My first few essays were decent, which meant I was finally learning the concept of five-paragraph essays. Ms. Mercado, my expository writing teacher, suggested that I write down my essay ideas first and then revise my ideas in organized sections of the essay, then correct grammatical errors. I've learned that re-reading my content after I've written it will help me find spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. My expository writing teacher also gave us novels that interested me, such as “The Glass Castle” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” After reading, our class held literacy circles in which everyone expressed their opinion about the book and their theories about the author's purpose. From literacy circles I have learned to see the author's purpose from different points of view and to have different opinions rather than just fixating on