Nancy Doehring, algebra

I would say I’m not the best student. Once I’m on the wrong foot with a teacher, I feel like I should give up in the class and just slack off. I always think it’s going to make the teacher mad. It does not. You just watch your grades go lower and lower every day.

Well, freshman year I started off on the wrong foot with algebra teacher Nancy Doehring. I could not tell you what happened. I never turned in work. That led to me not being able to play a single basketball game freshman year. That whole year I did not try. I got ISS plenty of times and my Thursday and Saturday classes stacked up.

With my luck, I got put into her class again the next year. I went into that year thinking, I’m not going to try again. I wanted to do anything and everything to make her mad. She tried to help me get back on track plenty of times over and over again. I just kept slipping up and letting down  myself, my basketball coaches and my dad. I just thought I was really bad at math and that the teacher didn’t like me.

Finally, I decided to pay attention and actually try to do work in her class. Soon I realized I don’t hate math at all. I caught onto everything. I raised my hand every times she asked a question or asked for someone to volunteer to write on the board.

Now, if you go in her class you will see a picture of me from junior just hanging on her wall. She’s told me I’m good at math. She came to one of the girls basketball games and complimented me on how tough of a player I am. Every time I see her in the hallways now I stop to have a conversation. She asks me about how school is going or stuff outside of school.

I was too hard on myself and I took it out on a teacher. She never gave up on me, however, and now I have a week until my graduation.