B

Have you ever seen a kid in class who wouldn't volunteer to read or answer a question? I was that type of student. Talking in class was a struggle for me because the fear of saying the wrong thing was always on my mind.

There were constant announcements about students in our class winning writing awards. It was a dream for me. I have always felt unsure of myself when writing. Semicolons confused me and I used too many commas. I had no idea how to cite anything. During my freshman year, the teacher would pick the best essay in our class to be read out loud, but mine was never chosen. I found it really hard to write an essay.

One teacher Mr. Wilson, who taught me the next semester, changed everything. He was in his fifties and had a reputation for having a particular teaching style. He connected writing and reading to football, but somehow it made sense. What really made him special to me was that every class he would pick someone to read their writing out loud to the class.

In one of his lessons, he said: "I will not always pick the essay that I think has the best grammar or use of vocabulary. I will pick the one that I think has the most character." This part was confusing tome because how can writing have character? He went on to explain: "I want to read something that I can tell the writer feel a lot while writing it. I want to feel the emotions you were going through as you wrote it."

A few weeks later, for the first time, my essay was chosen to be read to my classmates. I can't even remember what it was about, but I remember how nervous I was to see his reaction, mixed with pride at the fact that he felt like my work was worth sharing. He gave me his comments at the end of it, but I was too nervous to remember them. After class, he told me he was excited to read more of my work.

He made me feel special in the way he led the class, and I got over my fear of sharing my work in class. He made me believe in my writing abilities and gave me the confidence to continue writing.