This year, there is one critique I remember clearly: the night after the first parent-teacher conference, my parents told me about my teachers’ comments and suggestions for improvement. When we began to discuss my critiques in terms of English, my mom stated that my writing ‘needed to be more polished,’ and ‘be careful about staying on topic.’ I was, frankly, quite stunned--I had always believed that organization was one of my strong points, and being told that I needed to focus more on my main points shocked me out of my reverie. I believe that this critique helped improve my writing the rest of the year; when I was writing my midterm, I kept it in my mind when choosing my words and organizing my sentences. I have learned quite a few other things this year, including annotation, and various types of writing.…