Author's Note: This is my final writing piece for eight grade. In it, I explain how I have advanced and improved with my writing and language art skills. I also describe how it will eventually impact my future life with whatever I choose to do. It's not the best writing piece I've ever done, but it's good enough.
Middle school is a juncture where students can prepare themselves for high school, which ultimately prepares us for college and careers ahead of us in the future. On a personal note, I know I have grown a lot in many ways, and not only in school-related ways. Many new things are introduced to students in middle school, and I definitely believe that this school year and last year were very successful years for me.
In this school year and the previous school year, I have learned many new things that I did not entirely expect to learn. Even in Language Arts class alone, I have learned many historical things about literature, poets, and even famous philosophers. I feel that I will go into high school very prepared for all of my classes, and that I will be able to use the information I have learned in middle school for high school and future years with whatever I choose to do with my life. My improvement as a writer will hopefully affect me with whatever career I choose, yet I know it will come in play in college at least.
There is no doubt in my mind that my writing today is much different than when I was in sixth grade. I have learned so much as a writer, and have improved in such a way that I even have clear thesis statements, if I even had one at all in sixth grade. In addition to thesis statements, my voice has tremendously changed. A big factor as to why my voice has changed so much is because I have become much smarter as a writer, which I understand is very generic. To break that statement down, I first of all have a lot larger repertoire with my vocabulary. Along with vocabulary I have been introduced to many semantic and syntactic devices, which I attempt to use in my writing pieces as often as I remember to. Even something as simple as being able to form a support group to advance my writing skills counts as a writing improvement to me. This year especially has let me know my own limits, and has helped me with my time management skills on completing tasks. I could go on and on with the components of writing that I have learned, but it would take a lot more time than I could possibly ever want to take to write in a paper. Going from smarter goals, to mixing text to real life information in essays, to understanding forms and elements of poetry; I have improved my writing skills more than I ever imagined I would.
My skills in writing have improved greatly, yet also the knowledge I have gained while being in Mr. Johnson’s classroom has been amazing to me. In seventh grade, I learned a lot about the Russian Revolution and different paradigms. In eighth grade, I learned about almost thirty different poets, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the development of English literature, and many other things taught through the form of a mini-lesson. Being in Mr. Johnson’s class for two years in a row has given me a lot of information that I will remember for several years and that I can use to continue with my education.
