My Writing Process

In my previous grades, my teachers always focused on grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary words, but they never once taught the students how to write an essay. School was difficult for me because of this. One teacher specifically, Mrs. White, helped me learn everything I know about writing essays in my seventh grade year of junior high school. After having her class, I feel significantly more confident about writing and I have her to thank for that. Being in the seventh grade and not knowing how to write was a big deal for me, I was embarrassed. The junior high school I attended required all students to take the Indiana StatewideTesting for Educational Progress-Plus, in order to graduate high school. The ISTEP consisted of both Math, English

It was a new stepping ground for me, learning all this new material. It was a great feeling. Mrs. White began her lessons at a slow pace, since the majority of her students were unable to write. She felt that the school’s standards wouldn’t be beneficial for us, writing an essay was a more important issue to focus on. That being said she taught us what she believed was beneficial to us in the future. She started with the basics. Such as, what is an essay? Before Mrs. White taught us about an essay, I never knew that it had to have so much structure. But as she taught her class, I learned that without the structure it wasn’t an essay, just a rambling story. That whole semester she went through the essentials of an essay. I had never managed to retain so much material in such a short amount of time, until

The fear that I wouldn’t be able to know where to begin or start the prompt off took over, but I did it. The prompt was in my favor, it asked “If you could be anywhere in the world where would you go, and who would you take with you, and why?” I knew exactly where to begin. I just kept in mind all the techniques and ways of writing Mrs. White had taught us. I flew right through my essay; I was able to finish before the time was up, which was the first time that has ever happened to me. It flowed; there was a deeper meaning behind it. It was my first well thought out essay, not just a rambling story; it had real structure to it. I was awestruck that I actually was able to, for the first time, write a decent essay, and know where to begin. I knew even if I didn’t pass, it was an essay I could be proud