Since the 4th grade, I have always dreaded english class. To me, English was a stuffed shirt. As a result, I could hardly pay attention nor understand what was going on, making it a subject I struggled 99.99% of the time.
During my eighth grade year, my english teacher, Mrs. AJ, assigned the class an essay where we had to write a simple but creative story. Immediately, I was already freaking out because writing essays was always a challenge since I could never write with substance nor write a solid essay. Nonetheless, I got started on it. Throughout the course of the week, I would consistently run to Mrs. AJ and ask for feedback. Each time, her criticism would be that my essay was too formal and needed to be more of a story. I did not know what that meant, and I had no clue how to do that. Regardless, I pushed myself to keep trying; however, no matter what I did, my essay would turn out the same lackluster essay I had written previously. At this point, I was extremely infuriated and so I turned to Mrs. Poquis, another English, for help.
Mrs. Poquis had a solid reputation for making students became a better writer, so I figured it was worth a shot to ask her for help. She was happy to read my essay and, after having read what I wrote, she started off by telling me what I did well. This approach gave me a little sense of confidence since I was finally recognized for doing something right since I was persistently told that my essay wasn’t good enough. With me being more comfortable around her, she began to give me constructive criticism on areas of my essay that needed work. Mrs. Poquis was an extremely passionate teacher who was able to make sense of what she was trying to explain to me. Unlike any English teacher I had in the past, Mrs. Poquis made the material that I was learning exciting which was able to grab my attention. Each afternoon, after editing my essay, I would remain in the library and do more to try to improve my essay writing skills.
Thanks to Mrs. Poquis, I was able to gain a sense of motivation to want to learn more about writing skills and techniques. Since then, I became tutor for young students who need guidance in writing essays. Additionally, I got involved with Hawk Writing Center, which is an organization that helps High School students write strong essays.What used to be my weakest subject ended up becoming a strength of mine and a class I’ve gained so much passion for.
