I can honestly say that I'm shocked I'm writing this introduction to my second mini-English portfolio. After I turned in the giant Portfolio of work throughout this entire year, I thought that I was in the clear. I was ecstatic, gearing up for a winter break filled with hanging out with friends, family, and relaxing in my satisfaction of completing the last portfolio. When you told us that we had to do yet another mini-portfolio, I had mixed feelings at first. Maybe this was because I was brain-dead from the weeks, days, and hours of editing, conferencing, editing, reviewing, and even more conferencing. Then, I took a step back and realized that this was a great opportunity to reflect on my past works and examine how I've matured and developed as a writer over my high school career. Reading through my past essays and works made me realize how much I've grown as a writer. For example, when I read a piece from my freshman year, I was shocked as to how bad it was. I couldn't believe I was that poor of a writer to even begin with. It was embarassing to read some of those pieces as I laughed at my incapability to develop any sort of plot, theme, or characters. As I moved up to my sophomore year, I could see a little growth in my writing skills.
Sophomore year consisted of a lot of reading units. We must have read at least 5 or 6 books throughout the year, analyzing them in depth and conversing in deep discussion about certain plots, characters, or themes in the stories. But, I didn't grow as a writer sophomore year because we only wrote during finals. We'd read a story and have to write an essay about the themes of that story. Although I grew as a reader sophomore year, I think I actually took a step back in my writing skills. When I wrote those stupid essay responses, I bullshitted everything. I would catch myself making up things on the spot. I accepted this as a way to make the piece look longer in length. I didn't even bother to go into character depth or develop any sense of theme or point to my writing. Writing was a burden sophomore year, and I wish I had tried a lot harder in developing my skills that year.
Junior year was another great year of reading books. And when I say great, I am being sarcastic. Again, I must've read 5 or 6 books, all about different characters who find their passion in creating art. What is art? What defines art? Who creates art? What does art mean? What makes art successful? We'd interpret these types of questions throughout the year while reading these boring books. SparkNotes was my best friend sophomore year. Luckily, I still got an A- in the class. This shows two things: 1. The class was way too easy. 2. I wasn't challenging myself at all. Honestly, I didn't care. As long as I was gettting the grade, I was happy. I dreaded going to 5th period English that year becasue it was the most boring class of all time. We'd sit there talking about art, and I slept through the majority of those conversations. I didn't learn much (if anything) that year becasue the class was unorganized and dull. Again, I only wrote 3 essays that year, two during finals and one that analyzed a book we read. I hated that class, and I truly began to loose hope for English classes. That was until I took Creative Writing.
This year in Creative Writing revived my inner creativity and writing potential. This entire year we got to write in various styles, whether it be using first person, third person, dialouge, or poems. The different styles of writing challenged me to think outside of the box and really focus on certain aspects of literature such as character, plot, and theme development. This year was essential in putting me on track to grow in the future, for I now possess the skills and knowledge to take my writing to places I could never imagine. For that, I thank you very much and pay tribute with CW Project #2! Hope you enjoy!
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