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Darril Garcia Soto

White

AP English Literature, P1

16 May 2022

Senior Portfolio Reflection

Firstly, I chose to include my Fast Food Nation presentation in my Portfolio as my

Freshman year item because it represents where my speaking and presentation skills stood at the

beginning of my journey at University High School. As reflected in this presentation, I would

often fill slides with information, making it difficult for the audience to understand the content

that was included in the presentation. I would also often read the information straight off of the

slides, or gaze at the slides behind me to read information from there. My eye contact was also

impersistent, as was my enunciation, speed, and volume during speaking. This presentation

reveals the weak beginning of my journey at UH – the beginning of a long path of growth and

learning as I worked to improve my presentation and speaking skills.

Additionally, I included my Individual Written Argument (IWA) in my Portfolio as my

Sophomore year item because it is indicative of my aptitude in writing research papers and of my

ability to research a topic and draw conclusions from evidence gathered, establishing a claim and

supporting it with sufficient evidence. The IWA was arguably one of the more challenging

papers I had to write during my time at UH because it served as the submission for my AP

Seminar exam – as a result, it needed to be clear, thorough, and well-structured in order to

successfully support my claim. I spent a considerable amount of time working on this paper, and

over the course of a few months, I wrote various drafts in which I received and gave feedback to
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other peers on their papers to ensure that the arguments included in each paper were strong and

conclusive. During this process, I also learned how to conduct meaningful research from credible

sources and how to distinguish whether a source is credible. In the end, I was able to establish

my claim, support it with credible evidence, and create a warrant that established how my

evidence supported my evidence. As a result, I was able to score a 4 on my AP Seminar exam,

which is above what I had anticipated to receive.

Moreover, I chose to include my annotations for Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley,

in my Portfolio as my Junior year item because they are indicative of my ability to read and

interpret a text, all whilst gathering essential information using literary tools to analyze the

reading. This set of annotations was also the most in-depth set of annotations I have written for

any text during my time at UH. I remember thoroughly enjoying this book, hence why I spent so

much time and effort deeply looking into the details hidden beneath each piece of descriptive

imagery, each simile or metaphor, each allusion and reference made throughout the text. I

accounted for the passages that revealed important information about certain characters, such as

their values and principles, applying the skills I obtained in analyzing literary tools in order to

draw conclusions about the text. This set of annotations also represents my ability to manage my

time carefully, as with a length of about 56 pages, I needed to dedicate a substantial amount of

my time to reading and analyzing the text – all before the due date approached. Overall, this

assignment reflects my skills in reading and interpreting a text – a set of skills that are crucial to

learn and practice prior to writing about any text.

Finally, for my Senior year item, I decided to include the Senior Paper because it

accurately reflects the skills and lessons I have learned during my time in high school. It also

serves as a written account of my understanding and mastery of the writing skills and work
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habits I learned during my time at University High School. The amount of time and effort I spent

working on this Performance Assessment concisely represents the challenges I have had to

overcome as a student at UH. From interpreting a play from Shakespeare to managing my time

and progress over the course of the three months spent working on the Senior Paper – each of the

skills I harnessed from my Freshman to Junior year of high school came into fruition during the

making of this paper. In addition, by willingness to listen to the advice that others gave me

during the feedback process for this paper allowed me to make the necessary changes that

allowed me to pass my Senior Paper on the first try.

My evolution at University High School is reflected in my ability to speak, write, read,

and listen – each of which have been practiced extensively and thoroughly tested during my high

school career. Over the course of the last four years at University High School, I have read

various fiction and non-fiction texts, written several papers analyzing the big ideas from these

texts and what they reveal about the human experience, conducted extensive research about

significant issues and written analytical papers about such research, and more. As a result of the

growth and development of these skills, in addition to the challenges I have overcome at UH, I

will be better equipped to take on challenges I face in college.