If I Were A Teacher by Sydney

If I Were A Teacher by Sydney - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

If given the opportunity to reverse the roles and teach any academic subject, I believe that I would choose to teach the subject of English. I am well aware that English is a broad subject, so my main focus is the writing and inquiry aspect. This spark of interest was inspired by my college writing teacher Mrs. Doris Robertson. Her main objective was for all of her students to have an equal opportunity to pass her class even if she had to stretch them to their fullest potential. Her behavior and attitude towards learning and motivating her students was to impact every student she came into contact with. The same legacy she left on my life is the same legacy I would love to leave on others. This leads me to the top three reasons I would teach the first year college writing class. First, writing is critical to becoming a good reader. Second, I personally know how it feels to not be that great of a writer, and I want to help others in a similar situation, Finally, I want future writers to have a better opportunity than I did at mastering writing.

Writing is the gateway to reading. The process is rather simple-to be able to write one must first be able to read. Writing and reading reinforce one another and to become a better writer one must read more. To become a better reader one must write more. Reading is a job skill and is one way to life, but first one must put into action what is read by writing. In my college level writing class, I will have my students read and summarize in writing what they have read. One of the goals of my class is not only to produce a better writer but also enhance the reader. If I can teach both and they take away both, I have done my job.

As I learned quickly that reading is critical to becoming a good writer, I also learned how it felt to not be as great of a writer. Reading has always been my favorite subject, and when I walked into Mrs. Robertson’s class I thought it was going to be easy because I was a good reader. I have always seemed to maintain “A” grades, and I thought I was ready for college writing. Slowly but surely I realized I needed a lot of improvement. While my hopes were shot down, Mrs. Robertson never hesitated to help and give me feedback. I felt just about every paper seemed like I just could not get it right. I started to feel discouraged although we could revise our paper until we received the grade we wanted. I still believed I deserved “A’s” from the beginning. For the whole semester in this class I felt as though I was not a good enough writer, but by the end I received an “A” because of hard work and determination. I vowed to become an English teacher to help others reach their fullest potential because no matter if someone thinks they are a poor writer, they are not.

After boosting up my student’s writing confidence, I will make sure they are given the opportunity to master writing as I had. I believe the opportunity and push Mrs. Robertson gave me was awesome, but I also believe that if I incorporate her style of teaching along with my own style we can strengthen the educational opportunities of students to a greater height. I believe every student should be given an equal opportunity to succeed. By being an English teacher my teachings will be influenced by my own life experience but also be enhanced and passed along to the next generation to a greater degree. I am all about going higher when it comes to education because there is always room for personal growth. I will strive to give the next generation a far greater opportunity than I had through my impact as an English teacher.

If the roles were reversed, teaching college writing has definitely inspired and influenced by my own understanding of my first college English course. I hope one day to really have an effect on the many different students I come into contact with. As an English teacher, I strive to teach my students the critical learning lessons of life, use my own examples to better help my students succeed, and give all writers the chance to be just as influenced by me as I was with my writing teacher. Most importantly, I want to make an impact on my world and strengthen the writing skills of every student I come into contact with. If I were a teacher, I would be an English teacher specializing in first-year college writing.