Jasmyne Scott

Kempsville
5194 Chief Trail
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23453

June 3, 2019

Ashley Bauman
Kempsville High
5194 Chief Trail
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23453

Mrs.Bauman:

In Honors EBA English, I enjoyed a great deal of activities that we did in the classroom. We
read compelling stories such as ​Lord of the Flies, Hidden Figures, Oedipus Rex, Anthem, and
The Giver. ​Also, I did a variety of projects on each book that we read. For example, my favorite
project that I created was a pamphlet on ​Hidden Figures​. My favorite book that I read during my
sophomore year was ​Oedipus Rex b ​ y Sophocles. During my sophomore year of highschool, I
believe that my vocabulary and my presenting skills have increased tremendously. The project
has made me feel more comfortable with presenting in front of the classroom and has made my
vocabulary my abundant. As a result of taking Honors English 10 during my sophomore year,
my skills have grown tremendously in my .
In English, I believe that my strong points were in writing. As a reader, I excelled in
figurative language and theme. My favorite piece that I read was ​Oedipus Rex​. ​Oedipus Rex
was my favorite story because I got to read a book that was more advanced than the other
books that I have read. My least favorite book was ​The Giver​ just because I do not enjoy
reading utopian novels. The most difficult book that I have read was ​Oedipus Rex ​the play had
language that the reader had to interpret to understand. The books that we have read over the
year has challenged me to see others perspective, truly grasp the details, and understanding
the reason the reason why the story was written. The story that was most beneficial to me as an
EBA student was ​Anthem​. Anthem is an exceptional story that teaches readers to understand
rhetorical appeals, recognize all of the figurative languages, and to interpret the theme of the
book. It is a book that is digestible for all and it encourages the reader to appreciate their
freedom.
In my sophomore year in the EBA, I wrote essays to inform the reader of the books
message. The most rigorous essay that I wrote was the ​Siddhartha ​essay. It was due to me not
comprehending the theme of ​Siddhartha ​and also the figurative language was hard for me to
understand. In my writing, I started to incorporate different statistics and facts that would help
the reader understand my point. Also, I learned to improve on my in-text citations to help
support my argument. For the first time, I taught my classroom for the entire class for ​Lord of the
Flies​. I had to come up with an objective, a warm-up, a lesson, group work, and an exit ticket. I
learned to appreciate my teachers and I learned how it can be difficult to make an entire lesson
when there is not enough time. I helped the class recognize figurative language in the text while
also improving my knowledge on figurative language. I consider these challenges a good thing
because I can now understand what I did wrong and improve from them.
As a writer, I have improved on many skills that I needed to work on. In my writings, I
was inconsistent with my supporting details and evidence that helped support my position. In
addition, I would give a term that is not necessarily a term that the majority of people would
know. In my ​Oedipus Rex e ​ ssay, I wrote ¨ You are a dead man if I have to ask you
again¨(Sophocles 63). I should have wrote that the man is being compared to a dead man to
show that he is in deep trouble. Me editing that part of my paper made it flow more because if I
left it the way it was the reader would question what juxtaposition was. I knew I had to revise
that because my teacher helped me understand the reader still did understand what
juxtaposition was without me furthering what the quote meant. It made the tone stay the same,
the only thing that would change is the readers comprehension of what I was writing. As a
reader, writer and student, I need to incorporate more facts and elaborate more on what I write.
To achieve this, I will be as detailed as I can possible can.
As I excel as a writer and reader, I would like to be in a book club or start one at
Kempsville High. I will try to read as often as possible, but I probably will not be able to read as
much due to school. I will read for enjoyment purposes and to learn new things that I have not
heard of or known. As for writing, I usually write when I am feeling upset. Others write when they
are feeling inspired, or when they feel emotions so strong that they do not know what to do with
them. Next year, I believe I will write about nonfiction selections. Writing plays as a role to help
express myself. I do not keep a journal but I do keep some papers that I have written on. I do
not keep my papers because I do not want anyone to read how I am feeling and I think my
thoughts are very personal.
This year, I have joined the girls volleyball team at Kempsville. Also, I joined the EBA!
These new additions were the best decisions I have made in my high school career. My six
word memoir was inspired by how I felt this year. I overcame many challenges that I did not
know I could get through. If I could tell my past self something, I would tell her to do her
absolute best and I would also tell her problems are short term.

Sincerely,

Jasmyne Scott