Personal Narrative

This fall, all Mitchell Bobcats worked on narrative essays. This winter, student's are working on expository essays. Please check back in to see exemplary expository essays in the near future.

Here is how 8th Grader, Lexus Marshall, responded to the narrative writing prompt; "Think of a time you set a goal and worked hard to achieve it".

Last summer in 2010, I discovered the rapper Drake. I thought that his songs were amazing and his lyrics had a lot of meaning to it. I would always try to sing songs on his CD "Thank Me Now" but I had trouble saying the right lyrics. So then I decided that I would learn the lyrics to all the songs on the CD that I liked. The thing was there were about 12 songs that I really liked. My goal's deadline was before school started, and I started around the end of July. I did it because I wanted to be his "Biggest Fan." I am going to explain to you what I did to help me learn all the lyrics.

I did a very obvious thing as my first step; I listened to his CD everyday. I did that to see if I could make out the lyrics by listening to what he was saying, but some of the words were hard to understand. He either said them too fast or not clearly enough. I would always try to guess what the words were, but I constantly failed when it didn't sound right. It was like trying to fit a watermelon through a keyhole, it just wouldn't work. I thought to myself "What do I do now?" After that, I thought my plan was over. Until I was on the internet and I saw this ad on song lyrics and I thought about it and knew they would have the lyrics to the songs I had trouble with. Right then and there I knew; the plan was back in action!

So after that I would go on my computer and read the lyrics while listening to the song. But I got tired of it and came up with an idea that I would send the lyrics to my phone through my email; portable lyrics! Now that idea helped me learn the lyrics I couldn't understand. The watermelon had finally gone through the keyhole! This strategy of putting the words on my phone got me to get the words down pat. Next I decided to try it without the lyrics. So I decided to practice singing the songs with my friends, more practice for me!

The first person I practiced with was Alyssa. When I first tried with her I got a few wrong and she would help me. Then I decided to try it with someone that knew Drake a little bit better, my friend Xavier. When I tried it with him, I knew I had gotten better. Lastly, I practiced with the person who I knew was also crazy about Drake, Shawn. When I practiced with him we went back and forth together and finished a complete song. I was really happy that they had helped me accomplish my goal; it was the icing on the cake.

Now I know all the lyrics to all my favorite songs by Drake. And it's all thanks to me, the internet, and my friends Alyssa, Xavier, and Shawn. At night I still sing and listen to those songs and know all the words to it. Even now when I hear a Drake song I am dedicated to learn the lyrics. I would have to say that Drake is my favorite rapper, and you can defiantly say that I'm his biggest fan!