Personal Essay

To some individuals high school English may feel overwhelming, but to me it was just another course I was expected to complete.   Grades usually tend to be the highest priority for a student, but for me it falls second.   My highest priority is to understand the material I am being taught and what the instructor expects from me.   English is usually just a boring class that student must attend in school, but I considered it to be my best and most rewarding.
My appreciation for English did not begin until my junior year of high school.   Before that, my instructors covered the basics and did not make the classes interesting enough to enjoy.   As my junior year began, I figured my English class was going to be like all my other classes, useless and boring.   My instructor Mr. Donahue believed that a good education was important and is something that is needed throughout an individual"s life.   He felt that if a person was not eager to learn the material, then they should not be forced.   If and when an individual was interested and ready to learn, there would always be an educator to guide them in time of need.
Punctuation, summarizing, proper grammar, paragraph development and essay development were just a few topics that I learned from attending Mr. Donahue"s class.   He taught us many life lessons while keeping English as his main focus.   Mr. Donahue was an exceptional teacher with a lot of wisdom, who wanted each student to take
    Passarella 2
advantage of every great opportunity that arises.   His goal was to educate the class in the most efficient way possible, to make sure that the facts he presented to each student in class, would be instilled in them for the rest of their lives.   He would always say, "Never try, never fail, never succeed; make your failure, the start of your next success."
I do not remember any novels, plays, or essays that I was assigned to read in his or any other English class.   Mr. Donahue felt reading was an important part of learning...