Luke Cato

Mrs. Casady

IB HL English

Reflection

Although not an assignment associated with any of my English classes, the work

I am most proud of from high school is my Extended Essay. It was a daunting paper,

that I put off for months, until I began and discovered my passion for physics. It was

such a passion that my Extended Essay literally defined my major. It totalled nearly 30

pages, and i felt like a college student writing a thesis paper. I delved into the realm of

quantum physics to develop my passion, I learned life skills about hard work, and I

matured as a pupil overall. My Extended Essay was an obvious turning point in my high

school career, and one i take pride in for that matter.

My grade transcripts don’t necessarily show much growth as an English student,

yet I feel my skills with literature have developed and improved greatly, cramming 8

years of improvement in writing into the 4 we have at Great Oak. My freshman year, I

feared 5 paragraph essays, as it was just so overwhelming and so much work, and

proved to be rather difficult to me. My ignorant self then enrolled in AP Lang, where I

was able to get my first understanding of why I was writing. Prior to the course, I only

wrote essays because my teachers made me, but AP Lang made me realize that there

is always an argument, an underlying message, to every piece of literature. Therefore,

all my essays go to convey a point, and I had discovered the first step in my writing

progression. I now understood the goal of my writing, to prove a point. The following 2
years of IB English taught me ​how​ to convey the point, which was even harder than

finding one to begin with. It took a while, but I feel my writing skills have peaked and I

have confidence in my ability to perform any aspect of writing.

While I believe my English skills to be at a peak, this does not mean there is no

room for growth. I am still only 18, and have many years of cognitive development and

maturing ahead of me. My understanding of English will become more complex, and

improve in time. I would most want to improve my ability to develop coherent thought

quickly, in situations such as hot socratics and presentations. I struggle to produce

beneficial thoughts without writing it down or organizing it some way first. I wish to be

able to have quick, cohesive thoughts, in which I won’t stutter in presentations nor have

a lack of words in a socratic. There is always a way for me to better my English skills,

yet I cannot define the distinctive aspects as it comes with time and maturity.

The IB Program at Great Oak is one of the most defining elements of my life.

Prior to the program, I was a delinquent student who was content with straight C’s and

couldn’t care less about where they end up in life. IB pushed me to work to survive, and

taught me that I have much more potential, and that a little grit can amount to a lot of

success and improvement. I transferred this information to the program overall, and am

proud to be one of few that maintained their diploma status throughout the 2 year

program. The college credit is of little importance to me, as the IB program has taught

me life schools that prove to be far more valuable than any tuition exemption could ever

be.