One Monday morning I came into the classroom and caught Joe ________ a picture on his math book. This was one day after I had given the class a lecture on taking care of school property. Normally I would have got angry and ________ him to the office. Instead, I walked over to his desk and stood there. Joe closed the book immediately, trying to hide his drawing. I said, “Let me ________ what I said yesterday: these textbooks are going to be used for the next five years, and I ________ you to take good care of them.” “Sorry,” Joe murmured. “I forgot.” “I see.” I said.

When I returned to Joe’s desk again, he was erasing the drawing with his tiny, worn-out eraser. I ________ him mine and a drawing pad, and then said, “Here, this might make the job ________. And you can also use the pad whenever you have the ________ to draw.” Joe looked ________ and said, “Thanks.” I nodded and started my lesson.

Joe hasn’t drawn in his textbook since. He keeps the pad in his pocket and shows me his drawing from time to time. I’m glad I didn’t ask him to go to the office that day. It might have stopped him from marking on his books, but we would never have the ________ we have today. And who knows, I may have ________ a promising Picasso.

The Write Feeling

Growing up in a military family, I moved a lot. I mostly went to ______ with other kids whose parents were also in the military. But when my dad ______ from the Marines after twenty years of service, I found myself ______ a civilian school with twelve-year-olds who shared no similar life experience with me.

I was a stranger in a strange land. Everyone in my class had grown up together, and they had no ______ to spare for a newcomer. I wore different clothes, had different thoughts, and spoke with an accent. I ______ for the first few weeks of school. I had no friends, no activities, and no     ____ of a bright future. To deal with it all, I began ______ in my diary every day—stories of adventure, of old friends, of feelings that I could not speak. I wrote as if my life depended on it, as if the very next breath I took could not happen ______ I wrote down words.

One day, my teacher, Mrs. Bush, came to me and asked why I always sat there writing instead of playing with others. I told her I enjoyed writing and ______ writing to playing. She smiled at me and walked away. About three weeks later, Mrs. Bush gave us a writing assignment. I was     ____ that I could now participate in something I knew I excelled in.

That night I worked and worked on the essay. I wrote with great ______. It was my one chance to feel important and ______ by the class.

A few days after we handed in our assignments, Mrs. Bush called me up to the ______ of the classroom. I stood before thirty pairs of eyes looking at me, and I got ______. Was I in trouble? Did I do something wrong?

Then Mrs. Bush told the class how much she ______ all the work that went into the essay and everyone had done a great job. But, she said, one student stood ______ as an excellent writer, one with imagination, creativity, and word mastery. That student was me!

The class clapped politely and Mrs. Bush handed me my paper, with the following ______ on it: “Malinda, you are an excellent writer. You fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. Please keep on writing and share your ______ of writing with the world. I am proud of you and glad you are in my class.”

Mrs. Bush helped me feel a sense of ______, a place of purpose, and a way to survive a transition in life. She helped me gain ______ in myself that stayed with me beyond sixth grade.

In 2008, my family decided to migrate to the United States. ______, I had to leave the life I was accustomed to ______. I left my friends and most importantly, I left the ______ of graduating from elementary school as a valedictorian (毕业生代表). When I came to Guam, I started attending Benavente Middle School as a sixth grader. However, because I came ______,I only ______ be a sixth grader for four months.

I’ve always done really ______ in school and I did not want to move to a different country to stop me from ______ my best. I made sure that my education was my first priority. I did all my work, turned things in on time, as well as studied for tests and quizzes. I was ______ that finally, I would be able to go on stage and be part of the top ten. However, ______ my hard work, I found out that I could not be on ______ because I did not attend some specific lessons for the whole three years. Hearing this, I felt like all my hard work went to waste.

When I started going to high school, I still kept that ______ inside. I still could not believe that I worked so hard on something but my hard work didn’t ______. Finally, in Junior year, I decided to let things go and not dwell on the past. I started ______ more time and effort into my studies and I saw improvement in my grades day by day. In the last year, I was so proud of my grades and was ______ to show them to my parents. I ______ the fact that I’m doing so well in school and I’m trying my best. As they always say, everyone makes mistakes. The only difference is that some people learn from them while others repeat them.