Ben Sorensen

Fleischer

ENG 1A MWF 9-10

21 February 2014

Draft 3

            My name is Benjamin Shaw Sorensen and I was born in Clovis, CA. My birthday is April 12^th, 1995 which was the day that Ben Crenshaw won The Masters; hence, Benjamin Shaw. My parents are Cindy and Steve; I have a younger sister named Audrey, as well as an older brother named Nolan. If you knew me, you’d know that my life essentially revolves around football. I’ve been playing organized tackle football since the ripe age of 11 and I have always known that it would be a big part of my life. I was fortunate enough to receive a full ride scholarship to continue my dream of playing football.

(Deleted paragraph)

If you really knew me, you would know that I'm boot wearin’, guitar playin’ redneck, that was raised right and loves his momma. You’d also know that I never really had a liking for school, but when it came down to it, English had always been my brightest area. Science and history always drew my attention and I usually tended to be somewhat interested in them, however, I had a hard time understanding a lot of the material. Because of this, I developed a bitter taste for these classes and will take the least amount of them possible. Now math is my weakest spot. When it comes to math, I'm like an old dog trying to learn a new trick. It just doesn’t happen. There’s a more likely opportunity that you would see my 6’5”, 255 pound self-becoming a ballerina rather than a math major.

I never really understood how any human being in their right mind could enjoy math. (sentences removed) Hell I never understood how anyone could enjoy anything about school. I hated going to pretty much all my classes, but there was something about English that wasn’t as bad as the rest.  What, or who, or when, or where, did something happen in my life to make me not hate English as much as I hated all of the other subjects?

If I could pinpoint one experience, one person, or one time in my life that had the biggest influence and developed me into the literate person I am today, it would have to be my English class during my sophomore year of high school. I am going to explain to you how this class shaped the way that I read and write today.   This class wasn’t taught by a teacher; it was taught by a goddess. Her name was Mrs. Smith and she was quite easy on the eyes. Because of this, I always was excited to go to her class. Her good looks gave me a reason to want to go to class and actually learn a thing or two.

I realized that she actually was a very good teacher to go along with her good looks. Mrs. Smith was a different kind of teacher. She wasn’t the type of teacher to have us take out a piece of paper and pencil, and, make us take a whole bunch of notes. She also wasn’t the type of teacher who assigned a ton of reading or homework for us to do. She simply just explained things to us in a way that we all were capable of understanding. When it came to writing, she would pretty much just let us write about whatever we want. She gave us freedom with our writing.

This type of freedom made us respect her and want to learn. In her class I challenged myself as writer and improved greatly. She taught me how to use my own voice in my writing and how to get creative with my ideas. It was in her class that I wrote one of my best essays that I had ever written in my life. We were reading a book as a class and she had each of us write an alternate ending to the book. She gave us complete freedom with it, and let us write about anything we wanted. This forced me to look deep into my imagination and articulate creative thoughts onto paper. This is something that a truly enjoyed.

Mrs. Smith took a lot of us out of our comfort zones in many ways. I believe that exiting your comfort zone, or trying new things in life is essential in becoming a better person. Reading was something that was far out of my comfort zone. Its not that I was a bad reader, I just never saw the point in doing it, nor did I realize that reading could actually make you a lot smarter. Before taking her class I had never really read a book on my own form cover to cover. It’s not something I was ever required to do so I didn’t do it.  However, we did book logs in her class and I started to read books of my choice and realized that it’s actually kind of interesting.

I'm a very hyperactive person and I usually don’t like to sit down and read a book for a long period of time, however Mrs. Smith made it a requirement. At first I was the quickest to complain about reading, but once I actually got into a book, I’d be the first to complain about having to put it down. A whole new world was opened up to me. It’s like I was blind but now I can see. The first non-children’s book that I had ever read on my own from cover to cover was called “The Shack” and William P Young wrote it. I was so interested in the book that I actually wanted to read it! Ever since that class; I have read several books on my own that I would have never even considered looking at if it weren’t for Mrs. Smith showing me that reading can be enjoyable.

Now I'm not saying that I'm William Shakespeare or, J.K Rowling, but I am saying that I would be a much, much less literate person if it weren’t for Mrs. Smith. She made me believe in myself as a writer, and she also opened my eyes to a whole new world of creativity. Mrs. Smith instilled in me things that I will carry on for the rest of my life. I have her to thank for shaping me into the literate person that I am today.