My metaphor is simple: the San Francisco 49ers' 2011 Season. A little back story on the 49ers: they had a rough start of the century with more losses than wins by far, never making it to the playoffs. However, in the 2011 postseason, they made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game, losing to the Giants 17-20 in overtime. However, what is notable about this season is not that they made it that far, but that they changed their tactics from the previous years. They got a whole new coaching staff led by Jim Harbaugh and because of this, were expected to be one of the worst teams of the season. They obviously proved everyone wrong with their defense that was ranked in the top 5 in the NFL.​

     I view their season as a direct metaphor to my year as an AP English student because this year was totally different than what I was taught. Instead of pulling direct words and phrases from the text to prove my argument I had to pull the devices and analyze the different styles the writers used to achieve their purpose. Instead of reiterating my statement over and over, pulling from elements from the novel to prove my point, I had to think of specific literary and historical examples that related to my position as well as examples that my opponents could use to invalidate my claim and prove them wrong. Instead of merely citing different sources and quoting the points I wanted to make, I had to make my sources talk to each other to effectively prove my own argument. This was a lot of change in the way English was presented to me and under the great leadership of my teacher, I was able to write with more structure and support to my argument than I ever had before. Like the 49ers, I was able to achieve all-new heights with my writing because Mrs. Babcock was my Jim Harbaugh and led me to vast improvements. I still have yet to reach my personal Superbowl, but I now know that I am within reach thanks to the changes I made this 2011-2012 season.​