December Twelve, Two-thousand Twenty-three

Dear Professor Williams

I chose to revise my Educational Journey because this writing tells my story of who I am
because of Education. This essay talks about my educational journey through covid and through
hard times. It talks about the teachers who have led me on the right path and have done the
most to help me. This is one of my favorite writings because I think it truly explains how
education has gotten me to where I am today.
My writing before this class had a lot of flaws. I am not saying I am a perfect writer now; I still
have a lot to grow but my writing before this class was terrible. My sentences didn’t flow as
well, and I would write in a basic manner. It would be like a monotone voice talking. You
wouldn’t really feel what I was saying or really understand it. I feel like I have grown in a way
that my writing gives off the emotions I am talking about. I think my revised essay shows these
changes in many ways. I feel like you can understand the emotion when you get to those parts
in the writing. I feel like I have strong sentences with a lot of meaning behind them. I have
never really felt confident in my writing until this assignment.

I chose this essay to represent my best work because I am so confident in it. My other
assignments I felt like they were good but not my best work like this. I felt a stronger
connection to this assignment and felt like I could truly express how I feel, and I can tell my
story. This assignment talks about my growth over all my years in middle school and high
school. It even talks about how I battled through covid with the loss of my grandpa and how I
was able to overcome and still love to learn. This assignment shows the best of me, and I
believe that if I were to choose another then I wouldn’t be showing my absolute best.
When I first wrote the draft of this essay, I didn’t really care for it. I hadn’t thought that I would
love this writing as much as I do now. I had the mindset that this writing was just another
English assignment with no value, and I was just going to do the bare minimum. I began with
doing the basic stuff just doing what the rubric said. I wrote my opening paragraph and filled in
the information between then closed it. I didn’t really care for it too much. I didn’t really do
anything crazy for it, I was just writing.

My peer reviewer didn’t really give me helpful feedback on my assignment, just told me it
looked a little short even though it met the requirement for words. But the most significant
change I made to my educational journey was writing about my current year. I felt like I should
have written about where I am now and how I am doing in my education. Why would I end it on
how it was going and not how it is going. So, I wrote a little on how I am doing in my education
now and I wrote about my chemistry teacher who is tough, but he's also a great teacher and
has an interesting class.
I used every step of the Writing process. I think the most helpful was the revision. My peer
review wasn’t the best. I did enjoy peer reviewing someone else's because it gave me a chance
to understand someone else's struggles through education and I can compare it to mine. It
makes you realize that some struggles you face are not the only one who has or had those
problems. Revision was the hardest but also the most impactful on my writing. It fixed a couple
of grammatical and accidental mistakes and added good information. It was a little difficult to
think of what to add but once I figured it out, it took my essay to an even higher height.

Even after my revision I still feel like my opening paragraph is my strongest. I did not revise
much in it or change much, but that is because my starting paragraph is strong. My favorite part
about my opening paragraph is my closing sentence “Education can be a double-edged sword,
it can grow the mind, but it can hurt the heart.” I do not know why I love this sentence so much
but when I wrote it, I felt like it became my “main idea.” I think it is a strong way to open the
rest of my writing. I do also think the paragraph I added about my current stance in my
educational journey is very good as well. But I just think my opener is the best.
I would like to revise more of my story paragraphs, I just did not know exactly what to add or
change. The paragraphs about covid and early on in my educational journey I am not too
confident on. I just do not know how to improve them. It is difficult to revise when you are not
given many revisions from your peer reviewer. I am not happy with those early paragraphs that
tell my story because I just could not find out what to change.
I am very thankful for this class and thankful for you, Mrs. Williams. This class was very well
worth taking. Even though there were some assignments that particularly were not my favorite,
I still felt like I have grown in my writing from this English class more than any other. I learned a
lot in this class, like how to be a strong writer. I also am glad I learned how to be a strong peer
reviewer because that is a very helpful skill to have later. If we had more time in this class, I
would like to learn more about writing on current world topics. I would like to learn more on
how to be a strong argumentative writer and be a very convincing writer. But overall, this class
has been a very informative class and very helpful. I am so glad I took this class and was lucky
enough to have a very good professor. Thank you for everything.
Sincerely,

Silas King
Silas King
ENG 111
Professor Williams
3 October 2023
My Educational Journey

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” (Aristotle). This
quote from the Greek philosopher Aristotle really puts in perspective that our hearts play a big
role in school and can affect our learning. What is the point of training the mind when our heart
is at its limits? Education can be so stressful to the point where kids do not even want to learn
or go to school anymore. There have been times where school does so much for me, and I feel
like I am growing in my education but also growing as a person. On the other hand, I feel like
more times than not I am just tired of always worrying about getting all my work done and
stressing about keeping up with all the due dates. Most teachers do not give extensions, so it is
always stressful to get work done. While education is great, it is very hard to keep the balance
of education, work, and having time for family and friends and just everyday life. Education can
be a double-edged sword, it can grow the mind, but it can hurt the heart.
I have always been a good student and was okay with going to school and getting my
work done. Then during my seventh-grade year, Covid hit. Covid was a really hard time for me
because I lost my grandpa and I started to feel like school was pointless. I really started to fall
behind on my assignments, not because I could not do them but because I did not want to do
them. I started to tell myself that school was not important, and I did not have a sense of
success or reward for

making good grades all my life. I felt like the moment I messed up or the moment I did
not get an A, it was the end of the world. I did not feel like there was anything for getting that
A. All my friends around me would get praised and get some sort of reward for getting an A
while it was just expected from me. I did not understand then that I was smart enough to get
A’s and that the success I would have later in life would come from those A's. I just did not see
the point of getting good grades.
My year coming out of Covid (8th grade year) I had this amazing math teacher named Mr.
Hilburn. We were half online half in person that year and this teacher really motivated me back
to my old self. Mr. Hilburn taught me so much and was constantly checking in on me so I would
not fall behind. He recognized what I could and held me to that standard. Teachers like this
make school so much better because without Mr. Hilburn I would not be where I am today
without him. He still checks in with me every now and then and it just reminds me that there
are teachers that care about me and want me to succeed in life.

I started to enjoy school again and I felt like I was growing in my education and growing as a
person. My freshman year went great, and I felt like nothing could get any better. I had
teachers that were very supportive and friendly. These teachers made me want to learn and
come to school. My ninth grade English teacher, Mrs. Riley, was so caring she truly felt like a
family member to me. She was not just friendly but also a great teacher. She taught me how to
read and decipher text which I was never good at. I have always struggled with analyzing text,
but she helped me with that a lot. I never liked reading, and I am still not very fond of it, but I
still remember how fun and engaging it was in her class. We read Fahrenheit 451, a well-known
book in her class. I could have never been more bored of a book but the way she taught us and
the way she
translated the text made it seem like the most engaging book I have ever read.

My sophomore year felt like the hardest year of my life. This year really showed me teachers
can truly make a difference. The difference between having a great year and a terrible year. My
biology teacher was the worst teacher I could ever have. Biology can be very interactive and
enjoyable, but it was the opposite. This teacher would pass out papers she found online then
would sit behind her desk for the rest of the class. In a silent room all because she was biased
and did not like us. We found out the classes before us did not have assigned seats, and they
were allowed to talk. This teacher would constantly yell at us and get mad at us over the
smallest things. It can sound crazy to say one class can ruin your day, but this class really did.
She would treat some kids like they were the best then treat the rest of us like trash. She even
brought it out on my grades. She gave me a terrible quarter grade because she said I never
came and made up a test when I did. I had never been so annoyed and hated school this much.
During all this I had a teacher in my corner the whole time, my high school band teacher Mr.
Perry. I have never had a teacher who cared for me as much as he does. I never liked his class, I
would even say it is my least favorite class, but I’ve learned more from his class and from him
and have grown as a person because of everything he has done and taught me.
I have grown the most in my junior year so far. I feel like I have matured a lot, and the year is
off to a good start. I have teachers who care for me and expect the most out of me. I have
challenging schoolwork, but that schoolwork is engaging, and I am learning a lot. My chemistry
teacher is smart and guides me in the right direction in his class. I plan to keep growing and my
education journey to continue all the way through college.
School has always been a roller coaster, a lot of ups and downs come with school. Without my
education I wouldn’t know anything as I do now, but I’ve also had so many battles through my
school years but with them, I’ve grown and learned so much. I might have been hurting at
times, but I really wouldn’t be who I am without those battles. Some teachers have hurt me,
but why focus on that when I have teachers who expect great things from me and have helped
me be a better person and taught me a school subject. Those teachers wouldn’t want me to
focus on the bad that's not what they have taught me. If I were to focus on those who did not
help me, I would just let them get too much attention from me.
I really learned to appreciate my teachers more. I have realized that teachers really do care and
expect good things from me. I’ve learned that my road to where I am now might’ve not been
the smoothest ride, but those battles really helped me. I learned that school is important and
getting those A’s is important. Writing this essay has made me realize that I really should be
more grateful for the education I’ve received and the people I have met along the way. I'm truly
thankful for the schools I have been to and everyone who has helped me through them.