To That English Teacher,

Before your English class, I used to hate reading. It used to be a task that I was saddled with because I couldn't go outside. In fact, I had finished reading my first book while sitting in your class.

About a month ago, I was asked if I had any college professors that had influenced my writing career, I said no because it wasn't a college professor that changed my life regarding reading and writing, but it was you, my middle school English teacher.

Many people seem to forget their middle school teachers, but for me, I remember each and every one. However, the one that I remember the most is you. Not only did you influence my passion for writing, but you pushed me to write. I remember every class where we would have fifteen minutes to write anything based on a prompt you provided and after that, we'd read a book of our choice. You made reading and writing fun because you saw how important it was for us to create and imagine new things.

I remember one day where you gave us a prompt about having an extinct animal in an odd setting. My story happened to be about a kid to find his house flooding from the boarded up basement and soon found out that dinosaurs lived under there. It was a crazy and totally unrealistic story. A lot of the students criticized me because of it, but you actually praised me for making such an outrageous and intriguing story.

In your class, I learned that criticism shouldn't be taken personally and that I should use that to strengthen my character. I learned how to properly write a letter and use the correct pronunciation. I was excited to learn something new each and every day and because of that, I thank you.

Without you and your class, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't have been able to find my passion and start my writing career. Without you, I wouldn't have found the "Percy Jackson and The Olympians" series and begun my obsession of Greek Mythology. Without your English class, I would probably be majoring in a subject I hated, and it would set me on a long and boring career path that I would've regretted.

Thank you for showing me the joy and excitement of creating and telling stories no matter how outrageous they could be.

Even though it has been ages since I've seen you and I may have been just another one of your students but to me, you were so much more than that. You are a teacher, a role model, my Confirmation sponsor, and friend.

Thank you for changing everything!

Sincerely,

Kaya Elizabeth Daniels

Class of 2011