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Ms. O’Keefe
6/5/18
Prior to my high school education, my grade school experiences with writing essays and
papers were minimal. My grade school was mostly math and science oriented, so the essays I
wrote were mostly regarding literary works that I studied in school or simple book reports.
However, my experiences with writing shifted as did my perspective on writing papers when I
started and continued my education in high school. Essays became more common and were no
longer assigned only in my English classes. Therefore, my writing throughout my high school
career has consistently improved as I developed a unique voice, a personal writing style, and a
As stated previously, my writing in 9th grade was very inexperienced due to my minimal
practice. However, by the end of my 9th-grade year, I learned multiple writing techniques that
enhanced my writing and made it better. My essays in 9th grade were mostly creative or meant to
analyze literature. Unfortunately, I was still not experienced as to how to write a good essay
about a prompt concerning a piece of literature. However, a good starting point for my writing
journey was my creativity. Having the option to write creative pieces made me motivated to
become more passionate about writing in general. Therefore, even though I am not proud and
even embarrassed by my writing in 9th grade, I would not progress as much without the crucial
took my first A.P class - which was A.P Language and Composition. This class is very dear to
me because it was in this class that I learned to be very passionate about writing. No longer was I
writing essays regarding novels and literary works. Instead, I was writing essays about articles
and expressing my opinion through writing more than ever. Therefore, in my 10th grade year of
high school, my writing improved dramatically because I became less concerned with
technicalities and more concerned with a personal style and a unique voice - which I definitely
accomplished. For example, I wrote an essay regarding the concepts of toxic masculinity and
strong personal voice and expression of my opinion on a topic. For example, regarding
masculinity, I wrote: “ This creates the idea that men should be afraid of femininity because
masculinity and femininity should be complete opposites. If a man is even slightly ‘feminine’ he
cannot be ‘manly’anymore. Yet, it’s the same industries creating definitions for what masculinity
and femininity are. It is possible that if one walks into the store there will be soap, shampoo,
clothing, and ridiculously small items such as kleenex labelled ‘men’s’. The soap and shampoo
sold under the label ‘men’s usually have a very strong, bold scent. It is very unlikely to find a
hygienic product for men that smells very florally, sweet or is the color of pink. It is little things
like the packaging of these products, that mostly consists of bold strong colors that send a
message: you need to be a man.” In the passage, my voice appears to be confident, strong, and
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11th grade I expanded on writing with a personal voice and style. However, 11th grade I
also became more concerned with technicalities and the overall structure and organization of my
essays. My teacher in my Honors American Lit class became more strict about font size, title
choice, and general mechanics. This was a good thing because I became more motivated to
improve my grammar and general mechanics when writing essays. Also, because the class was
an American lit class, I learned ways of how to write about literature in ways that were fun for
me and made my essays more unique. Even though I was writing many literary analysis essays, I
was still enjoying the process of writing them because I developed my personal unique writing
style the previous year, and I was able to incorporate it even when analyzing literature - which
was a new skill. The following is an excerpt from an argument paper I wrote in 11th grade
regarding the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God: “Others may deem Tea Cake’s action to
jump in as instinctive almost natural-like. Therefore, disagreeing with the idea that Tea Cake’s
action was not a voluntary obligation. Furthermore, insinuating that in certain cases willingness
to help others is not always voluntary. However, Tea Cake made a choice to jump in the water,
fight the dog through tiredness, and save Janie from the dog. Because of his love for Janie, the
fact that he made a choice to do so deems this action voluntary. Tea Cake was not required to
save Janie, he chose to save Janie.” This excerpt is an ideal example of my focus on general
essay technicalities such as a counter-argument (which I did not pay much focus to in my earlier
essays) and the development of my personal voice and strong writing style which made my
Practice makes perfect and I was able to practice the skills that I developed throughout my 9th,
10th, and 11th and expand upon them. For example, this year I also wrote many essays regarding
literary works and I attempted to minimize my personal voice because in my previous writings it
was perhaps too overbearing for an essay that did not require an opinion. In my 12th grade year,
I reached a sort of balance in my writing: do not be too political but not too plain either. I also
became more open to and aware of the importance of self-reflection. I learned to analyze my
mistakes with a more mature approach and reflect upon them. This excerpt from a 12th-grade
argument paper shows my improvement in comparison to 11th grade because I wrote more about
what the intent of the literature itself was, as opposed to what I believed it to be - which limits
my fallacies. “Miller clearly makes it a point to hint that the young girls are just name-calling
and furthermore ridicules political witch trials as the opportunity to name call enemies and stir
unnecessary drama. Miller discredits political witch trials throughout The Crucible as a
though it can be sometimes stressful, writing (especially about topics I am passionate about) is
something I enjoy. I want to continue to improve my writing, keep practising and find out ways
of how I can incorporate writing into my future. Perhaps I do not want to be dependant on a
classroom to write about issues I am passionate about. Perhaps I want to find out ways of how I
can make a change through my writing. I am thankful for the encouragement that I received in
high school to write, and I am thankful for being guided into learning how to be critical,