometimes we would not agree on the same things so we would not always get along. My first day of middle school was not as bad as i thought it would have been due to the fact that the Bethany middle school was not big at all. My 6th grade year was tough for me when it came to school work, i was used to the work from Central Elementary school and the Bethany Schools were much more strict and left a lot of homework so it was a big change for me. I remember my English class was the hardest along with science but I

I went to three different middle schools. The first middle school I went to was Baldwin Arts and Academics Magnet. This was probably the best middle school out of the three. I had the most and best friends. They were all different, and they loved and understood me. The two things I hated about Baldwin were the stairs and the miles our P.E. Coach would make us run. The teachers were sweet for the most part, and even though I didn't do well because I wasn't accustomed to magnet school, they helped me as much as they could. The transition from public school to magnet school proved too tough for me, so I had to go to another school.

At the age of 5, I was placed in a charter school. I was actually really lucky to be in the school because I, along with about 50 plus kids, were picked out of a raffle and I had been one of the last 5 to be called on. I clearly remember my name being called and looking up and noticing my mom had this massive smile on her face while speaking to her friend who had also come with her daughter. After everyone was called I met my kindergarten teacher and at this age, I barely knew English besides what I learned from watching morning cartoons so I had difficulties talking and answering the questions I was being asked by my teacher, Ms. Luis. I would look at my friend who would translate the questions into Spanish and I would answer them in the English I barely knew. For the next 9 years, I would be at Lawrence Family Development Charter School (LFDCS) until I graduated at the age of 13.

I was going to be in the sixth grade all over again! It was difficult for me to see all of my new friends moving up to the seventh grade without me. It bugged me that I was two years older than all the other kids. It was embarrassing! Later on that summer, I received the news that my catholic school was closing down and that a new school was opening up at the same location. I found out that the new school was a decent School; I'd be attending that school in the next school year. It was a whole new school all over again, and I wasn't happy about that. I was furious, and I just shut down, the change was overwhelming for me to

In the third grade, my parents made the announcement that horrified me, we were going to be homeschooled for the next academic year. I was perfectly satisfied with the small private school I had been attending for my entire education thus far. I did not want to be away from my friends or different; I hated to do anything but blend in. That statement is so wonderfully ironic now. I have learned to embrace differences and to own exactly who I am. I am not afraid to stand out. Homeschooling was a great decision. At the time, my parents were planning to just do it for a year or two. My mom was a retired school teacher and my dad was a business owner but was at a point where he could control his schedule; they decided it would be a fantastic year to travel with family and spend time

Being in middle school it was hard to keep friends as most would come and go caused by unexpected series of events. Most of the time, girls would always talk bad about each other or treat each other like the other doesn’t have feelings. I was the girl who would always be treated like I wasn’t important to a group or clique, and I wasn’t the only one. Id see my “friends” talk down to another girl within my so called group of friends and it wasn’t a nice situation. One day, she stood up for herself and removed herself from the group as what I should've done also. She sat by herself for a couple days after at lunch which led me to sit with her the next following half year of school we had left. It was awkward at first but as we talked more about

Schools was place that was really hard for me at the time. I had a short boy haircut, every time I came to school people would ask me if I was boy. They only said that to embarrass me even though they see me all the time at school. One of my close friends now actually always made fun of me. I usually got really depressed and would throw a fit. My teacher always helped me though when people made fun of me.

School improvement is transformation. It is one of the most important actions of a school. It is a process that schools must use with fidelity to ensure that at all students are given the opportunity to perform and achieve at exemplary levels. School improvement is vital to schools and it is a process that cannot be done in isolation. It requires team work, collaboration, and constant analysis of data and setting of goals. School improvement goals focus on how to meet the needs of students. Addressing the educational needs, funding, and achievement gaps between subgroups is collaborative effort involves everyone that has a vested interest in the schools. These basic measures set the foundation for improvement. And so, if it is the