M.+Reflections+Paper

For this school year, I felt as though my writing skills were really put to thetest. I was given essays and topics to write about that were not as

easy for meto write about as opposed to those of my previous years. I struggled a lot onthe different types of papers I had to do, and it had both

positive and negativeeffects on my writings this year. Although this was my hardest year in English,I was still able to grow as a writer.

This year, when we worked on writingpersuasive essays, I realized that those where the type of papers were a challenge. Persuasive essays

were

my weakness in writing, because I can often come across as indecisiveon my papers. My strengths, though, are the range of vocabulary used in

my writings,and the creative style I use. This year, I have improved the different types ofwriting styles, and how to create better leads. I greatly

improved in my usage of grammar and mechanics. I stopped usingconjunctions and 'you' or 'I' in persuasive essays. I also learned how to

correctlyuse 'their', 'they're' and 'there' correctly, so that my papers make more sense.So, overall I did do a lot of improving this year, despite

my setbacks.

My most favorite piece of writingthat I did this year would have to be the self-reliance project. I reallyenjoyed working on it, and I was able to

express myself through it easily. Ireally had to think about the certain point in my life that made me independent,and I liked recreating the

moment in writing. I also liked the glogster tie Idid it on. It was a nice way to create the project, and I just had fun duringthe whole process. My

least favorite piece of the year was the SOL Pretest Essay. I did not like the prompt wewere given, and finding the evidence to support it was

not easy. I felt like itdid not fully enunciate my writing abilities. Since it was the first essay ofthe year, I felt as though it was not the best

reflection of my work, and evenafter revising it, I still did not enjoy it.

Being able to have an onlineportfolio like wiki spaces is very handy as opposed to having to write out allthe work on their own. I think that by

having this, it offers a betterexpression of each individual person, by having their own 'site' with all theirwork, along with extra things that

define who they are. Also, since teenagers areon computers all the time, having access to their portfolios online is more interestingthan having

to write it out by hand, thereby having more students willing to dothe work. So, I would defiantly say that online portfolios are much better

than traditional paper portfolios.