Ms. Ingram English 1102 / Midterm Feb.

25th, 2014

Paul M. Gaines, Sr.

If I were to do a self examination, and give myself a preliminary grade at this point, I would be very conflicted, and it would be hard to score. In one respect, although I definitely wouldnt give myself a failing grade, I would probably have to give it somewhere between a C- and a D. But guess what? The letter grade C- is not a part of the grading scale, so from that standpoint I would have to give it a D. That hurts. The primary reason that I would have to give it a D at this point is that my Weebly site lacks content that is in harmony with the instructions. In trying to be a risk taker, and really overwhelmingly exceed, I went a little over the top in the incorporation of not one, but two videos. It reminds me of when a person asks for a glass of water, and thats all they want and need, but instead you try to drown them with a pitcher, or a gallon overflowing that one glass. That is definitely something that I have been guilty of with my Weebly blog. On the other hand, according to the instructions that are posted as to how to grade, we are also supposed to consider our engagement to key concepts. Some of those key concepts include risk taking (), responsibility for ones own learning (), the writing process and revision (), providing and receiving feedback (), making connections (), and intellectual growth and maturity (). When I look back on those key concepts, I notice that I have quite a few checks by the concepts that I have engaged both myself, and my writing style to. In a perfect world with rose colored glasses, I would say that I deserve an A. But, lets face it, the reality is that at this point my work is not perfect, nor exemplary, although I hope that by the end of this semester it will be; that is my goal. However, I do believe that over all, my work could arguably be considered the letter grade B, which represents above average.

One of the key concepts that I am succeeding with is critical thinking. Evidence of that is in the way that I thought out, and answered question number one, as to what grade I think I should have at this point. Another key concept that I am succeeding at is providing and receiving feedback. A simple example is highlighted two sentences ago in this paragraph. When providing feedback to Draft two of my Exploratory Essay, Ms. Ingram instructed me that I should write out numbers, when they are under 100. I never knew that, but now I am adapting that new found knowledge and feedback to my writing. As far as a key concept that I am struggling with, I think that I can concentrate more diligently on independent inquiry. I guess the best way for me to improve with that one, is to try to do my best with both the Extended Inquiry Question, and the Annotated Bibliography assignment. As I looked over the ten example e-portfolios, I decided to rhetorically analyze example number two, written by Lindsey. As a whole, I enjoyed reading it. In my opinion, I believe that Lindsay was trying to ultimately convey that she was pleasantly surprised with how beneficial the English 1101 course was for her. For example, early on in her writing Lindsey spoke of her skepticism of how peer review could be beneficial, but by the end of her writing it was very clear how much she came to appreciate, and even value peer review. Since I have had a couple of days to meditate on her writing, I now believe the purpose of her text was to encourage her readers to put their all into their study habits, and schoolwork. Lindsey definitely seemed credible, because she was speaking about her personal experience. So who better to tell her story than her? There was a nice flow to her writing, therefore allowing me to enjoy her usage of the linguistic mode. However, there was one part of her writing that I must take exception to, and perhaps its just me. Throughout her writing, I was under the impression that she was writing to fellow college students, however I became a little confused with paragraph three. Lindsey began paragraph three with the words, My advice for any high school senior who is preparing for college academics would be not to short yourself in high school. Thats all well and good, but her audience, in my estimation, were individuals who had already passed the high school stage. With the exception of

that little hiccup, in my opinion, Lindseys e-portfolio, was successful and achieved its purpose. Even I was encouraged by Lindsey. I liked what she said later on in paragraph three, Organize your schedule, make sure you give yourself ample time to complete all of your work. College is a lot less stressful if you dont constantly have the fear of not having enough time to finish your work on time Based on my understanding of the Portfolio Grade Scale, I would probably have given Lindsey an A. And now we get to the point in this assignment where we unequivocally identify our main inquiry question. This is something that I struggled with, because my ideas were like the feathers of a pillow case that had been split in midair with feathers going in every direction, and no way to recapture them all. However, with the insight of Professor S.I. (Suzanne Ingram), I finally have a direction. My inquiry question is, What are the qualifications for adopting a child? There are many children, who are the wards of the state who could use a nice family to adopt them. And there are many adults, who have tried unsuccessfully to adopt. I am not referring to the obvious disqualifiers, such as known criminals of a serious nature, or those who perhaps have physical, economic, or psychological problems of the sort that would prevent them from being capable parents. Rather, there are many adults who seem to have everything going for them on many levels, including economically, mentally mature, and stable, and yet, they are denied the privilege to adopt a child. Why is that? What are the qualifications? That is the question that I hope to research, and find a satisfactory answer to. The fact is, it might not really be a satisfactory answer, but more than likely it will have to be the answer that we will have to settle with. I would imagine that among those sitting at the round table to discuss this topic would be social workers, perhaps legislators, adults who would like to adopt, and psychologists trained in family dynamics. Social workers would be there because they are usually on the front line, in the sense that they are often the ones with firsthand experience dealing with the placement of children into homes such as with the foster care arrangement. Adults who want to adopt would be there, because without them there would be no adoption process. The psychologists would be at the table, because they would be the most

qualified to examine and comment on the emotional effects of both an effective adoption, and an unsuccessful adoption, and to possibly examine the emotional stability of all parties involved. Lastly, legislators would be there because there are so many laws that are in place to protect both parties, but especially the children needing to be adopted. Stay tuned, and together we will see what conclusions we will find.