Personal Narrative: Starting A Middle School

Starting middle school challenges any kid transitioning into a teenager. Simple small changes like going from cubbies to lockers excite students. Bigger changes like transitioning from one all day class to six individual classes and pluses and minuses to letter grades can leave some students shell-shocked with new responsibilities. I remember the struggle I had keeping up with all of this in my first year. I found social studies homework especially difficult for me. I went to class and didn’t give the course work my best effort. As a result, my grades slipped to the point that I had failing grades in a few classes. I didn’t know what to do, and didn’t really want to do anything about it. I was drowning in a pool of laziness. One evening, I nearly began trembling when my mother decided she wanted to check my grades.

She promptly set up for me to stay in at lunch with the teacher and make up assignments. Terribly upset that I had disappointed my mother, I promised her I would get straight A’s the next term. I quickly learned that being prepared for a class and getting good grades exponentially beats out not doing homework. Surprising myself, I became very proud of the good grades I had earned. After several semesters of getting straight A’s, I developed a tough work ethic and started holding myself to higher standards. Since middle school I have maintained straight A’s through high school and the first term of college. My developed work ethic has guided me through new challenging experiences that have made me into who I am. In hindsight, things could have gone a very different way in middle school, and I could have become a completely different person, in a different place, with different dreams. I’m fortunate my mother used my first mistake to teach me a lifetime of good