Eighth grade is an experience not like anything you have gone through before. Hi, my name is Morgan. I'm an Adventure eighth grade student attending Leonard Herman Intermediate school. While this school year is coming close to an end, I am starting to look back at this year. This entire year, although it hasn’t been that long, has been a learning experience. You change as a person, no matter if it’s a big change or a small change; we all change in some way. We all go through major experiences that at the time might not seem so big and, most of all, we experience all this in an incredible, adaptive learning environment called Adventure. As an 8th grade student, I survived the year by keeping an open mind. This might seem very broad but if you think about it in the way I’m about to show you it might make sense. In instances that happen in class or outside of class, you have to create a way to be open to everything and learn to understand other people. This year has been a rollercoaster, but all this was for the greater good.

 

Eighth grade has been full of changes, academically and mentally. When I look back on the year, I can almost visualise what a different person I was. Over the entire year I learned a whole lot that made me a better person all together. If I were to change one thing about how I started this year, I would start by observing my immediate reactions. Usually I like to question a lot that is happening and am not as open to doing things differently than how I am used to doing things. I realized sooner or later that you have to adapt to people's views and sometimes just go with the ‘flow.’ This year I would have started it by in the classroom and out, I would have had a more open minded and listened to more ideas without defending my own. I definitely know now, and I am glad I have gone through this year  learning new things about life inside and out of school.

 

I’m not sure you could call anything about eighth grade easy, but if you had to I can definitely explain what was easier than the others. For me, keeping my grades up wasn’t exactly ‘simple’ but it wasn’t impossible. In order to keep your grades up you just need to listen in class and make sure you do the work your teachers assign. Other than that, keeping your grades up isn’t that difficult. When projects or other assignments are assigned by the teacher try to schedule out on an imaginary timeline in your head to make sure you stay on track. In class use the class time the teacher provides to get your work done or at least started. They provide this time for you to actually work on your assignments. Again, I wouldn’t necessarily say anything in eighth grade was easy, but keeping my grades up wasn’t that difficult if you are staying on task.

 

Eighth grade wasn’t exactly an easy ride, there were many parts that stressed me out and made my life slightly more difficult. One of the major things that was difficult for me this year was the projects. Not exactly just projects, in general, but some bits and pieces about them. Usually in larger group projects we don’t get to pick who we can work with. This causes some people to get in groups with students they don’t necessarily get along with. This was definitely difficult for me because I had to make sacrifices and learn to work around some things with other people. Overall this probably made me a better person because now I am able to work better with all people and not just people I get along with outside of the classroom and in general. Projects got easier to deal with throughout the whole year, and now I am able to stress less about them.

 

This year was something to remember. I learned a lot through my whole experience in this program for two years, inside and outside of the classroom. I believe all the experiences that I have gone through have made me a better student and human being in general. I have learned how to deal with many things and how to work through many problems. My teachers have been a big impact on how I work and learn. I am thankful for what they have taught me and I am sure that all this will help me in the future. Now I’m moving into something bigger, high school. Wish me luck.