Student of the Month: January 2013
Right from the beginning of the school year, I could tell that language and writing came easy to Brighton Alvey. Whereas many students struggled to write half a page, she never had any problem filling lots of them. She not only had lots of interesting things to say, but she said them well: complete, properly punctuated sentences, a relaxed style, and occasional flashes of humor. From the start, I made a mental alteration to her first name, adding a space and an E, so for the past few months I have been thinking of her as Bright One. And if she keeps going as she has been, I think that’s going to stick.
By her own admission, Brighton prefers writing to reading. Every once in a while, she’ll get a less than perfect score on a reading quiz, but she always makes up for it with her term papers and StudySync essays. One of the many online tools we use in Honors English is called Utah Write. Most of the students groan and complain about it because it won’t give them perfect scores just for submitting assignments; they have to write well, and they have to write a lot. They can resubmit their essays as many times as they want before the due date, and it is not uncommon to see one of those really ambitious “honors” types submit more than 20 revisions in order to raise a score. On her midterm paper, Brighton got a 28/30 on her first try. On the term research paper, she submitted it only once and got a perfect 30. As you can imagine, this drives her classmates (and her sister, who is also in Honors English) crazy. But it sure makes reading her papers easier on me!
Looking at this Bright One, you would never guess her secret passion. Poetry? Ballet? Choir? Guess again! Here are the opening lines of her “Where I’m From” poem: “I am from scraped up hips, from scarred knees and severe concussions…I am from late night sprints and weekend BMX races.” Extreme Team BMX: That’s her thing! She puts on a helmet and some pads, gets on a bike, and goes crazy on a dirt track full of jumps and sharp turns. Winner take all! She trains almost every day on her bike or in the gym, and she competes on a national level, with her eye set on the Olympics. I expect we’ll see her there in 2016…2020 at the latest. When that time comes, and I am watching the gold medal round, I know I’ll recognize her even under all that protective gear. Know why?
‘Cause she’ll still be the Bright One to me. And I’ll be proud to say she was in my class.
By her own admission, Brighton prefers writing to reading. Every once in a while, she’ll get a less than perfect score on a reading quiz, but she always makes up for it with her term papers and StudySync essays. One of the many online tools we use in Honors English is called Utah Write. Most of the students groan and complain about it because it won’t give them perfect scores just for submitting assignments; they have to write well, and they have to write a lot. They can resubmit their essays as many times as they want before the due date, and it is not uncommon to see one of those really ambitious “honors” types submit more than 20 revisions in order to raise a score. On her midterm paper, Brighton got a 28/30 on her first try. On the term research paper, she submitted it only once and got a perfect 30. As you can imagine, this drives her classmates (and her sister, who is also in Honors English) crazy. But it sure makes reading her papers easier on me!
Looking at this Bright One, you would never guess her secret passion. Poetry? Ballet? Choir? Guess again! Here are the opening lines of her “Where I’m From” poem: “I am from scraped up hips, from scarred knees and severe concussions…I am from late night sprints and weekend BMX races.” Extreme Team BMX: That’s her thing! She puts on a helmet and some pads, gets on a bike, and goes crazy on a dirt track full of jumps and sharp turns. Winner take all! She trains almost every day on her bike or in the gym, and she competes on a national level, with her eye set on the Olympics. I expect we’ll see her there in 2016…2020 at the latest. When that time comes, and I am watching the gold medal round, I know I’ll recognize her even under all that protective gear. Know why?
‘Cause she’ll still be the Bright One to me. And I’ll be proud to say she was in my class.
posted by MRT at 8:12 AM
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