In eighth grade, I had a math teacher who taught Algebra 1 and I was in her class. I struggled in her class and often it was hard for me to grasp new concepts that I had not dealt with before since everything was new to me. She intimidated me and was very sarcastic to the students. Although I worked hard to understand the material, it took me longer than some of the other students. At the end of the school year we had to make our high school schedules and get the math class we wanted to take approved by our current math teacher. I had checked off that I wanted to move on to 'Geometry' instead of taking 'Algebra 1' Freshman year. When I presented it to her she looked at it and laughed in my face. I'll never forget the way she looked at me and said, "Are you serious? You're just like Taylor (another girl in my class), you just don't get it. I'm not signing off on this". I wanted to cry right there. I couldn't believe she was so rude to laugh in front of me and insinuate that I was dumb.
Later, I got back my EOG score for Algebra 1 and I had got a great score. I took Geometry anyways and got an A. In high school I got As and Bs in math but I would say things like "I'm not good at math" even though I did well. It took me a long time to realize that I was good at math but I just had to have the right teacher and the right learning style for me. Teachers should never discourage students for trying to challenge themselves and they should never compare you to another student like that. Some words like that stick with students long after they are said.
I can really relate to that! My psychology teacher once told me that my oral participation was good but not as good as the participation of these other two students which led to me becoming pretty insecure about anything I say in that class because I'm afraid it won't be "as good" as what the others say..
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