TOW #20 Reflection

       It's strange to look back at the TOW's that I have written this year. With each one I flash back to when I wrote it, and what my mindset was while writing. Reading through my first post of the school year I put a lot of effort into it. I remember spending a large amount of time looking for the perfect article to examine and ending up choosing an op-ed piece about Syria in hopes that the controversial topic would bring up the sophistication of my writing, it didn't. I went for a formulaic approach to writing of my TOW including words such as "the purpose was..." and "for example", but it was a good starting point. In the second semester of school I started to improve, I actually included quote in my TOW about the landing of China's Jade Rabbit, but I still clung to the easy formula of writing a TOW.  The third marking period in retrospect was the most difficult for me, I was feeling the pressure to do well and there were points throughout the marking period where I just gave up on things, the aspect that suffered the most were my TOW posts. Examining my 14th TOW which fell in the third marking period I can tell that I put in minimal effort. There are simple spelling and grammatical errors throughout that I could have easily fixed if I had just read through it carefully enough. While the level of writing had improved in my third marking period writing there is no excuse for my rushed work. The fourth marking period I picked up a little spirit, and with the actual AP test looming over my head I felt that I should put a greater effort into my writings. In my 25th TOW post I used a piece form an actual exam to analyze, and while I didn't put 100% of my effort into it I felt it was adequate. It is interesting because even though I didn't put nearly as much effort into it as my first TWO it was a better post, which I believe speaks immensely for my personal growth as a writer. I have mixed feelings towards the TOW post to be honest, I feel if I had put in my best effort throughout the year it would have been better for me, but unfortunately with the stress of this year and small immediate benefits of the TOW posts I never put in the proper work level. There is always room for improvement and looking at my last TOW post I still need to work on not reverting back to the formalistic way of writing. I wouldn't say I mastered anything this year just because there is so much more room for improvement, but I have reached a point where I can write solid analysis without trying to hard, which for me is pretty awesome. Overall I believe the TOW's were an essential part of getting through APELC.