SLOB Timed Write Reflection

In the SLOB timed write I talked about the era that the Secret Life of Bees, that Lily
lived in and how the social norms did not change what kind of person she was. I was highly
knowledgeable about the novel and the era that Lily resided in the book. I have done many quick
writes in the past, this was the last quick write of the year and I felt like I did do very well
attaining a 7 out of 9 on the essay. I have improved my analytical skills very well from the
previous timed write that I completed about CITR (most recent). Like I said in the previous
reflection the ways I could improve in is providing more analysis and reining filler plot summary
that I put in mindlessly. Plot summary is one problem that I have repeatedly encountered time
over time; I need to overcome this difficult problem by providing my analysis and examples that
pertain to the thesis and support my thesis as well.
I felt that this has been my best quick write I had completed sophomore year and that I
will continue to improve on my writing skills junior and senior year. What I liked about my essay
was that my contextualization of the era Lily is in in the novel Secret Life of Bees, was well
thought out and made sense. What I disliked was that I kept on encountering the problem of plot
summary therefore spoiling certain areas of my essay. My standards were for this work was to
provide a strong thesis, analyze a lot, use good examples that support the thesis, and do not plot
summarize. I felt that I met the standards of providing a strong thesis and using good examples
that support my thesis. I did analyze these examples fairly well, but if I had provided more
examples would have gotten rid of the unnecessary plot summary therefore improving my essay
and possibly raising the essay by one point or two.

Compared to my peers about gender or religion I talked about the time period as an
overarching topic and race as my main topic. I talked about specific examples of Lily breaking
social norms set by white Americans in the 20th century. I talked about how the hardships of
running away and living in a home with all black women made Lily as independent character
stronger to the point where she was no longer afraid of the antagonist, T-Ray. In ways the work
process was similar was that all of my classmates had to create a strong thesis, provide examples
that support the thesis, and address the prompt. Other than that we were basically free of all
restrictions on creating this essay, there were no paragraph requirements or if we had to have
three-prong thesis. If I were a teacher I would have commented to get rid of the plot summary
and add my analysis and examples t further improve the strength of my essay. This is what Ms.
Davids note basically said on the back of my paper, this is very helpful feedback so I can learn
from my mistakes.
One thing I would like to improve on in this essay is to get rid of the plot summary and to
provide more examples with more analysis. I wish I could have improved on my analysis so I
can rid of this useless plot summary that I add to my essay mindlessly. Two goals I set for myself
is to provide more examples to support my thesis and to analyze the examples greatly. If I can
achieve these goals that I have set for myself than I have the ability to do very well on the future
timed writes I will have to do in junior year.