Indie Edmundson

05-21-19

Mrs. Trelease

P2

At first I had no interest in English whatsoever. I always thought I was someone who can

never write something creative or something that expresses me. Ever since I took my English

1010 and 2010 classes I have discovered new ways of writing. No longer was I having to write

based on a rubric, but I got express my own ways in my writing. I never had such an opening

experience with writing until this year, and I think this really changed how I saw English. I

started off as someone who typed with two fingers, to now being able to sit in one spot and type

a whole essay. My favorite thing about this year in English is that I have a teacher that doesn’t

grade me based on how she thinks I should write, but how I can use my own creativity to write.

English used to be my worst subject, throughout middle school it was the only class I could not

get an A in. I was never understood by most English teachers because for younger people it is

supposed to be easier to be creative, but for me when I sit in front of a blank screen my mind

goes blank. Ever since this class I’ve been able to look at the screen and imagine what the words

are going to be on it, and I am able to make a coherent thought throughout my writing. I am

going to show my growth from previous writing I have done starting with my Freshman year.

My freshman year all I cared about was my boyfriend. I didn’t care about school I didn’t

care about my writing, but I did keep my grades up by vomiting on a page. Being 14 in high

school really made a difference in how I saw things. I’ve always been the youngest one in my
grade, but I’ve always been the most intelligent in my grade. Although I may be one of the top of

my class, I still struggled with being able to express myself through my words. I am really well

at speaking, and that started my freshman year which really sparked how I saw English. Middle

school I hated it, but freshman year is when I really got introduced into literature that was on my

intellectual level. I had Ms. Arakelian for freshman year and she was really hard on me, and

that’s why I never wanted to open up in my writing because she always judged it so harshly.

During my freshman year we read the book Animal Farm. Back then I was not into

literature as much as I am now and I didn’t see how Animal Farm was really a reflection of

politics in the United States. My Animal Farm

essay(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TM3davpKcfyH7_uVp19iExj58IKCjgu-

Hg8epzYjKfI/edit), really sucked because as I read through it, I realized I had over 20 spelling

mistakes and didn’t even try to fix them. I allowed myself to turn in the work that was not

worthy of a grade. Honestly, I feel kind of embarrassed about how I wrote back then because I

really thought I was good. One thing I have fixed since then was my grammar and always using

spell check. One thing about a good essay, is you really need to know what you’re talking about.

Back then I didn’t read one page of any book they gave me, I would go on the spark notes and

read the summary and somehow still get an A in the class. I have evolved from my freshman year

so much more than I thought I did.

My sophomore year was an absolute train wreck. I had no focus on school and I received

my first C that year. It was a really dark time for me and I had no focus on school, which usually

I am all in for school. My English teacher Mrs. Mooseman, was horrible. All she judged off of

was Engfish and if you did not fit those certain parameters she would not have any leniency on
you. She is the perfect description of the evil English teacher. Every single comment she wrote in

my essays was contradicting my creativity. She believed that my way of seeing things was not

the right way and that my point of view was invalid.

My sophomore year I was really big on privacy, mainly because of everything I was

going through. So I wrote an essay about invasion of

privacy(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zhz-WdfZMMy5zu-

YM3R20J14UyQV255NfH08bR_yUE0/edit). This essay, I feel like I repeated myself a lot and I

couldn’t really get a set point or theme across because I was so emotionally involved with this

piece. Invasion of privacy is one of my biggest pet peeves and in this essay I was really bad at

expressing both sides. I have evolved from this because I have had more experience in

arguments, Socratic seminars and debates to really give me a full perspective of how not to be

biased. Being bias is one of the biggest things that can ruin an essay, and I know this because at

the beginning of this semester I was very biased towards animal experimentation. Since then I

have allowed myself to see both sides and give myself a bigger perspective. Having a wider

perspective really enhances your writing because as people can see both sides, you’re allowing

them to see that you know everything about the topic before choosing a side. The more open you

are to the other side the more people will listen to you.

Junior year was really when I started to find my flow. Mrs. Mckay was my 11th grade

honors English teacher and she was the first teacher that allowed us to use creativity in our

writing. She was kind, she actually cared about us, and she never judged you for how you saw

things. Being in her class really allowed me to have more self-confidence in my writing. My

writing was still not good, but I was growing compared to how I was my freshman and
sophomore year. My junior year is when I learned how to type and not use just two fingers and

not sit in front of a screen with a brain fart.

My junior year I was in an AP European history class, and we would have to practice

DBQ’s(https://docs.google.com/document/d/15ACW4jyo_K4bmFdVWorq4-

DEiEhVMI5Hgt3LTQ8t9H4/edit). A DBQ is a type of essay that is timed for the AP test. For me

this is really hard because having a certain time limit really causes me stress, and usually I don’t

write as well. But the experience the DBQ gave me was how to work best under pressure. The

DBQ’s helped me read faster, write faster and comprehend faster. This was for history not for an

English class, but this was a big steppingstone and helping me in my writing process. Even

though this isn’t an English project I mentioned Mrs. Mckay earlier because she is the one who

help me be able to do this under pressure. She was always really supportive when I asked for

help, and having the DBQ’s and Mrs. Mckay really was a big, progressive step for me.

Finally, we are to my senior year. My senior year has been the best experience I’ve ever

had in school. Mr. Trelease is the most caring and generous person I’ve ever met. She genuinely

cares about our well-being and our education and she allows us to learn in an environment that’s

healthy for us. If it wasn’t for her I would not be the writer that I am today, and I am thankful for

all that she’s done for my writing. My creativity hit a new level in her class and it being a college

class makes it more challenging, but she was always there every step of the way. Writing as is,

has always been really hard for me, and most the time I have to speak into my phone when I’m

typing an essay. But since this class and my senior year I’ve learned how to type out an essay

starting with a blank screen without speaking into my phone.

The best essay I’ve ever written wasn’t even for an English class. Yes I talk about how
amazing my English teacher is this year, and yes she has shaped me into the writer I am now, but

the best essay I’ve ever written was for my history class. This was the #METOO movement

essay(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hB8G20fOJCyd7cahUixjMMLSb3met_2Hyx8QHb

Hisas/edit) and I have never been more passionate about an essay until this one. This movement

was a really big thing for me because in my past I’ve had a lot of bad things happening in the

sexual-harassment department. The reason why I believe this is my best essay is because I have

never gotten 100% on an essay until this one. He even took my essay and shared it with the

whole class as an example of how their essay should be. I have never been more proud of an

essay until this and it took me 5 1/2 weeks to perfect this one. I really progressed from ninth

grade up until now because in this essay i formed coherent thoughts, themes, perfect grammar,

footnotes, and anything else that will make a perfect essay is what I did for this one.

In conclusion I started off as a pretty sucky writer, but now that I am taking the time to

look back through my writing I realize that from all those mistakes, I’ve made progress. I know

how to use grammar, I know how to use my creativity, and I know how to not bind myself

behind writers block. I used to hate English, but now that I’ve taken the time to really look

through my writing and appreciate how much I’ve grown, I’d love to write more. From really

going through and appreciating what I have created with my own mind, I really do think I have

the potential to be a writer. I’ve never had such a life opening experience until this essay, and I

think this might be my new favorite.