Reaching Outside the Classroom by Bailey

Reaching Outside the Classroom by Bailey - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

Since the start of my freshman year, overcome with honors and Advanced Placement classes, it became easy to differentiate the teachers who had a complete love and understanding for a subject, and the ones who don’t. Unfortunately, I have had my fair share of both. While I do not believe that teachers are the sole purpose of the slow, agonizing decent of a grade or that they should be blamed completely for a low grade, this past year I have understood the true pain of trying to comprehend a subject in the same pace of a teacher in their first year of a new class. More sympathy would have radiated toward my teacher if it had been her first year or in a new setting; however, this specific teacher had taught my honors Geometry class my freshman year and had been teaching for years. She had been asked to teach an Honors Pre-Calculus class my junior year and had to retest into the subject. After retaking the test twice, she was finally certified to teach the class.
Throughout the year our class received many unanswered questions, a confused aura emitting from both the students and the teacher, and tests with questions even the teacher could not understand. She had been using another teacher’s lesson plans and tests the whole year, but often eliminated test questions and avoided the majority of inquiries. Because of this, a classroom full of confused faces sat in a silent room attempting to finish the, once again borrowed, class final attempting to finish the questions they knew how to do and realizing that the many assignments crossed out and unfinished in class were the exact ones needed on the test. Trying to understand a subject that can’t be explained to you is a hard concept to grasp, especially when it’s you in the hot spot.
When I realized that my teacher could not even help the students comprehend the lesson plan, I was overcome with the feeling that there was no one to help. I took for granted the many resources I had around me, and learned that sometimes I have to take matters into my own hands. I learned that with college right around the corner, I am going to have a tremendous amount of teachers who love what they teach and a handful, if not more, of teachers who simply teach to teach. I learned that there is a large variety of resources outside of my classroom and that it’s okay to question other teachers and students about a subject when my own does not understand. Lastly, I learned that it is healthy to reach outside my comfort zone and to work with other people in order to allow myself to flourish in what I love.