<p>@Kawaiiii me too!! What school?</p>
<p>@mdclassof2017 Wootton.</p>
<p>Please don’t say Churchill. </p>
<p>So I went to UNC today for a tour of Caroll Hall (journalism school), and my mom was over the top with bragging rights. I haven’t done cancer research or anything exactly extraordinary, but she was talking about how smart I was and how I was promoted to be editor of my school’s newspaper in two months (she meant Life Section Editor, but whatever)… It was cringe-worthy.</p>
<p>First of all, I’m a sophomore. Second of all, we were the only people who showed up to the specialized journalism tour. Needless to say, it was very cool even with my mom’s quips about every tiny thing.</p>
<p>“What’s your GPA again?” “She’s editor of her school paper!” (I’m not) “It’s our dream for her to go here or NYU.” (OUR?)</p>
<p>Are any of your parents this incessant? </p>
<p>Anyways, in sad news, my Spanish 3 Honors teacher gave me a 76 for participation. I participated as much as I did the previous quarter (when I received a 91), and my belief has been reaffirmed that she is evil. I just don’t understand how a teacher can weight participation 30 percent and give a student who earns 95+ on all tests and quizzes a D for it. Obviously the student is learning the material. I understand pronunciation and dialogue is important with most languages, but I think grading an activity that is uncomfortable for those with social anxiety so harshly is wrong.</p>
<p>My average is now a 90, which makes me slightly angry, only because I KNOW Spanish and I’m excelling at the tests… So what if speaking in front of the class (in a language that is not my first) makes me feel like my heart is in my throat?</p>
<p>@MissSuzyQ Are you having actual trouble speaking, not trying, or not doing it as much/often? Are you forgetting vocab, not volunteering to read, or not writing sentences on the board?</p>
<p>From my experience, teachers will give you a high grade unless you never ask a question or volunteer to try. They enjoy students participating, even if they fail miserable. </p>
<p>Participation & Performance grades are what I depend on for an A/A- in a class</p>
<p>It’s not graded on pronunciation or accuracy (I don’t have a problem with accuracy and my pronunciation is never terrible), just the amount of times you produce an original sentence in Spanish. To achieve a 100, you’re supposed to do this 2-3 times a day. This is an unreasonable feat when there are around 30 kids in a class, and there aren’t activities allowing you to get production points a day.</p>
<p>I personally just get anxiety. I’m usually always right with the grammar of my sentences, but I don’t participate 24/7 because A. I don’t learn best that way B. I find it a weird and uncomfortable situation when I have to race to raise my hand when I want to go over the sentence in my head one last time and C. I HAVE SOCIAL ANXIETY AND JUST BECAUSE I’M SPEAKING IN SPANISH, IT DOESN’T GO AWAY (IT ONLY INTENSIFIES).</p>
<p>The only thing I’m having trouble with is dealing with her grading scale. It favors the loud, extroverted kids who most likely have never dealt with the excessive panic that arises in the pit of one’s stomach for what appears to be “no reason.” Anxiety is a tangible thing, and teachers who pretend none of their students (should) suffer from it cease to make sense to me.</p>
<p>@MissSuzyQ Well, if you need to produce an “original sentence” as you say, ask a question to clarify something or ask to go to your locker or something in Spanish. Usually, there is a way to do it without doing it in an abrupt or confident manner so to speak. </p>
<p>If this social anxiety is a big issue, talk to the teacher. There is a girl in my class who is super shy that at the beginning of the year, she talked to the teacher about it. She gets 90s for her participation but she always says one or two sentences in class or volunteers occasionally. Her grading scale in this area is more lenient.</p>
<p>Being one of the extroverted kids, I can tell you one thing. When we were younger, we had panic attacks and social anxiety. Luckily, because we were kids, our way of coping was to be extroverted. Eventually our attitudes changes.</p>
<p>She doesn’t give credit for asking for clarification or going to the bathroom (though you must say that in Spanish); it’s more of creating original sentences for an assignment or worksheet and then she gives us points.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say it’s a huge issue. I mean, I totally disagree with how she handles that aspect of our class, but I don’t think my social anxiety is so severe that I require special treatment. It’s more so the principle of the matter. I feel a budding resentment towards her decision to grade this way, and I naturally don’t rush to participate in classrooms in general. </p>
<p>That’s difficult to understand what you said about kids. Some people’s attitudes never change, and it becomes an innate characteristic.</p>
<p>I talk when I have to. Actually, I’ve almost always preferred teachers who, if they do count participation as a grade at all, do so by forcing students to speak. I think my problem is that I don’t want to raise my hand and I don’t want to want to participate. But if you randomly call on me and subject me to display knowledge, I’m fine. But when I have to control how many times I participate while the grade looms over my head, it’s more difficult for me.</p>
<p>@livelaugh7, I disagree. I’m an extrovert and I’ve never been like that. I’ve always been outgoing and loud. xD</p>
<p>@tacoperson123 Really? I know a lot of people who were once very shy and now are really outgoing, including myself. Of course, a lot of people are extroverts and stay that way or are introverts and stay that way.</p>
<p>@MissSuzyQ Well, I hope you find a way to solve the problem :)</p>
<p>@MissSuzyQ I understand how you feel 100%! I used to be sooo shy and anxious about participating but something in me just clicked one day and I became outgoing. I know it sounds so weird, but I think I realized I can turn participation and talking in front of a classroom into something fun. If you have a good friend in the class with you, turn it into something enjoyable by focusing on their positivity, and the rest of the people won’t matter as much. I don’t have my best friend in my class, but I’m good friends with my table partners, so whenever I have to answer a question or give a oral presentation, I focus on how they’re sitting there with smiling faces and tend to not care if the people on the other side of the class whom I don’t know that well are staring me down. That’s cause for nervousness, but really, I just tried my best to come out of my shell the beginning of high school and now as a sophomore, public speaking has become 100x easier, all because I changed my mentality towards it.</p>
<p>I know it’s hard; TRUST ME IT IS NOT EASY. I can easily say I was the shyest person in the world throughout middle school. Coming out of the shell is so hard, but once you can accomplish that, life becomes easier, and then you can get that grade you so deserve. Sure sometimes I get those massive butterflies and stomach aches from nervousness when I have to present a project or something in front of the class, but it kind of dissolves after 30 seconds because I’ve trained myself to not let it affect my life and to focus on the positive aspects of it. </p>
<p>I’ve never believe in the “pretend everyone is in underwear” thing. But I do believe the “focus on the positive people” thing like your friends in the class or even if your teacher is nice. You can make it into something nice just by changing your mentality towards participation and public speaking. I know some teachers are like that; my spanish 3 teacher is like that, too. If you know an answer just raise your hand and say it quickly; trust me it’s not that bad once you do it. Beforehand, it’s nerve racking, but once you do it, it’s like everything dissolves and every time you do it, you’re just getting closer and closer to never having to feel that way again. </p>
<p>This is coming from a pre-introvert. Honestly, I probably still am a bit of an introvert. I will never be the girl to scream across the courtyard or laugh at the top of my lungs like other girls, but an extrovert can also be someone who accepts leaving the comfort zone from time to time and can deal with situations. It’s like a process, but then it will become natural over time. </p>
<p>@livelaugh7 I agree with you! I’ve always scored as an introvert in personality tests and I used to be very shy in freshman year because I didn’t know anybody, but now I’ve become more comfortable speaking to people. I don’t know what made it happen, I think it’s because I realized that no one will really judge me about what I say. I still consider myself an introvert, since I still get most of my energy by being alone, but now I’ve become more comfortable with talking to other people as opposed to last year, when I barely talked to even my closest friends.</p>
<p>EC:</p>
<p>Student assistant teaching at art studio
Science Olympiad (Fossils and GeoLogic Mapping, anyone :P)
Coach MS MathCounts team
AMC/AIME
ARML
Envirothon
National Quizbowl Tournament
National Academic Tournament
School Math Team, (varsity, woohoo 
)
Arts and Writing competitions
Symphony Orchestra (first cello)
Piano</p>
<p>APs:
Self studied AP Biology last year (5, honestly just read the textbook, was taking HonBio with an amazing teacher, but honestly, the AP Bio teacher at my school was really terrible)
Currently:
AP Studio Art Drawing
AP Statistics
AP Calc AB
AP Chemistry
AP European History</p>
<p>Current Schedule as sophomore:
AP Chemistry
AP Studio Art Drawing
AP Calc
AP Euro
Hon English 10
Spanish III (but planning on taking Seminar next year)
AP Statistics</p>
<p>Prospective Schedule for junior year:
AP Studio Art 2D
AP Calc BC
AP Lang
AP Physics
AP EnviroSci (maybe, if have time, if not, senior year 'cause really easy)
AP CompSci (also a maybe)
APush
Honors Seminar Spanish</p>
<p>@OverInfinity how are you allowed to take so many APs?</p>
<p>@Greninja That’s so good! I realized when I left the sixth school I’ve attended during 8th grade. I knew I wasn’t going to make any friends unless I was super outgoing. Got to the point where I was called “cocky” and “over-confident” for a few weeks. Now, I’m just an outgoing person with a daring perspective.</p>
<p>@livelaugh7
My HS lets us skip any preliminary classes with a teacher rec and review with counselor. So I didn’t have to take hon chem and such. I was also allowed to skip around with art and math classes.</p>
<p>Honestly, my hs is really lenient with taking classes as long as you are up to it.</p>
<p>@OverInfinity You, alongside the majority of CC, are so lucky. We HAVE to take the preliminary classes and they must be honors and you must get a certain grade to even be RECOMMENDED for AP. Nice schedule :)</p>
<p>Oh! and I’m on SciOly and Varsity Math Team as well. I’m doing the Mission Possible for SciOly. Can’t WAIT.</p>
<p>@livelaugh7 Yeah, my hs is in the NE region, but it’s actually one of the less lenient ones in the area. There are many other schools in my area that have extremely open scheduling. I guess you do have to push a little to get into these classes in my district, but as a straight A, distinguished honors student, it hasn’t really been that difficult.</p>
<p>What competitions does your school math team do?
Good luck with the math and Scioly!</p>
<p>Dang you have like 5 AP’s each year and i’m worrying about taking 2 my junior year lol @OverInfinity </p>
<p>@schmonstar It’s not really that bad, considering it’s just math and science (my “good” areas) and art (which I really like anyways). Euro (ewwww history) is just eh.</p>
<p>btw, public hs in PA</p>
<p>Im in a public PA school too. Bucks county north of philly</p>