Literary Narrative Final

Math is Life

 

         

      As my mom cooked a full-course meal for the five of us, I sat on the kitchen floor arranging the alphabet magnets on the refrigerator, reading and creating words as simple as C-A-T, D-O-G, H-O-T and D-O-T. After reading with my mother, I advanced, reading and creating bigger words in books such as Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish and the Arthur Series by Marc Brown, my favorites. I could read those books consecutively, over and over, hour after hour. And with the wide variety of books that my dad owned, I could have been reading books from authors such as Mark Twain and Toni Morrison. At a young age, most toddlers are willing to learn and experience anything they possibly can. And for me, I was always interested in something or becoming just like someone. Being like my hero my mother meant a lot because of her strong-willed personality. Seeing her with that black-and-white composition journal at the age of seven influenced me to make my own poem. My poem at the age of seven, titled “I Like Me”, brought out my inner-self and expressed the confidence I had about myself. From time to time, my self-esteem lowered and I would recite the lyrics to myself, “When no one likes me, I still like me.

            Still young, craving for more experiences, trying to experience and advance in different types of literacies, I remember walking into my uncle’s club and meeting a modeling instructor. After modeling so long, I just lost interest and eventually terminated modeling as a hobby, and sometimes I wish that I would have continued the experience. Since being like her mattered to me so much, playing softball was a hobby that we both loved, even though she kind of introduced it to me. Because my mom assisted me in finding my literacies, giving me the opportunities to experience modeling and softball, I was able to venture into new things to find what I was passionate about.

            Excitedly going to seventh grade reading class and telling my friends about how I am starting to play softball distracted all of them. I also became distracted and when we started playing popcorn, a reading game played in class that enables students to choose each other to read, I did not know where to start reading and had to get help with the people at another table. It was not only the fact that I did not know where we were, but I had a problem with reading in front of people. I became so nervous and when my classmates finished reading, my heart started to race, thinking they were going to choose me. When I did read, I felt stupid because my nervousness over-powered my ability to pronounce words correctly, which resulted in stuttering. I always questioned myself for being able to read perfectly by myself, but when it came to reading in front of an audience, I couldn’t. When we read the book Jason & Kyra by Dana Davidson, we read them silently to ourselves and I enjoyed it because we did not have to read aloud. Until one day my teacher Mrs. Jackson decided to pick people to read aloud. I was so upset and nervous of being picked to read. I then realized that I hate reading and I mean hate it.

            Even though I hated reading, when I advanced to eighth grade, I had to teach myself math. But without reading, I would not have been able to find my passion, math. I had to read the text book, something I hated, in order for me to further my education. My math teacher did not necessarily teach us how to complete a problem. She gave us a page and told us to complete the problem and leave them in our notebooks, so we did not know whether or not the problems we completed were correct or not. I knew that my mother cared so much about my education so I insisted on teaching myself. As I read and comprehended math, I started to enjoy reading, reading math. Reading math, what I started to enjoy, helped advance my skills of reading and understanding concepts, that is concepts of math because if it was another subject I would probably been dreaded. I often helped other students with problems that I understood and decided to become a teacher, a math teacher, instead of my dream of becoming a doctor. Teaching my classmates to do certain problem was enjoyable, but when my teacher tried to teach, the students were unruly and I decided that being a teacher was not for me.

“8th grade math book I taught myself” 

            As I made the transition from middle school to high school, my reading experience was not the best, as usual, but my passion for math escalated class engaged in the readings. My love for math influenced me to take classes such as Accounting 1 and 2. Accounting was the best of the best. It was just satisfying to identify the final number to an accounting problem. Accounting lead me to the realization that math is so amazing and satisfying. It can be stressful but it can also be relieving. Algebra I and 2 Honors, Geometry Honors, Algebra II Honors, and Advanced Placement Calculus really set me in the path of loving math, especially, with my favorite teacher, Mr. Hawk.

In the first day of Advanced Placement Calculus, I was inspired by Mr. Hawk when he said, “This is not an easy class so get ready for the time, commitment, and dedication that you have to put forth for this class.” He was super and engaged with every lesson he taught and after every concept he explained he would hold his hands up and shake them like he is “praising the lord” and would ask, “Do ya’ll get it?” If we did not get it, he would then explain the concept further. By him investing all he could into our success as a class, I became more invested in my success.

Without reading, I would not have been able to find my passion for math. It seems like I have been experienced reading and writing so long, I eventually started to dislike it. Doing what my mother liked and not finding my own passion is where I should have stated. Throughout my life, I have realized that being like someone is not the best thing, and being or accomplishing what is pleasing to you is. Maybe I dislike reading because my experiences with reading and writing have not been the best. Or maybe I’m just a different type of reader, a reader meant to be more of an analyzer and problem-solver, spreading my love for math.