Throughout this school year, I have learned many things in English class. There has also been a wide spread amount of learning. I feel that this year's class has helped me advance my skills in all different areas. I have become a better speader, reader, listener, viewer, and writer. When I first assesed myself in all of these areas, I was at much more of an amature level of thinking. Now, on the other hand, I feel that my ideas are much more developed. There are also many specific areas in which I have strengthened my skills, but there are still some weaknesses. Each of these areas this year have basically changed for the better.

My experiences as a speaker have never been the greatest, however, this year I have managed to develop them further to become a more advanced speaker. Throughout the year we have read a few different plays, for example, "Julius Caesar" and 'King Oedipus". During each of these readings, the students had to read aloud. I am not one who would want to do so, however, this experience kind of forced me into becoming a better speaker and not remaining so quiet. Also our class discussions have allowed me to express my ideas to the entire class, without having to be so descrete about everything. If I were to add up all of the chances that my teacher has given me to become a more efficient speaker, I would asses myself in saying that I have almost doubled my skill as a speaker.

Out of all of the different areas of English, I believe that I have become the most improved as a reader. Seeing as how, we read so many novels this year, I have been able to make myself a better reader all around. It has also been good that we have been reading all different types of literature this past year. Going from the plays that we have read to the novels, like "Catcher In The Rye", and all the way to all the short stories that we read during the time of CAPT practicing. This has been a great experience for me to be able to develop these skills, which hadn't been that great before. I have become a fast reader, not only that, but I am now able to notice and figure out all of the little important details in each piece of literature.

As a listener, my skills have also developed along with the other areas. Being able to listen to other people's ideas and feeding off of them for your own information is a big part of English, and I feel that I can do that now better than I have ever done before. This starts at the class discussion, where I am able to hear what other students have to say and then add my own arguments. I am also able to listen to the teacher and develop my own ideas. All together this makes me a better listener and thinker.

During the course of the year I had the chance to watch a few films in my English class. However, the films that I have watched were very beneficial to my learning. These films gave me a chance to understand a novel or play through a different outlook. I have always been a pretty good viewer, but the more exposure that a person gets to it, the more that a person will learn. There is always room for improvement and I feel that I somewhat improved in this area also this past year.

My feelings are that the most important aspect of English is the writing part. This part can help students in many ways. Not just in school, but in life as well. Depending on the type of writing we are doing, depends on how well I can do it. This year, I got the chance to write in some different forms, which I hadn't been exposed to before. One example is the research paper, which I ended up doing pretty well on. Other types were creative or informational writings, which I had already done before. Although, I think that my writing skills after this year have improved a great deal. I have learned to focus on some detail and also to keep the reader's attention. If I were to look back throught the year I would see that each paper that I have written got a little better than the last. This is a great accomplishment in my mind and I hope that it will continue in the future.

When I evaluate the strengths that I have had in English, there are few things that I would say are almost perfect, however, there are some in which are very well developed. For example, I feel that my research paper was one of the best pieces of work that I have ever written. On the other hand some of the concrete writings can use some improvement. There is nothing that I have done this year that I haven't worked my hardest at, therefore, I can expect to have bettered my skills throughout the year. The practice has helped me to improve in many areas. Another one of my strengths reading for content and having a good idea of what was going on in the novels at all times. There were times when I got a little confused, but for the most part I think that it was one of my strengths. The creative writing has become one of my strengths as the year has gone on, the exposure that I have had to the different types of writing, helped me to understand better what it was that I needed to make my writings look like that.

When I evaluate my weaknesses, there are many things that I can pick out, however, most of them aren't as much of weaknesses as they used to be. For example, I think that I have a hard time picking out the hidden clues within a story that help to describe the meaning. Even though we have been exposed to so much of that this past year, I don't think that I have developed it to my full potential. I also have a weadness in creating enough detail in the pieces of writing that I develop. I tend to focus on the overall idea of things, instead of having details to keep the reader's attention. There are many things that I have had in the past as my weaknesses, but most of these have been cleared up or are improving after this past year. The amount that I learned this year in English is probably the most ever, and I intend on moving further throughout the years to come.

When thinking about this last part of my conclusion, there isn't really that much for me to say. I think that all of my expectations were filled for the most part. All aspects of English were further developed throughout the year. My writing skills are much improved, I have also been able to read more sufficiently and not just for content. By viewing the few pieces that we did, I better understood what the writings were all about. Also most importantly, I am not as tentive to speak to the class about my ideas and feelings on a specific sucject. There is not very much that I can say didn't mean my requirments for this year, however, I was hoping that we could read more short stories and poems, instead of mainly novels. This year fulfilled what I was looking for in the most important ways and I have come away a much better English student because of it. Back to Homepage