Although English has never been a subject I have enjoyed, the class this year was very fun and engaging for me! I became much stronger in many aspects regarding the language, and focusing on the proficiency scales really helped me grow in and out of the classroom. During this semester, we primarily concentrated on six proficiency scales: Conscientious learning, initiating and participating in collaborative discussions, citing strong and thorough textual evidence to support analyses, writing arguments to support claims, integrating multiple sources, and determining themes or central ideas of a text. We completed many essays, read quite a few books, did plenty of assignments, and had some class discussions where we got to showcase these concepts behind the proficiency scales. Here are some assignments and evidence from this past school year to back up the grades I would give myself on my participation, effort, and work from this class, focusing on the requirements of the six proficiency scales!
grade: 3.75
I would give myself a 3.75 for being a good conscientious learner this year. I always use my class time effectively, participate in sharing my thoughts, and take ownership of my learning. Not only did I have zero missing assignments in this class, but I also had none in all of my other classes. I maintained all As this year because I always met the homework requirements and used past assignments as ways to improve or reflect for the next assignment. I also motivated others to stay on task so that our learning environment was quieter and easier to work in.
grade: 3.9
I think a 3.9 reflects my efforts and participation in collaborative discussions this year. for the jrp panel discussion, I came very prepared with a summary of my paper and 3 questions to ask my group, in order to expand the conversation (seen to the right). I always contributed with evidence and reasoning, and I made sure to listen respectfully and actively so that I could refer to their ideas. I even reached out to others to include them in the discussion and ask them questions about their ideas. Not to mention, I'm also an extremely groovy and stellar person:)
grade: 3.9
I have come a long way regarding evidence and citations. In our very first article analysis I used plenty of evidence and analyzed it to explain my thoughts, but I just quoted things word for word instead of actually diving deeper and really understanding what it says. However, in my jrp I basically paraphrased every piece of evidence I brought in, and this helped me analyze it more thoroughly since it was in my own words and it made more sense. I also learned how to cite correctly using the BAP, so this allowed my thoughts to flow more freely and made me not have to repeat the same author's name or page number every time I quoted from a source. I am now able to determine what texts say and use strong evidence from them to support my claims. I also used many related sources to support just one claim, which made my arguments stronger. Since I can do all of these steps, I feel like my writing style is very engaging and complex now.
grade: 3.5
On my Kindred essay I got a 3 for my arguments, but on my jrp I got a 3.2 for my arguments, which means I've definitely improved. Mr. Swedlow said my Kindred argument and writing were persuasive, but I needed to better my counterargument, and I ended up doing just that! In my jrp he said my argument and and counterargument are both strong and have good evidence/research, but my refutation just needs a little work. I believe I deserve a 3.5 since I used valid reasoning and sufficient evidence to support my argument, explained the complexities of abortion, included the strongest counterarguments on the issue with enough evidence, and I thoughtfully refuted the counterargument with evidence, even though I could have chosen better evidence to prove how the opposing side is wrong. I used college-level sources, like journal articles, to back up both sides as well!
grade: 3.9
I would give myself a 3.9 for my ability to integrate sources this year. As you can see in my jrp to the left, I included a ton of different sources from diverse media and formats. I also evaluated the source of each site based on their political views and bias. I used college-level sources like journal articles and I included thoughtful points to the counterargument by using specific sites that are against my opinion. I used narrative, informative, and persuasive articles in my arguments as well!
grade: 3.5
I would give myself a 3.5 in determining themes because I have definitely improved, but I am still missing a few spots on the proficiency scale. For Death of a Salesman I wrote and explained two possible themes of the book and showed with textual evidence how plot and characterization helped create them. Whereas in The Great Gatsby I only mentioned one possible theme, but still used textual evidence throughout the book to prove how that could be a theme. I also showed how the theme of Great Gatsby remained throughout the story by mentioning how all of the events lead up to this one theme. I didn't use any specific textual evidence for the Great Gatsby theme, but I made sure to include evidence for the Death of a Salesman themes so that readers can agree or disagree with my themes more easily since they'd understand how I came up with it.