Adrienne Toney

Mrs. O’Keefe
AP Literature
27 May 2019

Throughout my 4 years of going to Chicago Academy my writing style has greatly

improved. I’ve recently moved past the ordinary template of writing essays, which is 5
paragraphs (introduction, 3 body paragraph, and a conclusion). Not only is my organization
better but my voice has began to manifest more in my writing. I also try to be more creative with
my words so that my pieces of writing doesn’t sound repetitive or boring.
I had a lot of ups and downs concerning my writing. For example, when I started writing
essays for my history class in freshman year I never received a score higher than a two. I never
realized what I was doing wrong until someone pointed out the rubric to me. I saw that I wasn’t
meeting all of the requirements for standards such as, mechanics or evidence. I was constantly
using personal pronouns and I lacked multiple sources of evidence. However, after I figured out
what I was doing wrong I was quick to fix it.
The tips that I learned in my first year of high school transfered over to my sophomore
year. I had taken an honors English class and I believe that this really helped me take a more
creative approach when it comes to writing. I also learned more about the rule of the English
language with the help of a website called NoRedInk. I was able to use the lessons that I learned
from NoRedInk in my essays and other pieces of writing within all of my classes.
A class that really challenged my writing in my junior year was my Contemporary
American History class. I felt like every time I turned around there was another writing
assignment due. In the moment I was stressed out and upset because I felt like I was receiving
way too much work but now I see that all of the work that I was receiving was actually helping
me and it would continue to help me later on in life. I took the skills I learned from my first and
second year of high school to help me out each time I wrote an essay. I knew to review the rubric
and I knew to be more creative so that my essay would be set apart from the other students
writing about the same prompt as me.
As for my senior year of I high school, I learned how to truly analyze other pieces of work
and how to complete thorough research on my own. My AP Literature class really helped me
with this. I’ve been taught how to properly analyze multiple sources using the TPCASTT
annotation system. I’ve been able to apply the TPCASTT annotation system to many of my other
classes whether I’m writing an essay or getting ready to speak in a discussion.
Basically all of the tips that I’ve learned over the years in CA have allowed be to become a
more thorough reader and writer. I’ve taken everything that I learned the past four years and
applied them to my work and it’s been showing in the way I’ve been graded. I went from failing
my essays in freshman year to excelling at them in my senior year.
All of the tips that I’ve learned will surely help me in the future. I recently found out that
I don’t have to take the freshman college writing class because of the ERW section of my SAT.
This proves to me that I’ve truly challenged myself and it’s paid off in the end. I just hope that
everything I learned up until now will come along with me to college so that I don’t struggle a
lot.