When I was in eighth grade I moved to a new school and school district. I was already an extremely shy child so moving to a new school only made it that much worse. I remember hating my eighth grade ELAR teacher. I know hate is a strong word but it definitely comes to mind when I think of her. I felt from the moment I walked in the room that she was out to get me. I have no clue why this would be, I had no family members that went to that school for her to judge me off of, I was a well behaved student who didn't speak in class unless she asked us to and I had all my work turned in on time. She did not attempt to get to know her students at all (we definitely were not a community) and she hated my writing. I remember having an assignment posted on the wall where anyone who wanted to could look at it. On the back she wrote " you had no heart when writing this". It was an opinion piece, she did not conference with me about the piece, and didn't even talk to me about it after it was finished. My opinion was not hers and she scored me low because of it. Another essay she basically wrote that I would not do well in college because of how I wrote, that's funny because so in college I have received an A on every paper I've submitted. Another assignment we had to pick a topic out of a hat. I pulled out same topic that my "heartless" piece was on, she started laughing and told me to pick again so I could get something I would do better on (yes she did this in front of the entire class).
Jump ahead to my junior and senior year of high school. This teacher was all about preparing us for our next steps in life. We had assignments to write college entrance essays, resumes, and applications. When receiving grades she would give us a wide variety of ways to achieve a decent grade. We had our normal quizzes and tests but we also had projects and presentations where we were able to show our creativity and demonstrate what the text meant to us. I remember one assignment in particular. I completed it and I was not 100% happy with what I saw. So before turning it in, I redid the entire project and was happy to do so because I enjoyed doing it and wanted to present my best to this teacher. She ended up asking to keep my project to show to classes in the future because she was proud of the work I had done.
I don't remember what year each book was assigned but I remember reading Great Expectations, Ender's Game, Fahrenheit 451 and Nineteen Eighty- Four. What's funny is all of these books where on the summer reading list. I barely remember the books that were read in class but I remember these. I had a hard time picking up the books and actually reading. Great Expectations was especially hard to get into but I know I actually ended up enjoying every one of these books.
I am glad to have had both of these teachers. It allows me to see the importance of a great role model and how much a classroom community can mean to a student. I wanted to please my high school teacher and took pride in my work while in eighth grade I started to question why I should put in any effort at all if it wasn't going to change anything and I would receive a poor grade anyways. I know my students will live up to my expectations so I keep the bar high. I let them know what is expected and do not lower that standard however, my students know they can come to me if they ever need anything. I also try to give students many opportunities to show me what they are capable of. I have seen many different talents shine by allowing them to express themselves on avenues other than paper and pencil.
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