Jared Bulahan Professor Ludlow-Mattson First Year Composition 114 10/27/13 In this essay, my goal was to convey numerous

personal examples and experiences to you, the reader, that embodied and supported my idea of how my freshmen year English teacher, Mrs. Roza, was my favorite English teacher in high school. Once assigned this project and informed of what one could write about, from learning how to read down to any other English class or learning experience, I immediately knew who and why I would be writing about her. I think that I accomplished my goal of informing the reader as to why she was my favorite, because those were very prominent and memorable examples and they have always stuck out to me, so I personally think that they will stick out to the reader. I think this assignment was very fitting for my first college English essay. One thing that I can take away from this assignment is how I learned she was a vital part in my English career. During high school, I took no notice as to the seemingly insignificant class of my freshmen year, but during the time I was working, I was able to look back at it all and realize that those little details proved to be a huge deciding factors during high school, like how I interpreted a certain area of literature. I think this was very fulfilling to accomplish as an assignment due to the knowledge that it brought me about important times. My Favorite High School English Teacher High school can be as rough as a place for students, as it can be for teachers. What is implied is that students are unimaginably critical on teachers, judging and placing them in one of two categories as followed: either the student body likes a teacher for the most part, or the student body despises that teacher and everything that teacher had anything to do with. More criteria for teacher-judging by students include things like amount of homework, physical attractiveness, and subject taught, along with much more. From love-hate relationships to either a hit-or-miss, teachers in high school have it almost as rough as the students they teach. With that being said, my favorite high school English teacher passed all that criteria and made it into an essay of mine. Freshmen year is an interesting year for every single student. I say this because I not only went through that seemingly life-changing time, but I also saw firsthand three different years of freshmen classes. I was able to not only live through it, but observe it as an outsider or upperclassman. Living through the changes that occurred included the most basic ones such as first: crush, kiss, girlfriend, heartbreak, etc. Each happens on a regular basis and changes the person or people it is centered around. I observed freshmen dramatically change and that change was capitalized on how impressionable new students are. Kids are placed into a totally different and new setting with not many friends or knowledge of what to do, and one has a prime example of a freshmen. Teachers whose students are freshmen have a tough job because they obviously are not as seasoned or experienced as even sophomores, thus making leniency a must. Freshmen teachers must be strict enough to enforce and teach rules, yet still kind enough to understand that though some may see being new as a weak excuse, it can affect kids negatively. My freshmen year English teacher, Mrs. Roza, was someone who understood freshmen for what and who they are, making her honors English class one of the best for her students. She saw them as new kids on the block, kids who definitely have the ability to learn and excel as English students, as long as they are taught correctly. Throughout my freshmen year, Mrs. Roza exemplified and gave numerous examples as to why she is so highly regarded by myself and others. One instance that stands out to my own likes and dislikes about teachers is my first day of English class. I remember it like it was yesterday. My classes were scattered, so I had English on my second ever day of high school and the first did not help at all with making sense of it all. I

was still learning the campus, and I was early to class just waiting by the door (it is looked down upon and seen as a freshmen move when one is early to class and waiting by the door). Class was supposed to start at 10:15, yet it was 10:18 and no sign of the teacher. Late on the first day? I said skeptically to those around me, whom I have not met yet. They nodded in agreement. Just as I said that, the loud staccato sound of a luggage on the cement filled the air and we all looked towards our teacher for the year. I will never forget the first thing she said to her group of waiting freshmen, it was like a scene straight from a movie. Through her gold-rimmed glasses and mouth carved into an evil smirk, Mrs. Roza greeted us all with a warm Welcome to Hell freshmen and lead the way into her classroom. We were all shocked at the first impression and quickly snapped out of the confusion when she hustled us inside to get us started on our first activity, actually welcoming us to everything that is high school and informing us that her class is really not Hell. That event alone made myself and others realize that Mrs. Roza is a very cool teacher due to the fact that she did not take a fairly important first impression seriously. Usually teachers try instill fear or command respect from the first day on, while Mrs. Roza broke the ice early by joking around with us. It showed us on the first day that she was able to relate to us by using humor, and that she enjoyed scaring and tricking people, which is also something that I like about teachers. All in all, Mrs. Rozas unusual greeting demonstrated to her freshmen that she is an actual human being with a heart of some sort, not just some stone-faced teacher who is more strict on them than their parents. One other instance that stands out to myself personally and contributes to why Mrs. Roza is one of my favorite teachers happened during the year when my friend and I were disciplined in class for talking during a silent reading session. My friend Jessica and I were silently teasing and motioning each other across the classroom, and Mrs. Roza saw and sent us outside to sit on the benches in the dead of Winter. Defeated and ready to accept my harsh punishment, I even asked Mrs. Roza if we could come back in after 10 minutes and she responded with her usual comedic back sass No youve been a bad kid and you need a timeout. Because of Mrs. Roza administering punishment to us, that was one of the first times I talked to Jessica one on one, and from then on we became the greatest of friends. Even today, we have a fantastic five year relationship and we have been together for three of those five. Jessica and I find this seemingly insignificant event of utmost importance to us because the way we see it, without Mrs. Roza there to discipline us, Jessica and I would have never really became the significant others we are today. When we reminiscence of some of our first times together, we always think back to the time in freshmen year English class. These are just a fraction of the reasons that I enjoyed Mrs. Roza for who she was as a person and teacher, someone I could look up to when I needed it the most. I think that all the experiences I went through during my freshmen year of English class with her helped me prepare not only for the coming years of more English classes, but also helped me enjoy things more in life, just like how Mrs. Roza did.