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Brandon Jeffreys

Professor Jan Rieman

English 1103-001

October 7, 2010

From Good to Horrible and Back Again

I was never really an avid reader or writer. I have always been fascinated with math and

science; however, I used to enjoy writing much more than I do now. I have two memories from

writing that I can still picture in my mind quite vividly. The first was in my elementary school in

3rd grade, and the other was in my first two years of high school. As you will find out later,

teachers can have a huge impact on whether a person enjoys something or hates it.

When I was in third grade I had a teacher named Mrs. Marley. She was new to the

teaching position, having only one year prior experience. My parents were worried that since she

was new that she might not be the greatest teacher in the world. As the year progressed I found

that my parents had her all wrong. She was an excellent teacher and really helped to give me a

good writing foundation. When fall break rolled around she told us that we were going to have to

write a paper on what we did over the break. We should be thinking about the topic as we travel

or relax over the break. My family and I decided to travel up to the New River State Park in

Jefferson N.C. Since it was fall, the leaves were turning and falling off the trees and it was quite

beautiful. Even as a child I can remember how beautiful I thought it was. Whenever I returned to

school I had no trouble writing the paper we were assigned. I was actually the first one done if I

remember correctly. I remember for the paper in particular, I used as many adjectives as I could,

I don’t know why. My teacher, Mrs. Marley, took my paper and started reading it. After a few

minutes she called me over to her desk with a strange look on her face. She asked me if I really

wrote this paper just now and I answered yes. She told me that was one of the best papers she
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had ever read from a child as young as I was. She had a writing workshop to attend in a few days

and decided to use my paper to impress the other teachers. I thought it was just ok, but the way

she reacted really boosted my confidence as a writer. She told me that I could be a professional

writer if I stayed on the path I was headed. I couldn’t believe it.

As the years progressed through elementary and middle school, I always received good

grades on writing assignments. I finally started to believe that what Mrs. Marley had told me

those few years ago might have actually be true. That was until I reached 9th and 10th grade at

Randleman High School. Being the lucky individual that I am, I was placed in Mrs. Cooney’s

Honors English I class. At first the class wasn’t that bad, but as the days progressed I started to

see that this class was going to be difficult. Mrs. Cooney was an older lady and could be pretty

ill- tempered. She had been teaching for so long that her writing level of expectancy was very

high for Honors English. We had quite a few essays to write in the class, and instead of multiple

choice or fill in the blank tests like the other English classes, we had essay tests. The essay tests

had extremely difficult topics. I know that I am not the next Hemmingway, nor do I want to be,

but I know I am a descent writer. Well according to Mrs. Cooney I was a terrible writer. I

received bad grades on every topic I wrote on. I believe I received one A on a paper for her

because it had multiple parts and there was a presentation. Every time I got a paper returned, it

looked like it was blood stained because she had marked it up with her trusty red pen. What

made it worse was the fact that she moved up to honors English II the following year and I was

stuck with her again! It was terrible to say the least and she made me hate to write with a

passion.

A teacher can lead a person to have hatred towards writing. However time and other

teachers can help heal the wounds. I have recovered and I don’t mind writing anymore. Thanks
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to the teachers that I have been fortunate enough to have after the ”Coonster,” as I used to call

Mrs. Cooney, I have some confidence restored in my writing. Writing is very important and

when a person gets discouraged from writing, it’s unfortunate. However, there was a positive

aspect from the whole Mrs. Cooney incident; I believe she made me a more powerful writer in

the area of my grammar usage. I don’t think grammar is the most important part of a paper, but it

is a large factor. The main idea however, is what really matters to me as a writer. Mrs. Cooney

was just a hard one to please.