James Thomas Mr. Munoz Dual Credit Eng, Per. 5 October 2, 2014 Special Education “Where are we going?” I asked my friend. She and I were walking through the fifth grade hall, the hall that was strange and terrifying. “We are going to the special classroom,” she replied, As first grader’s, we both knew that we were not supposed to be in here and not just because we were getting strange looks from the giants that surrounded us, Her and I kept walking on through, her leading because she had done this before, whatever we were doing. We make it through the hall of older, more mature students and we feel relieved to have made it through the sea of gigantean upperclassmen. I have never been more intimidated in my life. We walk down a hallway that is outside of the school and my heart is racing. What is this for? Are we in trouble? Was it something that I said? We make it to a door in the middle of the hall and she knocks on the door. “Oh, hello kids! It is nice to see you both here. Please come in and don’t be shy!” I smile weakly and take feeble steps into the room. It is small but colorful with all sorts of posters, There are a few desks facing towards the front of the class. On the ground is a carpet with all sorts of scholastic materials woven through its wool. “Please, have a seat. Are gi, tab des ya'll ready to lea?” “Um, sue L guess?” We tie wo fh class guite regularly, In fact, [don’t remember haeey-being in the normal reading class at all. Guess that is what happens when you are special. When I was in first grade I was placed in a special education class. I hardly knew what pe rake F So Nhe g remide! cla that meant nor do I know today. All I remember doing though was playing with cards and eatingskittles after class. To this day, all that I know is that I was put in that class but I was different from the rest of my classmates mentally. After moving to Corpus Christi I realized that life (would never be same. I moved through elementary school with hardly any problems. I got in trouble but not like I did back in Cross Plains. Calallen was a different school, one filled with bullies and strange people. I never truly fit in because I was an outsider, a person with a different personality and life. People used to exclude me from games and others would give me achance. Soon enough though those people would leave too and I would be all alone again. It ‘was during fifth grade that I discovered my passion for reading. In my regular class I was one of the only two top students that read more than any other of my classmates. For the gifted class I was average, maybe slightly above. I didn’t read for the competition like them though, I simply read for the fun of it. My favorite kind of booksto read was supernatural books. Anything that ‘wasn’t part of the norm was always stuck to my face, my eyes dancing across the pages of those strange books. During sixth grade I took a break from the book worm world to focus on becoming a jock. I trained for football during the summer, played during the fall, and then went straight to basketball. This trend would go on for the next two years. During sixth grade I was placed in the gifted, or honors, classes after being in the top of the average class and passing all of the preliminary tests. I enjoyed being smart but order to be popular one must be a jock to achieve this high honor. In middle school, image is everything and I learned that the hard way. It was when I started to be bullied in seventh grade for being different. I wasn’t the normal jock, the popular one. I always stuck out in a crowd, cursed to be different, [ tried to be athletic and cool like the rest of the football team but alas, it was not meant to be, I was once again pushed out of the group and was alone. I turned back to reading and tried to hide in the books that I read, The bullying never ceased so neither did my reading. Soon enough I was one of the booknerds once again, out casted for being abnormal like the books that were always in hand. I spent most of my free time in the library, the only place where I could be accepted but of course there was no one other than the librarian to be my friend. I tried to be “normal”, to be like the rest of my classmates but they always treated me with displeasure. “Why are you so annoying? Like seriously, why are you even here? You know that no one likes you, no one wants to like nd no one will like you.” Every day was the same story: go to football practice, go to school, be bullied, and hide in the library, It was finally in eighth grade that I had had enough. I became smarter, bigger, and more athletic than the normal student. I naturally became smarter through reading and all that time training for football put me as an equal. I was still bullied, but atleast I could look down upon them as well. I spent more time in the library than ever, reading, leaming, and getting an edge that the rest of the classmates didn’t care about. Even the librarian loved me. All the bullying pushed.towards a greater goal in my life, to be better than those who out casted me. I focused on my studies and never received lower than a B in all of my classes. I was qed finally moving up the ranks. During ninth grade was my hiccup. I stopped reading focused Pm ae on being a jock once again. My grades started to fall. The only class that was consistent was“ ~ English. It was in English, just like during first grade and onward, that I excelled in. Inever received less than a high B. I honed in on this advantage but it wasn’t enough, my other grades were failing me. My parents saw this and knew that I needed to be transferred, that I needed more attention so they moved me to Biaa568 John Paul TI High School. Its here that Ihave put all of my effort into school in a last ditch effort in being at the top. I now know that you don’t need to be popular to be distinguished, all you need is to have faith in yourself. My sophomore year was an awkward one but it was also one of the best years of my life. I became smarter than ever before and fitted in. My junior year I became a jock but stuck to myeducation more than ever. I now focus on school only in hopes of making up for lost ground but there is only so much that I can do. I just feel lucky to have received a special education that has prevailed me through life to put me where I am today, (5 hs abood yoru Wad 2s an abahede scholr ag a AMET Or pord hardly, your it Nike your vee of He ao f dts bo alogujal bet Hab eaper ib cosual