Mathography
First, i’ll start off by saying that math is not my strongest area. So for me, my whole life I have gone through my math classes really having to study hard and spending a lot of extra hours making sure that I understood the material. I remember math in elementary school being very simple for me. I was actually one of the best in my class. I was always the one to finish my multiplication tables first and to get the highest grades on the tests. This was not where the issue began in my life. When I got to middle school I was placed in a regular math class, not a honors or any of the higher level classes. To me, this was really upsetting, because all of my “smart” friends were in the honor classes. To not be put in that class was heartbreaking to me, because I knew my potential was much larger than a
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I knew that I struggled in math but I also knew that i had the potential to be in a honors class a succeed to the highest of my capabilities. My math teacher in my 7th grade regular class was Mr.Smith. Mr.Smith was actually my basketball coach as well, so we got along very well and I was able to grasp math easily because we knew each other on a more personal level. Although this class was an easy A for me and I really enjoyed the teacher, I still felt like I was lower than my level of intellect. So, I went to my counselor and I told her that I wasted to transfer to the honors class. She then proceeded to tell me that in order to do that I would have to get a high score on my final Sage exam at the end of the year. At this moment, I knew exactly what I had to do and what I had to work for. So, I started studying, going in for extra tutoring hours, everything I could possibly do to get in that honors class. When the end of the year came around I felt so confident that I would be able to pass this test with flying colors, and I did. I got my score back and I passed, I was now able to transfer to
My father had fallen ill and was in the hospital for 2 weeks. Coming from a Latino family, I knew it was serious. Men don't go to the doctor unless they really feel like they're on their death bed. And this was my father's turn. But, he is not to blame for my failures because every night that he would call me, his first two questions were always "How was your day?" followed by "Did you do all your homework mija?" As always I told him yes when I really hadn't even opened my backpack. 2.32. The number that signified my first real academic failure. I blamed everyone and anything except for the real culprit. Finally, I realized that this was true all my own fault. If my father had died, I would've had to see him on his death bed knowing I got a 2.32. Yes, I know a 2.32 isn't failing, but the look of disappointment I got from him shattered my world. He told me I shouldn't let things get in my way, school is all I have going for me in my life. He was right. Although he still struggled with his health, I made it my #1 goal to never fall below a 3.0 GPA. I realize that my life doesn't revolve around a number, but it pained me to disappoint my
Throughout my two years in high school, I have been trying to maintain a certain grade point average. I’ve passed two of my state tests already and I have yet to take my English II and U.S. History state test. I passed my Algebra I test in 8th grade with Proficient and my Biology I test my freshman year with Proficient. My grades fell off the first 9 weeks of this school year because I had a hard time understanding English II and I ended up scoring Basic on my 1st 9 weeks benchmark test. Now I have made a promise to myself that I will be advanced in everything from now on. I’ve been studying more and working in my SATP practice booklets and now my grades are improving. When I was in 2nd grade I was accepted into the Gifted/Excel class at Bentonia Gibbs up until my 7th grade year at Yazoo County Junior High. Ever since junior high, I have been in the advanced classes, and I hope that will help me with my plan to graduate as one of the top of my class.
This summer, after I was informed that I had been offered a teaching assistantship, I was terrified. I was not sure that I was capable of teaching students about a discipline in which I still possessed such a conscious doubt of my own abilities. For most of my life I was what you might call a non-achiever. When my parents strongly suggested that I enroll in college (the other option being to leave the house) everyone around me just sort of held their breath waiting for my inevitable failure. Then a strange thing happened. I passed my classes, and even enjoyed them.
I went into my freshman year of high school very insecure about my own potential. Never did I think that I had it in me to be one of the “smart kids”. Fortunately for me, I signed up for all the wrong classes and I was forced to go to a school (yes, McDevitt was not my choice but my parents) that had terrific, dedicated teachers that knew I was taking the wrong course and did something about it. Like in Th...
During my early education, meaning elementary school and middle school, I was a very average student. I gave an average amount of effort to my grades, and I received above average results. This did not bother me, until the end of my 8th-grade year. At this point in the year, I was filling out what classes I desired to take the following year, my freshman year. I realized that from this point forward, I had to take my education much more serious, in order to get accepted to whichever college I desired. therefore, when planning my classes, I decided to challenge myself more than I ever have in the past, and take multiple honors courses. I assumed because of my grades, that I had what it took to be an honors-level student, but I was very wrong. One teacher, Mrs. Johnson, made me realize the kind of effort, time and energy needed to be devoted to my education.
During 8th grade, I got called out to the counselor’s office. Entering the counselor’s office, the counselor told me that I was in the honors class. The day I graduated Junior High with honors changed the next 4 years in High school. I promised myself and my mom that I would be graduating High school with honors. For the past 4 years, I have worked so hard to be in the honors program, again. I started to take advanced classes and then I started to take dual credit classes my junior year. If it wasn’t for being in the honors program my 8th grade year, I don’t think I would be as worried about my grades as I am now.
My grades in the class looked promising, I excelled at the writing and multiple choice portions of the practice tests we took during class. All seemed well until the big test came in May. My teacher told the class that we should not take the make-up test later in the month but instead take the test on the regular test day, regardless if we were sick or not. And just my luck, I was sick on testing day! Not wanting to disappoint my teacher, I took the test while completely ill. All of my studying and hard work paid off because I passed… with a 3. I was devastated. The elusive 5 was taunting me. But I did have a second chance. A time of redemption, which was the AP US History test.
Over the course of these past few weeks we have learned all sorts of math that we will utilize in our everyday lives. They have all been very interesting; my favorite subjects were learning about how voting works and how to calculate owning a home. For our final math project in our math modeling class, we had to choose a topic that interested us yet had something to do with mathematics. For this presentation, I decided to research the history of math and art and how the two have been used together to create amazing artwork.
I believe that I deserve a B preferably an A because I believe that I did good this semester. As a junior this semester was very challenging for me. But I kept going with hard work and some dedication. One of my biggest struggles this semester was Math 170. Math has always been my downfall but I always try to get it. But this semester it just didn’t happen. But I can say that I did try, actually I tried really hard to get my work done. I also have a problem with procrastination, that’s something I really need to work on. If I didn’t learn anything this semester I learned that unasked questions don’t get answered. I feel as though I should have come to you more often for questions because I know that I didn’t understand the material. I learned my lesson and that will never happen again. Also, even though I didn’t get majority of it I still tried; I should get some credit for that. I took the first part of this final and got a 93, perhaps that could be my final grade right there. Despite taking 17 credits this semester, along with being a Resident Assistant, I have managed to complete all of the assignments for this class. Though I didn’t ace each and every assignment I did manage to complete or attempt them. So far I’ve had a lot of good grades in my other classes, and once again I can say Math 170 was the most challenging. I believe that I deserve a B preferably an A because I always try to do my best in everything in school, because school is important and my future depends on what I do now in school, and the grades I get are very important. When we had class I always took notes, and never been afraid to ask questions when need be. All of my professors told me that I’m a good student and that I’m going to be very s...
I struggle with math a lot and that class was really difficult for me. Anway, we had three exams in the class and my teacher had told us that the second one is usually the one that most students have difficulty with. In hearing that, I really wanted to prove to myself that I could study hard enough to get an A on that test. I studied on my own, went to study sessions and met up with my teacher multiple times to make sure that I understood the concepts completely. I took the test and a week later I got it back with a 96%.
My grades were average, but I scored high enough to please my parents. I lived in a wonderland of games, toys and friends until a certain examination came my way. It was my first real math exam that changed everything. My father, recently returned from New York City, did all he possibly could to train me in the ways of addition and multiplication, but to no avail. I failed that exam.
Throughout high school I have placed myself into the most challenging science and mathematics curric...
Fractions were the first challenge from math that I had to fight through, in which eventually I was placed in a Special Education class and I was diagnosed with a learning disability. From 4th grade to 7th grade, I had extra help in Math in the Special Education class. I kept struggling with fractions and decimals, such as dividing and multiplying them. After some time, I was told that I have advanced in my skills in Math and I was put out of the class, but they gave me the option to go to the class whenever I thought I needed help in Math and in anything I needed extra time or help in. As I entered my freshman year of high school at Carver Military Academy, I took Algebra l class and Math Navigator class. I had my ups and downs in those classes. Even though I had those two mathematical classes in my first year of high school, I really didn’t struggle through them because it was just learning about the distance formula, absolute volume, factoring numbers, finding the greatest common factor, converting fractions and decimals since it was pretty neutral to
I was on track to become an honor grad. I was just barely above the required GPA, and I had the perseverance to keep putting all I had to reach my goal. Through my first 3 years of high school, I had above average grades, and put everything I had into becoming an honor grad. But in the middle of my senior year, “senior-itis” started to kick in. My grades had begun to drop, and the perseverance that I had started senior year with had vanished. I was accepted into college, and I no longer found a reason to continue to study like I had in the past. I stopped studying for tests, and I basically stopped trying. I would get “sick” a few times a month, and miss school. This was out of the ordinary for me. I was the kind of student that missed two or three days a year. Since I wasn’t in school, I missed a lot of lectures, and missed a lot of assignments. These assignments were graded and I could make them up, but I only did the things that were easy. Whenever the third grading term was over, which was the cut off for grades that counted to become an honor graduate, I had found out that I no longer had the GPA to be an honor grad. I had missed it by just one percentage point. At this moment, I realized that I failed. I had put more than 3 years of hard work and dedication in to become an honor grad, and I basically flushed it all down the drain during my senior year. I had let myself down, along with
What is math? If you had asked me that question at the beginning of the semester, then my answer would have been something like: “math is about numbers, letters, and equations.” Now, however, thirteen weeks later, I have come to realize a new definition of what math is. Math includes numbers, letters, and equations, but it is also so much more than that—math is a way of thinking, a method of solving problems and explaining arguments, a foundation upon which modern society is built, a structure that nature is patterned by…and math is everywhere.