Reed 1 ‘Yassah Reed APA Professor Raymond University Writing September 14, 2016 Rowdy, rude, and unruly is the best way to describe my 7" grade class at Roger-Herrs Middle School. Maybe it was puberty that made these kids insufferable and vicious, but they ‘were mean. Not only toward one another but also towards the teachers. We had four teachers who quit throughout the duration of the year. Fights would break out almost DAILY. The weaker teachers could barely get through their lessons. The year was chaotic, Due to the disorder ‘our education suffered. Ms.Lyngel stood in front of the classroom attempting to teach us about literary comparisons. Spit balls hurdled across the classroom. There was constant chatter. It was obvious no one was interested. Despite Ms. Lyngel’s attempts she failed the grab the attention of my classmates. I empathized with her. Though I was never a part of the disruptive behavior, I was never “against” it. Even though we were not learning anything, school was actually interesting, For the firs time I looked forward to going to school just to see what kind of farce it would shot do become today, I tried to pay attention and to do my work, but we rarely got through a lesson. My teachers spent most of the school day trying to calm my classmates down and get them to pay attention. By the time the class was quiet enough to be taught there would be no time to teach. “This is how everyday went, OMS wire Woo thin ? ‘The time had come for us to take the first benchmark test. Benchmarks are used to track if'a student is on grade level with a specific subject. I sat in my assigned testing room fumbling‘Reed » 2 through a majority of the reading benchmark, with different words and concepts flying right over my head. When the scores came back, surprisingly the spt-ball filled lessons had not helped my score at all. My score revealed that I was “below grade level.” On all of my other benchmarks I had received 3s or 4s, bt on this one I scored a I (the lowest score you can received). My spirit was broken, There was a remedial class offered by the school for students who did not meet proficiency. It was an alternative to regular reading class. With much shame I decided to take the class in hopes of improving my horrible benchmark. In the class we reviewed topics that seemed elementary, topics that I thought I understood much better than I actually did, We also did many skill building activities, one of them was popcorn reading. Popcorn reading is when different students are called on to read aloud to the class. When my turn to read came I stumbled and stuttered through the whole paragraph. It was strange because I had always been good at reading aloud. My placement in a remedial class and receiving a low score on my benchmark had hurt my confidence greatly. Not only my confidence in my ability to comprehend, but also to read aloud. Though the class helped a lot and I actually became proficient in reading by the end of the year my confidence in my reading abilities still suffered. Confidence that I am still working to build back today. aiio Adund Dw a vagina! ed te nehoot wer get were? Did yu Mure aug? Mt 4 Codeine a dart LOU. while You have prsuided ets aloo Navin usationa> ng detail