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Ilise McGraw
Ms. Woelke
ERWC Period 1
6 May 2016
Reflection Essay
Best Assignment:
The essay that I am the most proud of over that past four years is my Nothing Gold Can Stay
poem explication from my freshmen year. The reason I believe this is my best essay is because I
am not fond of poetry and I thought this was going to be a hopeless assignment, but I received
my best grade that year. I didnt think I was good at interpreting poetry, mostly because it was
foreign to me and it was a different type of literature to write about. However, I spend a long
time working on this essay and accepted the challenge given. I remember researching a lot about
this Robert Frost poem and how to write a proper poem analysis about something that only
consisted of eight lines. It was definitely out of my comfort zone and I think that made me want
to learn the information in order to gain that comfortability. I was determined to understand the
poem and write something of quality. I think I did I good job picking apart the poem and
explaining myself. I interpreted each section of the poem and provided examples and reasoning. I
also think I enjoyed writing this essay because of its meaning. Nothing Gold Can Stay is an
allusion to an entire lifetime where everyone experiences pain and happiness, failures and
success and appreciated this. It is unusual that my most successful work is from my freshman
year but I chose this work because it was the only English class/teacher, other than ERWC, that I
took that challenged my writing skills. I didnt continue down the AP English path for who
knows what reason, probably laziness, and I regret it. I received great grades in my sophomore

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and juniors classes and maintained an easy A, but I dont think I ever had to question my skills or
my ability. I liked that I struggled with this assignment and got to see how my hard work payed
off. Succeeding in something you never thought you could do is more rewarding. Although the
essay is still a bit sloppy and is definitely written by a freshman, I think the work put into it is
what makes this my most successful piece.
Trends:
Year
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior (1/2)

Reading
3
3
4
3

High School Trends/Averages

Writing
Speaking & Listening
3
2+
4
4
4
43
3

Language
34
4
4

As I look at my trends and averages it seems as though my sophomore and junior years are my
most impressive, however I dont think my trends are a proper interpretation of my growth. Yes,
I learn new things after every paper I write, but I did that on my own. My teachers from tenth
and eleventh grade didnt really challenge me. Mrs. Bricker, who went on maternity leave, gave
me fours all around. Mrs. Raymond, who retired early, and Mrs. Reif, her temporary substitute,
both had minimal critique and never strayed from consistent fours either. Granted, at the time I
probably love the easiness, but I wish I was forced to try harder. I guess I couldnt expect
anything too tough in a regular English class, and I never challenged myself. I am not a strong
writer and I struggle with that reality, but I hope I can learn from these mistakes. You can see I
did struggle as a freshman and a senior and that is because my teachers graded me more strictly.
That was the best thing for me and those are probably where I would see the most growth. In
regard to my score sheets, my scores have always been inconsistent and although that trend of
inconsistency is fluent I think I have grown as a writer. My grammar, fluency, Socratic

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confidence, vocabulary, quote selection/interpretation, work ethic, etc. has developed and I
would like to work harder to improve it even more. I feel more confident and although these five
numbers are supposed to summarize my entire high school English career I dont think that is a
fair representation. I know I have much farther to go but compared to my junior and sophomore
self, I am excited to get better. That is the biggest difference.
Portfolio
I knew going into high school that I would need my portfolio for something when I graduated
although I wasnt sure what for exactly. My siblings vaguely explained that it was important for
the end of high school and I did my best to keep track. I like the idea of recording our progress
over the years in categories because I was able to see what I really struggled in and was easy to
improve my grades because I knew what I needed to focus on. Allowing me to see that my
Reading and Writing skills arent where I want them to be helped me set a goal to put more effort
into those assignments to work on my focus and development. I am generally a very organized
individual and when teachers gave class time to arrange the binders I took advantage. Each year
it seemed like my teachers provided a few days out of a semester dedicated to portfolio work;
this gave me plenty of time to record my grades. My portfolio was easy to access and my
organizational skills payed off.
The Next Step
I have not taken advantage of the support Great Oak offered me and I regret it already. Postgraduation I am automatically taking a month long road trip attempting to get part of my travel
itch relieved before I begin the next educational portion of my life. I am still unsure as to what I
want to study and this has led me down the community college route. Unfortunately, community
college has a stigma that suggests that I am not serious about college and I am effected by that.

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Although its not a bad route and I am sure its a good option for me since I do not have any
other plans, I know I am capable of being accepted to and attending a four year directly without
struggling and this bothers me. I have this confidence because of the classes Ive taken. I am
very fortunate to attend such a prestigious school that offers such interesting classes. I have been
able to trial subjects I would have never considered. I believe that I want to pursue a career in Art
History and would never have thought this would be my passion without having that class
offered at the high school level. The AP program is awesome and I wish I had started taking AP
classes sooner because it made me work harder and resulted in my first 4.0. Advanced Placement
is considered college level classes and I think it boosts my confidence when I receive As in the
classes Im taking even if its not as serious as an actual college class. It is more work and is time
consuming and it has motivated me and shows that I never knew what stressed out was. Over the
years Ive learned to take on the unknown and confidently try new things. Although Ive made
mistakes and would go back and make some schedule changes, I can take what Ive learned from
this reflection and bring it with me in the future. I know what I am capable of and I know that I
need to challenge myself in order to get better.