Tag: high school

My Best School Teacher

Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

Our best teachers are the ones who push us to our limits. For me, that was Mrs. Wall, 9th grade English.

A summer reading assignment of The Once and Future King by T. H. White. Weekly essays. In-depth dissections of grammatical structure in complex sentences. Reading plays out loud in class. And never, ever letting up on improving our writing skills. It was a hard, hard class for everyone in it. I felt exhausted at the end of every week. Heck, the weekends, too.

And it was the best thing that ever happened to me in school. I had always loved reading, and I was already toying with the idea of becoming a writer, but Mrs. Wall’s class was what made me into a writer. She instilled the modicum of discipline and grit in me that is needed to write a book; to write every day, revise, and take criticism to heart.

I don’t know where she is now, or if she is even still alive, but my thanks to Mrs. Wall and the misery she subjected me to, because her lessons got me through the rest of high school, through college, and are still with me now.

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Many thanks for visiting my blog. I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life.


“Hermes is not having the best time. He walks a fine line, and his duty as messenger of Olympus weighs heavily on him. Being a god in the modern age means living in a world that no longer believes in gods. How much can one deity accomplish when no one respects him anymore? And why do his instincts tell him that he, the son of Zeus, is losing favor with his own family?

Tensions abound. The upstart Young Gods play dangerous games using entire cities as their boards. Formless monsters strike from the nighttime shadows, terrorizing hapless mortals. Agents of rival pantheons scheme to thwart Olympus’ designs. In the thick of it all, Hermes does what he does best: trick, lie, and cheat his way to victory.“

What High School Taught Me About Writing

Describe something you learned in high school.

  1. Topic sentence
    • Supporting sentence one
    • Supporting sentence two
    • Supporting sentence three
  2. Summary sentence
  3. Repeat for four or five paragraphs
  4. Conclusion

That’s how I learned to write essays in high school, and it carried me through college and graduate school.

Writing is hard. Some of you reading this blog or writing your own may have perchance noticed this fact. Writing requires focus, thoughtfulness and the ability to review your work and make changes as needed. What we bloggers post online are things that we want to write about. That’s challenge enough.

But I’m sure you remember what it’s like to write a high school essay (or, perhaps, you are at the age where you are learning firsthand). It’s work. Worse, it’s homework. It’s something to get done before watching TV or playing video games. It’s an obstacle to leisure. And you’re probably writing about something that doesn’t interest you in any way, shape or form whatsoever.

High school taught me how to get through challenging essays by teaching me how to write them. Topic sentences supported by three or four following statements. Reiterating your point regularly. Outlining – oh, yes, the vital importance of outlining and planning ahead.

Organization, organization, organization. That’s what I learned most about writing in high school English class. Keep all your ducks in a row and know what you’re working towards. Making it up as you go isn’t easy. It’s doable, but it’s so much better to have the shape of things already in mind. Writing by the seat of your pants isn’t as romantic or thrilling as you might think. Well, not all the time, anyway. It never hurts to have a plan first.

***

Many thanks for visiting my blog. I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life.

“Hermes is not having the best time. He walks a fine line, and his duty as messenger of Olympus weighs heavily on him. Being a god in the modern age means living in a world that no longer believes in gods. How much can one deity accomplish when no one respects him anymore? And why do his instincts tell him that he, the son of Zeus, is losing favor with his own family?

Tensions abound. The upstart Young Gods play dangerous games using entire cities as their boards. Formless monsters strike from the nighttime shadows, terrorizing hapless mortals. Agents of rival pantheons scheme to thwart Olympus’ designs. In the thick of it all, Hermes does what he does best: trick, lie, and cheat his way to victory.“