Introduction to Academic Writing

I Just Wanna Be Average ' by Mike Rose is a tribute to the rare inspirational teacher who turned him from a slacker into a writer in his senior year of high school . Jack MacFarland 's overall appearance and demeanor were strange by any standards , but he turned Rose 's mainstream English class into a college prep course . He began by introducing the boys (this was a parochial school ) to classic literature , such as The Iliad , and quizzed them to test what they 'd learned . He introduced them to and ideas of which they

had been completely unaware . By analyzing poems with them , he made difficult literature accessible to students who might never have read it . His lectures were engaging and they introduced the students to language and literary humor . When he poked fun at a student , he did so in a literary way , introducing the students to a different kind of humor . Rose was surprised that such an egghead ' could control a rowdy class . Soon , the students stopped goofing around during class and began to take it seriously

Rose found inspiration in MacFarland 's class because he soon began to spend his leisure time reading . Rose 's influences before this class had been physical , masculine football players , but now he was finding that it was acceptable to be intelligent . MacFarland started a literacy club and Rose eagerly joined . Soon , extrinsic rewards such as happy faces on s and good grades became less important to Rose . While he took pride...