Writer's Block: School daze
Jan. 20th, 2010 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pinksonia[Error: unknown template qotd]
I really stayed in the same school system for all of my schooling (except for Kindergarten), but I still somehow managed to get the new girl experience a couple of times.
First, I went to a private Montessori school for Kindergarten (and pre-school for that matter) because both my parents worked, and the half day public school was not going to work out so well. If you don't know, the Montessori method is based on presenting a lot of different information to the child and then allowing them to study and learn about their own interests. It may not be the method for everyone, but it worked really well for me. I thought I was going to get to learn multiplication in first grade and was terribly disappointed when I got to the public school and was told that we wouldn't be covering that until second grade. In protest, I never bothered to learn my times tables. No really, I still have difficulty with the sixes and higher. In general I spent most of first grade terribly bored (and had the accompanying bad behavior) because I had already learned all the information. I also developed a habit of looking at other kids test papers -- not to cheat, but to check their work while the test was still going on.
Two years before I started school, my neighborhood had been the subject of redistricting at the elementary school level but not at the middle school or high school level. So, when I moved to the middle school only nine kids from my elementary school went with me. That's compared to the 40-50 who all went to the other middle school. During the first week of sixth grade, one of the teacher's favorite games was to have people raise their hand if they went to a certain elementary school. They would slowly tick down the list, people raising their hands with each suggestion. Eventually, they would ask "who moved here over the summer?" thinking that was the only option left. Still I couldn't raise my hand. Finally, I would get asked: "what school did you go to?" I'd tell them, and usually the teacher wouldn't even be aware that that was one of the schools feeder elementary schools (I think those nine people were actually the most who ever got sent in a single year).
The switch to high school was slightly better, as the three middle schools only fed into two high schools, so I ended up knowing a lot more people. Then for university I purposely chose somewhere very far away so that no one else I knew would go there. I did not want to end up at the high school after high school (as we called Penn State, but would apply equally to most of the other state schools). I was actually super mad when I found out that one other kid from my school was going to Tulane. How dare he choose my college!
I really stayed in the same school system for all of my schooling (except for Kindergarten), but I still somehow managed to get the new girl experience a couple of times.
First, I went to a private Montessori school for Kindergarten (and pre-school for that matter) because both my parents worked, and the half day public school was not going to work out so well. If you don't know, the Montessori method is based on presenting a lot of different information to the child and then allowing them to study and learn about their own interests. It may not be the method for everyone, but it worked really well for me. I thought I was going to get to learn multiplication in first grade and was terribly disappointed when I got to the public school and was told that we wouldn't be covering that until second grade. In protest, I never bothered to learn my times tables. No really, I still have difficulty with the sixes and higher. In general I spent most of first grade terribly bored (and had the accompanying bad behavior) because I had already learned all the information. I also developed a habit of looking at other kids test papers -- not to cheat, but to check their work while the test was still going on.
Two years before I started school, my neighborhood had been the subject of redistricting at the elementary school level but not at the middle school or high school level. So, when I moved to the middle school only nine kids from my elementary school went with me. That's compared to the 40-50 who all went to the other middle school. During the first week of sixth grade, one of the teacher's favorite games was to have people raise their hand if they went to a certain elementary school. They would slowly tick down the list, people raising their hands with each suggestion. Eventually, they would ask "who moved here over the summer?" thinking that was the only option left. Still I couldn't raise my hand. Finally, I would get asked: "what school did you go to?" I'd tell them, and usually the teacher wouldn't even be aware that that was one of the schools feeder elementary schools (I think those nine people were actually the most who ever got sent in a single year).
The switch to high school was slightly better, as the three middle schools only fed into two high schools, so I ended up knowing a lot more people. Then for university I purposely chose somewhere very far away so that no one else I knew would go there. I did not want to end up at the high school after high school (as we called Penn State, but would apply equally to most of the other state schools). I was actually super mad when I found out that one other kid from my school was going to Tulane. How dare he choose my college!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 01:38 am (UTC)