Acknowledgements

    I still remember the first day of class. I remember taking the syllabus and not knowing what was going to happen in the next few months. At first, I couldn't decide whether to take 11 English AP. Now. looking back after 9 months, I know that it was the right decision. I wouldn't be where I am now if not for that. All those vocab quizzes, in-class essays, and reading assignments were worth it.

To. where it all started, the first reading assignment, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, I will always remember how it made me understand that you can truly support your country, but be vigilant of the actions of its government. To my favorite reading, This is Water, which made me realize that the real value of real education is simple awareness of what is hidden in plain sight all around us. To the book I actually enjoyed reading even though it was for school, The Great Gatsby, I can never forget how entertaining the plot was and how it had some of the most important themes like greed, love, violence, and “The American Dream”. To one of the most awakening pieces, “Words Don’t Mean What They Mean”, which made me realize how often language is manipulated for personal gain rather than stating plain facts. To the piece that taught me a huge life lesson, The Death of The Moth, I will always be grateful for reminding me to live every moment fully, because there’s no guarantee that you won’t die the next second. All these pieces didn’t just change me as a person, but also my writing skills. They taught me so much about word choice, style, organization, sentence structure, and author’s purpose.

    The writing assignments and in-class essays have made a big impact on my writing. Each essay I wrote and each comment I got taught me something new. Starting with the first in-class essay this year, a synthesis essay, I would not write this as my last sentence: “Factors like money, culture, and incentive must be considered to choose the best piece of art or artifact that fits in the museum’s collection”. Here, I just repeated the same thing I said twice already. That’s what I was doing throughout the whole essay: repeating what I already said and not analyzing the pieces enough. After a month or so, I wrote the first rhetorical analysis of the year about ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’. Reading the essay right now, I can’t help but think of all the things I could have written differently. Comparing it to my most recent rhetorical analysis, I have certainly improved. In the latter one, I didn’t just state rhetorical features used to connect to a vague claim but specified the effect they had and the purpose of the author. Also, before I just said things like “money creates an illusion in the minds of the wealthy” and ended the paragraph there, without really explaining how, but now I know that you can’t just say things and end the discussion there, you need to explain and connect everything back to the claim.

    To Ms. Valentino, I wouldn’t have been the writer I am now without you. Thank you for telling me what I did wrong and always encouraging and congratulating me on how much I improved on those essays. To Hemna, for making the class a little more fun, and always having someone to talk to. Thank you for giving your advice every time I was stuck or needed help with something. To Adeline and Ellie for always participating when no one else in the group wanted to. And to Rithwika and Tanvi for always listening to my rants first hour about having to write an essay at 8 am every Monday. The experience was definitely not easy, but it was memorable. I might even remember what this class gave me a few years from now. Every hour I spent there made an impact on the way I write, analyze, and read the world around me. To end, I would like to thank myself for always making it through.