Personal Narrative: Algebra

My personal trainer saw how corpulent I was, so he decided to put me on a strong weight loss program.

My struggles with math reach back as long as I can remember, but they all really materialized for the first time in fifth grade. In spite of being an otherwise strong student, I was really having a tough time keeping pace in math class. It was at this time my parents and teachers intervened in my education and I was issued an Individual Educational Plan. I was moved to a math class in the special education department, and received one-on-one tutoring. While from an adult point of view this may seem like a beneficial change, for a student closing in on middle school and trying to fit in with friends, it was a huge bow to my confidence. I feared being

English was always my best High School subject; Math and Science were always my worst I took three years of Special ED Math and Science.The High School I attended didn't offer multiple Special Ed math classes options. My schedule never featured a Lab Science or an Algbra class. I completed the minimum three year Math and Science requirement on time. It was a tedious task. I was excited to pursue a writing degree. This decision was based on my early childhood writing dream. I knew that I wanted to become a writer when I was 4 or 5.

Math has not been difficult for me sometimes it can be a little bit hard. I did not struggle in middle school math was great when I was in middle school noting was hard for me. Because it was not that hard some times it was hard but not that much when a math problem was hard I ask for help sometimes and when their were no people that did not know how to help me first I think and try to solve it on my own and that is why math is not that hard for me when I was in middle school. In the past, I was feeling bad when I was struggling with a problem. In the past, when I was struggling on a difficult problem, I would never quit on the problem I would continue working until I figure out the solution. Because it was my responsibility to finish my home

Math has always been difficult for me because I have always had trouble with in even in middle school. I was the students that always had trouble with it and didn't know a step to solving a math problem. I did struggle in middle school with around 7th and 8th grade but in 6th grade I was good at it because it was easy and the steps to soling a problem were short and easy. When I struggled with a problem in the past sometimes I would ask others for help that were in my group or I would ask the teacher when they weren't busy with other students because other students had trouble with problems too. But when I asked for help sometimes I still wouldn't understand how to solve the problem.

My greatest struggle this week was trying to find the least common denominator of two fractions. I quickly remember how to solve equations and converting fractions into mixed numbers. But I had to read the section over and over and worked through the feature to help me solve the problem to find the least common denominator. I feel as if that skill is not mastered and need much improvement because fractions are a part of everyday life.

When I was younger, my parents made a board with all of the qualities of me and what I aspire to someday. Every night in my cozy, warm, bed, I would read all of the words individually; thoughtful, honest, confident, dependable, self control, humble, caring. Reading this every night fulfilled me in a way I can’t put into words.

Everyone has been a few minutes late to a class, however not so many have been four weeks late to a class. I am one of those lucky few. Senior year my schedule was supposed to consist of College Algebra and Elementary Statistics, as part of the Dual Enrollment program at Pensacola State College. Because there were enough students taking the course at my high school, the college allowed a teacher in my school to teach the courses. Due to a few complications I had to drop out of the courses and then had to enroll in Pre-Calculus Honors. I dreaded the very idea. It ended up being quite a challenge. Notwithstanding, I passed the class. This is the most satisfying accomplishment I have ever achieved.

At the beginning of 2016, I didn't think I’d be coming out so soon. My AP Language Arts teacher assigned a performance piece that quickly crept up on me. We were told to stand in front of the class and share a piece of our identity; it was nothing like any other assignment I had done before.

I was frustrated with myself thinking that I am not smart and incapable of doing well on tests and quizzes. I was getting close to the point where I wanted to give up. It is easier to do bad and not try, than put in copious amounts of effort and still not succeed repeatedly. In the classroom I often felt distracted and out of place, while still wanting to be focused on the subject at hand. It felt extremely discouraging knowing that I was truly giving effort to do well in class, but my peers thought I was either dumb or lazy. Repeatedly not achieving what I wanted lead me to be indifferent towards certain things. I struggled with being myself and mood swings that were frequently happening. Specifically, my friends and soccer coach noticed that on certain days I would be unresponsive and not want to participate or

My teachers couldn't wait for me to fully grasp math, without moving on. While math still is somewhat of a challenge for me I learned how to be able to keep up in class. While it might seem cliched, asking the teacher for help certainly does work. During my freshman year I took geometry, and it was something completly new. The year before I had taken algebra, and in my opinion geometry was much more different. Geometry was something that I couldn't wrap my head around. Halfway through the first semester I was failing miserably. I had to do something to get my grade back up. I decided to ask my teacher if there were any worksheets, or anything in order to help me understand geometry. She offered to tutor me after school and help me on homework. It certainly did work! At one point I was going after school about three times a week. At the end of the school year I took my standarized test and ended up scoring advanced. Not only in geometry, but also in other areas of math did I also have trouble in. But asking my teachers for help definately did help me. I believe that in geometry I had the greatest improvement out of all the math courses I have taken. Precalculus is still someone of a problem for me

I have always liked mathematics. As a young kid, I thought the systematic methods of algebra were amazing, but it became more rote and boring as I grew older, so I abandoned it. It wasn’t soon after I started my class on mathematical proofs that I realized that mathematics was more than that, it was a systematic investigation of pure reason. I believe that investigating this method of analysis has given me enough confidence to pursue other interests of mine that I may have deemed challenging before.

February 10, 2010: I was in a strange new environment with diverse people all around me. In my beginning years of intermediate school, I was shy and refrained from any interaction. Adapting to a new culture and language seemed challenging at a young age. I would remain silent in class and sit in a corner during recess. I knew I had to put in more effort to socialize with my peers; however, my flawed English prevented me from doing so. As a result, I struggled to make friends and spent many nights at home playing board games with my family. This led me to realize that Monopoly was my forte. I always looked forward to Monopoly board nights with my family and would get really involved in the game. Soon I recognized my interest in handling the

I never believed in myself and I could never see myself exceeding in math in the future. After a while, my teacher started noticing me struggling on every assignment. They put me in a extra class to get me help. I didn't want to be in that class because I wanted to be taught in the same class as my friends, so it made me a little upset at everything. Whenever I went to the class they would walk me through the math to the point where I got it. Over a period of time I started understanding Fourth grade math a little bit and I was improving. I wasn't the best but I still showed improvement. I could still tell I didn't have much confidence in myself because every time I took a test I always change my answer and was never too sure if I was right or wrong.

Growing up I think I always knew my brain was different than most of the students in my class. I have always had a difficult time doing the most basic mathematical problem. While most of the children in my class could solve the simple problem such as five divide by four in their heads in a matter of seconds, for me it would take much longer. I remember a time in the 5th grade we were all in a group and each group had a set of problems that had to be solved. All three members of my group had decided that it would be best if all I did was write what they told me to write so I would not slow them down. “You’re too slow to do this with us” one of them would say every time I would offer to help.