It was September 6th, 2016, the first day of junior year of high school. I entered my AP English class around one o’ clock with twenty-five other of my now graduated class mates. When I entered the classroom, you could feel the nervousness and excitement swirling around the room. As more kids came into the room, I was intently watching and hoping for some of my friends to enter the class as well. Once the bell rang and I saw that I had three friends in the class and we were all sitting close together, I was starting to relax and prepare for the last class of the first day of school. The sun was beating down on all the kids in the class, the smell of sweat rises and combined with the scent of perfume and cologne already in the air.
After a minute or so, the teacher walked into the classroom and the excited chatter that was going around the room died down and the class began. I was looking around the new class trying to find out where everything important was in the classroom. The teacher, Mrs. Parish, talked in a very loud tone and told all the kids to get out three pieces of paper as well as a black or blue pen. Every kid in the class was shocked and started to freak out. Then the teacher said it is time to do your first forty minute timed write of the year. After three minutes of preparing mentally for this shocking first demand in the class, the teacher said, “Begin your timed write, and by the way this project is worth 100 points.” As I frantically start reading the prompt that I must answer as well as the article that I must read, I look around at the other kids and they look just as panicked as me trying to figure out how in the world to write this essay. After around 20 minutes of frantically writing this essay, I put my pen down and take a 30 second break just to try to calm my mind.
After I resumed my article, I looked around and saw some sweat dripping down the side of their faces of the people sitting next to me. As 35 minutes approached on the time, some people started to turn in their papers and when they turned in their papers, relief spread throughout their body and when they returned to their seats, it looked like they could have fallen asleep right then. In the 39th minute, I was writing like a maniac and when I finally finished and turned it in, I was so relieved as I returned to my seat. After everyone turned in their paper, my teacher said, “This is going into the essay category which is 50% of the gradebook.” After this shocking announcement everybody in the class had a look of disbelief as they realized that this will be one of the most important things that will go in the gradebook, and it was the first day of school. When the bell rang signaling the end of the day everybody in the class looked at each other with sadness realizing that this teacher will expect such much work, just to do well in this class. This class showed me that no matter what day it is, 100% effort is needed on any assignment.
Writing is a PROCESS Not a Product