I started the year off not so great. The first few days I fooled around a lot and wasn’t very serious about my work. I wasn’t really ready for eighth grade writing considering I had it the easy way out last year. My teacher last year didn’t make us write more then two essays throughout the entire year, and in sixth grade all our writing was persuasive. Up until eighth, Writing Workshop was an easy A class. So when we had the Why I Write essay at the beginning of the year, I wasn’t ready for it. I bombed it out and wound up getting a C- on it. I was at a C- for practically the entire marking period until the very end when I did some extra credit and just barely got my grade to a B.

That marking period hurt. That marking period hurt really bad. I was ready to just give up on that class. But, like Rafiki from the Lion King says “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it... or learn from it.” So next marking period I didn’t give up, and I didn’t act like I did the marking period before, instead I tried my hardest to become the writer that I am now. That marking period I got a 98% in the class with barely any extra credit at all. At the end of the marking period, my teacher told me that out of all of her 42 students, including the kids that write 72 paged essays, that I was the most improved student. Since that marking period nothing has changed. I finish each marking period with an A. I chose this quote because when I faced my problem, I didn’t run, I learned.

The quote that Rafiki said is basically the summary of my eighth grade year as a writer. The past did hurt and I didn’t do too well the first marking period, but I didn’t do what most kids would do, I didn’t run from it, instead I tried hard and developed into the writer that I am today. I didn’t “Just keep swimming” and doing what I did before. Instead, I learned from the past, just like Simba did in The Lion King, and accomplished so much. If you were to tell me that I would write a 2,500 word screenplay last year, I would’ve never believed you.

I was very proud of what I’ve accomplished this year. I hope to continue what I ended off with this year and bring that writing ability into high school. I hope to try hard and get good grades in writing just like I have been doing for the past three marking periods. And, even though it is a pain, I hope to keep writing 2,500 word pieces and keep adding vocabulary words and vivid verbs to every assignment. I hope to do my best!