The school year is finally over and I have learned so many things. I learned how to write effective essays, I have improved by ability to analyze texts, and I have learned about rhetorical strategies. AP Laguage was a new experience for me and different than past English classes. I was no longer just completing assignments, but actually working to improve myself.
The work has been more demanding that previous English classes, with more assignments and higher expectations for my work. The pace was faster, no longer having a week to complete an essay, but a night or even one class period. Managing my time for assignments was a bigger issue for me this year than in previous years. With AP classes, other classes, sports...., it was a real challenge to get my work done. In addition to that, another challenge for me, and many others, was procrastination and focusing on assignments. This has led to careless errors, difficulty in understanding the task, and unprofessionlal work. Although I have not kicked the habit, I have done better in setting more time aside for my assignments. Scheduling has become an important way in which I have managed my time.
As a result of taking AP Language, my writing has greatly improved. I have gone from recieving a four to receiving a few, more respectable, sevens and even one eight. In the past years, I did not put much effort or deep thought into my essays. My essays were vague, analyzed very little, and involved a little too much summaring. When introduced to this class, I learned that the main goal was to improve writing and I wanted to make a real attempt. After recieving back my first few essays, I saw that a problem that I needed to worked on was analyzing more, so that was what I worked on throughout the year. I have seen my efforts pay off when comparing my writing samples from Quarter one to Quarter four. I have seen that my writing has gone from vague and simple to more straigtfoward and more anayzed and I have learned to address the task more effectively. My improved writing will definetly help me in the future. Writing is an important skill to have today and is needed for many classes (now, even gym), for college admission, and for job resumes.
In this class, I have been given more freedom in my writing. There was no longer outlined format for writing assignments and there was little preparation for the assignment, only addressing the task the most effective way that I could. There was no straightfoward way of addressing the task, but millions of possibilities, which was new and at first intimidating for me. I was also required to form a position on a task and express my opinions on it, which was also fairly new to me. In this class I have practiced backing up my opinions, either through literary examples, wordly examples, or through personal experience. The loose requirements have allowed me to write how I felt comfortable and has allowed me to develop my own voice and my own style of writing. They have also challenged me. I have become responsible for improving my writing. I feel that my writing has improved the most in this English class than any other and I will continue to work on improving my writing.
The reading assignments given this year have made it easier for me to figure out and understand the purpose of the writer and to find the literary and rhetorical techniques that are used. The Socratic seminars for In Cold Blood and The Scarlett Letter, have allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the purpose of the books and to see how the problems in those stories relate to our lives today, which I found interesting. By answeing the questions on essays and short stories, I was able to learn how to analyze a text. This has helped me not only in reading comprehension, but also in my own writing. By understanding how that author acheived his task, I better understood the ways in which I could sucessfully address the tasks that I was given. Reading too is a very important skill, one that I will use in the future from school, to work, to everyday life.
I am extremely glad that I have taken this class. I am proud of my personnal imporovement throughout the year and greatful for the challenges that I have been presented and have overcome. Because of this class, I now take reading and writing more seriously and find them more enjoyable. I have also gained confidence in my writing. I now feel more prepared for the future and the challenges that it presents.
Cathy I like your reflection letter and I can comprehend you. I understand how you feel because the same thing happened to me. At first I did find this course to be difficult, but as time went by I began to improve little by little. I also improved in my writing and became a better writer because of my hard work. Of course it was not easy and I had to learn how to manage my time wisely so I would not submit my work in late. As time went by I learned new things such as learning how to write rhetorical analyzes and socratic seminar questions. It was hard for me at first, but I gradually began to understand my mistake and fixed them. This year in AP Language I learned to plan before writing an essay which helped me a lot. Before I knew that I should plan for five minutes I would usually started writing an essay without really understanding the prompt. Now I carefully read the prompt and plan what I will write in my essay before writing it. Cathy I share your opinion and I too believe that this course has helped me prepare for the future.
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