Thank You for Teaching Me How to Be a Writer, Mrs. Jeannie DeFoe

I didn’t know how to write a cohesive sentence until my freshman composition college professor privately taught me how.

My Backstory

“Its’s never too late for a new beginning in your life.”

-Joyce Meyer-

I attended two separate urban junior high and high schools in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States during the 1970’s. Doing so represented my educational and literary downfall.

From seventh grade through twelfth grade I only had two English teachers that I would even classify as merely average at best.

After spending 35 years as a teacher, professor, and school administrator, I know how critical supervisory feedback is to the professional development and continuous growth of teachers. At no time while enrolled in junior and senior high school do I

ever

remember any principal walking into any of my English classes or any other subject area for that matter to observe student learning or classroom instruction. I

never

remember seeing any school administrator formally observe any teacher that I had. Back then, before any effort to reform schools or to improve the quality of instruction became the norm, teachers did as they just pleased in their classroom.

Back then, I vividly remember that some teachers absolutely failed to teach their students. Others handed me meaningless worksheets day after day as they sat at their desk doing nothing related to providing me with a rigorous education. I still have the capacity to provide the names of these pathetic so called “teachers”.

The real problems came for me when my teachers failed to teach and I failed to learn when I was enrolled in my English classes during my junior and senior years.

My eleventh grade English teacher gave vocabulary words and definitions for students to copy and be tested on most of the time for the entire school year. As my elderly teacher presented her usual set of vocabulary words, I vividly remember thinking one day as she gave a word and definition,

“what does HAUGHTILY CONTEMPTUOUS really mean and what does it have to do with my life???”

I really, really remember this.

My senior year was no better.

The teacher could not control the student behaviors in my English class. So, being the

“good” student,

I was designated as the

nice

one who sat at the teacher’s desk to watch the rest of the class when instructor left the room because she could not take it anymore. I was the

sympathetic

student who was kind enough to tell her day after day that she had lipstick on her teeth. I was the

thoughtful

student who regularly brought my English teacher special treats that I baked across the hall in my Home Economics foods class.

That unspoken code between the teacher and me meant that

I did not have to do any classwork for the daily favors that I freely gave to her.

Despite this, I still received straight A’s in English class. I also did not have to complete major assignments like the required senior term paper that most students struggled to complete because no instructional guidance was provided by the teacher. I remember how frustrated my peers were because they literally taught each other how to complete the term paper. I remember feeling the sense of freedom and the satisfaction that only the teacher’s most favorite student could enjoy.

However,

these experiences in my final two high school years caused a very huge problem for me later.

My College Freshman Composition Class

Once I graduated from high school and enrolled as a student at West Virginia Wesleyan College, the reality of my educational past quickly consumed me. It haunted me, too. The realization that I attended substandard junior and senior high schools shook me to my core. My level of anxiety increased to heights that were foreign to me. I was apprehensive and I was afraid.

This was the reality that confronted me as a college freshman.

I did not know how write, even a very short essay. I lacked the prior knowledge to tap into to be able to formulate cohesive sentences and paragraphs. So, the initial sense of struggle that I experienced in freshman composition class along with other courses during my first semester of college that involved a lot of writing was extremely real and traumatizing to me. However, my freshman composition professor, Mrs. Jeannie from DeFoe made a positive difference for me.

On many late autumn afternoons immediately after class, Mrs. DeFoe took me outside of the beautiful college campus to a bench situated in a quiet location. My professor helped me to compose myself and she helped me to focus. It was during our multiple visits to the outside bench that she taught me the basic mechanics of writing. Mrs. DeFoe also encouraged me to believe that I could become a good writer.

Because of the support that one professor gave me, I exceeded the required expectation to successfully complete the freshman composition class. Because of the acts of kindness and love extended to me by Mrs. DeFoe, I am an extremely strong writer today.

I always thought about Mrs. DeFoe through the years, especially while writing for either pleasure or as part of my career as teacher, school and district administrator, and professor. My reflections of her are filled with appreciation. Mrs. DeFoe could have given up on me as an unprepared college freshmen who was not ready for enrollment in a college composition class. Instead of she didn’t.

After investing in the time and effort to do so several years ago, I was able to locate Mrs. Defoe. I wrote her a heart-felt letter to her to simply thank her. She quickly responded to me with a heart full of joy to let me know how honored she was to know that she really helped a student.

Again, I say to Mrs. Jeannie DeFoe,

“thank you”.

Here’s my golden ticket that helps me accomplish my mission.

Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is a retired family and consumer sciences teacher, school principal, director of pupil personnel services, assistant to the superintendent for family and community engagement, and professor of multicultural education. Her website is www.Drdeborahmvereen.com and she is dedicating the rest of her life to serving as a Global Family Engagement Influencer.