Three Teachers
Throughout my life I have been exposed to countless literary influences, many good and many bad; however, all have taught me important lessons on the English language. From my early life all the way through high school, the wide variety of educators I have encountered has allowed for me to adapt my writing style to any work I may receive. I could not even consider myself to be a decent writer, were it not for the lessons taught to me by my teachers.
The first pivotal moment in my writing career was a hard lesson my mother taught me. My mother has been a constant influence on my writing ability. She is one of the most skilled writers I have met, proficient enough that throughout college, her professors constantly accused her of plagiarism. I have inherited a similar learning style to my mother’s, I am very good at picking through advice I am given to figure what is important, and what will not help. Having similarities in our understandings allowed for my mother to be a very beneficial resource for the development of my writing. I have always been able to understand the ways she describes writing better than any teacher I have had. She has always been able to reinforce the lessons I learn in school, and any time I did not understand my schoolwork, she was able to clarify it. During my early life, I had a difficult time mastering my handwriting, in the fourth grade my mother took action to improve it. Every night I was made to sit and rewrite my homework until it was legible enough to read. This may have seemed small to her, but it still resonates with me to this day. Good work requires hard work and patience, it is the only way to create a product you are satisfied with, this is the lesson I learned from my mother.
As I progressed through the years, I eventually encountered an English teacher who taught me to loath the subject. My seventh grade class was taught by Mrs. Abramson, a very nice woman with very flawed teaching methods. Her class focused on the interpretation of texts, and general grammar usage. When I studied Lord of the Flies with Mrs. Abramson, her methods of teaching resulted in finishing the novel taking a miserable three months. Our class would read very small sections of the book and spend the days after it completely over analyzing the text to a point where it lost all meaning. When reading and analyzing any text, I believe one should be able to find some amount of enjoyment in any assignment they are given. Mrs. Abramson’s class made this very difficult for all students to do. Mrs. Abramson taught me that every person has a unique way of learning, and not all teachers are compatible with all students. Mrs. Abramson’s approach to teaching created a negativity towards English in me that would not be reversed for years. Thankfully, as a sophomore in high school, I signed up for my schools “Early College Program.”
The Early College Program allows for students to take courses that count for high school and college credits through Northern Essex Community College without needing to leave the high school. My English class was taught by Ms. April Rivers, one of the very few teachers I have encountered that could capture my full attention. Ms. Rivers seamlessly incorporated history into her lessons, explaining its influences on Authors and their work and how those works inversely affected society. In addition to Ms. Rivers, Northern Essex sent various professors to teach other core and exploratory courses. These professors worked side by side with Ms. Rivers, creating detailed syllabi that coincided with each others to tie all of the subjects in together. This allow for a greater understanding of the effect each subject has on one another, creating an extremely solid curriculum. Ms. Rivers was able to make learning enjoyable, and created an extremely comfortable environment in her classroom, while still advancing my writing skills more than any teacher had before her. I took English with Ms. Rivers for two years in high school, and I can confidently label them the most productive of my life. She taught me the most important lesson maybe in my whole life, that no matter how much you think you hate something, there is a way to find good within it. I would not be the writer I am today had it not been for what I learned from these educators.
