Learning how to get ahead in life can be tricky. I had to teach myself all throughout highschool. I loved to be the teachers pet, because if you were you would be awarded with a decent grade. I don't feel that way when you want to become the official teachers assistant. My senior year I decided I wanted to become one of the official "teachers assistant" for my outdoor education class(O.E.). O.E. wasn't a normal class that most students took during their highschool career. It was similiar to a gym class but you didn't have to play the sports that you hated to do, instead we would go camping for a whole weekand, hike, ski and white water canoe. In order to do become a teachers assistant I had to do a lot of unecessary sucking up to the teacher. To become a teachers assistant (T.A.) you have to prove to the teacher that you are willing to accept the responsibilities involved, apply for the position and finally do your best even if you don't get the position.
After I finally decided I wanted to go for it I had to prove to myself and to my teacher that I could take on the responsibility to do it. When questions were asked in class I was the first to respond and when a volunteer was asked for I always raised my hand. I didn't do this because I wanted to be the teachers pet but because I wanted to reach this goal of becomming a T.A. and I actually really enjoyed the stuff we were learning. When we were taught the different strokes we had to use on the river I would often volunteer about getting up on a table in the front of the room and demonstrate the proper way to do whatever was asked for. For example, when we were taught the strokes that we need to know on the river when white water canoeing I would demonsrate how to do them or I would go around the class to help the students that didn't understand. I became a very willing person to learn about everything there was to know about that class.
When applying for this honorable position you probably think that I had to fill out some silly application that only had my name and grades on it, but in reality I had to write an essay of why I would be a good T.A.. This I thought was difficult because I don't like to look at myself and talk about why I am going to be the best at one particular thing. If I do this I feel like I have a big head. I finally got over the fear of having a "big head" and I sat myself down at my computer and wrote this essay. I thought it was pretty good even though I didn't like to write about myself. I had a few of my friends read it and see what they thought about it and they all came back to me with positive results.
I kind of knew that I was going to get this position from the start because my teacher is the one that told me that I would be a great T.A.. There are two teachers that taught the class and they both saw me grow to become a better student. When I first joined the class I was shy and didn't say much. Once I got to know more people in the class I became more outgoing and wanted to volunteer myself for the class activities that we did. I would go on all of the class trips and when we were out on a trip I would be the one to help with getting everything ready for the students and parents that were going to go on the trip.
Just to let you know, so I don't leave you hanging, I did get the position and fulfilled every part of being a good T.A. for one full year. Throughout that year I had the best time of my life and I must say that was the highest point in my high school career. Well there is one thing that I left out, my best friend is the daughter of my former teacher. I didn't have to do as much sucking up as it sounded but I did have to prove to her that I could do it and I did have to apply just like everyone else had to.
