Hello again.
My elementary school was quite mental, to be frank. The teachers were driven not by standards or teaching, by more so by humor. Therefore, I did not learn proper grammar, reading skills, or basic knowledge. I am not going to call my school out, but it is important to know that not a lot of rich children went there. I specifically remember my third grade teacher receiving a teacher of the year award, when he did not deserve it. My mother would complain, but only to my father, and not to the school.
Then we moved.
We moved to a upper-middle class suburb where the school systems cared. When the school system had parents baring their teeth, and their wallets. This was my sixth year of school, and it completely spun me around. I went from learning nothing, to being over my head with knowledge I should have already obtained. I was left behind, trailing. I became an outsider.
Catching up
I spent a good portion of my nights learning semantics, syntax, vocab, and any other worthy subject that the other students already had a grasp on. With the help of a few good teachers, upper-middle class teachers, I was able to have an outline of the content of the other students.
I dont remember middle school, as I have a poor memory and perhaps I am repressing it, so I am jumping into Columbine High School.
C-bine
At Columbine, I had two teachers who changed learning, writing, and reading for me. They would say things that conventional teachers would not even dare to approach. it was beautiful. We had learned the rules, and now we were breaking them. I felt dangerous, I felt alive. I was given a redeeming chance in these classes to become a writer, and that is what happened. I fell in love with language. I found myself craving words.
College
The power of knowledge is the beauty I see in the world. A teacher can provide that beauty and at CSU, one did. Dan Beachy Quick taught me how to enter words, how to enter my own mind, and how to swim in poetry. Now I can look at language and see. I can see past words and into the power behind the words.
Thanks
I wish to thank those few teachers who have led me to challenge myself and conventional language.
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3 comments:
Luke, it sounds almost like you moved from a focus on basic grammar and mechanics to a focus on words as you moved through school. Is that true? Looking back on your experiences as an English students, what do you want to do as an English teacher to help your students become "insiders" as readers and writers? Any ideas how your schooling will affect your teaching?
I really enjoyed reading this. I found it interesting how far you came from being an 'oustider' to the world of english, to completely loving it. It goes to show what a few years and a few good teachers can accomplish.
I think an idea for your synthesis paper that could relate to your own experiences it the idea of how do/or can teachers help those students who do feel like outsiders. How do teachers play 'catch up' with the students who need it. An idea like that you could defnitely expand on in relation to home life, culture, what kind of school they went to etc. good luck!
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