Alyssa Prydz

Period 6
5/30/17
Writing Reflection
This semester has definitely been challenging, I have had strengths, weaknesses,
accomplishments, but most of all I have improved in the development of my writing since last
semester. This semester, one of my weaknesses included that of struggling with working as part of a
group as well as reading the memoir that my group had to read. In the first unit, What is truth?, I
had a really difficult time understanding the author's memoir when he rambled what seemed to be
off topic statements. I wasnt until I finished the book, that I began to understand the authors drive
and meaning for writing the memoir. When it came time to write the Memoir Essay, my group
really did not understand how to create the essay in a cohesive manner. Our group struggled
immensely with writing the essay in a way whereby it would appear as if one individual wrote it,
without appearing disjointed. Even though, the essay was not the best it could have been, I was
proud of the B that we received as we were given a challenging novel that was really hard to
understand. An additional weakness in my writing included that of limited language development as
well as writing in a cohesive. I struggled considerably with making my essays flow and connect to
the best way possible as well as providing strong vocabulary that would make my essay appear
more sophisticated. In my narrative as well as objective summary, I struggled with really providing
strong and interesting vocabulary as well integrating ideas in an effective manner. Not only did I
have weaknesses and difficulties in my writing, but I had multiple strengths and accomplishment as
well.
My strengths and accomplishments included that of providing strong and clear evidence,
analysis, as well as research information in numerous amounts of essays that I have previously
written. In my poetry essay, I made sure to choose evidence that clearly related to my thesis about
the fathers son going to war. I truly believe that I did not do so well on this essay because of the
multiple and conflicting interpretations that other people were sharing with me, but I was proud that
I wrote the essay to the best of my ability. My poetry essay was probably my greatest writing
accomplishment this semester as I really tried my best to genuinely understand what type of
figurative language the author of the poem Do Not Go Gentle Into The Good Night was using.
Although some moments I struggled, I really worked hard and put a lot of thought into interpreting
the authors message. In my literary response, I additionally made sure to write the best evidence
and analysis that best exemplified how the character developed over the course of the novel, The
School for Good and Evil. Moreover, I was most definitely surprised with the score I received on
The Odyssey timed write as I really believed that I was repetitive in my analysis, but I received an
A and I was so happy. I worked hard to explain how the authors made the sirens persuasive and
alluring, mythical creatures. Now I know that there is always room for improvement, but I was
really pleased with The Odyssey time write. My cultural myth, in my opinion was probably my best
writing sample as I really strived to create an engaging, interesting, and informational essay about
how Norse Mythology and its deity Thor, really influenced modern society with comic books,
movies, and regular, modern novels. Next year, there are many goals I really want to strive towards
as well as exceed in, and I excited that I definitely improved in my overall writing capacity since
last semester.
This semester I have improved in my vocabulary usage as well as my analysis. Next year, I
really want to have a wide range of descriptive, strong words that exemplify that I am a
knowledgeable writer. Last semester I struggled making my analysis clear as well as experienced
difficulties with relating my analysis back to my evidence and thesis statement, but this semester
that all changed. I definitely worked extra hard to create sentences that were apparent and related to
the evidence and thesis. For example, in my poetry essay, I made sure to thoroughly explain how
the line from the poem depicted how the sons father must not go to war, but live out a life with his
family. I still need to improve on using extensive and descriptive vocabulary within my writing, but
I have begun the habit of looking up synonyms of words I believe could be much more compelling
within my writing piece. Also, by looking up these synonyms, I am expanding my vocabulary
knowledge, remembering them for future use in essays. In English next year, my goal is to really
have memorized the definitions and synonyms of words instead of reverting to the use of plain and
simple words. I hope to become a better writer as I know writing is essential towards many careers
and I enjoy writing. I may have ups and downs, but writing is truly exciting as it always has a story
and purpose. I want to share my purpose as well as strengths in writing with my future teacher as a
Sophomore.