While I am not completely finished with my junior year of Honors English,
I am truly dumbfounded by the amount I have grown. Honestly, the part that
really surprises me is not the level of skill that I possess now, but more the
lack of skill that I possessed when I first began my junior year of English.
Starting off with The Catcher in the Rye
and quickly approaching the end with Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I’ve
noted some key factors that I’ve greatly improved. Personalization, grammatical
errors, and creativity have been the areas that have always lead to my downfall.
Now that I have been given more access to the tools I need to improve those weak
areas, I’d say I’ve improved greatly.
Personalization has always been an issue for me. I’ve never felt
compelled to be who I really am in the classroom. I’ve always been the student
that I believe the teacher wants me to be. Teachers have been the ultimate
catalyst that determines who I am, or more importantly, who I sound like.
Instead of trying to sound like Ayah Saffaf, I usually sound like some morphed
overly academic try-hard. I recall writing the first essay of the year, The Catcher in the Rye, and mindlessly
typing out my personal ideas with the voice of a robot. I remember struggling
between my inner thoughts and my outward expression of myself. Words like
“pontificate” and “dogmatic” did not fill my head, but rather filled my paper
with fake gray matter that in no way reflected myself.
However, with the help of my English teacher who allowed me to express
myself and encouraged me to talk in the way that best reflects who I truly am, I
now am much better at showcasing my dialect through writing. I know I still
sound slightly robotic, and as I am typing even this I feel as though I could
sound more like a sixteen year old girl. I am still struggling to find a good
middle ground between an honors student, and a normal human being. Although the
struggle is real, I sound much less mechanic than it formally did. I now do not
sound like a complete robot and sound more like a cyborg. Although I realize I
do have a considerable amount to improve on; I now sound much more friendly and
human like than I did in the beginning of the school
year.
As you might have noticed I used several semicolons in the paragraph
above. If you have read the rest
of my IP prior to this reflection essay, you probably noticed many other
semicolons. Contrary to popular belief, those were not there before.
I used comma splices like there was no tomorrow. I threw comma splices
left and right and my teacher, Mr. Barnes, constantly marked my paper because
of them. These comma splices were not there by design; they were placed there
on complete accident. Up until this year, or rather a couple weeks ago, I had
not comprehended what it meant to use a comma splice, or better yet, why it was
grammatically incorrect. Once I was editing my IP essays, I asked him
specifically what a comma splice was, and how exactly to fix them.
After a small, forty five second personalized lesson; I was able to
correct the errors I had been making this entire year. I simply was told I could
not combine two complete sentences with a comma, which it was fundamentally
improper and either a semicolon or a period should be used instead. A great
example of my comma splicing can be seen in the draft of my analytical essay, The Truth of Willy Loman’s Mind. I
wrote the following statement: “the failure of an individual in society can be
directly related to a mental disorder, this is ultimately the catalyst of their
downfall.” Of course as I just
explained, the comma is much too week to combine two complete sentences.
Therefore, I revised the sentence to say “the failure of an individual in
society can be directly related to a mental disorder; this is ultimately the
catalyst of their downfall.” This sentence has a much better flow and is also
grammatically correct.
Lastly, creativity has been a large issue I’ve had in the past in regards
to my English career. A majority of the time, I try to follow exactly what my
teacher says, down to a fine point. Most of the time I don’t receive a bad grade
due to my lack of creativity, but rather I receive a grade that could easily be
higher due to my lack of creativity. A personal tactic I use when tackling
essays is typing out an outline, a skeleton of everything my essay needs to
possess. I literally write out “intro paragraph”, “example one” “explain”,
“example two”,“explain”. While this does insure my essay has a uniform layout,
it gets very difficult to work a rigid outline into a very creative piece of
literature. Take my personal
essay for example (see Allergic to
Stress); it does not have the stiff outline of a normal essay. Originally I
had typed out my essay in that format, then realizing that it made no sense. It
was simply impossible to write out my personal experience into a cold, hard,
unfriendly outline. My personal experience could not be broken down into
“example one”,“explain”. I had to
use every fiber of my being to stop myself from writing my essay in that format
I had clung to so dearly. I didn’t stop by choice, I stopped by necessity.
Slowly but surely, I weaned myself away from such structures and attempted to
take a more creative look at essays. It’s all about baby steps, and
eventually I’ll be able to type my essays without cringing at the lack
of formal outline structure. Essays are my chance to show off my individuality.
Essays are now a challenge to see how far I can push the limits of tradition. I
will continue to use those opportunities to change up the usual and make my
essays my own.
Through the year, I have improved several elements of my writing
techniques. I have allowed myself to open up and to personalize my syntax. This
can be greatly seen in my revision of My
Knight (word sketch). I have also worked on my grammatical errors,
specifically coma splices. These revisions can be seen in The Truth
of Willy Loman’s Mind (analytical essay). Lastly I worked on my creativity.
This allows me to take a mundane essay and mold it into a much more eloquently
worded piece of literature. Overall, this year has produced sorrows and
triumphs. This year has truly helped me personalize my work. I am much more
bubbly and joyful in my writings. I am much more personal and upfront. Now I am
essentially able to showcase who I am.
I am truly dumbfounded by the amount I have grown. Honestly, the part that
really surprises me is not the level of skill that I possess now, but more the
lack of skill that I possessed when I first began my junior year of English.
Starting off with The Catcher in the Rye
and quickly approaching the end with Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I’ve
noted some key factors that I’ve greatly improved. Personalization, grammatical
errors, and creativity have been the areas that have always lead to my downfall.
Now that I have been given more access to the tools I need to improve those weak
areas, I’d say I’ve improved greatly.
Personalization has always been an issue for me. I’ve never felt
compelled to be who I really am in the classroom. I’ve always been the student
that I believe the teacher wants me to be. Teachers have been the ultimate
catalyst that determines who I am, or more importantly, who I sound like.
Instead of trying to sound like Ayah Saffaf, I usually sound like some morphed
overly academic try-hard. I recall writing the first essay of the year, The Catcher in the Rye, and mindlessly
typing out my personal ideas with the voice of a robot. I remember struggling
between my inner thoughts and my outward expression of myself. Words like
“pontificate” and “dogmatic” did not fill my head, but rather filled my paper
with fake gray matter that in no way reflected myself.
However, with the help of my English teacher who allowed me to express
myself and encouraged me to talk in the way that best reflects who I truly am, I
now am much better at showcasing my dialect through writing. I know I still
sound slightly robotic, and as I am typing even this I feel as though I could
sound more like a sixteen year old girl. I am still struggling to find a good
middle ground between an honors student, and a normal human being. Although the
struggle is real, I sound much less mechanic than it formally did. I now do not
sound like a complete robot and sound more like a cyborg. Although I realize I
do have a considerable amount to improve on; I now sound much more friendly and
human like than I did in the beginning of the school
year.
As you might have noticed I used several semicolons in the paragraph
above. If you have read the rest
of my IP prior to this reflection essay, you probably noticed many other
semicolons. Contrary to popular belief, those were not there before.
I used comma splices like there was no tomorrow. I threw comma splices
left and right and my teacher, Mr. Barnes, constantly marked my paper because
of them. These comma splices were not there by design; they were placed there
on complete accident. Up until this year, or rather a couple weeks ago, I had
not comprehended what it meant to use a comma splice, or better yet, why it was
grammatically incorrect. Once I was editing my IP essays, I asked him
specifically what a comma splice was, and how exactly to fix them.
After a small, forty five second personalized lesson; I was able to
correct the errors I had been making this entire year. I simply was told I could
not combine two complete sentences with a comma, which it was fundamentally
improper and either a semicolon or a period should be used instead. A great
example of my comma splicing can be seen in the draft of my analytical essay, The Truth of Willy Loman’s Mind. I
wrote the following statement: “the failure of an individual in society can be
directly related to a mental disorder, this is ultimately the catalyst of their
downfall.” Of course as I just
explained, the comma is much too week to combine two complete sentences.
Therefore, I revised the sentence to say “the failure of an individual in
society can be directly related to a mental disorder; this is ultimately the
catalyst of their downfall.” This sentence has a much better flow and is also
grammatically correct.
Lastly, creativity has been a large issue I’ve had in the past in regards
to my English career. A majority of the time, I try to follow exactly what my
teacher says, down to a fine point. Most of the time I don’t receive a bad grade
due to my lack of creativity, but rather I receive a grade that could easily be
higher due to my lack of creativity. A personal tactic I use when tackling
essays is typing out an outline, a skeleton of everything my essay needs to
possess. I literally write out “intro paragraph”, “example one” “explain”,
“example two”,“explain”. While this does insure my essay has a uniform layout,
it gets very difficult to work a rigid outline into a very creative piece of
literature. Take my personal
essay for example (see Allergic to
Stress); it does not have the stiff outline of a normal essay. Originally I
had typed out my essay in that format, then realizing that it made no sense. It
was simply impossible to write out my personal experience into a cold, hard,
unfriendly outline. My personal experience could not be broken down into
“example one”,“explain”. I had to
use every fiber of my being to stop myself from writing my essay in that format
I had clung to so dearly. I didn’t stop by choice, I stopped by necessity.
Slowly but surely, I weaned myself away from such structures and attempted to
take a more creative look at essays. It’s all about baby steps, and
eventually I’ll be able to type my essays without cringing at the lack
of formal outline structure. Essays are my chance to show off my individuality.
Essays are now a challenge to see how far I can push the limits of tradition. I
will continue to use those opportunities to change up the usual and make my
essays my own.
Through the year, I have improved several elements of my writing
techniques. I have allowed myself to open up and to personalize my syntax. This
can be greatly seen in my revision of My
Knight (word sketch). I have also worked on my grammatical errors,
specifically coma splices. These revisions can be seen in The Truth
of Willy Loman’s Mind (analytical essay). Lastly I worked on my creativity.
This allows me to take a mundane essay and mold it into a much more eloquently
worded piece of literature. Overall, this year has produced sorrows and
triumphs. This year has truly helped me personalize my work. I am much more
bubbly and joyful in my writings. I am much more personal and upfront. Now I am
essentially able to showcase who I am.