TOW 30: Reflection

Looking back and reading three TOW's from three different marking periods, I have noticed a progression in my writing. In the beginning, I was so bent on following the requirements exactly as it stated on the paper, it showed through my writing: rigid, choppy, too formal. But as the months passed and I became used to writing a TOW assignment each week, I slowly abandoned the requirements paper, summarizing, adding the author's purpose, integrating the rhetorical devices used, and began posting true "blog" posts. Comparing my first post about a murder to my most recent post about how to anger New Yorkers, the tone of the writing has become much more casual and fluid yet informative, nonetheless.
After writing nearly thirty TOW's, I think I have mastered the "blog"-like aspect of my writing. The posts are similar in style to that of professional writers who post things on their own websites. My writing has loosened up and it has a more conversational tone, which makes the reading less boring and more enjoyable to read, yet I am able to add the necessary pieces that make a TOW, TOW. However, there are still many things I can improve upon. After working with rhetorical devices throughout the year, I have familiarized myself with new rhetorical terms and devices; however, I am still shaky when it comes to identifying less obvious devices in news articles, videos, and political cartoons. I tend to revert back to using the "easy" devices, like rhetorical questioning, parallel structure, or one of the three, overused ethos, logos, pathos.
In my opinion, I felt that the purpose of the TOW assignments (and what I got out of them) was to broaden our (the students') horizon in terms of reading materials. Most of us have a preference when it comes to genres and we usually stick to them. But these TOW assignments, I feel like, have forced me to seek non-fiction material that would not only help us in our AP exam, but also make us more aware and participating citizens of our community.These assignments were beneficial and I feel as though I got my purpose out of doing these every week. It helped me not only with my writing but also with my awareness of what is going on in the world.