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Problem ?

When I was in elementary school in Maryland from Pre-K to 2nd grade, I had it pretty easy, and though I did well in school, I didn't have to achieve much to get the grades. Because my parents thought I had it too easy, they switched me to a school with a "Magnet" program to challenge gifted kids in 3rd grade. In the first term, I got my first ever "E" (our version of an "F"). I had slapped a cereal box book report together, nothing that I had never done for other teachers, and my new teacher wasn't impressed like the ones teaching kids on a lower level. Because I had never encountered any problems in my belief system before, and now had suffered overconfidence because of it, the realization that lazy work wouldn't cut it was rather earth-shattering to me.

My problem? I now had to redirect my personal rubric of what constituted a "job well done," which was not at all easy for a 3rd grader. On top of that, I had to do it quickly, so that my first report card at a new school wouldn't be abysmal, and lead to the extracurricular programs that were included in my lesson plan being dropped. The programs required me to keep an "A-B" average in order to continue being a part of them. My obstacles included:

 

  •  confirmation bias from easy grades for four years of school

  •  a time constraint

  • high expectations from my new teachers

  • a fixation on my old way of work

 

I had meetings with my new teacher and my mother, and we worked gradually to bring my grade up and adjust me to the heavier workload and implement more studious and serious habits. We identified one of the main problems in my half-hearted project attempt: I had waited until the last minute to do anything, and I hadn't asked my mother for help. Once I had become acclimated to the new school atmosphere and shed my procrastination, the problem was solved.

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