the most influential people
in my life
In speech class we were required to do an interview type
thing with another class member and then write a speech of
introduction. Along the way came up a question that I feel
I must write a longer thing on. Who had the greatest influence
on your life? Most people would probably say their parents. But,
I chose two of my teachers. Ms. Krauchi and Ms. Myers.
Ms. Krauchi:
Ms. Krauchi was my 9th grade english teacher. What makes
her special to me is not anything that we talked about or
anything. Nor was she a friend to me or anything. Rather, the
thing that makes her special to me is that she gave me the
love of writing poetry that I have. Or, rather, she introduced
me to writing in such a way that I enjoyed it so much that I
started writing more.
In Ms. Krauchi's class we were given an assignment to
write 10 poems. We were given specific subjects for each poem
that we wrote. I remember that I enjoyed writing these poems
and even wrote a few more poems and turned them in for extra
credit. I remember something that she told me that really
inspired me to write more and more poetry. She said to me
"you are a natural poet." That kinda hit something in me.
I had found something I really liked to do and something
that someone else thought I was good at. So, because of Ms.
Krauchi I have the love of writing poetry that I have today.
Ms. Myers
Ms. Myers was my senior english teacher. What makes her
special is that she was the first Christian teacher I had. She was
also one of the few teachers I had that was a true friend
to her students. Here are some of the things that make her so
special to me:
She was the teacher in charge of the newspaper. She
approached me and asked if she could print some of my poetry
in the paper. Of course I said yes, and she put "Jesus' Shoulders"
and another poem of mine in the newspaper. I also enjoyed talking
with her and other members of the staff at the meetings.
Some of the nicest people who I've ever met worked at the newspaper.
She was a friend to all her students. She showed that she
really cared by being willing to talk to students at almost
any time and by correcting them when they're wrong. She wasn't
afraid to correct her students when they were wrong. Most teachers
don't care enough to do that. I remember some of her talks; which I
probably enjoyed more than the rest of the class because I always
agreed with what she was saying. I was kind of her person that she
knew would always agree with her. Especially when we did journals
about certain quotes written on the board.
She made her class challenging. You actually had to do stuff
to earn a grade. Most teachers kinda give away grades, but she made
us work for them. Her class was challenging, yet somehow through it
all she made it fun for us. I enjoyed her class more than any other
class I've had. Even though I had to do more work for her than I've
done for any other teacher. (which didn't always go over well with
everyone because we were seniors...you know SENIORITIS..it kinda
kicked in there a bit and affected a lot of people's grades)
The one thing she did that affected me and encouraged me more than anything was
to tell me how good my poetry was and to keep plugging away at it.
To let the Lord shine through my poetry and through my life. This,
indeed was an encouragement because sometimes in high school there is
always that tendency to backslide or to become ineffective in our
Christian life. Because of her I was able to keep my maturity throughout
the last year of my high school.
That is why I chose those two teachers to be the people who
helped me the most. Not my parents. Although my parents did have an
impact on me and what I believe, they weren't as helpful or influential
to me as these two teachers. Mostly because they haven't read but around
2 of my 550 poems. (and poetry is my life..outside of God)
Written by:
Jonathan Johnston
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