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Dylan Galan

Professor Tubbs

ENGL-1301-054

18 July 2020

The Teacher Who Shaped Me

Throughout my high-school career I’ve had many teachers who’ve shaped me into the

student and writer I am today. However, there was one teacher who stood out the most and had

an immediate impact on me. Her name was Mrs. Anderson and she was my junior year teacher!

She made me the writer and reader I am today by pushing me outside of my comfort zone while

offering a safe place to make mistakes and learn.

Firstly, to understand how much of an impact Mrs. Anderson had on me; one must

understand that I was just coming off my sophomore year with a “C” in my previous pre-ap

English class. I did not do well in that class because the teacher wasn’t engaged at all with our

class. Most of the time it felt like she was there for a paycheck and not for the love of her

students. It had gotten to the point where I just felt completely discouraged from participating in

her class and it caused me to fall behind. I tried to talk with the teacher when there was free time

but she never seemed to cared and often sent me back to my desk with the same response of, “I

don’t know what else to tell you.”, instead of trying to help me understand where I kept having

trouble. Due to these learning conditions, I had very much fallen out of love from writing and

reading. It felt more like a chore and became un-enjoyable for the rest of the year.

When it came time to register for classes for my Junior year, I was hesitant to pursue

another advanced class because I didn’t want to be miserable for another year of school. I then

stumbled upon a class that was titled, “Writing and Rhetoric”, and was taught by none other than

Mrs. Anderson. Of course, at the time I had no idea who she was, however, the course
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description was intriguing, and it drew me in like a moth to a light. Over the course of the

summer I reached out to some of my friends who’ve had her before as a teacher and everyone

loved her and the class she taught. Hearing these positive reviews made me excited to take her

class because it seemed as if she was the world's most complete teacher!

The first day of Junior year rolls around and I’m heading to my writing class with a head

full of optimistic thoughts and hope and sure enough, I’m met with a super smiley and energetic

presence. She greeted me by name and showed me to my seat and by the time I was done

marveling at her cool room, she began class and introduced herself. The charisma and passion

she had for the subject and for teaching was that of no other teacher I’ve ever had. She laid out

the road map of the class and by the end of her presentation, I was very much eager to begin

work. One cool thing about the class was that every Tuesday, Mrs. Anderson would have us

partake in a ten-minute free write called, “Haikusday”, where we could write about anything and

everything. This helped my writing because it allowed me to practice putting my thoughts to

paper and exercising my creativity. She often would walk around the class during this time and

answer any questions we had about papers that were due or just gave us validation that we

sought and needed. This helped me gain my confidence back as writer because it felt like she

actually cared about seeing me grow and gave me actual criticism that was unique to me and my

style of writing, nothing ever felt generic. One of the best examples of Mrs. Anderson having a

positive influence on my growth as a writer came in the form of a lunch tutoring session. I was

struggling on an essay which had us use all the aspects of Rhetoric, which was a concept that

was new to me, and I started falling behind on my progress. I became very frustrated and angry

at the fact that I had a writing block and couldn’t work past it naturally and I found myself

constantly going to Mrs. Anderson for help and guidance and she always welcomed it with open

arms and a smile on her face. This was like a culture shock to me because during the previous
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year of school I felt like I wasn’t able to have the support that Mrs. A was giving me. She kept

pushing me to keep going and talked with me until I was able to see how to overcome the slump,

I was in. During the whole school year, Mrs. Anderson’s inspiration and confidence in my ability

allowed me to grow and improve my abilities as a writer. Not once did she ever turn me away or

get frustrated with me, and it got me to forget all the bad experiences I’ve had in writing. It was

like she had sparked a new flame in me, and I loved writing for the rest of the year. I passed that

year with a ninety-four percent, which gave me my highest grade in an English class ever, and

what I took away from that year was that; I can overcome anything because I am confident in my

ability as a writer. I am currently a freshman in college now, and I’m still riding that wave of

confidence and I have the amazing Mrs. Anderson to thank for that.

REFLECTION
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The purpose of writing this essay was to highlight the person who turned me into

the writer I am today. I would assume that my professor is my audience and I hope that

this essay shows how much the person I wrote about helped me become the writer I am

today. Writing this was easy because Mrs. A was amazing and I could never forget all the

help she's given me.