anit Azatkman oglsh 133 Peters, Jason J September 28, 2017 My parents are not fom America, anyone coud tell ust based off my name. However, 1am from America, but learning English from my parents was extremely rough. For starters, when | stated going to school, I could not speak English the way everyone else spoke it Infact, fora Jong time I had an accent of my own that was a mixture between Salvadoran and [sacl since that is where my parents are from. [used to blame them forall the torment I got in elementary school because of my accent. Now, | am so grateful I grew up speaking Hebrew and Spanish because it expands my ability to communicate with the world, While in elementary school, my Agustina Mogetia teachers started noticing that my English was not atthe normal level. They separated a small ceomeeee In what ways? do you rave an sroup of students, like me, and taught us how to read ina different way than the rest. It got tothe ‘example in your if that shows bis? point where my school dhought I had a learning disability and sent me to a professional to get an Azarkman checked out. Tums out, I did not have a learning disability, Iwas just having a hard time anole understanding the material because of the language barrier. lant Azarkman | went on to middle school, still not having a full rasp ofthe English language. My ened vocabulary was weak, [never learned those writing rules, and I only had a taste of what was to ‘come in mile school. In seventh grade, my English teacher told me I was a horrible writer. He never explained what made me a horrible write, so I was left to discover writing on my on. I tried so hard to impress my English teacher yet never succeeded, At this point, no one taught mecould not understand what they wanted me todo, My teachers kep eling me to write in MLA format and integrate my quotes better but I had no idea what they meant by that. They expected ‘me to just know the terminology when Ihad no prior knowledge of writing. I got poor grades in all my English clases during middle school, which made it harder to get into the high School I ‘wanted to goto. Luckily, I dd get into one of the high schools that I really wanted to goto. Iwas determined to turn anew leaf and learn exactly what it meant to be a “good writer.” My freshman year was pretty rough. Ihad an English teacher thet did not really care about writing. Inmy English class, we mostly focused on literature and analyzing te reading. We read the (Odyssey and feared about epie poems, We spent mos ofthe year reading books like the Odyssey. Anytime we had an essay assigned, it would be a creative writing assignment, It never really taught me those fundamentals of writing that ll my other teachers had referred to. I got 8 plimpse of what creative writing is. It was nice to have a teacher who did note ize my writing ‘every single time I turned something in. I ended up getting an A in English forthe first time. | then went on to sophomore year where [had an English teacher, Mr. Salamon, who was very strict on the Fundamentals of writing, yet also appreciated the creative side. He taught me ‘what it meant to be a good writer. Although I am far from the point of being a good writer, he exposed me to a new style of writing that was $0 unfamiliar to me. Mr. Salamon was the first teacher I had that actually took their time teaching me something that other teachers thought was ‘common sense. He walked me through the rules of writing one step at atime. He watched me {grow as a writer throughout the year, to the point where he thought I was ready for AP English. ‘Agustina Mogetia 644 PM Sep 28 this sounds too repetitive, maybe ‘combine tint ust one sentence anit Azarkman Marke as resolved Nani Azarman Reopened ‘Agustina Mogetia maybe say that he focused on arate spec ofthe engish dass (ka tesding an oral) lant Azarkman Marke 2s resaved Nant Azarkman Reopened ‘4x Acuna Moga‘This isthe first ime in my life someone acknowledged me asa good writer. I never saw myself ‘coming to this point, Iwas shocked when he told me I would be moving up to AP English. | went onto junior year: the year I would bein AP English. 1 was so nervous because 1 id not trust myself as a writer yt. I went in with an open mind, hoping that this teacher would appreciate me as much as my previous teacher. However, that was not the cas. L wrote my fist ‘essay for my teacher and he totally shut me down. He told me that it “surprisingly managed to ‘get a B.” I thought | had come so far and he just completely erushed my confidence. I was s0 ‘confused because I managed to impress my teachers forthe past three years and suddenly I was, ‘back to square one. Every essay I wrote afer that was stil ot good enough for him I ried so ‘hard forthe next three weeks, and still he did not like my writing style. went to Mr. Salamon ‘and told him how much I hated AP English. Iwas unable to show my AP teacher any part of my ‘reative side without being criticized. Mr. Salamon told me to wait it out litle longer, but I ‘could not doit anymore. I decided to drop AP English and go down to Honors English. My Honors English teacher, Mr. Garcia, appreciated creativity In fact, Mr. Garcia applauded ‘reativity. fell in love with this class and I was so happy I found an English class where I fit. He taught us about Jack Kerouac, the beat generation, Truman Capote and all these writers ‘began to fallin love with, I had the best time in that English class and felt ready forthe next year ‘My teachers decided that I had to take AP English my senior year | went onto senior year and was excited to find out my AP English teacher would be Mr. Salamon. 1 was so ecstatic because I had a teacher who was therefor me throughout my entire Journey. He watched me grow throughout high school and I knew that I would be able to give ‘him what he wanted. Mr. Salamon was extremely proud ofthe writing I turned in, He made me ‘Re-openea ‘Agustina Mogeta ‘maybe just say "your hopes got shut ‘own kina sounds ie youre blaming the teacher anit Azarkman AZAPMSep 30 Marked as resolved [tain Reopened ‘Agustina Mogeta rephrase with "the level of weting in [AP engin sounds lke your baiming the teacher again. | would focus on your development as a witor rather ‘ren ope evertateeing ovrds ths each Marto resco ant Azan Reopened{feel like I had nothing to be ashamed of. I felt accomplished when T graduated and cried when T said goodbye to Mr. Salamon, He was the one who my paved the road to writing, ood these were your iteracy Sponsors Nant Azarkman 424M Sep30, Marked a8 resolved lant Azarkman 10084 AM Toy Reopened