Running head: Reflection Essay One

Reflection Essay One:

Sarah M Grissom
Florida State University

REFLECTION ESSAY ONE

I got hooked on reading in first grade, and ever since then, Ive been doing it
voraciously. I believe that writing follows reading as an almost natural response; thus,
Ive been a writer for almost as long as well. While in elementary school and middle
school my writing experiences were limited mostly to five paragraph essays and failed
attempts at writing fantasy novels, by the time high school rolled around, I had
progressed to writing poetry in my spare time.
Not only have I been a reader and writer for as long as I can remember, but I have
also been a teacher. I am the older sister of twin girls five years younger than myself.
Around the time they started talking, I started teaching. We played school but it wasnt
just play to me. I took my teaching career very seriously as a ten year old, and taught my
sisters exponents, fractions, grammar and more in our academic studies. Since then Ive
had a variety of teaching experiences, from tutoring my sisters and friends to teaching
four-year-olds at a childcare for a summer job.
These interlocked loves for reading, writing, and teaching made it very easy to
choose a major. As a senior in high school, I browsed Florida State Universitys list of
majors and found love at first sight in English Education.
My background as a writer is the typical story of a reading lover. I read all the
time growing up, so much so that my parents often had to tell me to Put the book down
and come eat dinner! several times each night. After they tucked me into bed, Id hop
out and crawl over to the nightlight, book in hand, and stay up until the wee hours of the
morning enraptured by whatever tale had caught my fancy. Because I so dearly loved
reading, it seems natural to me that I strongly desired to write as well -- and to be good at
it. I loved adventure fiction novels in the line of Swiss Family Robinson, Journey to the

REFLECTION ESSAY ONE

Center of the Earth, and the Chronicles of Narnia. Because I loved these, I assumed I
could write works like them. Unfortunately, as a multitude of attempts proved, that
wasnt my gifting.
However, I wrote many, many essays for school in middle school and high
school, and was somewhat better at that. I generally got higher-than-average grades on
writing assignments, and enjoyed them somewhat. I liked writing for school when I had
more freedom. When I was constrained, which happened more in middle school, by the
set five paragraph format and strict, unimaginative prompts, I didnt enjoy the
assignments quite so much.
As I previously wrote, my writing began to branch out more in high school, and
then college, and I ventured into poetry. I grew to love it, and write often as a way of
expressing my thoughts and feelings in a satisfying way unmatched by other selfexpression. I dont claim to be a particularly good poet, but then, I only do it for my own
enjoyment. I occasionally write short stories as well. These personal writing habits will
be helpful, I hope, as a teacher someday, as I try to foster the love for reading and writing
skills in my students that I have so long held.
Sometimes I am surprised by the extent of my love for reading and writing, given
that I have had far too many teachers who almost seemed to want to kill it. In high school
I had a procession of teachers who reportedly taught only because they needed money
and found it the least distasteful and most available way of obtaining it. One in particular
stands out in my memory- a late-middle aged woman rumored to be bipolar, who lectured
us every day in class about healthful eating, rather than literature, and screamed at us
when we asked questions. This is certainly not the kind of educator I wish to be.

REFLECTION ESSAY ONE

No, I want to be more like my eighth grade English and Literature teacher. She
made us read hard books. High school books -- stuff like Lord of the Flies and Mr. Was.
We read books containing very real and pressing issues, and we were allowed to speak
our mind and draw links between the subject material and current events and society in
general. She was passionate about literature and passionate about writing, and under her
careful tutelage, my classmates and I gained much.
Having such diverse experiences with a wide array of teachers under my belt is a
gift in that I have learned a lot from them that I can apply to my teaching. From the poor
teachers, I learned that students usually need some incentive to write well; that for a
teacher to be treated with respect, students must be taught with a reasonable level of
respect; and that students like writing the most and excel when they are writing on topics
relatable to them in some way or pertinent to real world- not, as happened far too often in
my experience- on dull topics that we, as students, did not care about. From the good
teachers, I learned that it is good to challenge students; that students thrive when they feel
safe to speak up in class; and that students can learn so much from each other, through
purposeful discussion.
With this knowledge shaping and informing my own personal teaching-writing
style, I hope to be the kind of educator that creates a lively, intelligent environment in
which my students can truly learn and grow their writing skills, and have a good time
while doing it.