Aileen Carrero
Critical Narrative Draft 8
English 9B/ Period 5&6
A Day In My Life
I am Aileen Carrero and this is a day in my life. I start my day by waking up at 5:50 am. The first things I see are my Ozzy pictures and my dog. I get out of bed and go to the bathroom and get ready for school. I think to myself, “Great, another day of school. Well, at least my friends will be there.” I grab my wallet and backpack and head out the door. I wait for the bus and meet up with my friend Lisa. When we get to Wilson I start to think, “What are my classes going to do today?” I start to hope we won’t do much work.
Before class starts, we go with my friend Raul and watch him skate or just go to our usual spot. When the bell rings we walk to class which is PE. I have Mr. R as my teacher and he’s nice. We usually play a weekly activity. When we have free days I usually hang out with some of my friends, but we hardly have free days.
For second I have Mr. G who teaches Life Skills. Life Skills is about how to succeed in life. It’s also about how to be a lady and a gentleman. Sometimes we watch movies. One time Mr. G smelled marijuana, so he smelled each of our hands and caught the boy, but I don’t remember the boy’s name. He was suspended for two days. He didn’t look like he was the kind of kid who would get high—he looked like a good kid. When Mr. G said he smelled pot I thought it would be one of the kids who really do drugs. Sadly lots of kids do drugs at my school and the administrators don’t even have a clue. They do it because it’s so easy to get away with it or because it makes them look cool. Others do drugs to get away from reality. Some kids give up because they are tired of having to be “perfect” and live up to their parent and teacher’s expectations.
At nutrition I hang out with Lisa, Lorie, Raul, and Juan at a place that’s pretty isolated. We usually talk about random stuff. Juan and Raul like to call each other gay or homo and other names, but they are just messing around. I think if they were gay and called each other straight or hetero it would be just as funny. But they’re not, so if someone who was gay got mad, then that person is not ok with his or her sexuality. That person should be ok with the joking. I really like to hang out with my friends because we get along so well. This song by Metallica ‘‘Sad But True’’ relates to me because the song is about friendship. The lyrics say:
I’m the one who
They betray
I’m your only true friend now
They they’ll betray
I’m your only true friend now
....continued
The song is about friends being true to you. The words ‘‘I’m forever there’’ are important because you should always be there for your friends. This song matters to me because I like my friends and I don’t ever want to hurt them. Friends are good to have because you can talk to them.
Third is my Algebra class, which I don’t really like. There is never anything to do and usually everyone is talking about “who broke up with who”. I hardly ever understand the work and sadly I’m failing. When I think about my Algebra class, I connect with the chapter “First Letter: Reading the World/ Reading the Word” by Paulo Freire from the book Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare to Teach. This chapter relates to me because I feel like my teacher is not teaching me in the best way. The chapter says, “There is no teaching without learning” (pg 17). This shows that you must be able to teach in order to learn and if you don’t learn, then you won’t succeed in life. You’ll just grow up a miserable HOBO wishing you had learned something. If my teacher would teach me in a fun way maybe I would pay attention, but there are just too many distractions. People are talking too much or someone is bugging for your help.
Next I have Science and I really like this class because it’s really fun and Mr. B is nice. The class is so easy and I have an A (even though I talk a lot). In this class a few people talk about their house arrest, drugs, and nothing about science. Then we have lunch and it is the time when I hang out some more with my friends. Every now and then people wrestle, but basically we do the same thing as nutrition.
Then it’s English for two periods. This class can get pretty boring, but it’s also fun. In this class we write, read, and interact. When we are in groups I know everyone is doing their work. Every now and then we get into trouble because this class has some comedians. Every day they say the same stuff about the same people but it’s still funny. We do a lot of writing and read college level stuff. It’s not hard, but it’s not easy. I think it’s pretty awesome we get to do college level work because I don’t get that from my other classes. My English class is very different from my other classes because it’s very interesting. In my other classes we just do the work but in English we actually experience it!
When the bell rings I leave and walk down the hill. As
soon as I get home I do my homework, eat, take a shower, brush my teeth, and pick up a little. Then I knock out and do it all over again. My day is not exciting. My day is just a plain day. School is sometimes hard but I get through my day. I feel like I’m learning because if I wasn’t I would have probably dropped out by now. Maybe if there were fewer students in classrooms then there would be enough attention for everyone. If I hang in there I know it will all be worth it in the end. For people reading this narrative, I would just say that if someone is trying to make you something you’re not, then just tell them no because you don’t have to push yourself over the top for someone else. It’s important to just be the best you can and that should be enough for the real people who care about you.
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