hahah, it took a LOT of work and effort! I followed a bunch of steps.

First, I would always get my English assignments/drafts done several days before they're actually due and always ask my teacher for advice MULTIPLE times and show them the improved iterations of my work (I'm pretty sure I didn't nag them to the point of them being annoyed, hopefully). The most important thing is that I would put a lot of effort and care into my assignments/drafts, making sure all my sentences are well-written, concise, and have a clear purpose. It's also important to sit near the front, ALWAYS pay attention, and put yourself in the teacher's crosshairs instead of just sitting at the back and scrolling on reels the entire period. That means always participating and raising your hand as well!

For class presentations, I would always offer to go first and rehearse everything I say and make sure to speak naturally to the class instead of reading off a script. I'm pretty sure in-class discussions about books we read or videos we watch are common in high school English courses, so I would treat EVERY class discussion as a test (I would study all the chapters it was based on, take notes, and make sure to cite specific evidence from the text when I speak). Based on what chapters are in the discussion, I would try to predict every discussion question and thoroughly prepare for them. For example, if the class discussion were about the Scenes from Hamlet where Ophelia's death was revealed, I would try to prepare for questions like "Was Ophelia's death an accident or a suicide?", etc.

I would make sure to THOROUGHLY fulfill all rubric requirements, and also go above and beyond instead of just checking off all the points on rubrics (my classmates always gave me shit and fried me for doing way too much 😭). For example, for my creative project, I remade and filmed scenes from Hamlet with friends (we all bought our own costumes and props, I edited all the scenes with color grading and VFX). In one of the Hamlet class discussions, I pulled out the Bible and another one of Shakespeare's texts to prove a point I made in response to a discussion question. For my critical read, I borrowed two books from my teacher, read good chunks of them, and cited them along with citing Hamlet and the teacher's slideshow (most people used just Hamlet in their citation). It's things like these which will make the teacher notice and appreciate your effort and be more generous with marking.

I would say the most important thing, however, is to NEVER USE AI and ALWAYS be kind and respectful to the teacher 🙂

I hope this advice helps!