Emmanuel Castillo

Ms. Saravia English 11

Period 1 5/16/17

How I grew as a writer

In the beginning of the year I was not very great at writing essays and book reports. I did

not know exactly what to do other than write whatever came to my head. I was never confident

when it came to writing essays and other document such as letters of intent. In the beginning of

the year I had to learn quickly how to write a book report and letters of intent. In the beginning I

had no clue of what to do because I was used to writing book reports that were basically really

long summaries.

In the beginning of the year I did not know the MLA format. I learned how to correctly

set up a book report or any other document in MLA. I learned that you needed to indent in every

paragraph. I used to never indent in every paragraph but now I changed that and made it a habit

to indent. MLA was hard for me to learn only because Im not that great with computers and

especially not writing book reports.

This year I learned a lot of new things. I learned about foreshadowing and how it should

be used in writing. I learned that foreshadowing helped give the reader an insight of what might

happen next in a story. I learned how to make a resume which made me grow as a writer and an

individual for later in life for when I apply for a job. This year I can say taught me a lot about

different forms of writings and skills I need for the future.

This year I learned many different new words to add to my vocabulary. The vocabulary

helped me learn more college appropriate words that I use in essays and book reports. This year

taught me how to be more interactive with others and work in teams. When we reviewed

vocabulary and we were assigned teams to wright out the answers that helped practice team work
Emmanuel Castillo

Ms. Saravia English 11

Period 1 5/16/17
skills. I learned to listen to others and create solutions for problems in order to keep the team

working as it should.

I learned about the romantics and the realists writers and how they are complete

opposites. Along with the realist and romantics being complete opposites I learned that realist

wrote about the real life situations and did not always end with a happy ending unlike romantics

who had an idealistic way of viewing the world. Knowing this it helped me find out whether a

writer was a realist or a romantic. I learned about sarcasm and how its used. I learned how to

properly wright a compare and contrast essay.

This year introduced me to many different and interesting new stories that I would have

never heard of if it wasnt for my English class. I read the story an occurrence at owl Creek

Bridge which I found very interesting because of the symbolism and vivid details throughout the

story. I read the book the great Gatsby which helped me understand more about symbolism. The

great Gatsby book report helped me understand the book and understand how the book was

really about an American dream that collapsed because of one girl. These types of book catch my

attention and inspire me to find my creative side.

My junior year helped me explore my creative side by allowing us to read books like the

great Gatsby. The great Gatsby inspired me to be an entrepreneur after high school. Watching the

film the great Gatsby helped me understand the book in some parts that I ended up getting lost

in. overall this year all the exercises and projects helped me become a much more improved,

creative, and inspired writer than I was last year.

Emmanuel Castillo

Ms. Saravia English 11

Period 1 5/16/17