Personal Narrative: My First Year In Public High School

My first year in public high school was horrific. I was not accustomed to the public education system. I felt like a plebe that the first month of my ninth grade. My math teacher, Ms. Misbah was our sergeant, commanding us to do our work. We had rules to obey in our classroom: Never talk while the teacher is talking, do your classwork and homework. We never dare to break these rules.

I was not ready for High school. Because plotting the points, defining variables, solving the equation, and solving inequalities were tough. I was scared to ask her questions. She used to hit us with a wooden stick if we did not do our work or got bad grades on tests. Ms. Misbah could see our agony, but she has never helped us. She gave us the assignment to solve

I lowered my head in shame, unable to look at Ms. Misbah.

“Habiba, Don’t you know how to solve inequalities?”

“Yes, Ms. Misbah”, I replied. I was thinking, “Is she going to punish me? Or is she going to call my parent?”

Ms. Misbah did not say anything. I did not know why I was not comfortable with Ms. Misbah? Maybe it was because of my class size (63+ students) or because of my fear. I decided to study hard and make her proud of me. I want to make my parents proud of me. I had always been the best in class and favored by the teacher until eighth grade. I want to be best like my classmates. I tried my best. I attended her class regularly. I was struggling hard and I admitted that I need someone’s help. At last, I asked my mother to talk to Ms. Misbah. Because I was afraid to talk to her. My mother asked her can you help Habiba to do her work. She said, “of course, I would like to help her”. I was very excited to hear this. But I was a little bit afraid too. I went to her for after school tutoring session. We were only six students. She was so different from the normal school day. She treated me like a friend. I was not afraid of her anymore. I was confident to ask her questions and to ask her to explain again. I attended my tutoring session regularly. I loved to go there. I would skip my recess and stay after school just to talk to Ms. Misbah. I would spend hours every night studying.