Personal Narrative: My First Day At Donald Elementary School

The first week at John Reith Elementary, I felt completely lost and did not know what to do. I did not have any formal instructions and did not know my place. , I met the AM kindergarten teacher Ms. Moua and I was informed that Ms. Din would not be in today and a substitute teacher would teach the class. I did not have any interaction with the students and only observed the class as a whole.

David Chura wrote the book, I Don’t Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine, which follows his time teaching English to juveniles at an adult lockup in New York City and shows his first hand account of the effects of isolation. Chura saw boys who went from ironing their orange uniforms to stop bathing all together, and saw students completely deteriorate and lose all motivation to do any task throughout the entire day. To expand further, Ian Kysel’s article, Growing Up Locked Down, Youth in Solitary Confinement, delves into the effects of a prolonged sentence of solitary confinement on children. Adolescents have special vulnerabilities that need more attention and care, and when subjected to solitary confinement, the punishment can be “particularly cruel and harmful when applied to them” (Kysel 63). It is true that conditions vary between prison to prison and state to state, but many children reported their stories and accounts to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), explaining how they were refused health care facilities, exercise, education, reading, visits and calls from family, and other needed rehabilitative programs, which were frighteningly similar regardless of the purpose of the

The months went by in a blink of an eye, and it was the last week of school. My classes for the rest of the week, we're watching a movie and eating pizza ,but only people who had a good

As I started running out the car I noticed I had forgotten my posters I had for my classroom. It was so much going on in my life, that I didn’t believe I could make it this far. "Mrs. Stacy, do you need help carrying your stuff to your classroom?" Said Mr. Jacob who had settled his classroom right across from mine. "Oh your help would be soo useful at this moment Mr. Jacob!" As I gave him the two big boxes of books that were filled with rain and mud from the thundery rain I ran back to my car to get my posters. Mrs. Stacy was just starting her career at Tennessee in Hicks Elementary School. An art teacher who had just graduated and moved away from the big city lights and into an old small town. She was just getting used to Mercy Town, a few miles away from an old cemetery.

“First in State and District, the Lone Star Academic Challenge Champion is….Richland Elementary School!” Cheers and claps erupt through the crowd and I feel my heart pound. A ringing resounds through my head as everything slows down. I feel my body being dragged up the stairs by my teacher. A gold medal is placed on my head and rests on my shoulder, my hands are shook and I read the words “Congratulations” on the announcer’s lips. Speed returns to normal and it dawns on me: we won. My team won first place. I let out my delayed reaction of jumping up and down, screaming in delight as a smile graces my face. I feel a tap on my shoulder and my head turns so fast, I think I got whiplash. A Texas-shaped trophy is handed to me and my smile grows bigger as I rip the trophy from the announcer’s hands and wave it around, yelling, “We won!” over and over again.

When I first stood at the bottom of the B-building stairs on August 19, 2013, almost every sixth grader was anxious. We were all waiting for the three-chime bell, and when it did ring, we all stampeded up the stairs like a herd of elephants. But I don’t think that it had ever come to me or any of my peers that change would hit every student, including myself at fifty miles per hour and as loudly as the sound of our feet running up the stairs.

On February 9, 2016, I began my first day as a volunteer at Nora Sterry Elementary School. I walked to the site with Carmen Garcia and it took about a half hour. On my way, we easily noticed the difference in Nora Sterry’s surrounding community and UCLA’s. Passing the freeway about a block away from the elementary school, homeless slept on the side walks of the streets.Though UCLA is near this location, the university is sphered by cool shops and tall buildings in Westwood. Not many would think that just a couple blocks down, a community would be impoverished. (Definitely a surprise)

Orendorf Elementary School, a place of many memories and much learning. What was the most treasured part of each day? Recess after lunch, of course! This was the time to play silly games, like hop-scotch and jump rope, and hang out with friends to discuss the latest in “who likes who” and “which boy has cooties”. This was also the longest recess of the day. My friends and I tried to finish eating our lunch as quickly as possible because the sooner you got finished eating, the sooner you could go outside to play. After eating, Denise, Julie, and I quickly cleaned off our table, packed up our lunchboxes, and then raised our hands to be dismissed from the lunchroom. As soon as Mr. Little told us we could go, we quickly made our way from the cafeteria

This plan took place in 8th grade year, I was a new student at Sunland elementary. It was around September when this event occurred. I learned to not try to impress others making bad decisions that could lead to big trouble.

Throughout life, at any age and any occupation, one comes across a golden boy who seemingly coasts through life accumulating accolade after accolade while you work yourself into the ground to merely reach that level. During my time at Washington Elementary School, I was this golden boy, the student who was revered academically and boasted an elite behavioral record. However, with this comes a certain level of comfort and complacency that, because you are perceived as superior, makes extra effort seem redundant and and unnecessary to sustain success, and with every test that I aced with ease, my drive and competitive edge became duller and duller. Realistically how could a child have been motivated to put in effort to further improve if success seemed to be effortless?

My first day at Bennett High School was on February 4, 2015. I had previously communicated my intention to be at Bennett HS for my orientation that day to Mrs. Gina O’Kussick. At 8:30am, I got to the school and introduced myself to Mrs. O’Kussick with whom I then spent the next 10 minutes discussing and finalizing my weekly schedule. I decided to observe her next class in order to familiarize myself with the students and class atmosphere.

I had never been in Forensics until my first year at Quinter High School; I actually knew nothing about it. Everyone said that it was for nerds and geeks. My first day in the class was pretty weird. I didn’t know any of the kids and the games they were playing were loud and hyper. I’m not usually the type for that kind of stuff so it was pretty annoying. I didn’t like the class too much, the walls were pink and covered in plaques and trophies. Little did I know, that I would soon be helping add to that wall.

My time at Neblett Elementary was brief, but I consider it one of the most memorable of my elementary school days. I attended Neblett as they rebuilt the old Washington Elementary school and built the new Sory Elementary school, where I would transfer the following year. During that year, all the classmates I had grown up with transitioned to the new school with me. I vividly remember walking through the main hallway of a freshly built school on orientation day. I was excited to be the first to utilize its new utilities. The school had new technology, such as the large projector screens every school uses now. It was exhilarating to grow in a new school and be the first to experience it.

“See nothing, hear nothing, you may not have any beliefs.” Many people think that conformity is harmful to children and that it makes them less imaginative, but not necessarily. School is an important part of people's lives, but we shouldn’t let them get away with being too lazy. Schools should have a daily bell schedule and kids should attend school every day, but we shouldn’t force kindergarteners to go through standardized testing. Children should conform to the ‘system’ but we shouldn’t stress them out. We shouldn’t make young children stress out about a big test that will change their future forever. We should have some conformity in schools but not to the point where it makes people overly stressed-out and anxious. School shouldn’t be like a prison.

On Monday, August 17th, 2015 I started my first day of school at Foley Elementary. It was my first day of student student teaching with Mrs. Worch and her second grade class. My day started early as I gathered my belongings and prepared for my first day. Once I arrived in the classroom, immediately there was work to be done. I assisted Mrs. Worch in setting up a breakfast treat for each student. The cafeteria was not going to be serving breakfast on the first day so Mrs. Worch and I decided that it would be a great opportunity to provide the class with a special breakfast. Each student received a juice, Pop Tart, and Nutri-Grain bar for their breakfast. As soon as Mrs. Worch and I placed the last Pop Tart down for the student’s breakfast, students