“Is this supposed to be your work? You can do better than this.”
Mid Covid English Teacher
Back then, and even still today, I hated being labelled as anything negative. Especially when I felt as though the person who said such things barely knew anything about me. That’s why it specifically stung when it came from my 9th Grade teacher. In the midst of 9th grade in 2020, during the obviously draining pandemic, I was pretty devastated. While it was fun at first to just play games, read virtual books (instead of carrying them), and answer google forms for 1-2 hours a day, a part of me felt like it was dying. I didn’t take care of my lifestyle, and as a result, I felt as though my hobbies and interests went away, one of them being my love of writing. I eventually became comfortable with doing just the bare minimum.
While I feel as though part of it might’ve not been my fault(due to the circumstances) , I do still remember the kind of offense I felt seeing my 9th grade English teacher constantly write on my Google Docs. “Is this supposed to be your work? You can do better than this.” As if she knew the kind of content I could make back then. As if she knew the kind of grades I received back then. However, it did make me realize that I had become sloppy. The thought of my brain cells eventually deteriorating so bad to the point where I didn’t want to do anything kind of terrified me, so I knew I had to improve. At an obviously slower than average pace, I did learn to actually put effort in my work, so that I’d know what to do when I picked up a pencil in an in-person class one day.
For example, one way I learned to do that is to just slowly insert my personality into my work. Whether that be as simple as changing the font or page color or adding decoration (on assignments that weren’t serious), or something else like pushing myself to put another extra sentence or paragraph on a piece, I gradually relearned what it meant to make your work yours. I managed to bring my grade up from borderline to passing as well as enter the next grade with a more positive mindset that I can make it if I actually believe in myself and personalize my efforts.
