End of the Year Reflection

End of the Year Reflection

The argumentative essay was the most difficult to write. The structure was very confusing to me. It could also have been the most difficult for me because we spent the least time learning and practicing it. I think if I just had written more practice argumentative essays that would have been very helpful for me.

The easiest essay for me to write was the synthesis essay. I feel like we practiced it the most, and I like a strict structure when I'm writing and essay.  I found it the easiest to write on the AP test and it did not take as long to write because I had practiced it so many times.

I have enjoyed The Great Gatsby the most out of all the books we read this year. I like the book  because it is easy to follow and the whole storyline is so intriguing to me. It has by far been the best book I have probably read in high school altogether.

I disliked reading The Crucible because it was hard to read and follow. It also was in old English style writing and the  characters were boring. Also the overall  story and message were not that appealing to me.

I think you are a great English teacher and you have really helped in understanding not only essay structure but rhetoric and the English language overall. Thank you for teaching me this year!

I feel this year I have grown as a writer because we wrote so many essays that were critically  analyzed by you and our peers. It has prepared me for life and school by improving my writing skills which are used every single day.

The Things I Carry

The things I carry go deeper than physical items just like the soldiers in The Things They Carry. I carry my friendships, problems, and goals on my shoulders each day as well as tangible items.

The one item that cannot leave my side is my cell phone. My cell phone is constantly near me at all times. I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I feel like I have to be connected to my family and friends, and this is why I panic if I cannot find my phone.I also love social media sometimes and I try to keep up with my other friends this way. Music is also my escape and all my favorite songs are on my phone. I listen to music through my phone in my car, art, and at home. I carry my phone.


I also carry my dream and goals with me everyday of my life; however, some more than others. My dreams help me get through my day, and also manage to weigh me down and realize how much I want to accomplish. I carry the weight of going to a good college, becoming successful, being happy, and so many more I could not even manage to list them all. I want to be happy and successful and this is something I think about everyday. I carry my dreams and goals.



My relationships with my friends and family are another thing I carry. My friends and family help me get through my day, and are constantly in my thoughts. Samantha is my confidant and best friend. She helps me get through life and she is the one person I can do nothing with and have the best time. I am glad we are friends because she helps to lighten the things I carry. My mom is the other person in the world who just manages to brighten my day with the simplest of words. She is one of the many people I carry with me. I carry my family and friendships.


Who am is something I carry with me all the time. I would say the three words that describe me are structured, understanding, and ambitious. I am a very structured and organized person. I like routine and having organization in my life. It defines who I am, and it is a large part of how I live my life. I am understanding as well which means I am the type of person who can relate or forgive people even if they do something wrong or upset me. I try to make sure I am understanding because I feel it is important to think about how others are feeling. If we do not put ourselves in their shoes we cannot judge a person because we do not know what they are going through. Finally, I ambitious. I like to try new things sometimes and I have high goals and standards for myself. I do not like to settle or just be content with something I want to make sure I am committed and I love what I am doing. I carry my personality.

I think what defines me the most are my memories, and the mistakes and events that have occurred in my past. I try to learn from some and others simply just shape who I have become. My past friendships have also deified who I am. One memory that stands out and has stuck with me though is when my grandfather died. I wasn't that close with him, but I had known him since I was a child and it made me realize how short and sweet life is. I was on vacation in Canada with my family when we got the news. We missed the funeral because we were out the country. I feel like I never got to say goodbye to him and I wonder sometimes if I should have made more of an effort to be closer to him. I felt like the fact I missed the funeral of someone I had known since birth disconnected me from him and made reality sink in. Now I am able to appreciate my other grandparents so much more because of this though and that is why this memory has shaped who I am. I carry my memories.

My Heritage and Who I Am

My heritage is a large part of my life and who I am. My mom is half Swedish, half Lebanese and my Dad is half Swiss, half Egyptian. I come from so many different countries, and sometimes I feel like it makes it hard to find roots in all of them. My parents teach me about certain traditions and customs. My grandparents also influence me, and they teach me about where I come from. Some traditions my parents teach me I will take with me, and others I will not. I am not Dee or Maggie I try to be both and find the gray in my cultural heritage.

I was born in Sweden so sometimes I feel the strongest connection to this culture.I make saffron bread with my mom every year around Christmas time, and I plan to do this when I grow up.I celebrate my Swedish heritage through food and cultural items. I also will eat Swedish meatballs and cook classic dishes. I also own Swedish items like my Dala horse which reminds me of my heritage and is important to my culture. I will not continue the Sainta Lucia tradition which my mother did as a child. I manage to maintain some of my Swedish culture because my mom manages to blend it into my life.

My Lebanese heritage is also important and my grandfather tries to remind me about where I come from through Lebanese history and food. I eat many dishes and I try to cook Lebanese food with my grandfather. My great-grandfather was also a painter so many of his paintings can be seen in my house which I feel is a strong connection to my past. I have never been to Lebanon though, and many of the holidays and customs I don't know or follow.

My Swiss culture is seen in me through my need to be punctual and my OCD nature. The swiss are famous for their clocks and punctuality. I also have been to Switzerland so I have connected with the culture. When I was there I could see my Swiss side come out.My grandmother who is 100% Swiss visits every other month, and she teaches me about where I come from and how she grew up. My dad honors his Swiss heritage and this helps me connect to mine even if I don't follow majority of the Swiss customs.

I am also a quarter Egyptian. I have never been to Egypt so I don't feel the strongest connection to my heritage there. I have some family in Houston who are from my Dad's side so they speak Arabic and I hear the language.










I feel like I am the typical American. I am informed about my cultural past, but I only follow a few of the customs. I feel like I am more of an American than my parents, and therefore I am not Dee or Maggie I am a little of both. I try to make sure I know about where I come from, but I manage to be my own person and follow and do things a little differently than my parents and grandparent.s

Poe and the Haunted House

All scary stories have concepts and characteristics they share that make readers feel scared and afraid. For example, in The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allen Poe uses a dark setting, a personified house, a lonely character, someone rising from the dead, and the element of mystery regarding the speaker's state of mind. All of these are elements that I would use in my own haunted house story.

First, I would copy the dark, eerie setting that any person would get the chills from reading. Starting from line one this darkness is seen when he states, "During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year." This is one of many examples of the dark and dreary setting of the house of Usher.

Second, I would use the personification of the house like Poe. The house of Usher is haunted, and this can be seen when Madeline is ill, dead, and then comes back to life. Also the house was described to have a fissure going from top to bottom that in the end led to the destruction and collapse of this haunted house. The house is therefore not only visually collapsing, but the people inside it are dying too. 

Third, I would use the sense of loneliness throughout my own story. Like in haunted house movies today where the characters get separated in the house; Poe uses Roderick as the lonely character. Roderick is the last surviving line of the Usher family after his sister and lover Madeline dies. This sense of loneliness adds to the ominous tone of the story. 

Fourth, I would have someone or something rise from the dead like Madeline did in The Fall of the House of Usher. When a character comes back from the dead the whole story seems to change. Further, it adds to the suspense of the story and may really scare the reader. I believe that copying this idea would not only scare the reader, but it would also connect the being back to the haunted house.

Fifth, I would add to the mystery of the whole story with an ending leaving the reader unsure of the whole story to begin with. Poe did this seamlessly by having the house fall apart at the end and then having the reader question the sanity of the speaker or the possibility it was all just a dream. The use of this technique would enhance my story and leave the reader with questions and uncertainties.

Finally, two things I would do differently however would be I would set a specific time on when the events were supposed to be occurring as well as I would add more characters to my story to extend the length of my story. By setting a time on the story the reader would know when it is happening and what the setting was like, but they would not know where exactly the events were unfolding. Also the use of more characters would allow for more depth, and I could possibly add in a character who would betray all the other ones.

In conclusion, a few of the haunted house elements I would copy from Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher would be an eerie setting, a personified haunted house, a lonely character, someone rising from the grave, and an ending that leaves the reader questioning if anything actually ever happened.

Americans have a deep interest with occult and dark forces. People surround themselves with literature, television, and movies about it. Many people are unsure whether it is wrong to love some of these stories so much or if it is just part of human nature to have a fascination with the unknown? Young Goodman Brown is one of the first examples of a dark twisted story about a mans encounter with the devil in the Puritan town of Salem.

Americans watch shows such as American Horror Story, Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, and The Walking Dead which all deal with a dark realm of creatures. All of these are top shows that millions of Americans tune in to watch weekly.Also movies such as World War Z, Twilight, and The Haunting in Connecticut also deal with occult and dark story lines.  People enjoy the scares and twisted plots of an unknown world. People need an escape from reality which many find through occult shows and movies.

Hawthorne writes a piece of American literature called Young Goodman Brown about a mans encounter with the devil in the woods. His occult piece where witches in the town of Salem take part in a dark ceremony in the woods show how even over a hundred years ago people were fascinated by dark stories about the supernatural.

This shows that American culture is still largely surrounded by the occult in modern TV shows, movies and books. Young Goodman Brown was written in 1835 and had similar elements to modern entertainment which shows that things that fascinated us hundreds of years ago still interest us today. We will probably still be making movies and writing stories about the supernatural for years to come because everyone loves a dark mystery about the supernatural and occult.

Dexter Morgan from the hit TV show, Dexter, takes the law into his own hands. He is a forensic blood splatter analyst in Miami, Florida in the day, but by night he is a serial killer who murders criminals.In spite of being a killer he still loving to his sister and son.Viewers are unsure whether he is good or bad because he is a classic antihero who is a little of both, and he is very grey. He kills to help the world become a better place, but an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Another antihero who shares many traits with Dexter is Ichabod Crane. 

Both Dexter Morgan and Ichabod Crane are deceiving. Dexter Morgan acts like he kills murderers to do the moral and right thing, but in reality he murders others for his on pleasure. Similarly, Ichabod Crane justifies having mothers cook for him by being nice and sparing their children. Both Dexter and Ichabod are manipulative and deceiving to others around them for their own pleasure and needs.

Another characteristic Dexter and Ichabod share is being selfish. Dexter states it will be hard to balance his family and his need to kill, but he always manages to put his desire to kill first no matter how hard he tries. Similarly, Ichabod Crane is greedy and selfish as well because he only wants Katarina Van Tassel for her money. He only thinks about how to benefit himself. It is evident that both characters let their worst impulses take over before they think about others in their life.

Finally, Dexter Morgan and Ichabod Crane are both uncaring at times. Dexter's lack of social skills causes him to not think about what he is saying, and sometimes he is unaware of the consequences of what he says. Similiar to Dexter, Ichabod only cares about Katarina's inheritance. He lacks the morality of wanting to use someone for money and land. The way Dexter thinks and speaks, and Ichabod's actions both show their uncaring natures.

At first glance Dexter Morgan and Ichabod Crane seem like they have good intentions, but the further you look into who they are you realize it is much harder to determine if they are simply good or bad. They both are deceiving, selfish, and uncaring, but they posses other positive characteristics which make them more complex. They are not black and white people like most protagonists of many stories they are a unique type of individual called an anti hero.