As I ponder the year from start to finish, I recall all of the challenges
that I have come to face as it progressed. I remember over the summer being
completely stressed over the thought that within the first few months, I was
going to fall drastically behind in my work. I was under the impression that the
course would be one of the most challenging due to all of the reading and
essays that had to be completed. To my pleasant surprise, I was proven wrong on
the first day of the course. I noticed how generally collected and over all
kindhearted the teacher was, which eased my nerves drastically.
The main obstacle that I faced throughout the year was overall time management. I was unable to utilize my time wisely and get projects done on the first few nights after it was assigned. I waited until a few days prior to it being due, to actually immerse myself within the task. Though I generally received high marks on my essays, whether in class or assigned as a home assignment, I feel that I possibly could have applied myself more as to receive the eight on my work as opposed to a seven or six. Other than that main obstacle, I did not meet many unmanageable challenges; unless one were to include grammar and overall sentence structure. In the start of the semester, I had everything but a sophisticated writing style. My thoughts were sporadically arranged throughout the page, my sentences were too long, and I used words of which I did not know the proper definition. My heart sank when I saw that the first writing grade in my AP Language class was a three. At the beginning I did not understand the reasoning behind this low mark, at least until I paused and read through the piece a second time. I realized that very few of my thoughts were in order, thus making the piece appear to be devoid of understanding. Upon realizing my mistakes, I strove to correct my errors and make sure that I was able to organize my thoughts accordingly.
As the year progressed and my scores got higher, I began seeing that my grammatical flaws were decreasing and my paragraphs were organized slightly better than in the very first essay. I began receiving scores one higher than the other, a gradual incline of progress. I eventually managed to receive a seven on an essay that I more or less felt I did terribly on. In the process of writing it, I lacked a collective idea as to how I should go about organizing my thoughts into paragraphs. I dreaded the day we got the essays back because I thought I was going to drastically backtrack and receive yet another three or even worse, a two. Ms. Fogarty, as I came to me and hesitantly wrote my score on a post-it note and placed it on my folder and told me not to look, which only scared me more. As she walked away, I took a peek and a holistic score of seven, metaphorically, stared back at me. I proceeded to reread the essay and compare it to the first and I noticed a drastic change in how I organized everything. The piece was fluid and virtually devoid of mistakes, overlooking slight lapses in understanding. With this grade, I was thoroughly impressed with myself and how much I was able to grow on my own.
Since the beginning of the year, I have come to notice a “special bond” being formed between my classmates and Ms. Fogarty; it was respectable but at the same time informal enough to be entirely refreshing. There were times when I personally found Ms. Fogarty to be “a breath of fresh air” at the best of times, and other times as a normal teacher who decided to join out other teachers in the barrage of work. Overall though, I cannot exactly say that she was anything other than fair. She did not ask for unreasonable amounts of work to be completed, and if so, there was an ample amount of time given for it to be completed in its entirety. One thing that could have been changed was the immense amount of time given to students to complete a task, when they are the ones who have proven that they could not care less. These students constantly, without avail, complain about the workload but very rarely do more than request an extension on the project that they have less than glanced at.
As previously mentioned, one of the main skills that I have learned throughout the course of the year is time management. Seldom can tasks be completed to the fullest if not taken in gradual steps towards finalization. With this skill now firmly grasped, I am prepared for other college level courses that I may acquire. If one is not completely capable of reorganizing priorities, than either seek help or, honestly, request to be taken out of the course before becoming fully overcome by the amount of responsibility. The course is intended to challenge a student's capability to take direction, and illuminate the overall understanding of the task at hand. If one is not able to meet these requirements, the course may not be the wisest of choices.
As the year comes to a close, I can wholeheartedly say that I am unwilling to see it end. I have an unshakable feeling that if Ms. Fogarty is not at my side encouraging me to strive for the best, I may backtrack and ultimately demolish the progressive streak I have come to accumulate. With a saddened and weary heart, I bid the year a fine farewell and make the promise to reach for the metaphorical stars and venture beyond the grammatical horrors that will surely follow me as the years progress.
The main obstacle that I faced throughout the year was overall time management. I was unable to utilize my time wisely and get projects done on the first few nights after it was assigned. I waited until a few days prior to it being due, to actually immerse myself within the task. Though I generally received high marks on my essays, whether in class or assigned as a home assignment, I feel that I possibly could have applied myself more as to receive the eight on my work as opposed to a seven or six. Other than that main obstacle, I did not meet many unmanageable challenges; unless one were to include grammar and overall sentence structure. In the start of the semester, I had everything but a sophisticated writing style. My thoughts were sporadically arranged throughout the page, my sentences were too long, and I used words of which I did not know the proper definition. My heart sank when I saw that the first writing grade in my AP Language class was a three. At the beginning I did not understand the reasoning behind this low mark, at least until I paused and read through the piece a second time. I realized that very few of my thoughts were in order, thus making the piece appear to be devoid of understanding. Upon realizing my mistakes, I strove to correct my errors and make sure that I was able to organize my thoughts accordingly.
As the year progressed and my scores got higher, I began seeing that my grammatical flaws were decreasing and my paragraphs were organized slightly better than in the very first essay. I began receiving scores one higher than the other, a gradual incline of progress. I eventually managed to receive a seven on an essay that I more or less felt I did terribly on. In the process of writing it, I lacked a collective idea as to how I should go about organizing my thoughts into paragraphs. I dreaded the day we got the essays back because I thought I was going to drastically backtrack and receive yet another three or even worse, a two. Ms. Fogarty, as I came to me and hesitantly wrote my score on a post-it note and placed it on my folder and told me not to look, which only scared me more. As she walked away, I took a peek and a holistic score of seven, metaphorically, stared back at me. I proceeded to reread the essay and compare it to the first and I noticed a drastic change in how I organized everything. The piece was fluid and virtually devoid of mistakes, overlooking slight lapses in understanding. With this grade, I was thoroughly impressed with myself and how much I was able to grow on my own.
Since the beginning of the year, I have come to notice a “special bond” being formed between my classmates and Ms. Fogarty; it was respectable but at the same time informal enough to be entirely refreshing. There were times when I personally found Ms. Fogarty to be “a breath of fresh air” at the best of times, and other times as a normal teacher who decided to join out other teachers in the barrage of work. Overall though, I cannot exactly say that she was anything other than fair. She did not ask for unreasonable amounts of work to be completed, and if so, there was an ample amount of time given for it to be completed in its entirety. One thing that could have been changed was the immense amount of time given to students to complete a task, when they are the ones who have proven that they could not care less. These students constantly, without avail, complain about the workload but very rarely do more than request an extension on the project that they have less than glanced at.
As previously mentioned, one of the main skills that I have learned throughout the course of the year is time management. Seldom can tasks be completed to the fullest if not taken in gradual steps towards finalization. With this skill now firmly grasped, I am prepared for other college level courses that I may acquire. If one is not completely capable of reorganizing priorities, than either seek help or, honestly, request to be taken out of the course before becoming fully overcome by the amount of responsibility. The course is intended to challenge a student's capability to take direction, and illuminate the overall understanding of the task at hand. If one is not able to meet these requirements, the course may not be the wisest of choices.
As the year comes to a close, I can wholeheartedly say that I am unwilling to see it end. I have an unshakable feeling that if Ms. Fogarty is not at my side encouraging me to strive for the best, I may backtrack and ultimately demolish the progressive streak I have come to accumulate. With a saddened and weary heart, I bid the year a fine farewell and make the promise to reach for the metaphorical stars and venture beyond the grammatical horrors that will surely follow me as the years progress.
I agree, I remember us over the summer freaking out because we thought the class would be overwhelming. In the beginning, my score was low too. I really thought that I wouldn't be ready for the A.P. but she proved us wrong. I do not think the class was overwhelming, I think it is more the time management. WE ALL COMPLAINED ABOUT TIMING, and the assignments could of not been avoided. Sometimes I can see Ms. Fogarty being a "breath of fresh air" but other times I see her with a pitchfork pushing us to be our best. I am going to miss her class, I think we both finally learned our lesson to not procrastinate and manage our time wisely.
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