Mr. Eric White

For this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week, I have chosen to honor English teacher Mr. Eric White as the teacher who has been the most impactful to my high school career. Mr. White has helped me a lot with appreciating literature and inspired me to get out of my comfort zone and try new things, especially in regards to my initial dislike for poems. He’s part of the reason I feel confident in my decision to major in English and concentrate in creative writing, rather than simply majoring in creative writing in college. Mr. White’s teaching style is very effective and although some of the work he assigns is extensive, it helps prepare me for college and allows me to retain more concrete information. For example, Mr White has the class write annotations for the books he assigns and discuss them with our peers in small groups, which has allowed me to remember books more in the long-term than in the short-term. His teaching methods have allowed me to appreciate myself as a student as he focuses more on our effort in class rather than if we are capable of applying our knowledge through the means of test-taking. When asked about what he attributes to him becoming such an impactful educator, Mr. White explained that it was “seeing students get interested [in a] topic… if I find one student… in the class who started digging and understands, that compels me forward.” My favorite times with Mr. White are definitely getting the opportunities to read our independent reading book, a novel we picked out ourselves that we get time in class to read, which is something I greatly appreciate. He’s also very helpful through emails whenever I have any questions. As a whole, Mr. White has contributed to much of my success as a student and I will take his words of wisdom with me beyond Lakeland when I graduate this year.