New Beginning

September 8, 1998

Oh! How embarrassing! I started the first day of school by walking into an eighth grade classroom. It was the first day of the seventh grade, at a new school, Bernal Intermediate, and I was completely lost. It took me 15 minutes to find my history class, 20 minutes to find my science class, and another 15 minutes to find my elective class. I didn't know where, in what order, or whether they were in the portables or the main building. I was late to all of my classes that day!

There are many ways that I could have found them faster. I could have asked help from a teacher. This would have made things much easier and faster. I could have looked on the map in my "binder reminder." That would have been an independent way of doing things. I could also have gone around the school in the morning with a friend, looking for all our classes. This way you can also get acquainted with the various parts of the school.

I think that the best thing to do is, in the morning before class, to go around the whole school with a friend. You could get a sense for the school and where everything is. You would know your classes. If you ever needed to find the room for cross-country or the Washington trip meetings, you would know where to go, and would not spend the whole lunch looking for the room and then being late. Also, in case anybody needs to know where a classroom is, you can tell them. You can also run errands for your teachers without asking them where a class is.