Blog #12

 

 

      I was very fortunate to have had an English teacher during my senior year of high school who strove to teach his students how to make informed decisions supported by facts. As such, much of the class was focused around writing argumentative papers, presenting speeches, or engaging in debates. Due to the largely political nature of most of the topics, debates and discussions would often see rather enthusiastic participation from the more opinionated students. There was one student in my class who clearly had many thoughts on many subjects but was by and large unable to properly articulate them to the degree she wanted to. Oftentimes, she would share a thought only to struggle to be able to phrase it in such a way that properly expressed what she meant. It took some time, but eventually, other students began to gently attempt to clarify in order to eke out the wording she was going for. There was mixed success. My teacher often worked with her, particularly for writing assignments, to prompt revisions until she was satisfied with the way she could express her beliefs.