My Writing Teacher
English writing was always easy for me, but that changed on the first day I walked into Mrs. Johnson’s class. Before that, I’d heard rumors from former students. They said she was strict and her class was hard to pass. So I was very nervous.
The first time we met, Mrs. Johnson told us her class would be difficult, but she would give us new “tools” and guide us through. She explained that her grading system was different, and that we would not see high scores soon. “Everything you do in class matters,” she said. “As writing is an art, it takes a long time to perfect.”
Mrs. Johnson scared me. I was afraid of what she would say if I asked a question. So in class I kept silent most of the time and couldn’t follow her. When I got my first essay back, my grade was terrible. I was annoyed with Mrs. Johnson. I disliked going to her class.
Then I realized I needed to find out what I could do to improve my grade and how to use the “tools” in my writing. As I still didn’t dare to talk to Mrs. Johnson in person, I e-mailed her. In this way, she and I worked together to improve my writing. By and by, I could talk to her both online and in person. She walked me through every step to understand how to write an essay. Together we saw improvement in my work.
From this I discovered that asking for help could actually work. Behind everything Mrs. Johnson was saying, she actually cared about me and where I would be in the future. She knocked me down so that I could climb back stronger.