This is the first full week of class and already i feel like we are learning how to improve our skills in writing. We've been told to write an in-class essay on To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the prompt is to choose one theme out of the three choices "childhood innocence", "race relations", and "rural poverty". we have looked at a couple of examples and have started our intro paragraph, and we have drafts of our hook, background info, and thesis statement. i have chosen Race Relations, which is a never ending topic in the world. Currently racism is still going on much less than in the novel but still ever-present, especially in the south. we covered some major ideas this week, one in particular really stuck with me because Mr. Keating divulged to the class that it was something we would be using it throughout the whole year, and it was the "stairs" the step by step process to getting an A on any essay as long as you follow it precisely. I am very excited about English this year, i feel like the class is not going to be insipid, like most english classes, but stimulating and very educating (of course). Mr. Keating is giving our class loads of valuable information , that is really helping me personally feel like a better writer, I enjoy reading my classmates work because it makes me look at mine and see if i did anything similar or as well as they did. By the time I have fully matured hopefully I will be able to write like this, and if by some miracle that actually happens, i will owe it to my highschool english teachers, and to Mr. Keating's staircase.
