First Draft Paper- 2ND ESSAY

Jessica Jeu

Professor Begert

English 099

Favorite Teacher Paper

            It was back in freshmen year, when I developed a favorite teacher. But it didn’t come quite as easy for me, as it may have others. I got my schedule for second term, and was excited to see what teachers I had. By this time the reputation of the teachers are evident, so I was hoping I didn’t get ones with the bad image. I looked at my schedule and everything seemed exceptional, except first period. Health & Fitness was my first class of the day, which I didn’t mind one bit. But the teacher was Quam, and I had heard she was a really tough teacher that made her students run a mile everyday. I tried to get out of that class the best I could, but the other classes were full. I was lazy and even though I was a student athlete, I felt as though I was getting enough of a workout at my own practice. It wasn’t until during the class that I really saw how great of a teacher she was, and to this day I’m glad all the other classes were full. It wasn’t because I was teachers pet, because I wasn’t. It was because she had high expectations, pep talks that taught me a lot, and was personable to any student that looked past her reputation has a tough teacher.

            As a freshmen, Mrs. Quam expects you to follow some basic rules, and achieve some standard things. She trains you to be mature in and out of the classroom, as well as in other classes. She also expects you to follow her rules, and also expects you to put in an extreme amount of effort into everything she assigns. You’ll realize quick in her class, that she’s not there to fool around, she wants to get right down to business, and get the job done. Another expectation is you have to give quality to earn quality. Therefore, if you leave your project to the last minute, she notices it, and give you a grade you might not be happy with. Like other teachers, she doesn’t just give out the grade because you suited up, she gives it to you based on you efforts in that workout on that day. She wants to see the passion, instead of the laziness, which isn’t very common today. She has you set goals at the beginning of the term, and asks you to do the necessary steps possible in order to reach those goals, and in the end expects you to reach them. She asks you to set the goals where you struggle, but still strive so that you feel good after you complete them, both mentally and physically. She encourages you all through out the class, and is always there to be supportive. She told me once that, in order to achieve way beyond your standards, you have to set your standards reasonably high, and just keep working at them until they are completed no matter how long it takes.

            I got a lot of pep talks that year from her, and I found that all of them are very true. I felt like she was my counselor at school, and I could talk to her about anything. In example, during my freshmen year I started talking to a guy on the football team, who at the time was MVP, and who drove the nicest truck in school. All the girls wanted him, but I got lucky and had a small fling with him. I talked to Mrs. Quam about it a lot, and she always told me the same thing. “He might like you, but he will never commit to you. It’ll drag on for years you guys, but he’ll never commit, he is a 17 year old boy.” I wish I had listened on that one, because to this day that boy has never committed to me, but has always came running back to me when a relationship fails. The last time I talked to her, I told her that he came back yet again, and that I got rid of him. She laughed, and said that I should of done that back in freshmen year! We got laughs out of it, and we were both glad we didn’t have to hear about him ever again. But boys aren’t the only thing we’d talk about.

I had learned that we had more in common than I thought.

            One thing we had in greatly common was our athletic ability. She was a natural athlete and got into sports right away. Like Mrs. Quam, I got into sports too, and was on three soccer teams, and didn’t have much time for anything else. Because I was a busy soccer player who didn’t have time for anything else but soccer and sleep, I started slacking on my homework and on my eating habits. The homework was an easy adjustment, which I changed by doing my homework in the morning. However, the eating habits were hard to change. Finally, not eating resulted in me passing out, which I recovered from quickly. The following day I went and told Mrs. Quam what happened, and she took me up to the closed cafeteria to get me some food. I got a sandwich and some Cheetos, and sat in the corner of the gym to eat. After class, we talked and she said that I have to intake more calories so that passing out wasn’t in my near future.  She also told me this happened to her once at a basketball game, and she had to be carried out by an ambulance which was embarrassing for her. She said I was lucky enough to pass out at home instead of in public, but the next time I may not be as lucky. This was yet another pep talk and this time I took her seriously and started planning out my meals everyday which was a big change from the week prior too. Since this situation, we have gotten even closer than before, now that I know she went through the same thing, and completely related to where I was coming from which was definitely refreshing. It was nice to know that she went through this same thing, and taught me to not make the same mistake.

             Most teachers aren’t like that, they don’t take time to get to know their students. They preach to them, but they don’t know who they are as a person, and not just a student. I believe in order for the students to be successful they have to know and trust who they are working with, whether its peers or teachers. Obviously, peers are a little more relatable, since they are your age, but teachers are a bit different. Teachers would love to come to school, and have all the kids happy. You can achieve this by just knowing who that person is, and relating to them, in some way or another. School is such a fun place, but with teachers who can relate, and give you pep talks but still hold high expectation from you, it would make it all the more easier to come to school.