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Ana Sofia Ruiz

Mr. O’Meara

AP Literature & Culture Pd 4

16 May 2022

Reflection

For each year of my senior portfolio, I included writing, reading, and listening/speaking

work. By doing so, I was able to look back on the various assignments I completed and reflect on

my academic progress. I decided to include my TKAM PA, Bosnia and Herzegovina Genocide

IRR, Dead Poets Society PA, and senior paper in the writing section specifically to compare my

level of analysis and how I presented it in each year. In my TKAM PA, it is evident that I

struggled in the warrant section as I often became repetitive with my ideas. The same is present

in my Bosnia and Herzegovina IRR. I remember I was proud of both works, but when I read

back at them both, I realized how my analysis kind of fell short. It feels as though I did the bare

minimum. During my junior year, I chose to go out of my comfort zone and test my limits by

analyzing a film. Even though in my TKAM PA, I presented how the character had a value, my

Dead Poets Society PA does a better job. The whole paper has a much better flow of ideas which

ultimately helped my paper to sound more professional. Something that did help my paper

become strong was that I began to ask for more feedback from my peers and from Ms. White.

During my freshman and sophomore year, I focused heavily on my own paper and did not go out

of my comfort zone by asking for additional help (apart from the mandatory peer edits and PA

meetings with my teachers). I also learned to enjoy the works we had to analyze starting my

junior year. Dead Poets Society was a film that, till this day, holds a special place in my heart

and I feel that I can improve my PA from junior year by pointing out details that I missed at the
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time. My senior paper has to be one of my best works, apart from my AP Research paper, solely

because I actually worked on my paper from the start and did not wait until the last minute. I

would force myself to work on my paper at my own pace and highlight parts of my paper and

have my peers review it. I even left comments on my own paper and would ask Mr. O’Meara

questions regarding my paper for further clarification. I will forever be impressed by my analysis

of Ophelia's character in my paper because I did a great job on not only finding great quotes, but

also breaking down every single line. I did so in a way that made my paper flow rather than feel

choppy. Shifting gears to my reading section, I decided to include my “Fahrenheit 451” Notes,

CRAAP Tests, “Frankenstein” Notes, and Wuthering Heights Notes. I remember how everyday

during DEAR days, whenever I would read “Fahrenheit 451” I would always be confused. I was

not completely sure what was going on and did not bother asking Mrs. Harris-Fracker for

clarification which was a huge weakness of mine. In my notes, it is evident that they were done

in a very low effort with no analysis whatsoever. Unfortunately, I did not save my notes on

“Night” from sophomore year so I used my CRAAP tests instead. Although it does not give

insight on my improvement/lack of improvement in the way I took notes, it did force me to focus

on the small details of each work that I read. For example, while reading “Frankenstein”, I would

take notes on small details that I felt added to a central idea or theme. It went as simple as taking

note of the weather even when I knew that it just further added to an idea (i.e. something bad is

happening and there is thunder). I also appreciate the effort I went through to going back and

highlighting details that were important. Not only did I enjoy "Wuthering Heights," but it was

also simple to write about my thoughts on the book without using specific evidence, which may

appear to be a step back in my progress. However, as I read the book, I would skip the step of

writing every single detail and instead focus on what I read suggests about the central theme. I
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made sure to include various big ideas that were present in my notes, which helped me when

making my presentation for the reading. I learned that making an extra effort in my annotations

would make my life easier for the future. For my listening/speaking section, I included my open

form poem, seminar presentation for College Board, AP Research presentation, and “The Spring

Poem” presentation. For freshman year, we had to present any poem we had made during that

year, and I decided to do “Warm Feelings”, a poem I wrote about my girlfriend at the time.

Although I feel that there is a bit of a lack of a flow throughout the poem, it was one of the first

ways I stepped out of my comfort zone by showing a vulnerable aspect of my life. Speaking

about my queerness in front of my class was one of the first steps to accepting myself as I had

been previous shunned to speak about such in public. As for my sophomore year, my group for

seminar, I decided to talk about the perceptions on Latin American immigrants in the United

States. This presentation is one of the few presentations in which I was proud of because my

group members and I were able to effectively work together by communicating well. We paced

ourselves well and made sure to practice multiple times before the actual presentation. Not only

did this presentation helped me develop my interest in research, but it also taught me the

importance of communication within a group which sounds a bit foolish. I feel like all

throughout middle school, my teachers would stress the importance of communication, but I

never fully understood the importance (I thought it was important because my teachers said so).

Now, when working in such a small space at Target, I put my communication skills to practice

within my coworkers and I (even the ones that I do not like). As aforementioned, I began to

develop an interest in research, which I was able to put to use in AP Research. I realize the

presentation I included for junior year is not from AP Lang, but I wanted to highlight how my

presentation skills improved as I was forced to focus on the most important details of my AP
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Research paper in order to stay within the time limit. Staying within the time limit was a difficult

task for me as I felt passionate about my topic, but I also wanted to make sure that they would

fully understand what I was saying. The last thing that I learned from what I showcased in my

portfolio was how to properly analyze poems. I used my communication skills with my group,

asked multiple questions and was able to feel prepared for the AP Lit exam. I used to despise

poems, but now I appreciate the time and effort and acknowledge the attention to detail that

authors/poets make. I feel that it is easier for me to analyze and break down poems, or at least

know what to look for.

For the portfolio, I wanted to highlight the works I was most proud of and show how I

was to progress throughout the years. I was able to learn important skills that I will put into

practice in college. Most importantly, I am able to acknowledge my weakness and understand

that I simply must learn from my mistakes. I still struggle with my warrants, fully

comprehending works, and get anxiety before every presentation, but I am confident in my future

growth.