First of all, I would like to say English was great the past two years. Our teacher, Mrs. Lepre was awe… wait for it… some. Awesome! Mrs. Lepre was always very energetic and always made us interested in our work. Our teacher has this way of making very interested to do incredibly boring assignments. If not our teacher, we would’ve hated English. These past two years, our class has done many assignments that taught us many lessons and many skills that have made us the somewhat good writers we are today. Out of the many assignments and projects we’ve done, there are only two assignments that are my favorite and have really taught me many skills so that I can do better in English. The first assignment is the Bottled vs Tap performance task we did back in seventh grade, and the second one is the Toilet to Tap performance Task essay we just recently did in eighth grade.

Back in seventh grade, I just started writing essays so that was a very big weakness for me. I was not very prepared for writing essays but luckily I had a teacher which helped us with the essay step by step. We did this assignment called the Bottled vs Tap performance task, it helped me practice my skills and become a better writer I was before. For this assignment, we had to compose a persuasive essay with the evidence given about which is better to consume, bottled or tap. I chose tap because there were more evidence for it thus a better essay and because it just a better choice than bottled water. Most of my annotations is just all about what needs improvement. For example, in the first one, I annotated that i used templates too much, that meant that I used the basic type of phrases like when i said ” American today tend to believe… ” many other students used that phrase because it was easy. I needed improvement in that skill. Another skill I needed improvement in before was my apostrophes. I didnt really care about apostrophes back then (see what I did there). My last weakness for me back then was the way I stated evidence. I always just wrote ” According to… ” and it was never different. Now I know a new way to state so i’ve improved on that skill. This assignment has made me an effective communicator because I’ve practiced my skill of analyzing documents and putting them into my words and writing them down in an essay. This assignment has also made me a creative and critical thinker because this assignment made me think creatively when it came to my use of words. Also in this assignment, there were some parts of the evidences where I twisted it’s meaning making be useful in my favor thus make me think creatively and also critically.

Now, in my current grade, my writing skills have improved tremendously. Though they may not be the best, they’re good enough to pass the eighth grade. For my eighth grade reflection, I chose the Toilet vs Tap Performance Task. For this assignment, we had to make a persuasive essay based on the articles given on which is better to use, Reused water “Toilet” or Tap. I chose Reused water because it is a better way of using water for us considering the environmental problems going on now in the community. (And also because most of the evidence given were about being for reused water thus having a better and “evidence-filled” essay) When they say Toilet in this assignment, they do not mean toilet water. They mean reused water that comes from different sources like toilets or sinks. I chose to reflect on this essay because this assignment was like my performance task in seventh grade, and what not better way to compare my writing skills back then and now by comparing the somewhat same assignment. I like this assignment because this assignment shows many strengths now that were my weaknesses back then. I also sounded very “smart” in this assignment which is why I like it very much. One of my strengths in this assignment were the transitions. I definitely improved when it came to my use of transitions than when I was in 7th grade. Now, I can use a wide variety of transitions. None of the basic transitions like first, second and third. Another strength I showed in this assignment was my use of vocabulary. I used big words in this performance task. This was also a somewhat improvement because I didn’t use big words as much. The rest aren’t really my strengths but more of like my improvements from before. For example, in my introduction, I didn’t use a basic intro. I started the essay off differently. Though I have some basic phrases placed here or there, it wasn’t as much as when I did in seventh grade. Another improvement was the way I stated my evidence. Our AWE… Wait for it…. SOME!! AWESOME!!! Our awesome teacher Mrs. Lepre taught us a new way to state the evidence without making seem as if we were plagiarizing. I’ve been using that method of stating evidence ever since. I think my only weakness in this assignment was my conclusion. I did not have a long enough conclusion and I did not rephrase my main claim correctly. There were many outcomes I demonstrated in this task during completion of this assignment. I have become an effective communicator because I have demonstrated analyzing texts and arguments and successfully responding to those texts academically. I have also become global and civic minded by showing awareness in natural issues, in this case, the drought leading to me going for reused water in my essay.

Over the years of middle school, I have improved as a writer and improved my english skills in general. I have improved my use of transitions, my composition of introductions, my use of vocabulary, and the way I state my introductions. My weaknesses in eighth grade were probably my conclusions. The way I set up my conclusions were not good and my conclusions would be too short. The way I paraphrased my main claim in a conclusion is probably one of my biggest weaknesses. It would not mean the same when it gets paraphrased. One way I can improve in my weaknesses is to keep on doing it and work on my essays harder.