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Taylor Patrick

Professor Lynn Raymond

UWRT 1104

31 January 2017

Writing Prompt #2

Being a junior in high school during the spring semester can be an exciting time. Many

students are excited about the fact that in just a few months, they will finally be seniors. As soon

as the bell rings, many juniors rush out of school to catch a game, or they would head to a

popular restaurant to hang out and catch up with all of their friends. There were so many things

they could get into. Sadly this was not possible for me, a student that took just about every

advanced placement class my high school offered. A.P. English III was especially time

consuming. While everyone ran to their car, my friends and I would stay after school to learn tips

about writing essays quickly and correctly, analyzing text, and vocabulary. It was not fun to say

the least. Looking back, I am glad I spent my afternoons in class because it helped me become

the writer I am today.

My teachers name was Ms. Burns. She was a young teacher and she was also an Elon

University graduate which is a private school that was about ten minutes from our high school.

Ms. Burns was known for being very mean and strict and many of us were nervous about taking

this class. One of the first things she told us was, I know you all heard that I was mean. That is a

true statement and I honestly dont care. She did prove everyone right but she taught me so

many useful skills that I would use for the rest of my life. During class, we wrote essays, read

books, and analyzed text. After school, we got more help and we were able to do way more than
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we done in class. After school, we practiced writing the perfect thesis and transition sentences,

making a useful outline, learning new words and phrases that could replace the common ones we

normally used in essays and much more.

All of this extra practice took place after school at 3:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays .

These events were called A.P. Exam Prep Sessions, and we would always have snacks and

music playing to make it more enjoyable. Ms. Burns would give us prompts or an argument with

an article and we would have to plan the essay and our possible paragraphs. If we had an

argument and an article, we would have to choose a position, analyze the article, and provide

necessary evidence for back-up. We also learned new vocabulary words and we would use them

in a sentence and find synonyms to help expand our vocabulary. Also, we had a time to receive

verbal feedback on our essays and I took advantage of this whenever I needed to. It turned into a

club in a way because it ended up being the same seven to eight people every single time.

These events after school were very important because I thought of myself as a great

writer before my junior year but I was critiqued quite heavily on my assignments so I would

spend some of that time after school improving skills that included transitioning, expanding my

ideas, and having a strong introduction. These were the areas we needed to be strong in by May

for the A.P. test as well. For the A.P. test, we had to write three essays quickly and answer

multiple choice questions. Analyzing text and creating quick outlines helped me out a lot on the

test. We also wrote long essays about once a month so now, papers that should be a few pages

are nothing to me.

My A.P. English III class was not one of my favorites, but it made a huge impact on my

literacy narrative. It allowed me to grow as a writer and improve on skills that I can use during
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my time here at UNC Charlotte. I am not saying that I am the best in terms of writing but, I have

come a very long way. Now that I look back on my spring semester of junior year, missing a few

of those games and gossip was worth it after all.