Really enjoyed your writing, Jodi!

When I saw the title, I knew I had to read this! It brings back memories of when we got our FCAT Writing (or was it the Collier Writes?) scores and our teacher made us sit around her while she read aloud the essays. I had gotten a 6, and I felt so good because she’d chosen to read out mine first. And imagine when, after she reads out the first sentence (which seemed to have apparently nothing to do with what the prompt was asking), a girl goes, “Huh?!”

My prompt was something along the lines of who is your role model or whom do you admire and why. I began by asking, “Do you know how India got its independence?” Of course, I went on to talk about Mahatma Gandhi, but you can imagine what kind of reaction that kind of opening would garner. I couldn’t blame my classmate. But I think that different take was probably what fetched me the six. So, I loved it when you said that you chose to answer the prompt with “the mall.” How original when viewed from others’ (especially the scorers’) perspective!