Barry 1

Jeremy Barry

Ms. Michko

AP Language and Composition

4 June 2023

AP Language and Composition Course Reflection

This year, I have grown a lot as a student but even more so as a writer. I can attribute my

newfound skill of writing decently to this class. Throughout this course, I have acquired a wealth

of skills.

Firstly, I have learned the significance of understanding rhetoric. This stems all the way

back to summer reading when we read “Thank You for Arguing.” and when we watched the

commercials in the very first couple of classes. By studying rhetoric I have gained a deeper

understanding of how to appeal to an audience. Whether it is through logical reasoning or a

personal anecdote, this skill has proved to be truly beneficial especially due to the fact that it

helped me with the recent speeches I have had to make and deliver in front of the entire grade

and school.

In Addition to having a deep understanding of rhetoric, I have also developed strong

critical thinking skills over the course of the year. This course has taught me to approach topics

from multiple perspectives, critically analyze information, and evaluate the strengths and

weaknesses of different arguments. These skills were tested and refined in our education unit,

particularly in the big essay we wrote. Over the course of the unit, we evaluated lots and lots of

sources ranging from Kyoko Mori’s Japan article to the Sudbury School video. Seeing all of

these differing viewpoints, I was forced to critically create a nuanced argument regarding the

Newburyport High School “Portrait of a Graduate.” By practicing analyzing and evaluating these
 Barry 2

sources, I ultimately had an opportunity to showcase my newfound critical thinking skills where

I received a B+ on my essay, which is pretty good considering not many people got A’s. All in

all, By incorporating critical thinking into my writing, I am now able to make a well-rounded,

more nuanced argument than I could at the beginning of the year.

While this year has been quite successful with lots of prosperity and success, there is still

room for improvement. One aspect where I am trying to improve is my vocabulary. While I have

made great strides and already improved my vocabulary significantly over the course of this

year, there is definitely room for significant growth. By actively seeking out new words, learning

their meanings, and incorporating them into my writing, I can enhance my writing and

ultimately, make it more sophisticated. On top of that, I also want to improve my organization

within my writing. I still encounter instances where my ideas may lack coherence or my

arguments could be more effectively structured. Moving forward, I intend to focus on enhancing

the flow of my writing to ensure a greater reading experience for AP Lit and all my future

writing endeavors

For the rest of my high school career, I hope to succeed academically and do well on all

future AP exams. These important skills I have learned in AP Lang translate into nearly every

class I take in this school, besides math and science. In history class, we need to write essays all

the time. Having these skills in my repertoire surely helps with that. In art classes such as basic

video, there is always an audience who will be looking at and judging your work, so the lesson of

understanding your audience and making specific choices to appeal to them is extremely

important in this aspect of my academic career.

 Barry 3

If there is one thing that I will take away from this class, it is surely understanding

rhetoric. After learning about rhetoric, I think about literally everything differently. I now view

communication, whether in writing or oral presentations, through a whole new lens.