English classes have always been a bit of a struggle for me for a variety of reasons. The biggest issues has always been ADHD (never been diagnosed but there are days when I'm convinced I have it). I'll start something whether it's a paper, book, short story, song, or even poem and then part way through I'll get distracted or bored and move on to something else no matter how stoked I was in the beginning. Then there's the inevitable writers block which leads to getting distracted or bored.
Way back in high school I had a pink (don't judge) note book that I started writing in. At first it was just short, one or two sentences about how I was feeling at the time. After a while it looked and read a lot like poetry so I started writing more poetry. I might still have that note book somewhere. Anyways, as a junior in high school I took an English class from a great teacher who gave you extra points on the first day of class if you could spell his last name correctly, it was some crazy Russian name with ridiculous spelling. He turned out to be one of my favorite teachers mostly because he was very sarcastic. I learned a bit about responding in a logical, because high schoolers are definitely not logical, manner to questionable situations. As a senior I took a creative writing class which focused mostly on the many different styles of poetry which I enjoyed and was able to really improve some things that were in that note book of mine.
At UVU I took English 1010 but I ended up not passing due to a personal error of not keeping my stuff in my room and a roommate throwing away a bunch of my stuff that he thought was trash. Gotta love roommates. I liked the class but it was a little odd having a professor only a couple years older than I.
After writing all this I think the person that had the greatest impact on my writing was my middle school English teacher Mr. Alred. He has written a few books that were more just funny and ridiculous than anything. He showed me that writing could be fun and that it was ok to be sarcastic and ridiculous sometimes in writing. In writing you can really express who you are and sometimes a lot better than talking. You can take your time to find the right words or expressions to convey what you're thinking.
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Of the teachers that I have had, some of my favorites have been the sarcastic ones! I guess maybe it is because I feel I can grasp the information when I can relate to the person teaching it! I can also relate to the wonders of the roommate situation, they can be pretty ridiculous sometimes!
ReplyDeleteHey congratulations on having to repeat English 1010. You are a brave soul, I do not think I could could repeat it. I hope you do not misplace your blog, I would be sad if you lost the internet! Isn't it funny how certain teachers stick in our minds all of these years later. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteLuckily digital stuff can't be thrown away...unless you speak out against the government...then anything can disappear.
ReplyDeleteHAHA! So True! I'll have to be careful about that...
DeleteMy first attempt at English 1010 was at BYU-Idaho eight years ago. I would have done well in that class, but I let myself get behind and had to drop it. My teacher was very pragmatic and went against many of the conventions of what I considered of a "proper" English teacher.
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ReplyDeleteI can relate to you as I too have Adult ADD, I can watch an entire movie and not know what the movie was about when the credits hit. My hardest feat to overcome when it applies to writing is that because my brain is all over the place and random thoughts appear at random times; my papers can seem all over the place. I will start a thought at the top and finish it in the middle. Good luck the second time around!
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