When I signed up for this class back in my sophomore year, I was really excited. I know that most of the other sophomores joining were scared and apprehensive, but I wasn’t; I was glad that I was finally going to be in an English class that was centered around writing rather than supposedly good literature and books filled with profanity and bad endings. I was finally entering a class that would challenge me as a writer, and I was looking forward to having a whole bunch of fun.
Then I stepped into the classroom on the first day of school. I almost lost it right there, but not because of the work load that you threatened to dump on all of us, but because I was surrounded by unknown seniors and juniors and a teacher who looked like he was going to bite my head off if I looked at him funny.
In my opinion, I did a really good job at becoming more comfortable with people. See, I wasn’t only coming in with the goal of improving my writing, which I thought needed much improvement, but to grow as a person. I’ve never been a very trusting person and while I make numerous acquaintances, I hardly ever make genuine heart-to-heart friends that I could rely on for anything. I started my junior year off with the goal to make more good friends, and to get more involved with the people around me, after all, I would graduate with these people, and I did; I made some great friends. Lacey Collins, who actually hated me when we first met, is now one of the best friends that I have ever had in my entire life, all because of college writing (as well as some other outside things, such as a whole butt-load of drama...) Shelbi Cox, who I thought was a really stuck-up person, is actually really nice and personable. Jimmy, who I was insanely jealous of as soon as we started writing for the class, is really funny and easy to get along with. The seniors actually accepted me as a junior, and a couple even thought that I should have been a senior, which I take as a compliment. I felt exuberant.
My writing 121 papers, in my opinion, sucked, but you apparently thought that they were really well written and that I was talented. I appreciate that you edited my papers meticulously, finding even the littlest thing wrong. Most of the people who peer-edited me gave me next to nothing to work with in terms of corrections; most of the editing was done on my own, while the later drafts were your alterations.
My writing improved through writing 121, but when I got to writing 122, my work came to a virtual stand-still due to a horrendous case of writers block. I had never experienced it before, and I can honestly say that it was terrifying, not being able to write the way I used to be able to, at a moment’s notice. All of my 121 essays were written the night before, and not solely because of procrastination, but because I found that I could never think up a great topic unless I was pressed for time. Writing 122 was challenge for me though in that aspect, because there is no way you can start the night before and write an amazing research paper in a couple hours. As a result, I was way behind on turning my papers in before the deadlines.
A week and a half before the final due date for the seniors, I kicked into action. I researched like crazy, digging into things that I previously had known nothing about. Surprisingly, my topic on the gun controversy was really interesting. I’m really naïve when it comes to conflict and controversies in the outside world, so I couldn’t really think of a topic that I was passionate about, besides that public school system, which Lacey had already taken as her topic. I had chosen it because my dad was a big pro-gun man and always ready to defend his side. I figured that he could help me understand my topic more then. After I started my own research though, I got so into it that I didn’t rely on my dad as much as I thought that I would.
I’m really thankful that I was able to take this class and work towards becoming a better writer. I feel as though I became a better editor too, through the peer edit groups, even though several people told me repeatedly that I was the world’s best editor. I’m glad that I was able to help people with their writing while you helped me with mine.
Currently, I am writing two novels and two autobiographies and I am finished with the manuscript for one novel already. I hope to be able to publish them soon, and I am going to put your name on my list of acknowledgments, because I wish to acknowledge you and your work in bettering me as a writer, as well as a person (you really helped me with my patience, because I had to wait nearly an hour to talk to you every time that I needed help). I enjoyed your little rants and lectures during class as well. You weren’t here all that much during the school year, so there wasn’t as much one on one time as you had promised, but you still edited, and the edits on my papers, when I finally got them back, were especially helpful.
Thank you for everything this year Mr. Uecker!
Jaecyn Boné
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