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Dear Reader,

This year has gone by very fast. I have learned many new things this year and have improved on old skills. From reading to writing to researching. Today I see myself as an improved reader and researcher and also a pretty decent writer. Reflecting back to September, I feel that I have improved in reading and researching. Writing too has also had a change. In September, I felt that I started the year as a fairly good writer, researcher, and reader. As the year progressed I felt that I have dramatically increased in reading as well as researching. As for writing it seems to have gone from fairly bad to pretty good. I have learned many new aspects this year.

I am proud of many things this year, but most importantly I am proud of becoming a very good researcher. I learned to find websites that were reliable, to trust certain websites, and to find decent information. During our I-Searches I was able to gather so much information, that there never was the same information twice. Out of everything that we did this year, the one piece of writing that sticks out to me would be my I-Search. During that quarter, I have learned so much about the different kinds of websites and the information in them than all previous years. These researching skills have helped me write a history essay quicker than I had expected. Overall, researching skills have improved.

I always thought of myself as a pretty decent reader. Besides I liked to read. Although this year, the reading was more in depth and the genres were different. While reading //Romeo and Juliet//, the voice of the book was very difficult to understand, but after a while I got familiar with it. Reviewing the NWEA reading score compared to last year, the reading level has increased. I feel that it is now easier to comprehend what I am reading and also to reflect back on it. So, this year reading has changed.

As a writer I believe that I still need to improve on my writing and grammar skills. Even though I am proud of my detail in writing, I still feel that I need to brush up on grammar mechanics. Mostly looking out for run-ons and fragments also the occasional spelling error. Other than that I feel that I have improved quite a bit on writing. I did learn about run-ons and fragments and how to fix them, but I still need to focus more on the area. I also was able to improve on my skill of placing semicolons and apostrophes in the correct spots. I was comfortable with apostrophes, but with semicolons I wasn’t very familiar with them in my writing, so it was a bit of a struggle. My academic challenges that I see for next year would be my grammar mistakes. These little flaws would defiantly be a challenge for me. A goal for next year would be to improve on these skills and to try hard to master them.

Finally, this year besides improving in writing, reading, and researching I have learned to write many new papers. Before I had no idea what a quotation analysis was or a vignette, but this year I feel that I know these very well. I learned to properly cite a quote and how to reflect and analyze it. I also learned how to write vignettes and how to have a strong piece of writing. Another key thing that I was able to actually fully learn and to improve on would be the five paragraph analytical essay. At first it seemed difficult to organize and to write the essay, but after really focusing on it, it wan't so bad. This year I have learned many new things and have improved on old skills. Hopefully next year would be the same.

-Rona Sayed

**1. I-Search ** I chose my I-Search to represent by best researcher paper. The reason that I chose my I-Search was to show how much I have improved on my researching skills. This paper shows growth in my development as a researcher. My I-Search research part is about fourteen pages long and is filled with information about my topic. I have not found any information that it repeated twice in my paper. This piece of writing clearly expresses the improvements in research gathering. **2. Casual QA** This Casual QA was my very first QA, this piece of writing was the start to all my other quotation analysis. I chose this to show how strong I was in my writing and also to show how organized it was. This piece of writing shows an insightful analysis of the text, also great connections of personal experiences is incorporated into this piece of writing. This piece of writing shows a good deal of beginning growth in development as a writer.

**3. To Kill A Mockingbird QA** To show a little decline in overall composition of a quotation analysis I chose this piece of work. I wanted to point out the places where there needs to be improvements. There was more summary than analysis and was not very focusing specifically on the quote itself. This piece of writing shows unsteady organization; compared to the first QA it is lacking organization. This piece doesn’t show growth in development as a writer.

**4. Vignettes** The reason that I chose to add my vignettes to the five pieces of work was to represent by best work in detailed and vivid responses. I wrote my vignettes all by myself and didn’t get any help with the writing from Ms.T-F. The vignettes show my strength in bringing passages to life. In this piece of work I am very strong in my personal voice that is included. It shows a growth in development as a writer by independently constructing the piece of work.

**5. Romeo and Juliet Essay** The Romeo and Juliet Essay is chosen to show the change in writing from the previous analytical essay. I chose this to show how I improved in my writing from my previous writings. Compared to the House on Mango Street essay, the Romeo and Juliet essay shows a strong gain in organization and the overall appearance of the essay. This piece shows growth in thinking and writing development, it is constructed in an improved and efficient way from the previous essay. The writing and the analyzing itself has improved and changed.