a true teachers guide

A True Teachers Guide

Through my high school years my English teachers were old and boring and seemed to be waiting to retire. Until I came to be a junior my new teacher Mr. Archer opened my eyes to literature better then any other teacher I ever had. He was so good he asked me to join his AP course in the 12th grade, and of course I said yes. Without him, I wouldn’t like reading, or writing, and wouldn’t know how to get better at achieving my all time goal of being a sportscaster. Reading was a word I dreaded hearing in my early years in high school and even my whole middle school, mostly because of the fact that all my writing teachers were going to retire after the year they taught me. In my AP class with Mr. Archer we read many books and plays here's a list of books/plays we read that help be the scholar I am today. Revolutionary Road Richard Yates
Franny and Zooey JD Salinger
Blood Meridian Cormack McCarthy
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver
There were many more books that we read as a class that made my reading experience even better and I like to think I gave him a book he liked because he is still borrowing it “ drive” by James Sallis. Mr. Archer didn’t just give us books to read, but had certain techniques to train us for tests and become better readers. Every Tuesday, we would read a short story usually silent by then aloud and speak collaboratively, which I feel helped me understand the story if I didn’t or figure out if people thought the same way as me. He also took us on a trip after school to meet authors where we learned about the life, why they like writing, asked questions if we needed to, and leave with books they wrote. I remember one of the authors Jamaica Kincaid, she gave me tips on how New York City has many spots to give you inspiration to write and read. What made us read other than the books being so good was the test and Archer would enforce his reading perfectly he knew some kids would read spark notes or other websites that provided only summaries, so he would have questions that were easy if your read the book like character names and towns they live in and most people would get them wrong because they only had the summary of the chapter or story. My writing was worse than my reading in high school Mr. archer changed that dramatically thanks to his AP class. To start the week on Mondays, we would read poems religiously and have to find the literary elements and themes that helped greatly on the AP test. The essays were probably the easiest thing for me because they were about the book we were all assigned, and I loved the books he gave us, I got really in to them. I would always have quotations from the books in the essay which he loved and felt you can never have too much of them, he always felt that students should always have examples for their text thats how we got prepared for the exams. He would also go review your essay with you one on one on how you did on your essay and it was easier because we only had 12 students in the class for a double period. When we failed on a test that he gave us or saw that we were not at a certain level in the rubric, he had a way of motivating us that made my friends and me way better. Here is what he wrote to us the day of our AP exam: “You are all equipped with smart and fearless minds- I have witnessed it all year. Go in tomorrow and slam this thing- own it! AND thanks for keeping an open mind since September.Good Luck and all that other supernatural stuff!”. That little speech motivated me to pass my test with a 2, and I will always remember it.

One of the biggest things Mr. Archer gave me was specific advice that help me work toward on my goal. When I told Mr. Archer that I wanted to be a sportscaster, he gave it some thought and agreed that he liked that job for me because of my voice and that ended the initial conversation. What I didn’t know was that Archer took that in to consideration and the next day told me to meet with him at lunch. He gave me great advice, he told me to watch a sports game, put it on mute and record myself doing the play by play of the game and listen to my voice. We would later go over my voice after every recording and see what problems I was having like saying “um” too much. He had a mac laptop that he would help me with my voice on the app garage band that we use in my intro to broadcasting class. The dedication Archer showed to a career that have changed at anytime made me love his class even more. It wasn’t only my lunch time I was using, but it was his as well which showed me that he was interested in this as if he wanted for me to become a sportscaster.

Tim Archer was not only a teacher who helped me with reading, writing, and my goal of becoming a sportscaster, but he made appreciate school for what its worth that drew me to Sullivan community college. The students in my class loved Archer with every class we had and we created a relationship with him knowing his kids and wife, we would always joke about babysitting his kids or having a travel around Brooklyn to find his apartment. Without Archer it might sound corny but I wouldn’t be the man I am today because of what leaps I took in reading and writing rather than steps of literature . I would probably be going back to high school for another year and not be in a writing class with professor Lindquist and getting better at both reading writing and perhaps sportscasting if it weren’t for Archer and his lessons he gave me daily.