Jacob Marzullo

IB English HL I
12/11/23
Dr. Malashewski

Self-Assessment: Fall 2023

1. Broadly speaking, how has IB contributed to shifting your approach to reading and/or thinking about

literature? What work of literature that you’ve engaged with this semester best exemplifies this change?

IB English has contributed a lot to my critical thinking and analysis skills. It has taught me how to think about

literature and the intent behind it in unique ways. It has also exposed me to more tools, vocabulary and

techniques that are used in literature that can help with my analytical skills. The piece of literature that best

exemplifies this is There There by Tommy Orange. The novel provided a unique style of writing and really

interesting perspectives.

2. What specific reading and/or writing skills or strategies have you developed / refined?

One specific writing strategy I have refined is my tone. I feel that after writing for Ob English, I have learned to

write in a more professional tone, avoiding personal pronouns and expanding my vocabulary.

3. Cite some evidence of how you have developed as a reader and/or writer. What entries best

demonstrate your development as a learner and why?

There There dialectical journal 4 is a great example of my improvement as a writer. It is concise, makes a strong

point, utilizes evidence from the text and has a professional tone. I feel as though it shows my improvement in

terms of text analysis.

 4. What skills and/or knowledge do you want to improve in, and how might you do that? Set 1-2 specific

goals for next semester.

I still want to improve my writing skills overall. I feel as though it could be more concise and have better

structure. Specifically I want to focus on more concise writing. Additionally, I want to improve my knowledge

of how to relate literature to global issues. Not only does this skill help with the IO, but also helps with literary

analysis overall, as it can be important to connect real world issues to themes that are seen in writing.