The Math

Class
Joseph! Joseph! Wake up!

A voice called out. Joseph woke up, and realized that the voice belonged to his
mother. He got out of bed and ate his breakfast. After this, make sure you take a
shower and get ready for school. His mom instructed to him. Okay He replied.
He went upstairs and got ready for school. He came downstairs, told his mom and
dad goodbye, and went to school.
Joseph! Are you paying attention? His math teacher asked.
Joseph snapped back to reality and exclaimed Yes! Okay.
His math teacher said. Could you answer number one? Whats 9+27? Um 42?
Joseph said carefully.
His math teacher gave him a blank stare, and after some silence, she said
Incorrect. Would anyone else like to answer the question?
Another classmate raised her hand and said The answer is 36! Correct! The
teacher exclaimed.
The bell rang, and the class rushed out of the door, but the teacher called Joseph
back.
I saw you doze off in class. Do it again and you go the principals office. Got it?
Joseph nodded and walked out math class. The rest of the school day was normal.
When he got home, he realized that his parents were not home. Instead of doing his
homework, like he was supposed to, he went outside, and goofed off, and went to
his friends house. While he was at his friends house, he made lots of funny jokes,
and they played basketball.
The next day, Joseph went to his math class and the teacher said, Okay class,
would you please turn in your homework? Everyone turned in their homework.....
Except Joseph!
Joseph, where is your homework? She asked.
Um I forgot. I forgot to do it.
Okay! Thats it! The math teacher went up to Josephs desk and put a detention
slip on his desk.

The Math
Class
Go to the principals office!

Tears rolled down his face, and with his head down, he slowly went out of the
classroom and into the principals office. He spent the whole day in the principals
office, and he wouldnt stop crying. After he came home, his parents found out he
was in detention. They asked why he was in detention and he said that he missed
another homework assignment.
Then, they told Joseph to go to his room. He started crying again. The next day,
when he went to homeroom, they gave everyone their report card. When Joseph got
his report card, all of them were As, except for math. He got an F in math!
Then, the school bully grabbed the report card out his hand and said Wow, you got
an F in math? Youre stupid!
His feelings were hurt, so he decided not to show his parents. Later that day, his
parents got an E-mail that report cards were coming home, and they asked Joseph
about the report card, and Joseph lied, saying that he never got one. They replied
that they got an E-mail about it. Knowing that lying would get him nowhere, he
showed his parents the report card. His parents saw the F in math, they were
steamed! Joseph quickly ran up to his room, hoping that he could avoid being yelled
at.
At school, for the next couple of days, he didnt do his work. He just buried his face
in his hands, too depressed to do anything. The teacher saw him like that, and he
told Joseph to go to the guidance counselor. The counselor asked what was wrong,
and he said that he got an F in math, and people called him stupid. The counselor
thought for a moment, and then she went into another room. After a bit of waiting
and silence, she came back and said that Joseph was going to another math class.
Room 4-567! Here it is. Joseph said as he found his new math class.
When he opened the door, there was no one in the classroom, besides a teacher,
and a table. She looked 60, and she had white hair, and big glasses. The teacher
told him to sit down and she handed Joseph a math book. The teacher said that she
could help Joseph bring his grade up, and make him better at math, she said in a
scratchy voice. Every day, instead of his normal math class, he went to room 4-567,
to practice his math skills, and every day, his math teacher told him that he was
getting better and better at math.

The Math
Class

He kept on getting better at math, and soon enough, he aced every test. After that,
his teacher said that he would go back to his original math class tomorrow. The next
day he went back to his old math class, and then, the teacher said that they were
having a pop quiz. The teacher past out the quiz, and then she said, You have the
whole class period to do this quiz, its 20 questions, take your time.
When she told everyone to start, Joseph knew how to do all the questions! He did
all the work correctly and breezed through the test. A couple days later, Joseph and
the rest of his class got the quiz back, he got a 100%! After school, he showed his
parents, and they were very glad for him. Soon enough, he was acing every test!
His teacher noticed how he was getting As on his tests and quizzes, and said nice
work every time he did. Both his parents and his teacher were very happy for him.
Nine weeks later, he got his report card! He opened it up and he saw that he got all
As! Afterwards, the bully came back, and said Hey stupid, lets see your report
card!
He showed the bully his report card, and Joseph replied, Let me see your report
card.
The bully grunted and huffed as he walked back over to his desk and grabbed his
report card. He showed it to Joseph, and he saw that the bully got mostly Cs and
Ds on his report card. I thought so. Joseph said, and the bully never bothered him
again. When he returned home from school, he showed his parents the report card,
and they were very pleased. They werent mad at him, and he never dozed off in
class.
At the end of the school year, Joseph was called to the principals office. He got
scarred, and slowly walked over to the office. In there, he sat down with the
principal, and the principle said he was getting an award for getting straight As this
semester. After school, he was called up to the lunch room, where they handed him
the award. Everyone clapped and cheered. He was so happy, he started crying!
After everyone got their awards, school was over! Everyone rushed home, and
enjoyed summer break.

The Math
Class
SHORT STORY RUBRIC

Criteria for Evaluation

Rating

Organization: The story has a beginning, middle and end and

events follow in a logical sequence.

Plot: The plot is interesting and keeps the reader in suspense.

Setting is clearly established.

Characters: Characters are well-developed through dialogue,

action, thoughts and feelings.

Point of view: One point of view is used consistently

throughout the story.

Conflict: Conflict is clearly established, developed and

resolved in a way that makes sense.

Grammar/Usage/Mechanics: Correct grammar, sentence and

paragraph structure, spelling, punctuation and capitalization
are used for this grade level.
Dialogue: There is some dialogue used on every page and it
serves to add information about characters and move the story

The Math
Class
along.
Total

_19_______ out of 28