A Busy Week

This last week has been a little crazy for me. Each night of the week I basically had some big assignment to complete and I felt like I was barely making my deadlines. But, fortunately, I was able to complete these assignments and I feel pretty good about them. Tuesday night I had to write what my Anthropology teacher calls the "First Simple Quiz". In actuality, it is a long, 2000+ word essay about the book we have been reading in there called "The Harmless People". So, I wrote most of it Tuesday night, the day before it was due, and I was up until about 3 in the morning completing it.

On Wednesday night, I had a journal article assignment for my Social Psychology class. I had to read a journal article (in this case, the introduction to a book that my professor wrote) and answer three essay questions about it. It was due at 11:50 that night, and I finished it at 11:45 and turned it in online just in time. So, that was exciting. Then, on Thursday night, I had to write my first draft for my literature review in Advanced Writing. I'm writing my paper on Music Therapy and how it affects musicians and nonmusicians differently. So, I feel I did fairly well on it. In class the next day, we had to go over our papers with somebody in the class, and the guy who looked over my paper said it was really good, but just needed to be a little more focused on my topic in places.

Speaking of my advanced writing class, the teacher gave back our assignments from the beginning of the week where we wrote the first three paragraphs of our Literature Review. The teacher said that he indicated on our papers if we needed to meet with him or not to go over our papers. He said that most of the class needed to meet with him. Well, I was pleased to find out I don't need to meet with him, which makes me feel that my paper must be decent if I don't have to meet with the teacher.

Besides these major assignments, once again the best event of the week for me was my creative writing class. What made class so cool this time is that Brandon brought along some guest speakers for the class who are in town for a writing conference. The first guest is a good friend of Brandon's who recently got his Horror book series published, so he had some good advice about how to write in the Horror genre. Then we heard from a writer named James Dashner. James Dashner is the author of a series I love called "The 13th Reality" so it was an honor to hear him speak. He talked about his story of how he got into the business, which involved a lot of hard work especially in the area of marketing on his part. It was an inspirational story that made me even more excited about writing and trying to get into the business. It seems tough, but if your writing is good enough, then it is possible to get your work published. He also talked about a series of his that is coming out soon called "The Maze Runner" that I'm really interested in reading.

Also, when we split up into writing groups, my group had the privelege of having Brandon Sanderson join our group to comment on our writing. When it was time to go over my writing, I was very happy when everybody complimented my work and said that they really liked it. Brandon even seemed to have more positive than negative things to say. He gave me some great advice that I am working hard to improve on, and gave me encouragement that I could actually become a good writer. So, that class has really been a great blessing for me.

I was inspired by Kevin's blog in which he talked about the teachers that have had an impact on his life. This made me think of what teachers have made an impact on me, and I feel like sharing who those people are now. So, here are some great teachers I have had through the years:

My high school chemistry teacher. She made me interested in a subject that I was not excited about at all before. I hated science for the most part in high school, but her class made me have a lot better appreciation for science, and chemistry in general. It even led me to enter into AP Chemistry.

Mr. Schaina, my AP Calculus teacher in high school. He was a very intelligent man that I admire greatly. He made calculus fun and easy for me. I really loved his teaching style and I loved the more fun moments where he would ask us trivia questions if there was extra time after class. HE was a great teacher.

Dr. Luke Howard, took two semesters of Civilization of Music from him at BYU. He was a great teacher with a lot of passion for the subject he taught, which coincidently is a subject I have a lot of passion for as well- music. He really communicated his passion and his accent made the class more interesting as well. I think it is the mark of a great teacher who can make me excited each week to attend his class.

Brother Johnson, 2nd semester of Book of Mormon and 2 semesters of New Testament at BYU. Brother Johnson is the first teacher I took 3 classes from because I loved him so much. He has such a great sense of humor and again has a lot of passion for what he teaches. He taught me a lot of what I know about the gospel.

Brother Bott, Mission Prep at BYU. It doesn't get much more inspirational than Brother Bott. Brother Bott is perhaps the most spiritual man I have ever met personally. He inspired me to go on a mission and his teaching approach was very refreshing. He was very honest and would teach things that really had a direct application for the students lives. His lessons are timeless and I will never forget them.

Dean Hughes, Creative Writing at BYU. Dean Hughes is a great writer and a great teacher. It was a wonderful class full of great young writers and I could feel Dean Hughes excitement for having such a great class and being able to teach us. He really helped to give me a writing bug and gave me a lot of great advice that I won't forget. He is a wonderful man and really cared about us students.

Brother Fluhman, Doctrine and Covenants, American Christianity and Church History at BYU. This is the second time I have taken three classes from the same professor, and all three have been amazingly fun and spiritual at the same time. Brother Fluhman is very excited about Christian and Mormon history and it comes out through his lessons. He always goes off on tangents, but they always teach me something. He is amazingly spiritual and incredibly funny.

So, those are seven teachers that have had a memorable impact on me. I'm sure there are more if I think a little harder about it, but those are the seven that immediately come to mind. Classes are so much better and I learn so much more when there is a good teacher at the head of it.

So, that is my entry this week, I hope it was somewhat interesting. I will make sure to write again next week, and until then, I hope you all do well!