AP Lang: From Microcosms to Modernism

     One observation I will take away from junior year is that being naturally good at something doesn't always guarantee success. Raw talent needs to be harnessed, honed, polished. It's easier said than done, which I learned the hard way this year in AP Lang. I knew I had a knack for writing. I kicked off the year with a 6 on my first timed writing. I was complacent. Then I got another 6. And another 6. I grew less complacent. Another  6. Complacency vanished and left behind the stinging realization that, yes, my writing was good, but it wasn't great. It took me a while to understand the problem, but after being exposed to a wide variety of sources, from student samples to celebrated novels to inspirational speeches, I knew what I was doing wrong. I wasn't taking risks.

     It wasn't easy for me to break the rules, and it definitely took me a while to come out of my shell. Luckily a few things helped to ease the burden. Being spoon-fed each rhetorical device and sentence pattern gave me confidence to try them out in my own writing, especially in the "no-pressure" environments of journals and blog posts. Soon enough, the training wheels had disappeared and I was crafting stylized sentences without even realizing it. Constant analysis of great literary works showed me that writers always have a motive and that they're not afraid to take every opportunity they can to persuade their audience. In my papers, I strived to mimic their methods, ever so conscious of my tone, my diction, my appeals. Getting kicked out of the nest and diving head first into my first "real" research paper showed me that striking a balance between style and logic can be tricky: incorporating too much evidence makes a paper sound like a laboratory report, while omitting too much weakens the strength of the central argument. The research paper was a debacle (and LiveBinder was a living nightmare), but I finished feeling more confident in my writing than ever before. I have no doubt that I will carry the experience I obtained from the research process far into my college years.
     AP Lang stretched me as a writer. It forced me to learn how to crank out convincing and entertaining essays in half the time that I previously thought possible. It pushed me to experiment with my writing -- with my ideas, with my style, with my organization of details. I don't think there could have been any better way to improve my writing skills than with a year of AP Lang experience -- the only addition that would have helped would have been extra feedback and comments on assignments (something us AP students are always eager to see). I know that I will leave this class a better writer than when I stepped in the door on the first day of August. There is not a doubt in my mind.