Ilanit Azarkman

English 133

Peters, Jason J.

September 28, 2017

My parents are not from America, anyone could tell just based off my name. However, I

am from America, but learning English from my parents was extremely rough. For starters, when

I started going to school, I could not speak English the way everyone else spoke it. In fact, for a

long time I had an accent of my own that was a mixture between Salvadoran and Israeli, since

that is where my parents are from. I used to blame them for all the torment I got in elementary

school because of my accent. Now, I am so grateful I grew up speaking Hebrew and Spanish

because it expands my ability to communicate with the world. While in elementary school, my

teachers started noticing that my English was not at the normal level. They separated a small

group of students, like me, and taught us how to read in a different way than the rest. It got to the

point where my school thought I had a learning disability and sent me to a professional to get

checked out. Turns out, I did not have a learning disability, I was just having a hard time

understanding the material because of the language barrier.

 I went on to middle school, still not having a full grasp of the English language. My

vocabulary was weak, I never learned those writing rules, and I only had a taste of what was to

come in middle school. In seventh grade, my English teacher told me I was a horrible writer. He

never explained what made me a horrible writer, so I was left to discover writing on my own. I

tried so hard to impress my English teacher yet never succeeded. At this point, no one taught me

what good writing was. My teachers would constantly get frustrated with me just because I

could not understand what they wanted me to do. My teachers kept telling me to write in MLA

format and integrate my quotes better but I had no idea what they meant by that. They expected

me to just know the terminology when I had no prior knowledge of writing. I got poor grades in

all my English classes during middle school, which made it harder to get into the high school I

wanted to go to.

Luckily, I did get into one of the high schools that I really wanted to go to. I was

determined to turn a new leaf and learn exactly what it meant to be a good writer. My

freshman year was pretty rough. I had an English teacher that did not really care about writing.

In my English class, we mostly focused on literature and analyzing the reading. We read the

Odyssey and learned about epic poems. We spent most of the year reading books like the

Odyssey. Anytime we had an essay assigned, it would be a creative writing assignment. It never
really taught me those fundamentals of writing that all my other teachers had referred to. I got a

glimpse of what creative writing is. It was nice to have a teacher who did not critisize my writing

every single time I turned something in. I ended up getting an A in English for the first time.

I then went on to sophomore year where I had an English teacher, Mr. Salamon, who was

very strict on the fundamentals of writing, yet also appreciated the creative side. He taught me

what it meant to be a good writer. Although I am far from the point of being a good writer, he

exposed me to a new style of writing that was so unfamiliar to me. Mr. Salamon was the first

teacher I had that actually took their time teaching me something that other teachers thought was

common sense. He walked me through the rules of writing one step at a time. He watched me

grow as a writer throughout the year, to the point where he thought I was ready for AP English.

This is the first time in my life someone acknowledged me as a good writer. I never saw myself

coming to this point, I was shocked when he told me I would be moving up to AP English.

I went on to junior year: the year I would be in AP English. I was so nervous because I

did not trust myself as a writer yet. I went in with an open mind, hoping that this teacher would

appreciate me as much as my previous teacher. However, that was not the case. I wrote my first

essay for my teacher and he totally shut me down. He told me that it surprisingly managed to

get a B-. I thought I had come so far and he just completely crushed my confidence. I was so
confused because I managed to impress my teachers for the past three years and suddenly I was

back to square one. Every essay I wrote after that was still not good enough for him. I tried so

hard for the next three weeks, and still he did not like my writing style. I went to Mr. Salamon

and told him how much I hated AP English. I was unable to show my AP teacher any part of my

creative side without being criticized. Mr. Salamon told me to wait it out a little longer, but I

could not do it anymore. I decided to drop AP English and go down to Honors English. My

Honors English teacher, Mr. Garcia, appreciated creativity. In fact, Mr. Garcia applauded

creativity. I fell in love with this class and I was so happy I found an English class where I fit in.

He taught us about Jack Kerouac, the beat generation, Truman Capote, and all these writers I

began to fall in love with. I had the best time in that English class and felt ready for the next year.

My teachers decided that I had to take AP English my senior year.

I went on to senior year and was excited to find out my AP English teacher would be Mr.

Salamon. I was so ecstatic because I had a teacher who was there for me throughout my entire

journey. He watched me grow throughout high school and I knew that I would be able to give

him what he wanted. Mr. Salamon was extremely proud of the writing I turned in. He made me

feel like I had nothing to be ashamed of. I felt accomplished when I graduated and cried when I

said goodbye to Mr. Salamon. He was the one who my paved the road to writing.
 Now that I look back on my journey, I realized how important it was to learn those basic

rules of writing. My teachers taught me that not everyone expects the same style of writing. Mr.

Garcia showed me the creative side while Mr. Salamon helped me find a happy medium. I also

learned that no one is a good writer. Everyone has their own interpretations of the standards of

writing. Everyone has to conform to the reader, and it may seem unfair but that is what good

writing is.