Mullins 1

Rebecca Mullins
May 11, 2014
Reflection

I have always thought I was a pretty good writer. Not great, but not half bad either. I had
enough skills to B.S. my way through basically any kind of paper, and because of that, I figured
that I was all set. When I began my senior year, I didnt really have that many goals set for
myself. Sure, I wrote down a few things in the reading and writing goals paper, but in all
honesty, I did not expect to undergo any significant improvement. However, as the year draws
to a close, I look back and realize how wrong of an assumption I made. This course has caused
me to become a much more intuitive and thoughtful writer, as well as improving my voice by
leaps and bounds.
To my surprise, the goals that I wrote down at the end of my Reading and Writing Goals
paper have actually become a reality. Organization, the area that I wanted to work on the most at
the beginning of the year, is the aspect of writing that I feel most improved in. Now, I am
comfortable planning and then executing a paper that flows seamlessly together, without the sort
of jumbled up feeling that many of my old works of writing displayed. The knowledge that I
am prepared to write long, neatly organized papers in college makes me ecstatic. Another
problem area that I addressed in my Goals paper was the wordiness of my sentences. Although
my sentences still tend to be on the long side, Ive learned to put more of myself into my
writing, and sentences have become subsequently shorter because of it. Ive learned how much
power and emotion an artistically placed short sentence or fragment can portray.
College applications really brought out the best in me as a writer this year. Even though I
later found out that I had not been accepted to the school, I still am particularly proud of my
Mullins 2

supplementary essays for Brown University. Each one was 150 words or less, and because of
that, every single sentence had to matter and have a point. I spent hours pouring over each of the
four essays, adding and cutting, trying to perfect the tiny paragraphs that could decide my
fate. The most difficult of the four prompts was Where are you from? The seemingly open-
ended topic was restrained by a tiny 100 word limit. I wrote and rewrote the essay, but I could
not seem to put the emotion and personal touch into it that I needed. An idea struck me one day,
however, to do something a little different. Instead of an essay, I would use a poem. Earlier in
the year, I had written a poem about where I was from (I say that loosely) as an assignment in
this class. I read over that poem and realized that I could use it for my essay. In fact, it was
absolutely perfect. I cut out some lines, added a few, and eventually had created the best college
essay that I could have imagined. I cant thank this class enough for causing me to write
something as powerful as the poem I submitted to Brown.
The daybook is another aspect of this year that I am grateful for. Although I havent been
as diligent at writing in the book as Id hoped to be at the beginning of the year, Ive still
maintained a regular schedule of writing in it every few days. The daybook has provided me
with a secure creative outlet, increased my fluency, and has served a myriad of purposes, from
diary to sketchbook to scratch paper for scholastic bowl. I found it most easy to take small
snippets of thoughts and add illustration and design to them, and this text/illustration type of
entry is very prevalent in my daybook. One of my favorite entries has to be the squid I drew, for
it encompassed two of my creative outlets, drawing and writing. On the front of the paper, I
drew a squid, and on the back, I wrote about the squid inside the outline that I could see through
the paper. This created a mirror image of the drawing on the other side, filled with writing. It
took an extremely long time to complete, but I am really proud of what I was able to
Mullins 3

accomplish. Even though I dont plan on showing my daybook to many people, I look forward
to rereading the daybook in the future and reflecting on some of the slightly more artistic
entries in the book.
Although I wish I had read more books on my own time, the novels I read for our In
Thirds assignments have all been very poignant. Through the moodle posts and responses, I
have become much more comfortable with discussion of themes in a story. Perhaps my favorite
book I read this year was Animal Farm by George Orwell. Although the story was short and
sweet, the meaning behind the words was very clear. I think a huge contributor to why this book
has been my favorite is the in-class discussion we had earlier this year. I made little pig noses
and ears, and all the members of my group really immersed myself in the story for the duration
of the discussion. I was left with very fond feelings toward the novel. Orwells writing style
also taught me a lot about writing effectively. Many of his sentences are unembellished, but
because of their bluntness, portray a sort of natural feeling that pairs well with the content of
the story. I took a few notes from his writing techniques and have been trying to implement
them in my own writing.
The country project literary analysis has been one of the most helpful assignments of the
year. Not only was I required to implement things such as block quotes and in-text citations, but
I also gained a fascination and appreciation for world literature. My research on Walser and
various Swiss poets has led me to explore writers from other countries and from other periods of
time. The most obvious gain from writing the literary analysis, however, was learning how to
write a lengthy analysis (5 pages or more). This is something I know that I will do in college and
I am glad that I have gotten practice in this class.
Mullins 4

Overall, I am extremely proud of what I have accomplished this year in English
class. My learnings have extended beyond this classroom and beyond my senior year, for now I
have skills that I can use in the future, in whatever degree I decide to pursue. Of course, no
writer is perfect, and I know that I have flaws that I need to fix. Sometimes I drift off-topic when
I write, and of course, procrastination is always an issue. I am certain, however, that I will be
prepared for college, and will continue to grow and expand as I further my
education. Hopefully, I will able to take art and creative writing electives, for assignments such
as the daybook have taught me how important these skills are as a creative outlet. As my senior
year draws to a close, I can look back and appreciate the knowledge that Ive soaked in this year
and over my entire education.