Have you ever seen a kid in class who wouldn’t volunteer to read or answer a question? I was that type of student. Talking in class was a struggle for me because the fear of saying the wrong thing was always on my mind.

There were constant announcements about students in our class winning writing awards. It was a dream for me. I have always felt unsure of myself when writing. Semicolons confused me and I used too many commas. I had no idea how to cite anything. During my freshman year, the teacher would pick the best essay in our class to be read out loud, but mine was never chosen. I found it really hard to write an essay.

One teacher Mr. Wilson, who taught me the next semester, changed everything. He was in his fifties and had a reputation for having a particular teaching style. He connected writing and reading to football, but somehow it made sense. What really made him special to me was that every class he would pick someone to read their writing out loud to the class.

In one of his lessons, he said: “I will not always pick the essay that I think has the best grammar or use of vocabulary. I will pick the one that I think has the most character.” This part was confusing tome because how can writing have character? He went on to explain: “I want to read something that I can tell the writer feel a lot while writing it. I want to feel the emotions you were going through as you wrote it.”

A few weeks later, for the first time, my essay was chosen to be read to my classmates. I can’t even remember what it was about, but I remember how nervous I was to see his reaction, mixed with pride at the fact that he felt like my work was worth sharing. He gave me his comments at the end of it, but I was too nervous to remember them. After class, he told me he was excited to read more of my work.

He made me feel special in the way he led the class, and I got over my fear of sharing my work in class. He made me believe in my writing abilities and gave me the confidence to continue writing.

As a freshman, the start of high school was a bit strange. From harder classes to strange hallways, we surely are the new kids of the school. We have just survived our first full week of Hawthorne High School (HHS) and here are some of our thoughts on our experiences:

Upon entering our new home away from home, we were happily greeted by the seniors, who cheered as we walked through the school gate. We were given new information about the next four years of our lives. At the end of the week we experienced our first pep rally (动员会), where we received a warm welcome from the upper classmen. Many things are different here than they were at middle school, and it has taken some getting used to.

For example, we have rotating drop schedules (轮换的课表) with different classes, in a different order each day. There are also two lunchrooms for all the students to eat in, and depending on our schedule for that day, we either have an early or late lunch. In these lunchrooms, we are allowed to use our phones.

Most of the lockers in the freshman hallway don’t have a shelf in them, but they are more spacious than the ones at middle school. Another difference is that you can share a class with someone in a different grade. Teachers here also like you to use a binder (活页夹), not a notebook. Besides, we have the chance to join a lot of different clubs including Journalism and Broadcasting.

As you can see, HHS has offered us many wonderful chances and we are trusted to do more things. Being a freshman at HHS is an amazing experience.

Most students have biology classes in the classrooms or the labs in China．But several days ago，I had a biology class outside in my American school．

My biology teacher，Mr. Kwak，divided us into three groups and asked us to play a game about natural selection(自然选择) and how birds find food．

He gave the first group one spoon per person，the second group forks and my group knives．I thought we were going hunting，so knives might work better．Surprisingly，he told us to pick up the beans on the grass with our tools．

When the game started, all of us ran to the grass area.We squatted(蹲)down and looked for beans. It was hard to pick up something that small，especially from the grass .

When I almost lifted a bean，it dropped back to the ground.When I finally picked up several beans, one of my friends ran into me．I couldn’t keep my balance and fell over．All my beans dropped to the ground! Just at that moment，Mr. Kwak called us back．I had to leave the game and of course I got a bad result．I couldn’t help thinking that if I were a bird living on Galapagos Island，I would be dead soon．

The fun game made me realize that natural selection is really competitive(竞争的)．Everyone is trying his or her best to survive．