I’ve always been a really shy kid. In elementary school, I considered my teachers to be better friends than any of my peers. I stayed in from recess almost every day because I preferred to hang out with my teachers rather than try and fit in with all the other kids. My favorite elementary school teacher was my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. KB. She spent most of the time teaching us what we were interested in and made the subjects we weren’t as interested in, easier to pay attention to and learn. One day towards the end of the school year, she assigned us a final reading project. I was really anxious because school was the most important thing in my life and I wanted to make Mrs. KB proud. By the end of the week, I still hadn’t picked a book. It was friday, and it was raining, meaning I was definitely staying in from recess. Mrs. KB asked me about my project and the progres I’d made so far. I got really upset and explained to her how stressed out I was, and how I didn’t want to mess up by picking the wrong book. She went into one of the cabinets and pulled out a book for me. I was immediately attracted to the cover, a black woman in shackles being grabbed by a white man. I’d never read a book concerning race before and I was intrigued. She said it was one of her favorite books she’d ever read and that she didn’t trust anyone else in the class to read it. She asked me not to talk about it with them and to keep what I was reading about to myself. I’ll always remember this because it was the first time I had felt confident in a long time. I felt like she was trusting me with this because she thought of me as a friend, too. It was rare for me to feel as special as I did in that moment, so I knew I was going to try as hard as I could to make this reading project my best work. The book was called Kindred by Octavia Butler. I started reading it as soon as she gave it to me, and from then, I couldn’t put it down. The book was dark, sad, and definitely very advanced. It followed the main character’s story, a woman living in current times, in an interracial marriage, thrown back into the time period of slavery. She would only be gone from her home for seconds, but it would feel like years for her while being in the past. I spent all of my time immersed in this book, even getting in trouble for having it out during instructional time, which was something that never happened. Kindred very easily became my favorite book. Not only was it an amazing book, but I also felt like I had a secret with my favorite teacher that no one else knew about. Reading this book made me realize my passion for reading, and this experience made me realize my want to be a teacher. One small connection with my teacher gave me the confidence to read and write freely, and gave me the idea to become a teacher and help kids like Mrs. KB helped me.
Writing is a PROCESS Not a Product