Like my library catalog card I made? It totally describes me…only after reading this post you have to decide which one I am: a geek, a nerd, or a dweeb. Read the definitions. There is a difference! Though I willingly admit I have fallen into all three categories throughout my life.
As mentioned previously my earliest memory is sitting on my father’s lap learning to read at the age of three.
For my fifth birthday I asked for a dictionary.
See the kindergarten screening results below? I highlighted my name and scores at the bottom (but covered the rest of my maiden name). The class average is listed below that. Now look at the score totals on the right going up.
Um, yup, my nerdiness was evident very early on in life. Kindergarten didn’t even last a month before the school moved me up a grade to a mixed class of 1st/2nd graders. I was a little sad as I had the same kindergarten teacher that my dad had (he grew up in the neighborhood we lived in). But after the first week I realized school was much more fun! My time wasn’t wasted coloring and pasting, instead I was able to do math problems at the chalkboard and actually read books instead of reviewing letters. In essence, I wasn’t bored anymore!
After 1st grade we moved from Salt Lake City to Miami, FL where my dad did his medical residency. I enjoyed going to school at Blue Lakes Elementary. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Rinaldi encouraged my reading addiction. She allowed me to read books beyond the level of the class and gave me work that was more advanced so I wouldn’t become bored.
Third grade was more difficult. I didn’t get along with the teacher, Mrs. Carpenter, very well. Or maybe she didn’t feel she needed to cater to any of her students. I don’t know. Whatever it was I must have blocked it from my memory as I really don’t recollect much from third grade. I did find my scores from the standardized test taken that year.
My children are quick to point out that listening is still not a strong point. ☺
I can’t remember exactly when I started the gifted program but I think it must have been fourth grade. There were a series of tests that I had to take and pass in order to qualify for the program. Twice a week a bus picked me and a couple of others students up from Blue Lakes and took us to Tropical Elementary where we had gifted classes with other students from other schools. We had four teachers who taught a variety of classes. At the beginning of each semester we got to choose which classes we wanted to take and created our own individual schedules – much like a high school. I thrived in this environment! The teachers were excellent and the students were all nerdy like me.
After sixth grade, my dad completed his residency and we moved to Georgia where he started his medical practice. The school system was different. There wasn’t a wonderful gifted program available. There was a gifted class that covered only one class period – Georgia Studies. So seventh and eighth grade passed without any classes to challenge me. I enjoyed the extra curricular activities of basketball and the drill team. I did love my eighth grade literature teacher, Mrs. Humble.
Eighth grade was the last of my public schooling. My parents decided to homeschool us instead. Two years later I was entering college at the age of 15.
So….
geek
nerd
or dweeb?
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Oh my gosh, how in the world? your kindergarten scores…amazing…you are amazing. Not nerdy at all…even in those white socks with black shoes…you are very cool in my book!
Jocelyn, I wasn’t even going to mention the white socks/ black shoes combo. But since you did? Ha ha ha ha ha ha. One of the reasons we’ve put our children into a local private school is because the school will cater to higher level kids. We’ve had to move our oldest into the public system for the talented and gifted program because his scores look like yours! They wanted to bump him up a few grades, but we thought graduating from high school without being able to drive would cause peer problems in life. We just do a lot of home school-type learning as well in order to round out his needs.
I am going to go with geek. I have to say though, geeks are really cool! I tell people all the time I am a nerd…but I guess I didn’t get the distinction. I am going to have to reasses where I fit in the scale! 🙂
You scores were AMAZING in all your grades you posted here! WOW!
If only mine were as amazing as I went though school, (instead of only English and Science) maybe I could have endured the time better.
What a great topic! After years of trying to fit the cool mold, I too embraced my geekiness. Like you my scores were through the roof all the way through high school.
Sadly, none of my teachers were like yours. With 36-40 students in each class, they didn’t have time. Once in second grade, I did an unassigned report on giraffes during a week of illness. Proudly presenting it to my second grade teacher, I was disillusioned with school by her callous attitude. She pointed out that we don’t capitalize giraffe in the middle of a sentence, because it’s not a proper noun. Then she tossed it back at me. I learned the grammar lesson as well as the unspoken lesson. I quit school that day but not learning. With nobody to support me at home either, I did things like reading the encyclopedia we inherited from my great grandfather and reading nearly every book in our school library. But I never made it to the “gifted” program, because I didn’t apply myself, meaning I refused to do their busy work.
Fast forward 40 years….after teaching my children, my love of learning for a goal was reignited. I love to learn and can’t get enough. I still read the encyclopedia and study many hours per day.
I was just going to call you a genius…but then I saw the pegged jeans…Geek it is;)
All joking aside, I love these memory lane posts you’re doing!
A friend taught me to tell my children what she told hers: “Embrace your innner geek” My 15 yo is passing that on to my 13 yo–my 13 yo cares what others think, my 15 yo has always been comfortable in his skin. It works way better coming from a brother than the mother.
I’ve always thought of myself as geek, but I do lack the social graces…