Writing reflection.

I think that the content of each essay made sense, and was related to the essay prompt, but I also think I did better at this whilst writing the Alchemist essay. I understood what I was writing about more in the Alchemist essay, so the content was better related. For the Julius Caesar essay, I felt like there was a lot more pressure, and this made it harder for me to concentrate on what I was writing. I also found writing the characterization of Santiago easier than any of the Julius Caesar characters, because I just understood the Alchemist better than I understood Julius Caesar. I think I could improve this by thinking more about each character as I read, so that I understand them in advance. This way, I would find it easier to write exactly what I am supposed to write, instead of rambling on because I’m not sure if I am correct.

I think my organization is demonstrated well, because my essays are structured into good and relevant paragraphs. For example, in my Alchemist essay, I had clearly split it into an intro, a conclusion and in the middle there were three paragraphs, each one describing a separate characteristic of Santiago. I could improve this though, by adding more interesting words, and a hook to get my readers attention. I could also work a bit harder on my thesis statements and create a better conclusion that summarizes my thoughts well.

I think I have grown in word choice since the first essay, but I also think some other skills have decreased since the alchemist. I think part of this may be because I find it easier to have more time on an essay, as well as do it in small steps with lots of help. For the Julius Caesar essay, we had to complete it all in one go, and although we got plenty of help during the planning stage, it was hard to go straight from that into writing in one class period.

The SLR I chose to reflect on is communicating effectively. I choose this because when writing essays it is important that you get your point across efficiently and clearly. I think I did well at this during both essays because I had gotten everything in my head on my essay and most of it made sense. If you communicate effectively, you also think about who is going to read your writing, in this case it is mainly teachers, my parents and my peers, so I had to write using language that is suitable for that. Same with word choice.