Sixth Grade Teacher Comments

I was lucky to have a lot of good teachers in elementary school. I especially liked my sixth grade teacher who encouraged me in my writing. She read my stories carefully and wrote comments all over them. I remember walking home at the end of the day, very excited about a story I had written, and anxious to read it out loud to my father. He loved my stories and reading to him became a part of the after dinner routine.

I was not as happy in high school. I seemed to have worse teachers, and I became self conscious about my curly hair and skinny build. I wished I had long straight hair like my sister. She seemed to have lots of boyfriends all the time, and although I had a group of friends, I often felt lonely or different.

College was an improvement over high school in many ways. I went to Cornell University, and some of my English teachers were interesting and inspiring. I made friends, had a few boyfriends, and enjoyed my independence. I often felt different or outside of the mainstream, but it didn't bother me any more. In fact, feeling like an outsider spurred me to write. I felt like I could write intimately about a number of worlds from both inside and out.

I received a Bachelor's Degree in English and a Master's Degree in Teaching English as a Second language from Cornell University.

Nobody's Puppy

Sixth Grade Poem