Andreas Hale

Mr. Smith

E Block

6/8/23

LAMP Final Reflection

Over the course of my Junior year of English, I have acquired and improved upon many

literature skills in my reading and writing as well as learning more about literary devices used in

subjects like poetry. Also, I learned about all sorts of topics in literature like the American

Dream and the Salem witch hunts through literature.

An example of a literature skill I developed this year is synthesis, the ability to relate two texts to

each other through a similar theme or concept exhibited in both. In my opinion, synthesis has

definitely been a useful skill for me this year, especially in my American Dream essay, where I

used it to relate two texts with a similar theme, that members of a specific race or culture do not

deserve to be disrespected just because they are different. Another skill I acquired is poetry

explication, where I analyzed literary devices and how they are used in poems like “Tired” by

Fenton Johnson, where the writer alludes to the bible in order to demonstrate how a form of

familiar suffering that he has gone through in his life as a minority, and gained an overall better

understanding of literary devices such as allegories, hyperbole, and irony among others. Overall,

I am very confident that I have improved my writing skills over the course of my Junior year of

high school English.

As mentioned earlier, my reading skills have also significantly improved. Throughout Junior

English, I’ve read and written essays about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, where I

learned more about the American Dream and how it affects the lives of people like Jay Gatsby, a
millionaire who hopelessly falls victim to the conflict and violence associated with jealousy,

greed, and to an extent the 1920s, showing a darker side of America through literature. I also

followed the story of Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible”, which educated me on the Salem

witch trials, another dark time for America, where I read and wrote about characters like John

Proctor, Reverend Hale, and Abigail Williams among others who all actively engaged in Civil

Disobedience, one of the main topics of my second semester of English this year, which is

essentially rebelling against a corrupt government through refusing to follow their standardized

customs in ways like neglecting to pay taxes or refusing to follow rules that might seem

unethical. So essentially, I have made a fair amount of progress in my reading skills this year.

However, I do still have room to improve my literary skills, I have noticed that in a majority of

my essays, I can end up using too many words or make certain paragraphs more complicated

than they need to be. I also have a hard time focusing on reading sometimes and hope to become

more engaged in the topics that I’m learning about in class. Overall, while I have definitely

improved my ELA skills this year, I still want to focus on making my essays more clear and

work on analyzing more while reading.

After I move on to my Senior year of English and beyond, I wish to become more creative as a

person and branch out more to find my interests, passions, strengths, and weaknesses. I believe

that this year of English has helped me to begin that process, I feel more comfortable writing and

definitely feel as though this class has let me explore different aspects of literature that will

continue to follow me later in my life.

So, in conclusion, throughout my Junior year of English, I have acquired all sorts of reading and

writing skills as well as learn what I need to improve upon, and these skills will definitely help

me as I begin to move on from high school and need to begin to think more creatively.