05/29/2020
Dear Fitz,
I have spent the past three years at Fenn, two of which have been in your English class. I was never bad at English, but when I recently looked back on my first blog post from September 2018, I realized how far I’ve come. You forge your own path when it comes to teaching English. At least in 8th grade, you were completely independent from the rest of the English teachers. Your class all revolves around posts on the blog, and you use different and refreshing material to help reinforce the same writing techniques. (I do not need to list them here, we all know about the comma rues, Literary Reflection etc) This model of teaching has turned out to work wonders for me. Writing in a blog format has helped me develop my own unique writing style, and I can safely say that I have mastered all of the writing techniques except for the comma rules. From Tom Sawyer to the Oddyssey, and Al Quiet on The Western Front to Walden, I have read my fair share of books too. I will never forget the fun times I’ve had in this class, in both 8th and 9th grade. I’ve learned how to analyze a book from one cover to another, inside and out. I’ve learned how to roll properly in wrestling, I’ve learned how to run my own blog, and most importantly, I’ve learned that learning English can actually be pretty fun.
I have learned how to do group work as well. Your class always had the perfect blend of group and independent work. I’ve worked with every student under the sun in your class. But the vast majority of assignments have always been independent for me. You also put me through WW Fenn, which was both important and horrible at the same time, and yet was still an important event for me overall. If I could think of a top event in English class, I might have to go back to 8th grade, when everything seemed to brighten up in the Spring, and All Quiet on The Western front was the primary project. On another level, your advisory was also a highlight of my entire Fenn career. Even though it was very polarized and divided, everyone got along just fine. Especially when we all squeezed into your van, and I had to share a seat with some massive plant, and a bag of coal, for some strange reason. But now I must move on with my life, which is both thrilling and saddening to me. I’ve looked forward to graduation for so long, but now that it’s upon me I wish I had taken more time to “live in the moment”, particularly in your class. Thank you for all the wonderful times we have had, and the times like WW Fenn and the wrestling tournament, where I didn’t enjoy it at the time, but benefited from them in the long run, and for trying to teach me guitar, even though it ended up not working out. I’ll be sure to visit you in the future.
Thank you
-Elliot