Day #1

Dear Diary,

Day 1 at my new school. When I first saw the school, I was so nervous. It looked so different from my old school. I'm so used to the white picket fences of my old neighbors and the brand new cars of my friends' parents. Coming from a small community orientated town to a huge middle school in the middle of popular Providence. It was such a change. The houses in the neighborhood around my new school, Jennifer Williams Middle School*, were more like mine. I always felt out of place before because my house wasn't beautiful like that of m friends. I came from a broken family while my friends had two parents. But these houses had chipped paint like my apartments always did. No picket fences could be seen. I already felt more accepted but I wouldn't know ntil I stepped into the building. So I walked into the school. There were student made signs advertising for events inviting everyone. The lockers had locks on some of them and were as tall as me and speckled with …. art work. (For lack of a better word.) This school had personality. I liked it. It was different. Others might describe it as unorganized or 'ghetto.' But I saw differently. No. This was not a problem school. With was a whole new look on education.

There were students everywhere. It was chaos. Girls were yelling greetings to each other and guys high-fived each other with obvious practice. I walked to my first class, Performing Arts with little difficulty. The halls were wide allowing space for the large population of students. My new teacher, Ms. Wallace* stood outside the door. She smiled as my fellow peers lined up at the door, She joked with them and laughed. Noticing me, she approached me and welcomed me to her class. We entered the room and I sat down in the chair she indicated. As she was taking attendance, I looked around at my classmates. They all looked like me. I never thought there would be this many Spanish people in one room. There were even some Asians. At my old school, there were a few Latinos and even fewer Asians. But never the majority. I just thought every school was like that. I didn't know there was a different type of cultural school setting. Throughout class, the teacher called on everyone at least once. We did a warm-up game then did scenes where everyone participated. It was a very fun yet educational class that I felt very welcomed in.

Signed,
Christeen

I was immediately pulled into all the activities of the class room. It made me understand the ideas of Ira Shor at a greater depth. He states, “Participation is the most important place to begin because action is essential to gain knowledge and develop intelligence.” I never realized how important this concept was until I learned through my experience. Because my teacher engaged me right away, I couldn't wait to go back. I was itching to return tomorrow to see what else Ms. Wallace* had in store for me. I immediately fell in love with education. Were there other ways, other than Ira Shor's ideas, to what can empower students to want to learn?? I have to find out!!