Mrs.Watterson

I have always loved to write.

I don't really know one specific reason why, i just do.

Maybe because at church we're encouraged to keep a journal, maybe because my dad is like a dang poet.

ever since i was a little kid, open any of my notebooks (actually, don't....) but if you did, you'd find chicken scratches of little stories. sometimes it's a line or two, sometimes it's whole plots with intricate twists and surprisingly deep characters. wild, right?

I even wrote "books" with two of my cousins one summer under a pseudonym and we planned to mail them to scholastic to get them published. haha we were so motivated!

and actually, some of my stories were pretty dang good, thank you very much.

silly, under developed and obviously written by a pre-teen, but good!

Well I never had a solid English teacher until Junior Year in AP language.

okay, disclaimer. all my elementary teachers were incredible! and 3rd and 6th were especially so. And Mr. Hardcastle my sophomore year was actually really good, but the entire school year, i hated him. HATED him. honestly. I told him at least three times a week that he was an idiot and that he shouldn't have credentials. I flipped desks, screamed at him and purposefully ruined his evaluations when administrators were in the room. talk about the student from H-E-double hockey sticks! I PRAY that i never have a student as terrible as i was to poor Mr. Hardcastle. 

and then came Mrs. Watterson.

wake. up. call.

We had a summer assignment that was actually quite simple. we just had to find articles about current events and analyze the author's style and that jazz. I went into class the first day of school scared out of my mind.

1) because even though she's like a foot shorter than me, she was terrifying! Everyone always talked about how difficult her class was and how hard of a teacher she was. She is really intimidating. 110 pounds of hard core, that Watterson. 

2) there was a freaky bunny poster taped over the clock....

3) no windows. 

I was so confident about my summer assignment, i was giddy. I couldn't wait for her to use my writing as examples and see smiley faces next to A+ s on all of my essays.

about a week later, when she passed it back? 

F

a big fat purple F. My first F. ever.

I was DEVASTATED.

It didn't make sense. I was good! teachers always raved about how i was ahead of all the other kids my age. My papers always made it to the fridge! What in the world did i do wrong?

Over the course of the year, I slowly made my way up to a solid C. It stayed that way for a long time. and I worked my BUTT off for that final B. 

I learned a ridiculous amount of things in that class.

I wrote and re wrote and re wrote assignments. most of the time i was too prideful to turn in my re-writes, though. ha. She unknowingly turned me on to Tegan and Sara and street art. And i gained my hatred of the United Nations through Mrs. Watterson's Factoid Fridays. 

but that's a separate post...

This year i chose to take Mrs.Watterson's Expository Reading and Writing class instead of AP Lit.

BEST CHOICE EVER.

no offense to Mr. stupid face salmonson, but i learned 5 billion times more in ERW than i would have in AP lit. ERW was AWESOME. I feel super cheesy saying this, but i wish every kid at my school could have had Mrs.Watterson. she's just honestly good. Just plain good. and there's no trick to it, she just pushes you. and not in a scary football coach kind of way. I don't even know how to explain it, but she just makes you want to do your best all the time. And I love that.

I want to be that! 

I want to be that teacher.

The one that drives everyone crazy because she's a stickler and the hardest grader on the planet, but you dang love her because she does crazy projects and simulations and she loves mustaches and 1984.

She only fueled my desire to teach. 

and as made obvious my this ranting blog post, i dang love her.

I will forEVER be grateful for her for teaching me how to actually write. How to actually research, not just google. How to think, really, critically, think. And how to write an insane ten page paper about fast food.

and somehow, after the billion stressful assignments, I still love writing!

Thanks for everything, Mrs.Watterson!

You're the best teacher I've ever had!