One Great Teacher

Dominique Allen-Knox
Professor Douglas
English 1A
2 March 13
All It Took Was One
“I Just Wanna Be Average”, by Mike Rose I found similarities. I struggled in school to find any understanding between Mike Rose's educational path and my own. After giving it some thought, I believe what made the difference in our futures was the presence of good teaching. Until junior year, my history teacher sparked my interest in learning. In that year I found a yearning for History. However, this changed when I transferred schools heading towards my junior year with the opening of a former high school closer to my home. The principal handpick several of his teachers from across the district with the intention of being academically competitive the first year of the school's magnet program. One of these teachers, Ms. Macias, my upcoming History teacher, was among them. I first met her at the start of second semester, there was this immediate aura of sophistication that showed in her style of teaching. 
Ms. Macias reminds me of the kind of teacher that Mike Rose didn't have much exposure to until he had Mr. MacFarland. Ms. Macias compared to Mr. Macfarland was educated at a high level. The character of Ms. Macias showed that she was talented at what she does best which is teaching at the collegiate level, but she taught high school because she wanted to push students early so that they thrive down the road. Mike Rose states that “MacFarland's lectures were crafted, and as he delivered them he would pace the room jiggling a piece of chalk in his cupped hand, using it to write on the board the names of all the writers and philosophers, plays and novels he was weaving into his class discussion.”(Rose) Ms. Macias did similar things in her class.
We read a variety of essays and short stories from Homer, Herodotus, Plato, John Adams, Malcolm X, Caesar Chavez and more. We made the most of class time and wrote essays and group projects on a weekly basis. We also did a History...