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Stephanie Trinidad
English 115
Professor Lawson
The Portfolio Reflection Essay
December 12, 2014
Words: 712
Portfolio Reflection
Throughout my entire high school academic career I believed my writing skills were not
up to where they should have been since I had a hard time in my English course during my
sophomore year in high school. Each and every assignment I turned in was returned to me
covered in red ink and by the end of the first semester I had received my first bad grade in my
entire academic career. Although a D was considered a passing grade in my high school I felt as
if I had failed myself and my parents. The following semester I received a C, but I still ended up
repeating the course. For the remainder two years of my high school career I was placed in
regular English courses instead of the honors courses I had become accustomed to. I began to
dominate each English class I had, but I never felt as if I was being challenged. I may have
received As for both my junior year and senior year in high school, but I dont believe I earned
them.
When I entered college I felt unprepared and frightened believing my sophomore year
would repeat itself. After each and every assignment I turned in I felt as if it was going to be
returned to me covered in red ink, but it never did. The first essay I turned in received an A and I
could not have been even more surprised. I remember thinking the professor had made a
mistake, how could I have received an A? As the semester went on I continued to receive As on

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my assignments, but I still continue to doubt myself and my work. I dont understand why I
continue to doubt myself, I have proven over and over again that I am capable of writing an A
worthy essay or paper.
I had twelve combined years of elementary school, middle school, and high school by the
time I entered college yet I did not know how to write a paper in MLA format, an ethnography,
cite my work or write an annotated bibliography. Something as simple as writing a paper in
MLA format and I was incapable of completing the task. I was supposed to learn the basics
before I entered college, but apparently I did not. To this day I continue to have issues with
citing my work and at this point I am afraid I will never be capable of citing my work on my
own. I feel embarrassed knowing several of my classmates came into college knowing the basics
while I did not. Citing my work will most likely be one of the hardest task I have to overcome in
my college career along with grammar, but I know if I give it some time and practice I will
improve.
Believing Panorama High School could not have been the only school which failed to
teach students how to write ethnographies and annotated bibliographies I began to ask my
classmates in others courses if they had heard of either one, but they had not. I dont understand
why several high schools did not teach their students every amount of curriculum which would
be useful in a college students academic career. Although I now know how to write both an
ethnography and an annotated bibliography I would have rather learned how to write one while I
was still in high school. On the bright side I can now truthfully say I have learned several things
while in my first college writing course.
My portfolio is supposed to reflect on all the work which I put in the entire semester, but
I dont know how. Although we were told not to let the grade we were given affect our

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decisions, I have not done a very good job of ignoring the grades I received on all my
assignments. Both my essay one and two received better grades than essay three which is why I
chose both one and two, but I wouldnt say they were the best essays I have written. I hope I
will be able to apply everything I have learned in my English 115 course throughout my entire
college career and hopefully in my career as a social worker.