Get Ready to Rumble!

I have learned a lot about myself and my writing throughout my junior year. I think that I have actually improved more this year in writing than any other year in the past. AP Language and Composition was definitely a challenging class but it was a challenge that I felt I needed in order to start getting a sense of a college level course. Throughout this year, I was able to develop new, valuable skills and capabilities that I will use further into my academic future.  I was also able to identify my strengths and weaknesses as a writer; pinpointing my weaknesses by improving them throughout the year. With the several amounts of thought-provoking pieces of literature such as In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I was able to immerse myself into captivating pieces of literary work. By engaging myself into these novels, I was able to increase my reading comprehension and had the opportunity to learn the new ways of writing adopted by each author. As a student, I believe that I have developed even more since English 10H. My progress in this course has made me create this confidence I now have to continue into my academic studies. 

Throughout the year in AP Language, I have learned so much. I remember being taught the different types of logical fallacies and how they are used in an argument to support the writer’s view of a certain topic.  Analyzing arguments was another significant lesson I learned. I can also remember that there are three different approaches when it comes to making an argument effective; those approaches include the Classical approach, the Rogerian approach, and the Toulmin approach. All of which helped the class when it came to organizing our own argument. With this, we were able to construct our argument research paper. By creating my argument research paper, I was able to incorporate everything I knew about an effective argument and include it within my argument research paper. 

            Over the course of the year, I saw a growth in my writing when it came to assignments such as the Incentive essay and the Technology Information argument. With the Incentive essay, I saw where I needed improvement. Thanks to Ms. Fogarty’s helpful comments, I saw why I got a five. As I reviewed her comments, I learned that my thesis was not as strong as it should have been and that my introduction need more evidence. In my Technology Information argument, I realized that I had grown since the Incentive essay. The grade point was higher considering that I had made an effective argument and had synthesized the sources efficiently. The argument practice I did previously was probably the main facilitator that helped me achieved that higher grade. Overall, I was satisfied that I had increased my grade and had received great feedback from Ms. Fogarty. 

For my junior year, I was grateful for having a resourceful and informative teacher. From my perspective, I believed that Ms. Fogarty did a remarkable job in instructing the class. She was very patient with the class and instructed the class efficiently. I appreciate a teacher like that; makes me, as a student, more comfortable on doing my assignments. I also appreciate that she gave us worthy criticism on our work. It helped me a lot on improving all my assignments. Overall, Ms. Fogarty was a great teacher. Her instruction, constructive criticism, and her overall enthusiasm made her an ideal English teacher. 

I can honestly say that I am much better and more comfortable with writing than I was last year. I am not saying this because I have to; I actually appreciate all the things Ms. Fogarty has taught me this year because I am so much more comfortable with my writing skills than I have ever been before. One piece of advice I would give to a student who is struggling with this AP class is that he or she must find the source of his or her struggle. If the problem is within the classroom, the student should seek help from the teacher and clear the issue so that that student gets back on track. If it’s outside the classroom, the student should relieve the issue as soon as possible, that way the student has a clear road to perform efficiently. Every student taking an AP course must know that dedication is key. Students considering on taking an AP course must know that he or she must commit their time to homework and pay much attention to the teacher. Once the student is informed, he or she will then decide whether or not an AP course is the right thing to do. If taking an AP is the right thing to do, then he or she will then have to get ready... to Rumble!

See You Next Year!

I cannot believe that the school year is coming to a close, for it feels like only yesterday when I first entered your class. Although this is my last reflection essay for AP Language, I am glad knowing that I will see you again in DCC English 101 and 102. Nonetheless, your class sure was a journey for me as a reader, writer, and thinker. To be honest, I was quite surprised of my growth from first quarter to the quarters that followed. I did not expect to improve so much in such a small amount of time, and yes, I do consider a single school year a small moment in time. Thanks to you, I became a better author of my writings and achieved most of my goals I have set for myself. Even though some of those goals were not met, hopefully in the near future, I will complete these objectives within my future classes with you. In order to stay consistent with my writing skills, over the summer, I will write for myself and for my mere enjoyment. Looking back at my previous written compositions for this class, it still baffles me how much I have grown. I remember how horrible a writer I was in the first quarter, despite the fact that the class as a whole needed to adjust to the changes brought about by you. However, like I said before, works after my first quarter gradually got better. It is with this betterment that I will become the writer that I am now.

Now that the school year is coming to an end, I am starting to look back now, realizing how unprepared I really was for this class. I bear in mind the first few days in class and how nervous I was about taking this course. Pondering on how difficult AP Language was going to be, I commit to memory on how frightened I was when you began talking about future essays and what not. To tell you the truth, I was not listening to what you were saying, for I started to have fearful imaginations of the writings that were to come. Three page essays, TIMED in-class essays that were going to be graded from a one to nine scale, and let’s not forget Socratic seminars. I just felt ill-prepared, and in the beginning, I did not believe I had the determination to excel as I wanted to. Our first in-class essay, if I say so myself, really showed me what my strengths and weaknesses were within my writing. The essay was a rhetorical précis, in which we as a class had to write a well-written essay based on a passage from The Horizontal World by Debra Marquart. To be more specific, we had to analyze the strategies Marquart uses to characterize the upper Midwest. Prior to this paper, I was in attempt to remember strategies that could be found within literary texts. When it was the day of the rhetorical précis, my mind just went completely blank. Sitting in the back of the class did not help either, for I would joke around with my classmates at times during these in-class writing sessions. All I can say is that my rhetorical précis was beyond horrible. I think what really killed me was the task of understanding the passage, and identifying the literary techniques that Marquart used within it. Furthermore, I spent too much time on the introduction, in which I modeled it in way that represented previous précis from other works, which were pretty lengthy. By the time I was done with the intro of my essay, time was just about up. I did not even finish my first body paragraph, which is pretty disappointing. Walking out of that class with a face of shock and discontent, I was not sure if I wanted to continue with this course or simply drop out. I realized then that I was weak when it came to writing in a certain amount of time, as well as answering the prompt completely. I was sure of myself that I could wholly analyze examples, but time was forever my enemy, disallowing me to go deeper into my analysis. The only strength that I was aware of was my ability to write a well-written introduction, an ability that not many students have. Nonetheless, since the essay was nowhere near complete, I had received a 3. Accepting the low grade was a hard pill to swallow, but from that day on, I challenged myself to become a better writer. It is with this challenge that, in the days to come, my written compositions would improve.

 As said before, I was not content knowing that on my first AP essay prompt, I had received a 3. Despite the fact that the overall class had gotten the same grade, I wanted to aim for a higher grade, and not be comfortable with my classmates getting similar results. I wanted to be one step ahead of the class, and so, I became more prepared and focused when I had to write in-class essays. With the first quarter leaving a nasty taste in my mouth, I was determined to make sure this second quarter was much sweeter than its predecessor. By making the choice to sit in front of the class, I became more attentive and applied your instructions to my writing. I guess you could say that I began to take your class more seriously, in which the first quarter of AP Language was more of a test-run. As I read on a day to day basis, I soon began to take note of the rhetorical strategies that authors used within their books. Thanks to you, I got extremely interested in books, specifically ones that have something to do with reality or history. Currently, I am reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, but I will tell you how that novel is going another time. Nonetheless, it was in this second quarter that the class was assigned to read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. This non-fiction novel really got me intrigued and soon, I was not reading the book because it was assigned, but rather for my mere enjoyment of the plot. With this enjoyment, I was easily able to pinpoint literary techniques utilized by the late author. Due to this book, I really wanted to read more outside of class, and so when I had some free time on my hands, I would. I remember there being a Socratic seminar about Capote’s book, and it was there that I noticed that I needed to improve on my social skills. Surely if a man adores a novel that he reads there should be no problem with him talking about it within a classroom. I now realize that with English comes communication, and without communication, opinions about matters cannot be established. Nevertheless, during this span of time, many in-class essays have challenged me, but what remains most distinct was the Thomas Paine FRQ. Although this essay reveals my improvement in writing, this does not meant that the essay itself did not pose a threat. In fact, due to it being a FRQ, I actually had to use outside evidence. In addition, I had to formulate opinion on Paine’s belief about America. In the end, I had received a 5, two points higher than a 3, and for once I was able to finish at least one body paragraph. This grade stayed consistent with my previous two essay prompts, which I was not happy about. However, it did show that I was not getting worse nor better, so I guess that was a good sign. Yet, the essay showed that time was clearly not on my side (when was it ever!?!), but also revealed the improvement of sentence structure. I often wonder what facilitated my growth as a writer, but now I know that it was the constant awareness of mistakes and practice that made me who I am.

 Two more quarters left, and I was not going to give up now. “I have been improving, so let’s continue to improve;” this is what I said to myself when ever adversities came up within your class. With the third quarter coming to an end and the fourth one approaching, it was time to go for broke. The last in-class AP essay prompt was based on The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson. As a class, we were given the task to analyze how Wilson conveys the unproductive nature of environmentalists and critics of environmentalism. I do not know why, but a sense of confident rose within me. I was smiling, determined, and I knew I had this essay in the bag. As I wrote this essay, I made sure that I ended this final quarter on a good note.  After finishing the given assignment, I could only think to myself how well I had written the paper and thankful that I had enough time to finish. I came out the class proud and feeling that I could just do about anything. I was just filled with happiness, and I did not even know what I got on the written assignment. But something told me that I had received a good score and I was anxious to know what it was. The next day was a day of suspense. Once in your classroom, you began to hand out the graded papers and I soon got butterflies. When you got to me, my heart nearly stopped, I was really that excited!  With the paper lying on my desk I saw that I had got a score of 7.  The grade really made my day, and I quickly began to look for any mistakes within the paper. I guess I could have been more analytical on my selected quotes, as well as have a better sentence structure. All in all, I was pleased knowing that I ended this school year with improvement in my pocket.

I must thank you Ms. Fogarty for the knowledge you have bestowed upon me as a student. The skills that I have obtained from this course can greatly be put to use, from college applications to college itself. Since AP Language is a college course, you have prepared me for college level writings that I will most likely face once I graduate. Your instructions have helped me become a more mature writer, as well as keen my eye to rhetorical strategies that without you I would never be able to identify. Without a doubt I feel more prepared for more college courses as result of this course, merely because I have overcome so many challenges that I will most likely never have face if I did not take this class. With that fact and fact alone, I am more determined and high in self-esteem to take future college courses. I think what worked for me as a student in your class was the constant reading of passages over weekends, which helped me understand literary texts. All in all, this year has been a blast, and I hope Senior year lives up to the high expectations I have for it. Once again, I thank you Ms. Fogarty for all you have done.

Procrastination Kills

AP Language as a course has significantly improved my writing as a whole. As a writer, I am able to write in a more sophisticated prose style as well as improving my grammar. Throughout the year I was capable of pushing myself to achieve more and raise my standards. From the beginning of the year up until now as I reflect on my best work I find writing more enjoyable. This course has put forth some challenging assignments and readings but each assignment contributed to the growth of me as an individual. From quarter 1, I have experienced substantial growth from my rhetorical précis to my recent research paper in the fourth quarter. Along with those pieces of writing I have completed several AP prompts which in fact were the most effective in my opinion. The AP prompts get you ready for the AP exam itself; it allows you to manage your time planning along with writing the actual essay.  My Thomas Paine essay may have been my best work put forth in this class in regards to AP prompts. I received a six on that essay and that was a shock to me because I was so used to getting three’s and four’s in the beginning of the year. 

The skills I have learned during the course of the year will help me when I begin to consider my college application process. My prose style along with my strong grammar skills are going to come in handy when I go to write my college essay. Outside of school the skills I have obtained in AP Language could be used for almost anything. My progress in the class has prepared me for college level courses next year and when I go on to college. Strengthening the skills needed for those advanced leveled classes in AP Language has only put me to an advantage. I have also learned more about arguments and the several parts to an argument along with how to construct a proper thesis statement. In addition to everything I learned this year my strengths and weaknesses have been critiqued through the assistance of my peers. Coming in to the class I was pretty solid in reading difficult texts because of the effects of English 10H. My weakness was mainly my writing and that is where this class pitched in. 

Ms. Fogarty is one of the best if not the best English teacher to teach this subject. She is very knowledgeable and flexible to help you if you are struggling with any aspect of your work. In the course, being able to be comfortable around the teacher and develop a professional relationship with her is important. Ms. Fogarty’s instruction was very helpful and her constructive criticism is crucial if you want to be that better writer. Even though the work load was heavy and having to balance it was difficult it worked for me. As you go on to college and pursue other things in life the reality is that the workload is only going to increase. There is one thing in particular that did not work out for me specifically, and that was the AP test. In general the AP is designed to be a difficult test but if you prepare yourself accordingly you will have no worries. I did not adequately prepare myself for the test and could have used some more practice. I used this as a learning experience for me as a person. 

Reflecting on the year as a whole I am content with my progress in AP Language. I definitely enjoyed the course. I am now able to identify different strategies in literary works, write in a more effective prose style and sharpen my comprehension abilities. As an individual I feel more confident in my writing and more prepared for the next step. A piece of advice I would give a student struggling with this class is manage your time and do not stress the any assignments given. Try not to procrastinate because it will become extremely tough to finish things up last minute. Ms. Fogarty is there to help you, use her as resource. 

You Go FO-FO

            AP English as a whole was a very pleasant, enjoyable course. I feel like I have grown in a multitude of ways from this class. I think it is pretty clear that I matured as a writes through the course of the year, but also I am confident that I grew as student in many aspects.

            This year, I can truly say that I put effort and actual thought into every assignment from August to June. Before this year, my English performances in class were fairly inconsistent and lackluster. However, this English class was not the same. I drew connections to the different works of literature that we read this year, and I actually took an interest in what I was writing when we completed our assignments. 

            Many different techniques worked to my advantage this year. For example, I thought the practice of reading and annotating the columnist articles was very beneficial. I really appreciated breaking down advanced, intellectual sports writing and then reflecting on the article as a whole. I also took advantage of the teacher feedback on my research paper to improve my essay greatly. I read through each circled word and each comment to make my essay much more effective, with a valid proposal in my conclusion to fix the problem with “shameful secreted sports”.

            Looking back at my Marquart quarter one FRQ, I can critique a number of things. First off, my opening sentence is horrendously long, and contains about ten too many examples. After reading the rest of the essay, I can say that the overall maturity of my writing has greatly enhanced and my understanding of every prompt has improved. My first in class essay (Marquart) was not terrible, but I know that my writing is of higher quality now then in September just based off my in class essay grades going from a five on the Marquart to some eventual eights in May. 

            The great thing about this past English class was that there were no low points throughout the entire year. In APUSH, I struggled for the better part of September, but got my act together to pull my grades up come October. In this class, I did not really find any times where I felt defeated or wanted to give up during an assignment. Each task that we were given was a chance for me to improve my writing and reading skills. Contrary to my math class, I do feel like I can take on any assignment given to me and do well on it, which was why I liked this AP English class so much.

            If someone who is taking this class is struggling, I would give them a few words of advice. First off, one of the worst things to do for AP English is to get behind. When you get an assignment the first thing you should think about is when you’re going to start it, what you’re going to write about, and exactly how you’re going to go about executing your plan. This is what would call the pre-planning stage, which is necessary for every task in AP English. This whole process might take five minutes or a full day, but it makes a huge difference when trying to effectively complete any writing or reading assignment. In order to do well in AP English, you have to seriously commit to finishing independent tasks with effort. You may not like every assignment given to you, but if you analytically dissect the prompt or reading passage, and try to find something interesting about the task, you will be successful in completing your assignment.

            Also, don’t ever get frustrated! When doing a math problem, I occasionally feel beaten by the question, and I want to ‘tap out’ to end the madness. There is always help available for any student to finish any assignment, especially when Ms. Fogarty gives very generous deadlines for any homework or essay task.

            One of the most important things I learned this year is applicable to every subject in school. After taking this class, I realized it is not all about the facts; it is more about how you take in or interpret the information given to you. When writing an English essay, obviously there is no right or wrong answer, so the essay grade is mainly a reflection of exactly how you went about answering the prompt and what examples you use to support your claims. If you can analyze any work of literature and interpret it in a way where supporting evidence backs up your claims successfully, then you can tackle any assignment.

            Honestly, AP English is only hard if you make it hard. If you stress out and don’t think you can finish an assignment, it is time to take a deep breath realize that you’re probably over thinking the task. Learn to prioritize your time and the class is actually pretty fun, and AP English will become the period you look forward to every day. 

Read This and Receive a Fabulous Prize

I have come very far in this class from the beginning of the year. I developed new skills and abilities that I know I will use in the years to come. It was not easy, but things that are beneficial rarely are

Over this past school year in AP English, I have matured a lot as a writer, reader, and thinker. This class has increased my writing skills because of the numerous essays I wrote throughout the year. Because of this, I write with a more mature prose style, organize my essays more effectively and know when and where to use counter claims, rebuttals, and literary devices. Also, I have become a more proficient reader. I can now read more critically than I could have at the beginning of this school year and can find literary devices, tone, and purpose in works with much less effort than before. As a thinker, I have developed the ability to think in different ways. I can think about the perspectives of other people, characters in a book, and the author of a book. This allows me to have a deeper understanding of a literary work and the effect the work can have on people.

I plan on using these skills a lot over the next few years. I will use them in English 101 and English 102 next year, and in my college English classes. I know I will use them because the class was college level, and that let me develop skills and abilities to be used in a college setting. I think that everything I learned during this past year will give me a huge advantage when taking other college level English courses.

One of the most important skills this class has taught me is how to manage time and how to handle a college level course. This class has forced me to fine tune my planning skills so that I effectively complete all my essays on time, and so that I understand how much work is involved with courses of this type. These skills can be used outside of English classes, and even outside of school. Effective organization and the ability to handle workloads can help in college as well as in jobs. Having these skills will make me not only an efficient student, but an efficient worker.

I have grown substantially as a writer over the course of this year, and this growth can be seen in my Truman Capote essay, my “technology in schools” essay, and my Edward O. Wilson essay. The Truman Capote essay was the first essay that I wrote for this year. I did not fully understand how to write an AP English essay, but did my best and received a 5. After a few months and several essays later, I had my “technology in schools” essay. This essay was from third quarter and one of my better essays. I had worked a lot on my writing skills and had become more proficient with my writing. Because of this, I received a 7 on the essay. One of the main things that I fixed was connecting my paragraphs to my thesis and organizing my essay so that it is more coherent. And the last essay that I wrote this year, the Edward O. Wilson essay, was the best essay that I wrote this year; I received an 8 on it. This shows that I had really come a long way on my essays and started to develop the necessary parts of an 8 essay. What got me the 8 was my use of vocabulary and lack of awkward syntax—two problems that had been holding me back on previous essays. My movement from a 5 at the beginning of the year to an 8 at the end of the year demonstrates my progress as a writer and the changes that I made to become a better writer.

I believe that Ms. Fogarty did a really nice job teaching this year. She was helpful and instructive the entire time. She also was willing to meet with me after school if I had questions on an assignment or needed help. Also, I feel that she covered the required material very thoroughly and used exercises that built skills that were helpful for the AP English exam. One thing that really helped me was her comments on my essays. These comments really helped me to improve my writing and fix my mistakes. One part that was very hard was the amount of work involved. We had assignments almost every week and they were due only a few days after they were assigned. This helped me in the long run though so I am not upset about it. Ms. Fogarty’s helpful attitude and cheerful disposition made the class not only educational, but easy to take part in.

If someone is struggling with this course, there are a few things they should do. First, they should speak to Ms. Fogarty and see if she can help them. Ms. Fogarty can most likely help with whatever trouble they are having through advice and critique. If after this problems consist or the situation gets worse, it may be a good idea to drop the class. It is a tough, college level course and not everyone is able to handle such a demanding class. This is the only advice I can give. But, my advice to drop the class does not mean that no effort should be put into the course. Someone should only drop the class if they have tried it for two or three months with decent effort and if no improvement is seen.

This year has been one filled with growth and change. I have become much better at English overall and now I know how to handle a college level course. For what I got out of the class, the effort was well worth it.