Portfolio

My name is Cade and I am a freshman in English 1. I have written many papers this year such as a personal narrative, literary analysis, research paper, poems, and now this portfolio. In this portfolio I have set some goals for next year but also said what I am good at and some of my struggles. I am a strong writer when I have some help but also have more than two weeks to write it. Also if it is a research paper I need to have time to get some information and also have some pre writing time. This year has been full of variety as far as writing comes but it was a learning experience.

Water Skiing For the First Time In June of 2016, my friend’s dad had received a great deal on a new boat for their summer home in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Their home was moderately new and had only been theirs for about two months. They had invited me and my family over to the home over the weekend and wanted me to learn how to water ski. I was very excited to have this opportunity, but also a little nervous. The plan was to leave the next day on a Friday night. That night, my family and I had arrived to their summer home around half past seven. My friend’s family greeted us and dinner was ready for us right when we walked in the door.     After dinner, my friend had helped me unpack my clothes for the weekend. He said the boat was parked out in Bay St. Louis close to their house. He said that we were going to have a great time with our families on the water. The next morning we had driven out to the bay to start our day on their new boat. When we arrived I was amazed...

Books: Cinder Point Blank LOTF Purple Hibiscus Macbeth Eagle Strike Snakehead Scorpia Rising ATDPTI Side Dish for PH- This was an assignment that described important places in the book and to explain why they were important. I understood the book a lot better and understood the importance of the places better. ATDPTI- I did a reflection blog post on the beginning of this book and I talked about the characters and how they are similar and different. It was not a summary of what you read which was challenging. In class writing assignment- This was to make sure I read the book Cinder over the summer and my sentences were written like a middle schooler. I did not have much depth to my sentences but I knew what went on in the book.

There are many goals I am going to set up for next year for my writing. In the poetry section of writing I will practice on my own and maybe look up some tips about how to be a good poet. If we have a research paper I will strive to get all the information before I start to write. To have all the information possible is all ways good because you know there is nothing you are missing. I will reach these goals by writing them down on a note a put the note on my home screen. For help on a paper I will keep the note on so I never forget. Help will get me a better grade because I am getting help from very good writers. Also I will practice some on my own to maybe improve my writing before my tenth grade year.  

Some areas I need to work on is probably the poetry section and literary analysis. The Lord of the Flies was kind of a hard read for me for some reason. There were so many things that were going on and it was hard to find themes and write about a literary element. This is important because the books are just going to get harder and harder to comprehend and write about. Also if there was a paper to write about what you thought the theme was and why, I would need to know how to write about a theme and first identify it. Another area I need work on is the poetry section. I had a very good performance on the test and the terms but I need work on the terms and how to apply them to my writing. The terms assonance, consonance, and sibilance are very similar because they are all about sound or the repetition of a letter. There are so many types of poems and I need to work on writing all kinds poems no matter the standards. 

In my opinion I have many strengths as writer because I have been writing papers since I was in first grade at St. James. For starters if there is a requirement for how long a piece of writing has to be, I will never write less. When I write I feel as if I could never run out of ideas and I could write forever. I will never come short on a paper because I have never done that. Also I can write about various topics such as English, History, Science, and even Dance. For english I have written personal narratives, literary analysis', and research papers. In Dance I have written one paper about a dancer that was very good and in fourth grade I won an award for writing a paper about my experience in partner dancing class. Specifically in English I learned how to write a thesis that is arguable and clearly stated. I have learned this through writing the literary analysis on Lord of the Flies. I also had to say what literary elements were used in the book such as foreshadowing, irony, a...

This year in English I have learned that if I give myself enough time to write, the paper will be very successful. When I procrastinate it becomes a problem and I begin to panic and write irrelevant sentences. I also I have learned that I can cite things better and avoid plagiarism. Citing will help me in college and it just gives credit to the writer who worked hard to write whatever it was. Another thing that has helped me is the process before actually writing the final draft. The thesis statement, introduction, some context, and the rough draft after editing and revising it. Lastly, I have found that I improved in including vivid detail and using freshmen level diction in my writing. Some improvements I have made in my writing since the beginning of the year are citing, using advanced diction, and working on papers many days before they are due. For citing it was kind of new because we did not use it that much in middle school. The only time I remember is in seventh grade and we ...