My Real-Life Model
1998, Year 11 English Folio Piece:
“I am not here”
By Eloise Porter.
Mrs Margaret Smith could have dismissed me as a teenage drama queen. I submitted a folio piece, which delved into issues sixteen-year-olds need not worry about.
Through writing I made myself aware of things that would have otherwise escaped me. Through writing I was able to explore the hum that wanders around behind my eyes.
Mrs Smith was concerned. She had an obligation to investigate.
I was never alienated. I was never made to feel abnormal. I was never made to feel I was different.
Rather, on a small Monet fronted card, she commended me on a powerful piece of writing and offered me all the support I needed. It may have been a dreadful piece of writing but she told me what I needed to hear; that what was going on in my head was not nonsense. My anxieties were valid. I was valid.
Whether it be as an English teacher or not, I can only hope that I can offer the same kind of gentle intervention and quiet support to a confused young adult, or anyone who gives an aching piece of their self to me.
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