Recently while standing in as a judge at a science fair, my mind was unexpectedly transported back in time, to eighth grade. Luckily I don’t think much about middle school anymore, but I found myself remembering a fantastic project I completed for my U.S. History class.
My teacher gave the class a list of political vocabulary words that we were required to define. We didn’t just have to look the words up in the glossary and copy the definition onto a page though; we were required to create a cardboard box television and define them as part of a documentary.
The editor will insert a picture of a “tube TV” so the young folks know why a cardboard box was an appropriate shape for a television back in the day.
In typical middle school fashion, I put the project off. It was on my mind though, and by the time I was ready to work on it, the day before it was due, I had a good idea of what it would look like. I felt pretty lucky because I was already familiar with many of the terms like “caucus,” “constitutional,” and “electoral college,” because it was an election year. George W. Bush and Al Gore were the two candidates that year. And I had a great TV plot written out.
I printed and cut out the two political party animals, the donkey and the elephant, to represent the opposing candidates and titled the production “Bush and Gore go to Washington.” It was all about the road trip the two men took together in a ‘60’s Volkswagen Beetle. Through their adventures I used the vocabulary words in a way that the listener would understand the meaning of each term. I even made some jokes.
After a lot of yelling from my mom, and then a lot of gluing with my mom, we had a quality product completed — five whole hours before I had to get on the bus to school that day.
We spent the entire US History class viewing everyone’s presentations. The first girl got up with her TV and gave the driest documentary in the history of documentaries. She literally just wrote the vocabulary words on a giant piece of paper with the definitions and read them for the whole class. With every few words, she would pull her paper out to show the next terms. I was so embarrassed for her, I mean, why would the teacher have us make a huge art project just to read the vocabulary words and definitions? I thought about my own project with pride! The next student got up with a 28-inch television — it was way bigger than mine, but I knew that my story would make up for my painted corn dog box TV.
The second presentation was exactly the same as the first. A definition documentary. I shifted in my seat, feeling that something was amiss. Every presentation given that day followed in the same style. I watched the clock, hoping that somehow we would run out of time before it was my turn and I could redo my project overnight.
Finally my teacher declared that there was “only time for one more.” My heart was pounding with hope and fear. She drew the next name from a hat. Mine. With a face already beet red I grabbed my TV and headed to the front of the class. Someone made a comment about the size — somehow, even with my embarrassment, I joked about being on a budget. All I could do was tell my story as I’d written and rehearsed. The horrible silence after Bush and Gore completed their road trip at the Whitehouse was foreshadowing of the grade I received — an “F.”
It was the first failing grade I’d ever received on an assignment. I could think of a million arguments why I did not deserve the bad grade. The project looked great — it was neat, well put together, and cute. Why did Steve’s crappy TV get a “B+”? I had defined all the terms — just in my own way.
Then it dawned on me. I had a great project; I just misunderstood the assignment. I had failed to write the strict definition of each of the vocabulary words.
The “F” no longer bothered me, but my grade at the end of the term was my lowest overall grade of my middle school career, a “B-.” I wasn’t worried about it though — I knew I’d done my best, and I wouldn’t let a mistake define me.
– by Naketa S.
Feature image caption: I was asked to create a cardboard tube TV like the one in this picture for a school assignment. And I epically failed. Here’s why I got an “F” and why I don’t care that much. Courtesy WTAX.
Read more about not letting mistakes define you (or others) in Villain’s Backstory.