Kaylan Huff

Sean M. George
English 1010-D03
Essay #1
Essay #1 Formal Outline
I. Introduction
a. Start broad: School for me came easy as a child, that is all the way up until sixth
grade.
b. Beginning sixth grade I lived in Cedar City, and that year was the year that I
started going to the middle school. Finally, I had jumped up from elementary, I
was a big kid now, I was nervous and scared.
c. Turns out sixth grade in Cedar City was no problem, I was ahead in all of my
classes, my friends were there, my older brother was there, I felt comfortable,
what more did I need.
d.

Right after Thanksgiving my parents broke the news to my brother and I, we

were moving to St. George. Not only soon, in the middle of the school year; in
two months.

e. Finish narrow: My whole life had begun to turn upside-down, Moving meant so
much more than I thought. I went from being the top student in my class to the
very bottom in a matter of driving 45 minutes.
f. Finish narrow
g. Thesis statement: Handling new challenges in, and outside of school, made
my love for reading and writing as well as other subjects, take a toll.

II. Body Point #1

a. Topic sentence: One of the main problems for me moving was getting used to
St. Georges schooling set-up.
b. whole process of school was different compared to Cedar Citys schooling.
c. 8 Period bell schedule, no homeroom.

d. level of Lava Ridge Intermediate compared to Cedar Middle.

e. Language arts class, already know how to write essays.
f. Transition to next paragraph: On top of being overwhelmed, the teacher had no
patience in teaching me or in helping me get caught up.

III. Body Point #2

a. Topic sentence: The teachers at Lava Ridge Intermediate werent mean to
me, but they didnt make me feel welcome either.
b. I didnt get as much attention in class that I had at my other school.
c. Gave me bad grades, every time I asked her a question, she made me feel stupid.
d. I began to hate school along with reading and writing.
e. It is true about which subject you begin to love or write has a lot to do with who is
teaching and how fun they are making it.
f. Transition to next paragraph: The embarrassment of not knowing anything in
class was almost as bad as asking new people for help.

IV. Body Point #3

a. Topic sentence: Asking friends and family for help with schooling was also
not an option.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.

I didnt know how to make new friends, it was a whole new class each period,
there was no time to get to know anyone.
Very shy.
Seeing the teachers reactions to asking for help made me scared, I could hardly
imagine how a student would make me feel.
My parents try to help me, but their level of education is not up-to-date; they were
just as lost as I was.
Frustration began to fights, and I resulted to blame my parents for moving.
Transition to next paragraph: As a sixth grader with no help, I was completely lost
with my school work.

V. Body Point #4
a. Topic sentence: Me being the stressful person I am, the state I fell into with
my school work was nerve racking.
b. I am the type of person to be perfect at school work, I get stressed out very easily,
this was anything but okay with me.
c. The last quarter was right around the corner and I was terrified of my test results.
d. I had tried my hardest in my school work from the moment I got there, however I
knew I was still at the bottom of my class.
e. By the time that level ending testing came around, I scored an average in
Language arts and reading.
f. I was disappointed in my scoring, and disappointed on how I reacted to my life.
g. Transition to next paragraph: Looking back at this time in my life, I regret how I
acted about my whole situation.

VI. Conclusion
a. Summarize points, make a specific point, answer the question So what? Even
though it was a stressful time for me, my actions on handling the situation
couldve made the problem disappear the first day I moved.
b. I have nobody to blame but myself.
c. Lesson learned.
d. I am not going to let myself fall behind again, and if I happen to, I will ask
questions.
e. So what if people think Im dumb, at least Im trying.
f. Restate thesis Going through the roller coaster of moving from one school to
another as well as one town to another, has helped shape my reading and writing
throughout the years.
g. Leave readers with a lasting memory Thinking back on the memories of sixth
grade, I am glad that I had the experience I did with schooling that I did. It not
only inspired me to work harder but to always keep moving forward.