It was a bright and shiny day for Kevin. He woke up early, and was ready to go to school. His mother was cooking pancakes so that he could wake up to that delicious smell. Kevin’s favorite breakfast was his mothers pancakes. Something about it gave him a warm satisfied feeling down inside of him. He sat on the table and started to enjoy this warm meal. His father came rushing down the stairs. “Hurry up Kev, or you will be late for school!” Kevin scarfed down the last of the pancakes, and gulped all of his milk. He brushed his teeth and got ready for school, his mother was waiting in the car. Once he got in the car he was on his way for the first day of school.

Kevin was very early for school, as he waited outside of his first period class. Kevin was 5’11, had brownish-blackish hair, and liked to make jokes in class. He is a very sarcastic person. Someone else was very early as well. Kevin asked him, “Why are you so early?” then the boy looked up and replied, “I am here because I wanted to get a head start at this class, since history is my least favorite subject. “ Then Kevin admitted, “No way, history is my least favorite subject too! Want to be friends?” “Sure!” replied Russell, Kevin’s new friend. Ten minutes has passed, then the teacher came into the room, his name was Mr. Henderson. The students started arriving towards the door. The teacher shouted, “Okay class, you should grab a chair because we're going to be learning a lot today. The most important lesson in this semester that we will be learning about is the Aztecs, and their fascinating culture. The Aztecs have a very interesting culture and we will be learning a lot about them. Then Kevin immediately started to see that the subject was a very boring topic and he made insulting jokes about the Aztecs and made fun of Mr. Henderson’s lesson.

At that moment, the teacher gave them a lesson plan in which they had to read carefully. It was kind of like syllabus that they had to fill out. Kevin mumbled to his new friend Russell that this was dumb, and the teacher asked, “What did you say?” Then Kevin replied, “Why do we have to learn about Aztec history, if the Aztecs are gone anyway?”. Then that made Mr. Henderson was furious. Then he told Kevin that he wants to speak to him after class, and Kevin agreed. After class the students rushed out the door as the bell rang, and then Kevin tried to sneak away from the teacher, but then Mr. Henderson yelled, “Hey, Kevin! Come back here! I told you that I wanted to talk to you after class.” so Kevin went to Mr. Henderson’s desk, and then Mr. Henderson addressed, “Well, it wasn't very wise of you to make fun of the Aztecs like that, as you may know that my ancestors were in an Aztec tribe, and that was very insulting to me. Plus, you didn't even apologize for it. Why don't you like the Aztecs?” he asked. Kevin realize that it meant a very big deal to Mr. Henderson so then he replied, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know that it was such a big deal to you. Then he had detention for an hour after school. Kevin had to write on a piece of paper “I will not disrespect the teacher I will not disrespect the teacher…” and so on, until the back and front side of the paper are filled with this statement. Kevin then said to Mr. Henderson that his hand hurts and wanted to go home. The teacher disagreed and proposed that in order for Kevin to pass the class he needed he needed to write a report about the Aztecs and understand their culture. And if he fails, he will then not pass the class.

Kevin thought that this was unfair and something had to be done. Because Mr. Henderson was forcing him to do this. Kevin and the teacher were both arguing which resulted in calling Kevin's parents. They both agreed to this proposition because they knew that Kevin was not very good at writing and knew that he is very stubborn when it came to doing work related things. They wanted that to change, and wished for him to be better. Soon after, when Kevin came home, his parents were very angry at him for getting himself into this mess. They instantly grounded him. He couldn't play any of his video games, watch movies, they canceled his Netflix account, and canceled his phone, he couldn’t even go outside, or talk to his new friend. Kevin was mad but he was also motivated and compelled to change his life, and he knew what he needed to do. He needed to start and finish the report about the Aztecs. It was a sad day for Kevin, he felt sorry for himself.

At the end of the day Kevin brushes his teeth and got ready for bed. He put his laptop on his lap and turned it on. He searched for Aztec History into Google. He saved all of the important websites that gave him the most information. Kevin saved all of the websites in a folder. When he googled Aztec traditions, he clicked on the first link, and he read. He read, he read, he read. Kevin read until he fell asleep. All of a sudden, Kevin woke up the next morning with the laptop on the ground and the battery died. All of his saved websites were gone! Soon after, he charges the laptop and it reboots. Kevin’s mother was in the kitchen at that time, and Kevin uttered, “What's for breakfast mom?” and then the boys mother smirked, “Make your own breakfast. Everybody already ate,” Kevin was sad, frustrated and confused. He went back to his room after he made a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He quickly made his bed, and picked up his laptop from the floor. Kevin put it on his desk, charged it, and then turned it back on. While the laptop was rebooting, he was finishing up the last bite of the sandwich. When the computer was on, he opened up Google. It asked, “Would you like to restore your session?” and Kevin did not press restore, instead he typed in Aztec culture in a new search text box. He found his saved websites, and continued to read. All of a sudden, Kevin found out that the Aztecs weren't bad at all. After he was exposed to various different websites after he researched, he realized that most of them were a lot like a normal society, but then they still have their cultural ways. Kevin felt as if he were somewhat related to the Aztecs, because he saw that it wasn't fair for them on many different occasions. He kept reading on further and found out that some opposing forces came into the Aztec’s land and ruined their lives. Kevin also found out that they were formerly called the Mexicas until they found a lost city of Tenochtitlan. He learned so many new things about their religion, he read that according to the Aztecs, they played a sacred game that was a mix of soccer and basketball. The objective was to put a oval shaped ball into a small hoop that was against a large wall. The players could not use their hands, or feet. They had to use their hips, knees, chest, and shoulders. The winners were sacrificed to the sun god, Huehueteot. Kevin thought it was interesting when he read that successful warriors were praised like a God, before they were sacrificed. Aztecs believed that Huehueteot was a god of warmth, death, and cold. They also believe that he can control lightness, and darkness.

After Kevin finally had all of this knowledge about the Aztecs, and he knew more than he should have, he thought that he made a big mistake making fun of the Aztecs. Kevin believed he owed Mr. Henderson a big apology. At that point in time, he went to school with a big smile on his face ready to learn more about the Aztecs. As soon as he arrived to school, he went straight into the classroom, and told Mr. Henderson that he was extremely sorry about the joke he made about the Aztecs, and stated that he deserves a failing grade. Suddenly, the teacher accepted his apology after Kevin asked for forgiveness immediately, and asked him about how he's doing on his report.

Then the other students were confused, they all asked about it. Kevin’s new friend, Russell, said, “We had to write a report?!” and Mr. Henderson explained about why he had to assign Kevin a report on the Aztecs. The teacher stated, “Because Kevin has disrespected my culture and I, he then has to write me a report in return.” The students were afraid. They thought that it was unfair for Kevin, and felt very sorry for him.  They felt as if Kevin was doing more than he should. But he felt fine with it, and just did what he was told to do. After the class has ended, Kevin then called his mom to pick him up from school. He called her and told her that he wanted to go to the library and work on the report there. He couldn’t be with his friends anyway, since he was grounded. He checked out a couple of books he found interesting about the Aztecs, and put them into his backpack. Next, after the library, Kevin just went to his house, walked up the stairs, and read more about the Aztecs. He thought in his mind that he should be an Aztec know-it-all. Kevin wanted to prove everyone around him wrong that he is a good kid, and show that he actually cares.

After that, Kevin wanted to know everything about the Aztecs, and he even wanted to know more than the teacher because he was determined to change. At that instant, he typed his sources up into a Google Document, and found one of the most useful sources for his essay. It was called history.com/aztecs. Kevin thought it was so useful, helpful, and polite, that people would actually study the Aztecs, and put strong, valuable content information on the internet and give it free for the readers such as Kevin. After he had read a very informative article, Kevin felt as if he knew the Aztecs on a more personal level. In the beginning, he actually thought that the Aztecs were boring. He was now all fascinated of them. He learned that all the Aztecs wanted to do was to help their own culture and save themselves from other opposing forces. So Kevin read more about the history of the Aztecs. and he learned that the Aztecs were originated as a nomadic tribe in the northern Mexico they arrived in Mesoamerica, around the beginning of the 13th century, and that was known as a magnificent capital city called Tino, “Land of the Aztecs”. Firstly, they emerged as a dominant force in a certain section of central Mexico, developing an intricate society, and one of the strongest tribes in Mesoamerica. Kevin learned that by the 15th century, that’s when it became very interesting. He wanted to learn more invaders led by the Spanish conquistador Cortez and how he overthrew the Aztecs by force and captured their leader Keno in 1521 bringing an end to the Aztecs.

When Kevin finally finished his book report, it was dark and he was ready for bed. After he woke up, he felt accomplished and was eager to come to school. When his mother dropped him off to school that day, she told Kevin that she was proud of him, and his father was proud as well. Kevin left the car, and walked towards his classroom. When he arrived at the door, he told Mr. Henderson everything he has learned. He apologized again, and Mr. Henderson said that he forgave him and wanted to share his report to the class. Kevin agreed, and the class was fascinated with the report he has done. Mr. Henderson was smiling, and proud that Kevin changed from a stubborn, ignorant kid, to a humble, open-minded, and outstanding student. He received an A in the class. Kevin learned a lot that week, and shared his experiences to the class. He made more friends and felt like a skillful expert on the topic. And that’s how Kevin felt accomplished.