English Essay

Stepping into Mrs. Kinney’s room was like walking into through the perfume section at Walmart. The smell of plenty of different fragrances was enough to make a persons nose burn. It was the first day of classes, and it being only the second period of the day, which meant that peoples scents were still going strong. The room was bright, though the fluorescent bulbs lined up perfectly along the ceiling had a major part in that, the sun was shinning through the windows on the left side of the room. The chalk boards located at the front of the classroom were as clean as could be and almost looked brand new, if it were not for the scratches. The right and back walls were filled with posters and pictures of previous graduates. The shelves around the room stacked with everything an English room would need from dictionaries and thesauruses to loose-leaf and pencils. The room seemed to have a particular place for everything, right down to the 6 rows of desks that were place in straight lines facing the front of the room. As I was worried about being late, I rushed myself to class forgetting we had an eight minute break. So of course I was one of the first ones in the room. One of the first things I noticed when I came into that room was that there was no seating plan or assigned seats. Now I am the type of person who does not really care where I sit or where anyone else sits for that matter. However, I love seating plans, it gives you a chance to interact with people that you probably never would otherwise talk to. Plus it keeps the talking in the room to a minimum. Which really comes in handy when we are doing individual class work. So I guess this is my way of asking for a seating plan. Also I would like to state that asking a peer a question about an assignment might be helpful but it is a distraction. Now I wasn’t sure if Mrs. Kinney was a â€Å"spitter† like Mr. McIsaac, or a big â€Å"yeller† like some of the other teachers, so I settled into a seat in the third row from the front. The minutes that followed until the bell seemed to drag, but very quickly showed me who my classmates were. When the bell rang to finally begin class, I was ready and pretty excited because I knew almost everyone in the class. From previous encounters with Mrs. Kinney, I knew that we would be able to get along and that she actually knew what she was teaching. Now I had an expectation set that this year was not going to be a sit back and listen to the teacher read year, and that I would have to try hard if I wanted to pass. With marks, they are usually pretty steady and consistent. I try my best to keep the, above 80, kind of sports and kind of my mother being obsessive about them. As far as group work goes, I always say a few is good but anymore than five or six to group can become a problem. I say this because I have come to realize that when the groups are small, the work load can be divided easily. Now in larger groups, I find that people tend to slack off and push all the work onto one person and then split the mark. I do not like this because I am usually the one stuck doing the work. Now I am positive everyone has their own opinions when it comes to homework. Personally though, I do not mind it. To be completely honest, I enjoy doing homework. To me it is kind of a way of double checking or showing myself that I know what I am doing. So please feel free to assign any amount of homework at any time. When it comes to learning, i know that it is hard for you to teach everyone in the way they want to be taught. I also know that you can not please everyone, but you try to switch it up and do different styles of teaching too. My favourite teach style would have to be Mr. McIsaac’s. By that i mean how easy it is to follow and understand because he relates it all to everyday situations and everyday things. With English however, it is different. I find hearing something that is being taught along with taking notes and discussing examples is the best way for me to learn. I do my best work when lots of notice is given on an assignment. Otherwise, i feel rushed and then it is very poorly written. The best thing that a teacher could do for me to learn would have to bed when they give and assignment or task, to explain it thoroughly. I say this because I would much rather lose a few points than to raise my hand and ask a question. I am very shy when it comes to speaking in front of people. I freeze up, my face goes red and i start to stutter and fumble my words. My thoughts on English 112 thus far, are that I probably will not make it out alive. I would legit be surprised if I passed this essay. I say this all because i was terrified when I got our first graded assignment back. The reason I think I did so poorly on that was because you were not able to be there and when I would ask the substitute a question, she just seemed to be answering it with another question, and it confused me greatly. So I suppose one could say I was very close to switching to 113 English. Except after some time to think, I thought it through, and I remembered that i need this course to go on and have a secondary education. This all made me realize that i need to, so to say, â€Å"pull up my socks†, and stop being a procrastinator. I now see that slacking off, going just for a passing mark and just making a sixty wont cut it anymore. What I do now, will determine my life out for me. I feel like if I do not try my hardest now, that I will regret it in the long haul. By saying that I mean, if I keep slacking off, and waiting until the last minute to do everything that later in life, I will be the same way. Only problem in slacking off with a job is, you probably wont have that job much longer. I think that 112 English is a big step for me. I mean that figuratively, because I am not literally taking a step in 112, but I am figuratively taking a step in life. I consider it to be a big step because it is pushing me ahead in life and i feel as if I was not to take it then I really would not have much of a future at all. Unless i wanted to work at McDonald’s or McCain’s for the rest of my life. So for now, I think I would like to try my luck in English 112, at the end of the hall, with Mes. Kinney.