Dear Dr.

Hartman,
This assignment pushed me to reminiscence about moments in my life that I havent thought about in
many years. More importantly, it helped me realize that my life as a reader, writer, and teacher was
influenced by my childhood. This was surprising to me because my natural reaction when asked why I
chose to be an English teacher is my experiences in AP English class in high school. The timeline activity
in the daybook showed me that I was actually becoming a writer long before that class.
I didnt grow up in a family of teachers (as it seems that many teachers do), and my family wasnt one
that necessarily focused on the importance of education. My older sister was not a natural student in the
way that I was, and I think my parents were always just thrilled that I actually wanted to go to school and
seemed to have a knack for doing well. Because of this, I never thought about the fact that there might
actually be events from my childhood that impacted me as a writer and teacher. When I remembered the
movie Matilda and really thought about why I loved that movie, I realized that Matilda was very much
the child I wanted to be, and it makes sense that I was influenced by that story. In the same vein, I had
completely forgotten about the quilt story from the 4th grade, and this autobiography brought back some
wonderful memories of my father and grandmother, both of whom left this world many years ago.
While I feel confident in the autobiography itself I feel that it is a true reflection of my experiences with
writing I am a bit worried about the tone of the piece. Its true that writing has always come naturally to
me, but I hope that I do not sound arrogant, and I hope that my struggles as a writer also come across
clearly. This leads in to a concern about my philosophy of teaching writing overall. I am currently in my
sixth year of teaching English, and between writing and literature, I would say that writing is the area in
which I need more improvement. Im always seeking to become a better teacher overall, but when I first
began teaching, writing was an area of struggle, mainly because it was (ironically enough), something Id
never experienced much struggle with before. I was not prepared to help students who get stuck when it
comes to getting their thoughts on paper. I was prepared for the romanticized ideals of teaching writing
students collaborating and giving each other feedback, students planning using individualized and
personalized techniques and then forming that planning into pieces of writing that they are proud of and
want to publish to their classmates and take home to read to their parents. So then, when I realized that
some students are reluctant to writing anything, I was disheartened and frustrated. Over the past five
years, Ive learned to deal with that situation in a much better way than my initial reaction (which was
mostly to give up), but Im excited to rethink my entire philosophy of teaching writing because of the
opportunity it gives me to consider what Im doing well and what areas need improvement.
I love teaching, and I want my students to be able to think back to their writing lives and see my
classroom as part of the influence that made them a better writer for college, for personal expression, or
for their career. Im thankful for the opportunity for struggle that this assignment provided because Ive
learned to embrace struggle and the moments of growth that it often provides.
Sincerely,
Roxanne Loving

Roxanne Loving
Dr. Hartman
ENED 683
18 September 2016
Writing Autobiography
Did you write this?
My love of writing really began with a love of reading. In elementary school, I was the kid whose parents
said things like One more chapter and then its bedtime and Roxie, youre going to have to stop
reading and eat dinner. Reading was a magical experience for me and, as far as I can remember, that
magic likely stemmed from a magical story: Matilda. Long before I realized that this story began as a
book by Roald Dahl, the movie version was (to the dismay of my mother) constantly playing on our TV. I
memorized all the words and wanted so badly to be like Matilda, a truly magical little girl who loved to
read and had more wit than the majority of adults in her life. This story was one of the first major
influences on my love of reading.
In the fourth grade, I found myself writing about a quilt that my grandmother had given me. I dont
remember the exact prompt, and many of the details of the story are fuzzy in my memory, but I do
remember that my teacher, Mrs. Washburn, was thrilled with my writing. She asked me to read it to the
class, and then she took the story to the teacher down the hall. Even though I dont remember everything
about the story itself, I will never forget what this teacher asked me.
Did you write this? she asked, half-smiling, half-squinting, with an Im-not-sure-I-believe-this look on
her face.
Of course I replied that I had written it, and I was very frustrated that she thought I might have taken it
from someone or somewhere else. I was in a strange situation; this was both the first time that I felt that
my writing was worth something, and it was also the first time that I felt that I might get in trouble for
something I had written. In the end, the teacher agreed that the story was great, and Mrs. Washburn
continued to share my story with others. The success of this moment, along with the frustration I felt
when my writing was questioned, is something I would experience many more times in my writing life.
The Importance of Words
During my freshman year of high school, I had a quirky English teacher named Mrs. Coffey (shes
actually a colleague of mine, now). Mrs. Coffey started every period by saying Good morning, ladies
and gentlemen, and welcome to another fabulous day of education here at Chase High School. I, for one,
am glad to be here. She wore blue slippers one day (I dont remember what the lesson was, but I
remember her dancing around in them), she talked about her experiences as a Marine, and she pushed us
to read complex texts and write about them. There are two pieces of writing from her class that greatly
influenced my writing life. First was an essay about how Romeo and Juliet is an allegory for the

Protestant Reformation. I remember writing this because of how proud I felt once I had completed it. It
was difficult to write, and I struggled to organize my thoughts and put the pieces together. This was the
first analytical essay that I had written, and I felt relieved when I was finished. The assignment showed
me that writing can be challenging, and it helped me learn how to work through the process.
The second writing piece from her class was a science fiction story. I wrote about a boy who found a cure
for a disease only to realize that he was dreaming the entire time. The story itself isnt what stands out to
me - it is the fact that Mrs. Coffey told me that shed read published things that werent as good as my
story. Talk about proud. Im pretty sure I ran into the house that day telling my mom that I was destined to
be a famous author and earn millions from movie deals.
A few years later, in AP English IV, Mrs. Becker, who came to be the person who influenced me to choose
English Education as my major in college, asked our class to write about the importance of words. In this
essay, I talked about how words really mean very little by themselves; its the emotion and connection
with words that make them important. I had never considered what exactly made writing valuable, but I
realized through this assignment that it is all about the impact of words. I love to read because the words
impact me, I love to write because I like to think that my words are impacting others, and I love to teach
because I want my students to learn the importance of words, as well.
Mrs. Becker also gave us timed writing assignments to prepare for our AP exam. During one of these
practice tests, I wrote about the theme of love in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Of all the writing
assignments Id completed before this moment, it was this particular assignment that literally changed my
life. In the single class period that I spent writing this essay, I began to truly understand how the themes in
the book were applicable to my life. I realized that this book could change me as a person. There was
something about that book and that theme and that writing prompt that just made everything fall into
place, and it was then that I knew that writing was something that could help me work through ideas, and
it was then that I also knew that I wanted to be an English teacher so that I could help other people
understand that.
You dont get it?
Throughout high school, my writing life had mostly been characterized by teachers praising the pieces of
writing that I created. Great poem, great essay, great story, etc. My college career started in a very similar
fashion. During a freshman seminar class, I wrote an essay on a book called Thirteen Moons by Charles
Frazier, and my professor, who happened to be the dean of the Honors College at WCU and a creative
writing professor, was so impressed that he asked me to be a part of his creative writing class. As part of
this creative writing class, I got to take a trip to New York City to attend the Association of Writers and
Writing Programs Conference. As I sat and listened to amazing speakers and awesome workshops at this
conference I realized that I was a small fish in a big sea. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. My
high school essays were nothing compared to what these people were creating, and I was completely
overwhelmed.
A little deflated from the feeling that maybe I wasnt the writer I thought I was, I wasnt excited when we
returned from the trip and our professor asked us to write our own pieces of fiction. I spent many hours
and long nights working on this story. There were times when I deleted entire pages, threw out characters,

laughed at my indecisiveness and cried when I felt that I was surely going to fail. I tend to be a
perfectionist, so I revised until I just couldnt stand to look at it anymore, and then I made my roommate
read it, I called my mom and read it to her, and I took it to class feeling very tired but mostly confident
that I had written something to be proud of.
When it was my storys turn to be the subject of our writers workshop in the class, one of the other
students said I like the idea, I just dont get it. My fourth grade self came back to the forefront, as I was
both surprised and a little hurt that there was someone in the world who could not get what I was trying
to do. Much to my chagrin, the professor agreed (in a less snotty tone), and the workshop continued with
lots of advice about how my story might benefit from revisions. I changed the story so that it made
more sense to the others, but doing that ultimately made it less what I wanted it to be. Through this
experience I learned that revision is hard, and criticism about something as personal as writing can be
difficult to hear.
Writing as a Teacher
Fast-forward to my life as an English teacher, when my writing mostly takes shape as lesson plans.
Teaching writing is a different ball game than being a student who writes, and as a student who was
usually able to write with ease, I found that teaching students who struggled with writing was extremely
difficult. I didnt know where to start, and sometimes, I still struggle to scaffold writing for students who
have very little experience with writing to express ideas. However, the times of breakthrough when
students catch on and experience a moment of pride in their writing make the struggle worth it.
I never realized how difficult writing lesson plans truly was until I had to complete a Teacher Work
Sample project during my senior year of college. Lesson plan writing involves research, analysis,
organization, creativity, and a lot of patience. Im not sure that I ever considered lesson plans as a form of
writing until I had to rationalize unit plans and objectives, explain the outcomes I hoped to see, and
analyze the texts I hoped my students would analyze. Its a mixture of some of the most challenging
forms of writing, but that is what I really enjoy about it. It pushes me to be better - a better, reader, writer,
and thinker.
Overall, my writing life has been filled with successes and obstacles. The natural process of writing for
me has been both praised and challenged along the way. Ive had moments of complete confidence in my
writing, and moments when Ive felt like a failure. Writing is an important part of who I am, and I realize
now that each of these moments has helped to shape me into the teacher of writing that I am today. I hope
that I am able to work with my students through both successes and struggles so that they, too, can
experience pride in their writing along with a willingness to continue to improve.