All the way until my senior year in high school, I never bothered reading a book if it was not required or put effort into writing a good paper. I always wrote minimum effort papers and read what I needed to get by. I found it a waste of time and would rather focus my studies in subjects I found more interesting. I never had a teacher who was passionate about teaching English or was willing to push their students to challenge them to become better readers or writers. This changed in my senior year of high school because of my teacher, Mrs. Gordon. Mrs. Gordon was the Honors English teacher at my school and in her fortieth-year teaching English. She also oversaw the National Honors Society, English Department, Graduation, and just about every school affiliated activity that there was. Everyone at Georgetown High school knew of Mrs. Gordon because of these reasons. They also knew her because she was known for having the most rigorous and challenging class in the school. Students would say this about her classes because she held her students to a high standard and the amount of work was a little overwhelming. Mrs. Gordon gave a lot of work because: she believed that it would better prepare us for college, she saw potential in each of her students, and she wanted to influence them to tap into their potential so they would push themselves to become the best students they could be. Mrs. Gordon pushed her students to expand their knowledge about literacy. She emphasized the
Although the first year of high school is a big transition, it’s crucial in determining the remaining years of high school because, First, having good grades will determine whether or not you get accepted the university you want and there are more opportunities for scholarships. Second, joining a club in high school will give you an insight in leadership and teamwork. Third, Slacking of your freshman year in high school is a bad thing to do because it will affect your senior year and all the classes you missed or failed, you will have to retake all of them. Lastly, all of these factors all come into play your senior year they can either help you or make your high school years miserable. First, having good grades in your freshman year will open up the doors to more opportunities coming your way. My freshman year wasn't the best I got D's and C's and almost failed two classes. Laziness played a big factor in why I got bad grades I was lazy to do homework and any projects. I had some advice from my cousin’s they would always tell me not to mess up freshman year, but, I ignored them and you start to pay for it senior year by retaking all those classes you failed. To get better grades I set up a planner and wrote down due dates and set up a time organizer at home and this helped me better organize my time to do the work. My advice to all new freshmen is to set up a work schedule for your work it will better your studying habits and make you aware of due dates and the time you
As a senior I hope to accomplish many goals, some of them being in high school and some relating to college. A goal is an aim or a desired result, but may not always be achieved. Going into senior year I have aspirations of going to a good college and working for higher grades.
With a year full of hurdles I was set to overcome, senior year did not seem like the right time for me to defeat my dragon. My introverted qualities have grown tremendously over the course of my life due to traumatic events I have been forced to face on my own. Since adolescence, I have always been known as the “quiet girl” in the room. I always took this as a compliment, until recently, when I realized I was missing out on crucial events that would help prepare me for the future. Through careful consideration, I decided that senior year would be the ideal time to slay my dragon, introversion.
Junior year; considered the most difficult year of high school. Junior year wants to make senior year as relaxing and stress free as possible. Part of this preparation: community service and then writing a paper and making a presentation surrounding that service. Kennedy calls this project the integrated service learning (ISLE) project. For my ISLE project, I built houses in New Orleans through Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization. I found that when hurricane Katrina and the Levis broke it left a tremendous amount left in its wake. Since the trip would knock all my service hours out in a week and I became interested in the project I went and worked on houses and learned a great deal culture and poverty
His shoulder was thrown in reverse and twisted, and left by his body which was driving forward almost completely leaving it behind. He jerked back as if the force would spring his arm back into place. Gravity took over his knees forcing them to buckle and hit the ground. Some might say he looked like newborn deer, fresh out the womb. His arm was left hanging with barely any support at all. His only support was his hand holding it closely to his side as if he could protect it from further harm. His arm looked like a gummy worm...except more flimsy. The adrenaline took over his body like a built in anesthesia, taking his mind off of the pain only for a short time. he didn 't even bother getting up as the other players scrambled to the huddle
In elementary school, I loved to read. Writing was not a big deal either due to the fact that we did not have to write four page essays. It was in first grade when I started to like reading. Reading has just been freshly introduced, considering we had only completed one year of school. My teacher always read to us and I wanted to read those books as well. Throughout elementary school I started to read Junie B. Jones books, which were my favorite. All of the books were about a first grade girl and her different adventures. I had always enjoyed reading those books. Each book had a different topic which I would always relate to in some way. Although I liked to read, I did struggle with reading comprehension which made me dislike writing as well. I hated having to read and then go and write about it. To this day, I still do not like reading comprehension, but my feelings toward reading and writing have changed.
I just can’t believe there is only few more days of high school left. As the days are getting closer and closer, it's getting sad. I still remember the day I stepped into Maine East High School as a Freshman, at that time, all I wished for was to graduate from this school with good grades. High school was not the way I imagined, it is way different from what I thought and definitely different from Middle School. Freshman year was the “exploring/adventure” year, finding where each classes were, what activities/clubs were offered at this school and many more. Freshman year went quickly and then Sophomore year came up. Sophomore year was probably the least stressful year in high school but from Sophomore year my family and friends started asking me the scariest question “What are you doing after high school, which career?
She was unapologetic about treating her students, especially her honors ones, like adults. She was strict about plagiarism and demanded our full efforts. Within our social studies curriculum, she found ways to infuse valuable life lessons and talk
Many of my teachers were unwilling to spend one-on-one time with me to allow me to understand at the correct pace, that was until last year when Sarah Wansley stepped in and really helped me to understand grammar, reading, and writing. The most recent book I read was Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, although the book was required for a school project I now consider it to be my favorite book. During the research of Alboms memoir I learned not only how to research and look at the background and continuations of some novels, but also that there are books for everyone to enjoy and get lost in no matter how many book you have read and found completely boring. I often found reading to be just that, reading, I never digested and understood the text. I would read a sentence and two seconds later I could not tell you a single word of it, because I was never digesting the words on the page to make sense. That is the main reason I did not enjoy many books assigned for school, I would only read it to answer the questions on the study guide and then a majority of the time I would fail the tests because I never took the extra time to enjoy the
Before I began elementary school, I enjoyed reading picture books, the touch and feel books and pop-up books. I loved the author Dr. Suess, because he was funny and because I loved the rhyming he did in his writing. I can remember before bed, my mom or dad would read to me until I got old enough to read myself. My mom has always enjoyed reading, if she is not reading a book, then she is reading a recipe or a magazine. My dad on the other hand, I have only seen him read one book, besides reading manuals for his tools. Reading was not a big deal in my house, all of us kids were told that we needed to read, but they did not force us to read. This brings me to Richard Rodriguez’s essay, in his household reading was not as important, but once he got to school, he realized that reading is one of the main activities. I can relate to Rodriguez because in either one of our households we weren’t told that we had to read before we did something else. Once I got to elementary school is when I realized that reading was not for me. Before school, I enjoyed reading, then once I began elementary school, I was forced to read, take tests over books, and read out loud in front of the class which made reading a chore.
I believe that reading needs to be purposeful and that teachers should not have their students read a ton of un-purposeful content just to have them become better at reading. Students need to like what they are reading to grow as readers. When students like a book, they will try harder to learn more of the writing conventions and vocabulary because they want to understand the book completely. Thus, students need to like what they are reading to become better readers and writers.
In my thirteen years of schooling I have studied under more than fifty teachers, all of which have dropped a coin or two into my academic piggy bank. But, when I think of a person who has had an important influence on my life, one name stands out in my mind more than others: Mrs.Cox. This woman was one of a kind! As both my second and third grade teacher, Mrs.Cox had two full years to fill my head with the wonders of science, math, reading, and writing. Within this time frame she taught me with strategies I had never seen before and ultimately helped me gain an in-depth understanding of the core subjects in a way that made me realize that with unwavering focus and commitment I could master anything I was given.
I understand, that there might be questions about the courses I have chosen my senior year. I hope to answer them now. It was planned from the very first year I came to the Stony Brook School, that I will spend my senior year doing what I am really passionate about and getting ready for college. I’ve shown that I challenge myself academically, and, despite, my international background feel comfortable and confident in the American system of education. However, during my final year at the school, I spend more time working on my outside projects, like the retail store, and personal development, taking philosophy classes at school, and online. As it was mentioned, we are transitioning to the franchise and it takes a lot of work to put all the
I feel good about school because I have good grades in all my classes. What shaped my high school experience was shaped by my teachers and my friends. My high school experience is good so far because I made friends that are good friends to me and they help me when I need it.
I’ve never been one to read much outside of school without being assigned to do so. After looking back at my childhood I think I finally understand why. When you’re a student in elementary school teachers want you to be interested in reading and they tell you that it will make you smarter. Their approach to this is to assign you many readings during your early school years, have your parents sign that you actually did it, and make you write book reports about what you read. I remember when I was a kid I absolutely hated some of these exercises and absolutely loved some of these as well. I distinctly remember being in kindergarten and having to read a book to a high school student. The five year old version of me was more than embarrassed when my reading skills were not up to par and I was having to do it in front of a teenage boy. I also remember being in fifth grade and having to read one book every two weeks and write and draw a report on it. I loved this. Probably because for once I got to choose my own books and they were never assigned for me. I thought of it as a