Damaris Ahumada

White

AP Literature

16 May 2022

Portfolio Reflection

In my Portfolio I decided to include my freshman Narrative, a reflection for the genocide

project , my civil disobedience presentation and my Hamlet Analysis. The freshman narrative

was one of my first narratives I ever wrote. The narratives we wrote served as a way for me to

process feelings I didn't even know I had. With each narrative I was asked to recall times in my

life and really think about what I took away from those events. Freshman year I swore I was the

best writer in the whole school, no one could top my writing. After weeks of drafting my

narrative, editing and polishing to create the best piece possible, I submitted my assignment,

Almost fully confident it was incredible and would pass. Nothing compares to the utter shock

and disappointment I’d feel freshman year finding out my papers were not up to the standards.

Although in that moment I would’ve sworn it was Mr. O’meara who graded incorrectly and not

bad writing on my behalf, looking back at any paper I wrote freshman year, I'm shocked I

believed that to be well written. Although I never realized it, my writing has greatly evolved

(thankfully!). The next piece I included was a reflection about my genocide presentation. This is

included for the listening portion because creating a reflection requires you to 1. Listen to

yourself and 2. Listen to what others think of your presentation. While it has always been

difficult to go up to the front of the class and present any project, I really do feel like the

Genocide presentation was one of my bests. My group was extremely proactive, always tried to

squeeze in some practice time. Spending weeks researching one specific aspect (ethical lense) of
the presentation made me feel really confident in presenting, but my specific research wasn’t

included. Having spent weeking researching and not being able to share it made me feel left out.

This experience definitely changed my perspective about minorities and opened my eyes to

different issues encountered by different people. Remembering how not getting to present my

part made me feel, I have tried to ensure that anytimes someone researches something for a

presentation, they get to at least mention it during the presentation. My third piece was the Civil

Disobedience presentation. I decided to include this because it was done during my junior year

which was online. Having tp present and overall just learning online was a complete 180 of what

we were used to. I do believe online presentations were even more nerve wracking the in person

presentations! Having the fear of the wifi going out, mic not working or speakers going out made

me so nervous. Presenting online was definitely different. It broadened my presentation skills

and allowed me to learn a new presentation style. My final piece was my Hamlet Analysis.

Never have I reread a play so much! Analyzing Hamlet was definitely my best analysis ever. The

amount of times I read specific scenes to find the perfect quote is truly astounding. For 3 months

every thought was Hamlet Hamlet Hamlet. Despite how stressed the paper made me, Hamlet was

lowkey kinda good. I enjoyed the movie and the different interpretation to the play's tone.

Looking back, I have come a long way since that first day of High School. Every project has

prepared me for the next; Everything has truly built off of eachother. No matter how much I

hated doing the work at the moment. Finally completing the project knowing you gave it your

best shot, is really an indescribable feeling. I can only imagine how much more I have ahead of

me and what new things I will have the opportunity to learn. I am truly grateful for the

opportunity to grow and develop as a student! Thank you for all you have taught me and your

patience in doing so! <3