Whitty 1

Requirements:
2+ pages
Reference at least TWO writing assignments
Double spaced, Times New Roman
Proofread for spelling, grammar, mechanics

In two pages (or more), reflect on the following:

● Strengths in your writing over Semester 2
○ Which skills have you developed?
○ Which skills have you improved upon?
○ Which piece of work exemplifies your skills?
● Areas for further development
○ Which skills do you still struggle with?
○ Which piece of work can you reflect on in order to show where you have room to
improve?
○ What are your goals for rest of highschool ? (consider your areas for
improvement, or other language skills you want to work on, such as vocabulary
development or sentence structure)
○ How can you achieve these goals over the course of the year?
○ In what ways will working on these skills strengthen your writing overall?
Please start your essay on a fresh page below.
 Whitty 2

Kayla Whitty

Honors Junior Lit

Mr. Pace

June 13, 2023

Semester Two Reflection

Over the course of the Second Semester I have improved on different aspects of my writing.

Throughout the semester, I have learned how to properly write an argumentative essay in the

choice essay where we were asked to choose a controversial topic and argue either for or against

it, making points that supported our own argument and countering any points from the opposing

side. I have also been able to improve my connections in writing between multiple sources, as

seen in the Civil Disobedience writing assignment that connected a common theme between

David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”. This piece of writing

exemplified the improved analysis and synthesis of skills needed in order to show the

significance between connecting multiple sources. The Civil Disobedience writing assignment

was an assignment that showed a vast improvement in connecting two pieces of writing. Over

the course of the semester I have realized that I often summarize pieces of evidence, especially in

other classes, instead of analyzing what has already been said. A piece of work that shows that I

still have room to improve is the comparative analysis essay where I still used ways of

summarization where analysis would have worked better. Over the course of the rest of my high

school career and beyond, I would like to improve my vocabulary, both in English and in

Spanish. Vocabulary is a great way to communicate with others what you are truly trying to say,

and by improving my vocab in both languages I will be able to communicate more thoroughly

with a greater group of people. Over the course of senior year I will be taking both an English
 Whitty 3

and Spanish class, allowing me to further my vocabulary knowledge and learn more about the

structure of each language and the proper uses. Someone noted to me the other day that us young

people don’t talk to adults properly, and I would like to be able to say that I have been educated

in a manner that shows my expertise in language and have shown my development in two

languages as a whole. This year I will be able to continue taking classes at Northern Essex

Community College, which has allowed me to exhibit my writing in more of a professional

format, showing that I will be able to further improve my writing and speaking in terms of

professionalism that will be necessary for college and the workplace beyond. Overall I will be

working to strengthen these goals by continuing to take language classes that are aimed at

improving my vocabulary. I will also be aiming to strengthen my writing overall, as I have

recently taken the SAT, where I was confused on multiple questions that asked about proper use

of punctuation. Even though we were taught this at a young age, some of it did not stick with me

up to this point in my life. I would like to relearn many of the basic structures of the English

language, and hopefully apply that knowledge to the structure of the Spanish language as well. I

hope to overall increase my knowledge in both languages and be able to show that I can

communicate in either using proper grammar.