Mario Rosales
English 9B - Per 5/6
March 29, 2007
A Day in My Life
Hello, my name is Mario and I’m going to talk about my day. Well, today it was like all other days. I wake up at 6:00 am but I hate waking up that early. Sometimes I wish it were always Friday so then I could have fun and relax. About 6:30 am I take a shower and get ready while watching TV. At that time, my parents are also getting ready for work. My dad works for a beer company and my mom works for a school called Sierra Park. My mom works there because my two little brothers go to that school. At 7:30 am I get in the car and if my friends are lucky, I will see them on the way to school and we pick them up. I barely get to school on time.
When I get to school, I go to my first period science class and relax. We usually write down the agenda and warm-up and then take notes about science. Sometimes we watch movies about earthquakes. The teacher gives us notes from his computer from the wall with the projector. I think I am learning in science because I study the notes and read the textbook. The students in the class are okay. A lot of kids mess around, for example, they walk around when they are not supposed to. To me it’s not really distracting because my house is like school. I can find a quiet spot to do my homework, but I think it’s distracting for other students. I mean in class you are supposed to learn and it’s hard to do that when you have distractions.
My second period is Life Skills. We usually write in a book called Coin Career Target. For my career, I want to be an architect and I’ve one thing I learned is that architects get paid a lot of money. I want to be an architect because it involves drawing and math and I like them both. As an architect, I would draw the house for people and they will pay me.
Then I go to Nutrition and play football, usually on the field, but some days we can’t because the lines are drawn for the games. So when they put the lines on, we play by the baseball field instead. Nutrition is only 15 minutes long so we only have a little bit of time to play. I go to the bungalows (portable classrooms) for third period, which is Algebra. In Algebra class we need to have two binders for homework and class work. We do warm-ups and notes and then our teacher gives us time to do homework. Lucky for me I am doing well because I am working and studying. I like math because you can use numbers and also you can add, multiply, subtract, and divide. Some students have trouble in class and the teacher sometimes tells me to explain the work. I think they don’t know math because they talk too much, but it’s because they are bored from the teacher lecturing too long. One person in my class likes it and the other students don’t because it’s hard even though the teacher tells us how to do it [math problems].
My teacher for PE is Mr. X. he makes us stretch out before we do our activities. He lets us play sports for the class and after PE, I go to lunch and just play football again. Then I go to fifth and sixth period, which is a double block of English class. My teacher’s name is Ms. H. She gives us a lot of work. She makes us write down everything—even the questions. To me, I think English is easy because everything is explained and everyone works together. Kids help each other by working together because it’s harder to work alone. I think English is different because it’s longer and you get more time to learn, but I don’t think all classes should be like that because you will just tire out the students out. I also had long classes during middle school because of my test scores.
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The chapter I read called “First Letter Reading the World/Reading the Word” in the book called Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare to Teach by Paulo Freire is similar to my daily experience because it’s hard to study. For example, the chapter says, “If I'm really seriously reading, I can’t go pass the first page if I can’t grasp its significance relatively clearly” (p.18). This quote means that sometimes a lot of students study but can’t understand what they're reading. They don’t like to study, and when they want to, they can’t. I think that’s mostly their fault, but sometimes it’s the teachers. Maybe the teacher doesn’t tell the student what pages to study or the student forgets. To me studying is really important because you are always going to have to study even when you get older. I think that school is too hard especially the tests and I don’t like to take them. But if you don’t study, you’re most likely to fail your tests or you just won’t learn anything.
After school I go home and take a shower. I watch TV or go on the computer and then go to sleep when I’m done. When I go through my day I always think about my family, but mostly my mom. That’s why my favorite song is “Dear Mama” by TuPac. The song says:
Cuz thru tha drama I can always depend on my mama
And when it seems that it’s hopeless
Ya say tha words that can get me back in focus
I think the lyrics mean that you should always respect your family because you will never know what’s going to happen to them. For example, the lines “cuz thru tha drama I can always depend on my mama” means that you can depend on your friends and teachers. TuPac wants us to know that you can always depend on family. They could die the next day or they can get kidnapped—so always be kind to your family no matter what. I love my family very much.
So at the end of the day I think everything went okay. I always talk to my friends in class or outside and I always see my family everyday. I wish there was more time in the day so that I could do more things with them, like play catch with my brothers or go to the park or movies with friends. With school, I think a couple of things could be better. I think I am getting challenged like I am supposed to for classes, but I also think the staff needs to make changes so the school can be safer. Wilson should have cameras and more staff. The cameras should be for the people who steal things. The last time I didn’t feel safe was at lunch when my backpack was stolen. They took it because there was no staff down at the basketball courts. I think students should feel or act like they care about their grades or projects or whatever is going on in class. They should bring it home from school for the parents to see too. Teachers can show they care and help the students to pass the class. Maybe teachers could stay after school to help the kids who need it. I don’t stay after school because I don’t need help (right now).
So that's how I spend my day at school. I do the same thing every day (except the weekends). I wrote this narrative so you could learn about my community and what happens. Everybody thinks our community is violent and dirty, but I don't and you shouldn't either.
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