The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

20 “My Teacher, Poetry” by Rebecca Kersjes Instructor’s Notes In her literacy narrative, Rebecca Kersjes successfully uses detail, dialogue, and description to tell a story about her road to becoming a literate person. Her journey through time ends in the present day, helping to tease out the significance of her story. It can be often be difficult to convey critical thinking through story telling. If you were peer reviewing this essay, what advice might you give Rebecca to increase the evidence of critical thinking in her story? Writer’s Biography Rebecca Kersjes is a third-year Language Arts Education major from Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the years, Rebecca developed a love for writing poems, but currently her favorite style of creative writing is nonfiction prose. In her free time, she enjoys spending time exploring the woods or baking with friends. My Teacher, Poetry It is possible to write an entire poem about the way a drop of rain lands on the ground or the beauty of dust dancing in the light streaming through a window. Poetry taught me to see the beauty in everything around me because when I notice these small, beautiful moments, I can write. And when I can find a way to put these moments perfectly into words, I can allow others to experience what I have experienced, and hopefully they will be able to find these beautiful moments in their own life. When an English teacher said, “Writing is difficult, it takes time and it doesn’t come easy,” I didn’t understand at first. I didn’t understand because I hadn’t taken the next step in writing - the step of moving forward from good, satisfactory writing to beautiful, purposeful writing. As poetry taught me to see the tiny details of life around me it also taught me that each word in a sentence or stanza matters. I had to test each line out loud before I was satisfied. The