As a student, I have always asked myself the same question in every grade, “Why does my English suck?” In school, I was the student that would just get by with C’s and barely grasp the concepts that I’ve been taught. I could not understand why I wasn’t good in English, but it was my first language. Then I realized that I wasn’t great in English because I disliked reading, and that was one significant way of learning it. Eventually, I found myself in a classroom full of students who can barely speak and write English and I felt bitter.
By the time I entered the third grade I knew I had a displeasure of reading. It all started when my teacher Ms. Williams, a white aged woman with a hairstyle stuck in the 1950s in the 2000s assigned us a book to read with a book report to complete at the end. The book was “Sarah Plain and Tall” by Patricia McLachlan, I didn’t think much of it until I got home and had the book in my hand, I threw it and aimed for my bed but it fell under it and I forgot about it. I told myself I’m not going to read this, but my mother insisted otherwise. My mother has always valued education and wanted me and my siblings to feel the same way. For me, this was very difficult and took me a while to adjust, but it somewhat happened. After completing grade school and transitioning into junior high school, every student is required to take the California Standards Test (CSTs). This standardized test measures achievement in English-language arts, mathematics, science, and history social-science in 2nd through 11th grade. I took this test in a cold classroom while my teacher was in another room proctoring for another class. When I first opened my booklet the first section was English. The entire test is multiple choice, and it had a little over 70 questions. There were many passages with at least eight questions for each passage. Since I avoided reading at the time, I just skimmed through the test and I wasn’t fully aware of what the passages were about so when it came to the questions I would go back and skim a little more and try to find the answer. I disowned reading and I couldn’t stand it, let alone reading on a test for a long period of time. Once I got my results, I immediately felt very discouraged and regretful. My test results were very low and I was placed into an “English as a …show more content…
I was naïve to think that I would pass that exam with flying colors. Reflecting on that test I started to develop a “fixed mindset” as Carol Dweck calls it. In the article, “The Perils and Promises of Praise” by Carol S. Dweck asserts, “In the fixed mindset, students care first and foremost about how they’ll be judged: smart or not smart. Repeatedly, students with these mind-set reject opportunities to learn if they might make mistakes.” Since I take scored so low that I placed into an English learners class, I felt very stupid. Not only did I give into this mindset during the course, I lost all confidence in taking any exam that determined my intelligence and choose to be “stupid.” Till this day, I still struggle a bit with this, but now I do different things to become confident for exams. Such as studying more, ask questions, and doing homework with my
By the time I entered the third grade I knew I had a displeasure of reading. It all started when my teacher Ms. Williams, a white aged woman with a hairstyle stuck in the 1950s in the 2000s assigned us a book to read with a book report to complete at the end. The book was “Sarah Plain and Tall” by Patricia McLachlan, I didn’t think much of it until I got home and had the book in my hand, I threw it and aimed for my bed but it fell under it and I forgot about it. I told myself I’m not going to read this, but my mother insisted otherwise. My mother has always valued education and wanted me and my siblings to feel the same way. For me, this was very difficult and took me a while to adjust, but it somewhat happened. After completing grade school and transitioning into junior high school, every student is required to take the California Standards Test (CSTs). This standardized test measures achievement in English-language arts, mathematics, science, and history social-science in 2nd through 11th grade. I took this test in a cold classroom while my teacher was in another room proctoring for another class. When I first opened my booklet the first section was English. The entire test is multiple choice, and it had a little over 70 questions. There were many passages with at least eight questions for each passage. Since I avoided reading at the time, I just skimmed through the test and I wasn’t fully aware of what the passages were about so when it came to the questions I would go back and skim a little more and try to find the answer. I disowned reading and I couldn’t stand it, let alone reading on a test for a long period of time. Once I got my results, I immediately felt very discouraged and regretful. My test results were very low and I was placed into an “English as a …show more content…
I was naïve to think that I would pass that exam with flying colors. Reflecting on that test I started to develop a “fixed mindset” as Carol Dweck calls it. In the article, “The Perils and Promises of Praise” by Carol S. Dweck asserts, “In the fixed mindset, students care first and foremost about how they’ll be judged: smart or not smart. Repeatedly, students with these mind-set reject opportunities to learn if they might make mistakes.” Since I take scored so low that I placed into an English learners class, I felt very stupid. Not only did I give into this mindset during the course, I lost all confidence in taking any exam that determined my intelligence and choose to be “stupid.” Till this day, I still struggle a bit with this, but now I do different things to become confident for exams. Such as studying more, ask questions, and doing homework with my