Smith 1

Table of Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Organization Blog Post Three Process Work Artifacts Two Feedback Artifacts Two Writers Notebook Artifacts Two Wild Cards Midterm Exploratory Essay Final Draft Annotated Bibliography Final Draft

10. Multi-Genre Final Draft 11. The Grade I Deserve

*each of the titles above are hyperlinked to take you to that chapter in this essay* * Throughout the text, and the subtitles, I have hyperlinks that will take you to the assignment itself* *to go back to the table of contents click ctrl-HOME*

Smith 2

Samantha Smith Ms. Ingram English 1102-100 14 April 2014 Portfolio Essay

1. Organization
The purpose of the Portfolio essay is to explain the e-portfolio I created and how it displays what I have learned from English 1102. I have spent some time and effort putting this e-portfolio together. Last semester, in English 1101, I was required to submit an eportfolio as well. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the Weebly website. It took some time to learn all the functions on the site. Since I already had experience with working with Weebly last semester, I had a much easier time putting the portfolio together. I did not have to deal with the frustrations of not being able to embed documents. For this portfolio essay I decided to go with a more entertaining theme. My favorite color is pink and the pink with the white gives a nice contrast, especially with the colorful pictures that I uploaded on the home page and throughout each subpage. This is my visual approach to the audience. I used spatial mode to keep my e-portfolio organized so it would not look cluttered. I did not want my viewers to be confused while navigating through each page. My linguistic approach is simplicity. I did not want to overwhelm the viewer with a lot of words. I wanted to keep it simple with just a title and a brief introduction for each page. If one was to be interested in learning more about why I included that certain piece, then they could find the section where I wrote about it in this essay. I will subdivide this essay with headings so the reader can easily navigate to the

Smith 3 paragraph of their choosing to learn more about each artifact. The table of contents will provide easy accessibility to the essay. The first tab is by default, the homepage. The Portfolio Essay is the second tab on the left column. This makes it easy to find because it explains my whole website. The table of contents labels the order of the tabs after the portfolio essay. I chose this order because it correlates with the order on the portfolio requirement sheet so it will be easier to grade and therefore less confusing.

2. Blog Post
Throughout the entire semester we were assigned blog posts to help us understand assignments and to ask questions. There were six blog posts in total. These blog posts are a representation of what I have learned and brainstormed throughout the semester. For example in Blog Post 1, I read and became familiar with the syllabus. In this post, I said, Some of the papers that we are going to be completing sound very familiar, almost the same except for the fact that we chose our topic. I thought this class sounded very similar to my English 1101 class because I had also completed an Inquiry Project. I have learned that this is not the case. Although they seem to be of same nature they were totally different. Also this first blog post made me critically think about the topic for the project. I was struggling with choosing just one of the many ideas that I had in mind. I have to say that I am pleased that I decided to go with Downton Abbey as my topic because it is different and not a commonly watched show for the younger generation which gives me a challenge. Blog Post 2 is another good example that demonstrates my learning and the key concept of critical thinking. In this post, I said, I would have to say that I have never heard of the Rhetorical Triad or the 5 Modes of Communication. This is the first time that I have ever even heard of these terms. By the end of the semester, I realized their

Smith 4 importance which is why I added the syllabus and the modes of communication worksheet as my two wild cards. For every piece of writing that we completed this semester, I had to think about who our audience was and what would be the best way to communicate our message. Also in this blog post I took a risk in answering a question where critical thinking was permitted. I chose to do the question that asked, Consider your favorite spot on our campus. What rhetorical choices did the campus designers and architects make when designing that space, and what messages does that space convey to people? I wrote that my favorite spot was the library. Its importance is based on all the tasks one can complete in the library. I listed, it is the one place where people study, complete homework, form a study group, work on computers, complete research, discover new books, have a bite to eat, have a social gathering, and admire the view. The library provides all these things for students. The designer of the campus made it to be the tallest building on campus which signifies is outstanding importance. This is my favorite blog post that I completed because it was interesting and different. I was only one of a few that actually took the risk to answer this question. We missed two class periods because of snow during the semester. Ms. Ingram assigned us work to do on the snow day just as if we had class those days. In the Blog Post Snow Day, we were assigned to read the assignment sheet for the Inquiry Project and ask any questions that we had. We were supposed to come up with ideas for our inquiry question. I find it ironic that I had thought of a question for all my other ideas except for the topic that I actually chose. I said, I really want to do my paper on Downton Abbey but I seriously cant think of a question that would work well with the drama. This shows an example of the key concept of risk taking. I went with the topic not knowing what question I would be answering to complete my whole Inquiry Project.

Smith 5 Blog Post 3 was about preparing for the visit to the library. I admitted that I have never checked out a book from our library. So to be honest, I was nervous about the visit. Also in this blog post we had to learn the library catalog. This was very confusing at first and it took me awhile to finally get used to it. After the visit to the library, I was able to find many credible book sources for the Annotated Bibliography. Learning the ins and outs of the librarys catalog will help me in future classes when I have to complete a research paper or project. I will be able to find credible sources with easy accessibility. Blog Post 4 was the last blog post of the semester. I cannot believe how fast the semester has flown by. This blog post was about how I want to edit my papers and what I struggle with. In the post it stated, For the Exploratory Essay, it was suggested to me to make my passions more personal. For example in the paragraph that I wrote about my friends and why they are so important to me, I should have included more reasoning why my friends are so special. I tried to correct this in the Final Draft of the Exploratory Essay on page 4.This shows my learning of the writing process and revision which is a key concept as well.

3. Three Process Work Artifacts

Process work is important to the foundation of all writing pieces. One should use process work to brainstorm, gain ideas and to become organized. This correlates with the pictures I have provided at the top of this page. Each piece that I included is my process work for each assignment. I included these pieces because the brainstorming process for each piece is essential to the formation of the drafts. For the first assignment of the Exploratory Essay, I explored all of my passions by making a list as you can see on page 1. I made a list of nine passions at first and then I thought of ways to condense the

Smith 6 list. For example I combined drawing and painting my nails to say creativity. Then at the end I concluded what passions I will talk about in my Exploratory Essay. On the second page, I thought about what my inquiry question could be. I have a side note at the bottom that says, after talking with Ms. Ingram my thesis statement is, Why do young Americans watch Downton Abbey? By talking and gaining feedback from Ms. Ingram she provided me with the idea for my thesis statement. As you have read in the blog post snow day in section 1, I was struggling with coming up with an inquiry Question. My first idea of an inquiry question was Why is Downton Abbey so popular? As you can tell I learned that this question is too broad and can be answered in multiple ways. As you can also tell I got confused between an inquiry question and a thesis statement on the process work on page 2 because I wrote the wrong thing. From previous class periods, I learned that an inquiry question is a question in which the answer will be narrow and the thesis statement is the answer to the inquiry question. On the last page, page 3, this was my process work for the top ten list I created for the Mult-Genre Project. I gathered all the reasons why Young Americans would watch Downton Abbey and narrowed it down to ten. All three processes helped me learn how to critically think, make independent inquiries, and learn the writing process.

4. Two Feedback Artifacts

For these two artifacts I used feedback from my teacher. Throughout the semester during our workshops I was given advice and ideas for revision by my classmates but I received the most feedback from my teacher which is why I included them in the eportfolio. From these revisions I learned that I need to explain myself more in detail. For the Exploratory Essay I was told to explain why I have that passion, and I should consider doing this by giving examples. On page four it says I totally see your passion but, as a

Smith 7 reader, I dont quite understand it. Why honeybees? As you can see on page five of the final draft of the exploratory essay, I explained the reason why I have a passion for honeybees which is because they are on the verge extinction. On the other feedback piece, for the multi-genre project, I was told to elaborate more on the linguistic mode used in the movie poster in the reflection. I stated that I used the linguistic mode but I really did not explain how I used it. So as suggested, I described the words that I used, their style as well as their tone, as you can see in the final draft.

5. Two Writers Notebook Artifacts

For the Writers Notebook Artifacts I decided to include two impactful reading response letters. I found the reading response letters to be very helpful. They were assigned mainly for us to actually read the textbook; which Ms. Ingram chose an unusual textbook, a comic textbook, for this class to read as well. I explained this in the first reading response letter. From just completing the first letter I learned a lot about genres in general. As I state in the letter words are not the only form of writing writing can be performed in many places and spaces. When I first began this course, I thought of a genre as being like a genre of a book such as fiction, non-fiction and etc. I came to realize almost everything has a genre. We use this idea in the multi- genre project by creating two different genre pieces to convey the same message to a certain audience. The second reading response letter I chose was the one that I was not required to complete in the first place because our teacher had thought that no one had read the assigned pages from the textbook. There was one thing that I learned from reading this section of the textbook that helped me with the annotated bibliography. I have been told since middle school that Wikipedia should never be used as a source. From reading the text I learned how Wikipedia could be useful. In the letter I state, I learned that I can use

Smith 8 the sources used in the article to help me find credible sources. Wikipedia is a great place to get ideas of credible sources. This idea really helped me find some sources for the Annotated Bibliography.

6. Two Wild Cards

I decided to include the syllabus and the multi-modal worksheet as my two wild cards because I believe they are important to the class. The syllabus is important because it provides you with guidelines for grades as well as dates for upcoming class periods. During class, Ms. Ingram would always refer to key concepts which are found on the first page. The key concepts is a list of ideas one should learn and use during this semester of English. I believe that the key concepts show your growth in the course. From this semester I have learned how to critically think. I have become familiar with the writing process and revision, I have taken risk, and I have made independent inquiry. These are just some of the few concepts that I have used and learned from this course. The grading scale on the second page is important because it gives me an understanding of what is expected in order to receive a certain grade. The schedule on the third and fourth page is also important because it taught me time management. For example, if I had not written down that a draft for a writing assignment was coming up, then I would procrastinate and write it the night before. Due to the schedule I worked on my assignments beforehand, which improved my writing. The multi-model worksheet is important because we always referred back to this worksheet when completing a writing assignment. The five modes of communication help the writer understand the assignment and how and what they are trying to convey. Every text is mutli-modal which means they communicate a message. For example the two multi genre pieces, I chose to complete a top ten list and a movie poster. I used the multi-modal

Smith 9 worksheet to help me communicate my message to young Americans. For example, I used the visual mode in my genres by adding pictures that relate to Downton Abbey. I used a rich color background to represent the upper class, a simple layout so it doesnt look cluttered, and a fancy font style so it looks like ink and pen writing. Everything in a genre has a purpose and the multi- mode worksheet helps determine the purpose of different aspects of that genre.

7. Midterm
The midterm assignment served as a reflection of half of the semester. We were assigned to answer what grade would you give yourself in this class, what key concepts are you succeeding and struggling with? The midterm helped me understand what I was doing well and what I needed to improve on. For example, I said, The key concept I am struggling with is risk taking. I believe that after the completion of the multi-genre project I used the risk taking key concept. I did not do the ordinary formal writing genres for this assignment. I took a risk and completed two atypical genre pieces by using my creativity.

8. Exploratory Essay Final Draft

The Exploratory Essay was the first writing assignment this semester. I have to say it was something I have never done before. We were required write an essay based on a one sentence prompt. The prompt was What are you so passionate about you cant ignore? This assignment revealed to me the importance of detail and how to explain more thoroughly. For example, I added pictures into the text to provide the reader with better understanding of my creativity. I also added a few sentences in the section about my passion for honeybees because I was given feedback that I should elaborate more on why I am passionate about honeybees. For my explanation I stated, Honeybee are important to

Smith 10 the stability of the earth, if honeybees go extinct then the world would slowly die as well. This explained why honeybees are so important to me.

9. Annotated Bibliography Final Draft

The annotated Bibliography was the second major writing assignment of the semester. This was the first annotated bibliography that I have ever completed. I have to say that it was a lot of work but it really helped with the completion of the multi-genre project. This assignment taught me how to find credible sources and how to use the information. I believe this to be the most important assignment this semester because it will help me throughout my college career when I have to complete a research paper. In the final draft I deleted the four extra sources that I did not use. I changed this article stated everywhere in the paper to the name of the author of the article. I learned in class that writing the authors name was the proper way to give credit to the source.

10.

Multi-Genre Project Final Draft

This was the last and final writing assignment of the semester. This was the most enjoyable of the assignments to complete because creativity was required for this assignment. The purpose of my genre pieces was to persuade young Americans to watch the amazing series, Downton Abbey. I did this by creating a Top Ten List and a Movie Poster. I did not change anything in the genre pieces but I elaborated a lot more in the reflection. The purpose of the reflection was to explain different aspects of each piece. For example, I was told to elaborate more on how I appealed to the audience as well as the communication of the message to the audience. Again this relates to the multi- model worksheet as well as the Aristotle appeals. I was also told that the organization of the paper was confusing to follow. I added subtitles throughout the entire paper to help with

Smith 11 that. This assignment showed me writing does not have to be the ordinary essay but writing can be found in many different genres.

11.

The Grade I Deserve

In conclusion, I have to say that this semester was fantastic. I had a lot of fun while learning a lot about writing and how writing can enjoyable. I give thanks to my teacher, Ms. Ingram for a great semester of English. Because of this, I believe that I deserve an A. My E-portfolio is easily navigable and all of the assignments are complete and to the best of my ability. I added quotes from authors, my teacher, classmates, as well as from my own writing to help explain my learning. I discussed my learning of key concepts throughout this paper as well as explaining my growth as a writer by describing what I learned from each of the assignments included in the e-portfolio. I will take what I have learned from this class and use it inside and outside the classroom environment.