Lillie McCarter

ENG 111

Professor Williams

3 October 2023

My Experience With Education

“She reads books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live” (Annie Dillard, The

Living). This quote is on a bookmark that I still have to this day. When I was younger, it pretty

much described my life. At any given moment, you could probably find me with a book.

Reading was one of my favorite things in the whole world. School, on the other hand, not so

much. I’ve always done well in my classes, but I’ve never really been passionate about it, which

led me to mastering the art of procrastination. It’s funny to think about, really. I’ve always cared

so much about school and being smart, putting pressure on myself to do well, but for just as long,

I’ve procrastinated. There have been many people and moments in my life that have shaped me

into the person and student that I am today.

The first person that I can trace my love of reading back to is my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs.

Smith. She was one of the most wonderful teachers that I have ever had. Even though, in

elementary school, teachers weren’t assigned to individual subjects, you could tell what Mrs.

Smith was most passionate about, and that was English. She read aloud “A Series of Unfortunate

Events” by Lemony Snicket, to us, every day, in class. I had liked reading before, but my true

love for reading began in that 3rd grade classroom. Mrs. Smith was serious about reading. She

was stern, but so kind. Some of my fondest memories of school came from that year. Even

though it was not a great year with my friendships, it was one of my best years academically, and

I attribute that to Mrs. Smith.

 A moment from 3rd grade that I think was pretty defining for me, was my 3rd grade class

spelling bee. Every class had their own individual spelling bee, and the top two students from

each class made it to the 3rd grade spelling bee, and the winner from there, went on to the school

spelling bee. At that time, I thought of myself as very smart and I really wanted to win. My class

started our spelling bee and when I got 2nd place, I was over the moon. However, we didn’t

follow all of the rules correctly, so we had to start from the beginning, and this time, I lost. I was

completely devastated, and I was so hard on myself. It was a very disappointing moment, and I

had a sense of failure which I had never felt before. In retrospect, I was 8 years old! There was

no way that I should have put so much pressure on myself at such a young age. My desire to be

the best continued on for years, and to be honest, I still want people to think of me as smart. It

has been a problem in my past friendships and is something that I’m working on.

Another problem that I still struggle with is procrastination. 4th grade is the farthest that I

can trace back my issue. The assignment that I first remember procrastinating on was a project

for my math class. We were learning about area, and perimeter, and each student had to create

their own town. It seemed fairly simple, and I was actually pretty excited to complete it. I had

this great idea to make a town that was candy themed that had buildings with names such as,

“Laffy Taffy Library.” However, the desire to do other things overcame me, and I put the

assignment off until last minute, rushing to get it done. I finished the assignment in time, and I

even got an A on it, but that night was only the first of many nights spent scrambling to get an

assignment done in time.

The summer before 7th grade was the beginning of my decline in reading. I had just

finished the Harry Potter series, and I loved it, but, since I had been reading the series for

months, I didn’t know what to do when I finished. I had never had a reading slump like this
before. I wanted to read, but I only wanted to read Harry Potter. I had become so enthralled in the

books that no other book interested me. For a long time, I didn’t read very often, due to this, and

once I got out of the habit, I struggled getting back into it. My reading habits are definitely not

where I want them to be, but I eventually got my love for reading back.

My procrastination problem, on the other hand, only got worse with the rise of Covid-19.

Being quarantined and having to do work from home, left me without the structure that I needed

to get assignments done on time. I got distracted by other things, and became lazy. I didn’t want

to do my school work. I wanted to watch tv, text my friends, and hang out with my family. My

education was put on the back burner and it caused my grades to slip. That year, I got my first B,

and it was entirely my fault. I didn’t know what to do. Laziness had overcome me, but I still

cared about my grades. I felt stuck, but I was doing nothing to move out of the quicksand that I

was sinking deeper and deeper into. Thankfully, I came back to school in my freshman year and I

started to do much better. I still procrastinated and I still do, but it got a lot better.

In 10th grade, I had a wonderful English teacher named Ms. Chase. She was an amazing

teacher, pushing each and every one of her students to do their best. Her class could be extremely

challenging and frustrating, which was new to me. I had always thought of English as my best

class, but it no longer felt like it. However, Ms. Chase was encouraging and let us all do

revisions, which made the class a little better. My greatest take away from her class was the

books that I read. They were books that I probably would have never read on my own, but that I

absolutely loved. At that time, the typical books that I loved, like romance novels, weren’t

interesting to me. She introduced me to books that were different, and it broadened my interests

greatly. I am so thankful for that class and those books.

 My education history has been many things, rewarding, confusing, frustrating, and so

much more. I can see how much I’ve changed as a person over the course of the past 11 years of

my life, in school alone. I still love reading and I still do well in school, but I still procrastinate. I

have had many different experiences, but through it all, I want to do my best and I care about my

education. I am grateful for the education I’ve had and the teachers who have been there along

the way.