Manual High School social
studies teacher Nicole Frazier asked the ninth grade students in her advisory
class to answer some questions I had posed as the school’s inaugural year drew
to a close:
1)How
has your experience at Manual this year been different from your experience at
other schools? Please give some specific examples.
2)How
has your experience at Manual this year changed your attitude about school –
for better or worse? Why?
Here are some of their answers, edited for clarity and
conciseness:
Breeanna Herrera:
My experience at Manual has been a very good one from my other ones. For
example, I haven’t gotten in huge trouble with the students or teachers. And my
mom hasn’t come up here which is very good…
The experience here at Manual changed my whole attitude
about coming to school, and I’m very glad…My dad graduated from high school,
and my bigger brother finished it in jail, and I was always put down about how
smart I was, either by my siblings (except for my bigger brother and little
sister) and my mom. I guess it had changed it for the good, because my
attendance. I haven’t missed one day and my behavior is on the positive side.
Last year in 8th grade I only went to school for language arts, and
my friends and I barely did any work, but I passed the class. Now I wake up
happy to go to school, and happy to be here at Manual.
Carolynn Dean: To
me, Manual doesn’t seem that different from middle school. The work is a little
harder but the drama and attitudes good and bad are still the same. Sometimes I
don’t like it here, sometimes I do.
Estrela Murillo: My
experience at Manual is different from other schools I’ve been to because
teachers here help you with your work and pay attention to you unlike other
schools that don’t pay attention to their students.
Daniel Hernandez: Many
schools have hundreds of students and the classes are large. At Manual there
are less students and classes are smaller. At other regular high schools you
are just another small fish in an ocean. At Manual you are a small fish in a
pond.
Manual made me like school a little more (I still don’t like
school). The classes are smaller and we have new computers and Promethean
Boards. The staff is also good.
Jerry A. My experience
at Manual has changed my attitude for the better. Now my attitude is not as bad
because the teachers know when I’m having a bad day so they know what I need to
cool down. Also I can go talk to a teacher if I have a problem, which has
really helped my attitude. Manual has been a real fun experience for me.
Ricardo Hernandez: I
started to like school in many ways. I like reading and I used to not like
reading.
Kerin Mendez: My
experience at Manual has changed my attitude towards going to school, because
the teachers treat you good and they help me with my work.
Shena Anderson: Manual
has changed my life for better because now it makes me want to go to school.
Sometimes I still think about dropping out , sometimes but not as often as
before. I love that my attitude has
changed about school because I want something good to happen.
Ashley Martinez: My
experiences here at Manual have been so much different than at other
schools. Let’s start with the teachers. Here at Manual, they actually take time
to ride our butts to make sure that we are on the right track to graduating.
They make sure we are doing what we need to be doing and make sure that we
understand the things we need to understand. At my other schools, the teachers
and the staff really didn’t care where or what we were going to be doing after
we left their class and that’s the difference from other schools to Manual. The
teachers here actually care.
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