Victoria Majerczyk

Ms. O’Keefe
6/5/18

My Writing Journey in High School

Prior to my high school education, my grade school experiences with writing essays and

papers were minimal. My grade school was mostly math and science oriented, so the essays I

wrote were mostly regarding literary works that I studied in school or simple book reports.

However, my experiences with writing shifted as did my perspective on writing papers when I

started and continued my education in high school. Essays became more common and were no

longer assigned only in my English classes. Therefore, my writing throughout my high school

career has consistently improved as I developed a unique voice, a personal writing style, and a

new found passion for writing.

As stated previously, my writing in 9th grade was very inexperienced due to my minimal

practice. However, by the end of my 9th-grade year, I learned multiple writing techniques that

enhanced my writing and made it better. My essays in 9th grade were mostly creative or meant to

analyze literature. Unfortunately, I was still not experienced as to how to write a good essay

about a prompt concerning a piece of literature. However, a good starting point for my writing

journey was my creativity. Having the option to write creative pieces made me motivated to

become more passionate about writing in general. Therefore, even though I am not proud and

even embarrassed by my writing in 9th grade, I would not progress as much without the crucial

starting point that was m creativity, passion, and motivation.

 My writing experienced the most significant shift in my 10th-grade year. In 10th grade, I

took my first A.P class - which was A.P Language and Composition. This class is very dear to

me because it was in this class that I learned to be very passionate about writing. No longer was I

writing essays regarding novels and literary works. Instead, I was writing essays about articles

and expressing my opinion through writing more than ever. Therefore, in my 10th grade year of

high school, my writing improved dramatically because I became less concerned with

technicalities and more concerned with a personal style and a unique voice - which I definitely

accomplished. For example, I wrote an essay regarding the concepts of toxic masculinity and

toxic ‘femininity’. In comparison to my previous essays, I show improvement with having a

strong personal voice and expression of my opinion on a topic. For example, regarding

masculinity, I wrote: “ This creates the idea that men should be afraid of femininity because

masculinity and femininity should be complete opposites. If a man is even slightly ‘feminine’ he

cannot be ‘manly’anymore. Yet, it’s the same industries creating definitions for what masculinity

and femininity are. It is possible that if one walks into the store there will be soap, shampoo,

clothing, and ridiculously small items such as kleenex labelled ‘men’s’. The soap and shampoo

sold under the label ‘men’s usually have a very strong, bold scent. It is very unlikely to find a

hygienic product for men that smells very florally, sweet or is the color of pink. It is little things

like the packaging of these products, that mostly consists of bold strong colors that send a

message: you need to be a man.” In the passage, my voice appears to be confident, strong, and

direct - something I did not have in my previous writing.

`
 11th grade I expanded on writing with a personal voice and style. However, 11th grade I

also became more concerned with technicalities and the overall structure and organization of my

essays. My teacher in my Honors American Lit class became more strict about font size, title

choice, and general mechanics. This was a good thing because I became more motivated to

improve my grammar and general mechanics when writing essays. Also, because the class was

an American lit class, I learned ways of how to write about literature in ways that were fun for

me and made my essays more unique. Even though I was writing many literary analysis essays, I

was still enjoying the process of writing them because I developed my personal unique writing

style the previous year, and I was able to incorporate it even when analyzing literature - which

was a new skill. The following is an excerpt from an argument paper I wrote in 11th grade

regarding the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God: “Others may deem Tea Cake’s action to

jump in as instinctive almost natural-like. Therefore, disagreeing with the idea that Tea Cake’s

action was not a voluntary obligation. Furthermore, insinuating that in certain cases willingness

to help others is not always voluntary. However, Tea Cake made a choice to jump in the water,

fight the dog through tiredness, and save Janie from the dog. Because of his love for Janie, the

fact that he made a choice to do so deems this action voluntary. Tea Cake was not required to

save Janie, he chose to save Janie.” This excerpt is an ideal example of my focus on general

essay technicalities such as a counter-argument (which I did not pay much focus to in my earlier

essays) and the development of my personal voice and strong writing style which made my

writing to be more assertive and concise.

 12th grade I developed as a writer because I enhanced my progress and what I learned.

Practice makes perfect and I was able to practice the skills that I developed throughout my 9th,

10th, and 11th and expand upon them. For example, this year I also wrote many essays regarding

literary works and I attempted to minimize my personal voice because in my previous writings it

was perhaps too overbearing for an essay that did not require an opinion. In my 12th grade year,

I reached a sort of balance in my writing: do not be too political but not too plain either. I also

became more open to and aware of the importance of self-reflection. I learned to analyze my

mistakes with a more mature approach and reflect upon them. This excerpt from a 12th-grade

argument paper shows my improvement in comparison to 11th grade because I wrote more about

what the intent of the literature itself was, as opposed to what I believed it to be - which limits

my fallacies. “Miller clearly makes it a point to hint that the young girls are just name-calling

and furthermore ridicules political witch trials as the opportunity to name call enemies and stir

unnecessary drama. Miller discredits political witch trials throughout The Crucible as a

phenomenon meant to cause hysteria with no solid basis no credible evidence.”

Overall, I am proud of my progress in writing throughout my high school career. Even

though it can be sometimes stressful, writing (especially about topics I am passionate about) is

something I enjoy. I want to continue to improve my writing, keep practising and find out ways

of how I can incorporate writing into my future. Perhaps I do not want to be dependant on a

classroom to write about issues I am passionate about. Perhaps I want to find out ways of how I

can make a change through my writing. I am thankful for the encouragement that I received in
high school to write, and I am thankful for being guided into learning how to be critical,

analytical, reflective through my words on paper.