MyWriting Teacher

　　English writing was always easy for me, but that changed on thefirst day I walked into Mrs. Johnson’s class. Before that, I’d heard rumorsfrom former students. They said she was strict and her class was hard to pass.So I was very nervous.

　　The first time we met, Mrs. Johnson told us her class would bedifficult, but she would give us new “tools” and guide us through. Sheexplained that her grading system was different, and that we would not see highscores soon. “Everything you do in class matters,” she said. “As writing is anart, it takes a long time to perfect.”

　　Mrs. Johnson scared me. I was afraid of what she would say if Iasked a question. So in class I kept silent most of the time and couldn’tfollow her. When I got my first essay back, my grade was terrible. I wasannoyed with Mrs. Johnson. I disliked going to her class.

　　Then I realized I needed to find out what I could do to improve mygrade and how to use the “tools” in my writing. As I still didn’t dare to talkto Mrs. Johnson in person, I emailed her. In this way, she and I workedtogether to improve my writing. By and by, I could talk to her both online andin person. She walked me through every step to understand how to write anessay. Together we saw improvement in my work.

　　From this I discovered that asking for help could actually work.Behind everything Mrs. Johnson was saying, she actually cared about me andwhere I would be in the future. She knocked me down so that I could climb backstronger.