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Samantha Gonzalez
Mrs. Paquin
ERWC/P.3
28 April 2016
Reflection
My Proudest Piece:
Throughout the years here at Great Oak, I have been given many different English
assignments to complete. These assignments have always challenged me in new ways, whether it
be by giving a presentation in front of my whole class or by writing a six-page essay about the
use of rhetoric in Shakespeare. Yet, after all the time and work spent on each and every unique
assignment, my proudest would be the personal statements we had to write this year. The reason
being is because I was able to write about my aspirations for college, and explain why I am who
I am. This assignment forced us to think about how our activities outside of high school had
given us the tools we needed to further our academic careers somewhere else. It also allowed us
to remember all of the people who have been behind us from the beginning and who are still
trying to push you forward, instead of drag you down. I feel as though this assignment was a
successful one because I was able dig deep into my character and see what drives me as a person.
This assignment was a great example of how all of my past work has allowed me to grow as a
student and writer.
Past Scores:

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As a senior in high school, it is amazing to see the progress that was achieved in just four
short years here at Great Oak. When freshmen year had started, I had decided to push myself by
taking pre-IB English, and in that year I was tested with just how tough English could be. I was
introduced to in class essays and Socratic seminars, that at the time seemed very overwhelming.
As I look over my score sheets from freshman year, I can see my weakest area of learning was
writing. This also carries into my sophomore year where my writing scores were still definitely
the lowest component in my English grade. Sophomore year I had decided to keep going strong
with the tough English courses, since English was and still is my favorite subject, and just take
AP English. I was not discouraged with my scores from either year but as time went on I had
realized that now almost every area of my English grade was dropping. I had gone from just
doing poorly on writing to not fully comprehending text either. Therefore, once junior year hit, I
had decided to just fall into a regular 11th grade English class. Once I had been in this class for
only a couple of weeks, my grades had already improved. My comprehension skills had gotten
better as well as my writing. I had started getting more 4s and 3s on the majority of my work and
had kept everything in my score sheets more organized. This had boosted my dwindling
confidence and pushed me to keep applying myself. As a senior however, I feel as though the
biggest improvement for me would be my Socratic seminars. This has always been a negative
trend for me because I have never been one to speak in front of my peers. Speaking in groups
had given me major anxiety problems as a younger high school student and I feel as though my
last year in high school has gradually changed that for me. Breaking up the Socratics so that the
groups in the class are smaller, has allowed me to voice my opinions more often and has eased
away some of that anxiety. Speaking in front of groups of people is definitely a skill everybody
should have, so I am thankful I have gotten better at it over the years. It is seen through my score

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sheets that I have had many ups and downs in English, but I am glad to see I am ending with
improvements in all of the five necessary areas.
Maintained Portfolio:
As a child I had never been known for my organizational skills, and I feel as though that
had been carried over to my first two years of high school. My portfolio at the time, exemplified
my tumbling grades in English, both freshman and sophomore year. I had score sheets not filled
out, papers not in their appropriate sections, and honestly half of my essays were not even in
there. This had contributed to my failure in English for the first two years here, because when
taking accelerated classes, one must keep up and stay organized, and as shown, I was not doing
that. However, once junior year hit I had grown up a little and had started taking more
responsibility for my education. Meaning I made sure all of my assignments were in correct
areas of my portfolio, so that if my teacher had made any errors in her grading, I could correct
her and get my actual grade. This new organized portfolio allowed me to keep a better eye on my
grades and make sure I kept on top of all of my assignments. This again has followed me into my
senior year, and I hope to continue using my anally retentive organization skills to get me
through my college career. This portfolio has allowed me to see that I can change my dropping
grades with just keeping things in a more orderly fashion. As a student, I tend to get lazy at times
and thats when work and life start to pile up on me, but this could all be prevented if I just took
a couple of minutes out of my day to re organize things and get my attention back into what
matters.
The Next Step:

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The next step for me involves getting all of my General Ed taken care of at Palomar
College and then transferring over to a 4 year, where I will double major in Psychology and
Criminal Justice. Great Oak has taught me many valuable lessons that has prepared me for my
next step. One being, how to work with people you cant stand. There are always going to be
immature people wherever you go, and with high school being filled with most of them, you tend
to have to work alongside some of them. This has taught me the patience I need to handle hostile
or irritable situations I may have to deal with in the future. Great Oak has also taught me to
allows finish what you start, no matter who or what happens. Sadly, this example was brought to
light not by students but by coaches. I have had to fight through injury after injury to continue
playing a sport I was slowly starting to hate, and I didnt fight for me or for the coaches that
continuously tore me down as a player and a person, but for my teammates. I was an essential
part of the team, and if I would have just given up like the doctors had suggested I would have
left them powerless against the other schools. Sacrificing my own health for a team such as mine,
shows me that when I do pursue a career in the criminal justice field I will have the power to
sacrifice myself for the greater good. Great Oak has taught me to fight for what I believe in and
to not be afraid to speak about it, yet also respect those opinions of others. I will be able to apply
this in every aspect of my life, as we should all feel as though our voices need to be heard as well
as everyone elses, we must realize we dont always have to agree with some else but that
doesnt mean they are any less wrong. I believe I have learned many great things from attending
Great Oak High School, and as it continues to grow, so does its students. I have matured into a
wiser person and student, who will take advantage of all of the life lessons learned throughout
the course of my time here. There are no boundaries to what I am capable of out in the real

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world, and I was blessed to have come from a school such as Great Oak, where I was able to
grow as a person and learn.