Personal Narrative: Tutoring In Elementary School

During my elementary years, I was always shy to talk to other people I didn’t consider as friends. The only ones I talked to was my classmates, teachers, and friends. I was the type of child that would depend on others. When I was 10, I was worried on how others would think of me. I was close minded and I would always assume that people would tease me for the little things that I did. This made me antisocial and I didn’t want to get involved into anything. At the age of 10, I was placed into an afterschool tutoring program. I was struggling with my reading and math so my parents placed me in there to improve on my weakest subjects in school. The class was being set up so students who applied for the program had to wait outside of class in the hallway of Waipahu Elementary School. I assumed that all the students waiting out in the hallway were signed up into the tutoring program. I looked around to see if I had any friends that I could stay with but I knew no one there. Though a few other students caught my attention when I was looking for my friends. There were a few boys surrounding a girl. This girl looked new to the school. She was dressed like a tom boy but her hair was long and in a braid. I assumed she told these boys a joke because
the boys were laughing. I’m a person who doesn’t like to eavesdrop but when I heard these boys teasing her I knew I had to try help her. She looked like she was going to cry. At first I was just watching and shaking my head. I was disappointed to why these boys would do such a thing. I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t want to get tease either. I was to afraid to do anything because then I knew I would cry and I didn’t like the fact that I would teased at if I try to help. I thought that she might not like the feeling so I pulled her aside and I asked her what her name was. We stood on the side not saying anything to each other for awhile. When she finally spoke up, she told me that her name was Ida. I was about to ask her what the boys were telling her before I pulled her to the side but she interrupted me. “Please don’t tease me because my name is weird.” When she said that, I was in shock and mad. I thought that her name was unique and cool. I wanted yell at the boys that it was rude for them to tease someone because their name is unique.
I was afraid though because I thought that if I get in their business they’ll try to attack me next. Since I was a child that always depended on things, I knew I had to stand up for myself. I thought about what I could tell the boys and I came up with a back up plan because I knew that I could possibly fail. After thinking my plans out through I walked up to the boys and tried to confront them that what they did was wrong. All they did was mimic me and laugh at me for trying to stand up for a new friend of mine. I told them that I would tell Miss Maggie, who happened to be one of the leaders for the tutoring program and my
teacher. When Miss Maggie came out to collect the students attending the tutoring program, I told her the situation. She ended up pulling the boys to the side to have a talk with them. While Ida and I were in class getting settled in, Miss Maggie called us over. They boys apologies and they left to go home. Due to this experience, I became more open minded, independent and outgoing. I made friends with people who were shy or afraid to talk to other people. I also have an open mind, in which I could actually think about others and try to be in their shoes. I don’t worry about myself like I used to do when I was younger. I did many things on my own ever since I stood up for Ida. I learned that I wasn’t going to have anyone with me all the time to back me up or to do things for me that I was afraid to do.