Who do you want to be?

Jenna Hamilton wanting to become a professional writer decides to take Mr. Hart’s class who is heard to be a sadistic creative writing teacher that pushes the students out of their comfort zones as well as pushing them to their limit. On their first day of class, Mr. Hart asks the class “Who do you want to be?” and as their last assignment for the year Mr. Hart assigns their paper on exactly that question. It’s prom night on Awkward and none of that mattered; not Matty taking Bailey to prom, Sadie finally experiencing true love, Ming not worried about losing her virginity, or Jake surprising Tamara with a cheetah print tux.

Jenna struggles with her paper after having such a hard year full of drama, boys and drugs so Mr. Hart shares a personal experience but more importantly, he opens her eyes with this message. Feedback being the topic for this week I thought of this specific episode, it involves positive and negative feedback from her teacher Mr. Hart and mother Lacey. Mr. Hart wanted to teach kids with talent how to face criticism and discover that success isn’t about winning. It’s about staying in the game, not quitting, or letting someone make you quit.. He tells Jenna “I want you to realize that all the hardship and all the criticism that you face is making you a better writer and a better person. So don’t quit now before you learn that no matter what you do or where you go, you can’t escape yourself”.  Mr. Hart sees himself in Jenna, the person he was when he first became a writer. Which explains why he’s so hard on her and is a tough teacher.

After writing that cruel letter to Jenna in the first season which at that moment Lacey might have thought she was giving Jenna harsh but helpful feedback to help her daughter which wasn't the case at all. Lacey can’t believe what she did, and takes a moment to be grateful for Jenna’s forgiveness because she imagines not being so close to Jenna if she hadn’t forgiven her. However what I liked about this scene is, Jenna still struggles to write her paper until she receives this advice from her mother: “You are not this person. You realize your mistakes, you took ownership of them, you made amends. Honey without the bad days, we can never appreciate the good ones and there are so many good days coming your way. Just do me a favor. Forgive yourself like you forgave me.”

The feedback given from Mr. Hart and Lacey is heartfelt and comes with good intentions. They want to see Jenna become a better person to become successful as we do when we give feedback to our classmates like we are doing this week, helping them better their essays as we give constructive criticism to help them achieve the perfect paper. 
Oh, Hmmm, I have an amazing idea for you, my readers, help me become a better writer by responding to my blog posts. I know many of my classmates view my blog it tells me on blogspot how many views I get each day, so why not leave a comment no matter how little it may be. Btw it's Tuesday tonight. You know what that means NEW EPISODE OF AWKWARD! Who knew my college homework would involve watching reruns of my favorite show?! Have a good week, till next time!

-JVillalpando

Here's a little piece of Jenna's paper:
"I had been struggling to think of what to say, so I stopped thinking. I was convinced I didn't know who I wanted to be and then I realized the answer was all around me. I want to be someone who's willing to forgive. (Kevin and Lacey) I want to be someone who cares more about other people than themselves. (Val) I want to be someone who can tell it like it is. (Sadie) I want to be someone who would give up everything for the right reasons. (Ming) I want to be someone who sees the good in everyone. (Jake) I want to be someone who is a true friend. (Tamara) I want to be someone who always tries to be a better person, (Matty) and someone who learns from his mistakes. (Mr. Hart) I want to be someone who encompasses all those things so I can finally be that girl who doesn't need a boy to be happy because I'll know how to dance all on my own."