|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Du-Shawn Hooks | |||||||||||||||||||
| 9/24/07 | |||||||||||||||||||
| SOL'S | |||||||||||||||||||
| ������� In September of 2005, I moved to Virginia from Jersey City, New Jersey. My mother did not want me attend school in Jersey City because students were bringing guns to school. They were killing each other for no reason at all. She didn't want me to get caught up in any trouble or gangs. When I moved to Virginia, I was an upcoming sophomore. When I began school at Woodside high school, I was told about the Standard of Learning (SOL) test. SOLs are tests to see what you've learned in that year or on that subject; all students are required to have 6 verified credits to graduate for high school. I had to take the SOLs for my 9th and 10th grade years. | |||||||||||||||||||
| It was very hard for me to adjust because the way I was taught in Jersey City was a lot different from the way they taught here in Virginia. When it was time to take the SOLs, the test administrator told me that if I didn't pass them, it would stop me from graduating. This came as a complete (and VERY unpleasant) surprise. � | |||||||||||||||||||
| When I was taking the SOLs in the school library, I was thinking, "I need to get through this test as fast as possible." I was thinking about what I was going to do next, like going to lunch and what I wanted to eat. �I was just putting any answers down, without caring if they were right or wrong. | |||||||||||||||||||
| When the results got back, my teachers asked me, "What happened?" I told them, "I just moved here from Jersey City, and they did not teach us these things, and they did not teach it in the same way." The teachers who asked me this did not even ask if they could help me or anything. I had to find my own help, and I did that by going to my Guidance Counselor and asking her what I could do to pass the SOLs. She said, "Go to all the teachers that teach the subjects you need to review, and ask them if they have any work sheets that you can take home and do." | |||||||||||||||||||
| �I had to get extra help so I could try taking the SOLs over. I had to take them several times. While taking them, the first few times I kept saying to myself, "I can't do this! I'm dumb! I'm lazy! I'm a failure! I'm incapable! I'm not as good as other people, and I'm worthless." Every time I said those things, I failed. I was feeling, thinking, talking, and acting like a victim all the time, and it did not help me get through anything. I was thinking that I was not good for anything and I felt like giving up. I went to my Guidance Counselor, and I said, "I got extra help, and it's not working." Then I told her, "I was not cut out for this." She said, "You can't talk like that because you will believe in what you say to yourself; that you can't do it. People blame themselves for everything because of their Inner Critics. Your Inner Critic is the voices you hear saying it's your fault, and that's when you give up. You should walk around with your head up and say, "I'll keep going, I can do it, and I will do it."' | |||||||||||||||||||
| I had to take, SOLs in Earth Science and Algebra which I take in May 11th, Geometry and History which I take in May 24, Biology and English which I take in April 3. So I had to study all of those classes over in addition to the classes that I was taking at that time. "I failed the test several times, but I will pass it this time." I just kept saying that over and over again. If I failed, I would say, "I'll do better next time." When next time came, in 2007, at the end of my junior year, in the school library, I finally passed them all. If I had to do all of this by myself without help, I would not have made it this far. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Now, two years later, I am in college making a difference in my life, and I am proud to say, "I am the 2nd person in my family that made it to college." | |||||||||||||||||||
| Return to my home page | |||||||||||||||||||
| Go to my English 109 class page | |||||||||||||||||||