Final Reflection

As this is my last blog for the first semester, it is now time to reflect on what has been learned, achieved, and what is left to strive for this upcoming semester.  When I finished AP Language Arts and signed up for AP Literature, I was honestly not sure what to expect. I loved to read, but I knew that writing was my Achilles’ heal and that there would be plenty of it in AP Literature. For this reason, I had made it a personal goal to work on my writing skills as much as possible so that I could confidently leave high school being not only a more effective reader, but also a more effective writer.

When the year began, my reading skills quickly showed signs of improvement. The novel Frankenstein fascinated me, making it a joy to “close read” every chapter. The online forum that was set up for summer reading assignments also helped me learn what to look for and allowed me to gain new knowledge and perception while also being able to share my findings. Covering such a wide variety of novels (and plays), from The Age of Innocence to the series of short stories in Winesburg, Ohio, truly helped me broaden my previously stagnating literary collection. The area that I gained the most skill in is that of close reading. This semester of AP Literature has helped me realize how much more there is to read in between the lines of novels that I had previously found mundane. Of course, practice has also helped me read faster which I am sure will turn out to be quite useful in college. For college, however, I would also have to be a good writer.

The beginning of the year proved to be a difficult time for me as a writer. For the first few timed writings, I will admit that I was at a complete loss. I was often unsure what the question asked, and how I should go about structuring my answers. The results were often disappointing, with oddly sized paragraphs that poorly reflected my reading of the novel. Organization, however, was the first aspect of my writing that began to improve. I quickly found out that (for me), the trick was to structure and organize each paragraph before writing the essay. While almost all of my timed writings lacked a formal pre-write, most have some sort of web or diagram that shows the basic structure of my essay. The area in which I struggled most (and still do) is that of analysis. I often fail to follow the basic “claim, data, warrant” structure because I lack the warrant. The comments left on my essays most commonly include “lack of analysis,” “go deeper here,” and “why?”

For the reasons mentioned above, my main goal next semester will be to stay focused on my writing. While I will still practice my reading skills with assigned readings, the bulk of my effort will go towards providing better analysis and going deeper in my essays. Remaining a competent reader is crucial because there can be no analysis without having a solid reading of the text.