Help From a Teacher Part 2

After having a rough time as a sixth grader the year before, Anthony prepared to begin to have a new start as a seventh grader for the fall of 2012. He grew a inch taller and was twelve going on thirteen, starting to wait on the school bus on his own. It was somewhat of a slow start for him being independent but he still needed help with several things. Upon walking on the bus, the first person he sees is Gary, who had been teasing Anthony back in sixth grade. And of course they were still in the same homeroom as before. However, Anthony was paired with a different paraprofessional whom he never really interacted with before. He also got to have Mr Benton as the head teacher and he would work with him. And Mrs Wilkerson was still working as one of the head teachers and supervisors to the teachers. That year, two teachers, whom Anthony was familiar with from elementary school, would join as paraprofessionals for the sixth graders. He had known them from his time as a fourth and fifth grader and they were transferred to the middle school around the summer. Anthony was assigned his classes for the year and was somewhat pleased because he figured it probably won't be hard as the year before. However there was algebra, which was being taught to the seventh and eighth graders. He also English, social studies, science and journalism. Journalism is in the eighth and final period of the school day, but the paraprofessional and Anthony don't attend because for some reason, it doesn't apply to certain students. Instead, they would go to the homeroom where they would meet up with Mr Benton. On one hand, he would work one particular student at a time to help with classwork or homework. On the other hand, he would sometimes work with two or three students as they had similar assignments and he had the time and patience to help them focus. The way he helped was completely different than how Mrs Wilkerson helped her students. Mrs Wilkerson worked with sixth graders and and a few seventh graders, while Mr Benton was assigned the rest of the seventh graders and eighth graders. Anthony was having a hard time with algebra, but doing very well with the other classes. Especially social studies, because he was very interested in history, had a nice teacher and read a book for the class. Mr Benton saw potential in Anthony and he did not want him to waste it all because he could not understand how to do algebra. To be fair, math is sometimes a hard subject. In between classes, during lunch breaks and the final period, Mr Benton worked closely with the students and give them time to think of a answer with better results. Mr Benton also encouraged Anthony's love for history and drawing comic strips. Also Mr Benton had a tablet which he allowed his students to use, as long they took turns and sharing with each other. Meanwhile he was to convince Gary to get along with Anthony to avoid problems and befriend each other. But no one would knew how long the new friendship would last and it would not last that long because Gary continued being rude to Anthony even as far as harassing and insulting his family for no reason. In the season half of the year, Anthony had gotten more focus on his work with the assistance of Mr Benton and his paraprofessional. Towards the end of the school year, with the seniors moving forward to high school, Anthony knew it would be his turn for the next school year and looked forward to working with Mr Benton for his senior year. But unknown to him it would be the only year Anthony would work with him.