Devin Autry

11/30/14
UWRT

FINAL PORTFOLIO ESSAY

Coming into UWRT as a college freshman I had no idea what to expect. I thought
that it would be like an AP high school course. I thought we would read a novel, talk
about the themes and topics of the novel, analyze the many different aspects of the novel
and compose a few 8-page papers about them all. I didnt think that I would learn a lot or
really even benefit from this course very much. However, after the first few class sessions
I realized that the way I envisioned the class was completely off. I saw that I could
benefit greatly from this course and that I would learn a lot of writing in the process.
Over the course, I have seen my potential and growth as writer improve tremendously. I
found myself constantly asking my peers on how to improve on my writing, which is
something that I have never done in the past. I have matured both as a person and as a
writer. In high school, I had mastered what I thought was the writing process, but I was
not comfortable as a writer. I didnt think that any of my writing was superb, or exquisite
because I never used words like those. To me, the words on the paper were just that,
words on a paper. I saw myself constantly doing the same things in all of my writings
regardless of the subject. Id have a quote to start off the paper, followed by a definition,
followed by a question. These were three aspects that I always had at the beginning of my
papers.

For my e-portfolio I based the organization off the grading rubric and also off of some of
the sample essays that were listed on the class Moodle site. The order of my assignments
is the order that I completed them in, my earliest assignments starting at the bottom going
up to my latest assignment. I have learned a lot from this class. I learned different things
from each piece of writing that was assigned. When it came to many of the blogs I
became aware of certain things with the articles we had to read. The articles opened my
eyes to different things about reading and writing a paper.

This class as a whole was a learning experience. Each paper individually has
taught me something that I can keep and use in the future. For the classes first paper we
were required to write a literacy narrative. When I first heard this I was unsure of what
that meant because I had never written anything with a topic as this. However from this
paper I learned that taking risks are sometimes key to success in ones writing. While
writing this paper I did something I had never done before, which was not using my first
rough draft at all as my final draft. In the past I would almost always write one draft and
then fix any grammatical errors. Sometimes, I might take out a couple sentences there,
switch around a few words here, alter a paragraph here, but overall the second papers
always had the same concept as my first paper. For my literacy narrative I completed my
first draft, which was about three pages, then for my second draft I wrote four pages on a
totally different topic for the same paper. This concept made my second paper much
more detailed and thoughtful then my first one.

Over the course of writing my literacy narrative I have realized that I enjoy putting
together my pieces of writing and watching them evolve into a final product. I learned a lot about

revising myself and others through the writing process that we learned. My first draft was a
completely different paper than my third. It had a different thesis, opening statement, conclusion,
and concept. Before this all of my drafts had something in common with my final draft. I knew
starting this that I wasnt the best writer but I didnt know that I would be able to write to totally
different papers in the same concept. With all this being said my favorite revision was my
opening paragraph of my essay.
Literary development is key to ones success in todays society. Reading, speaking, and writing
are three aspects that are constantly used in order for people to get their points across. I feel that
in literacy we go through each of these as phases. I felt that this was a strong opening that
displayed what I would be writing about in the essay. This is also my favorite revision because it
applies to our class. We each used each of the three phases in order to compose our essays.
Writing this narrative was an eye-opening experience for me because I learned not only how to
write a narrative but also how to properly revise one. I enjoyed watching my classmates craft and
mold the paper that I revised, and watching the product of our combination of ideas

Another new aspect that I learned in writing the Literacy narrative was taking giant risk
in my writing. I had never been approached with a topic that had to relate to me, as the writer,
personally. I had to use new techniques that I had never used before such as dialogue, personal
experiences and emotions, and details from life. I found that writing about my own personal
experiences was easier, more soothing, and had better flow than my usual writings, which were
five paragraphs, introduction, conclusion, and three body paragraphs.

For my first while card I will share a portion of my blog post that I believe shows
something that I learned about a students right to their own language. I wholeheartedly agree

with the statement Students write to their own language. Many students write how they speak,
which can be okay for some and not so okay for others. A students language can vary from a
multitude of reasons. Whether they are coming from a different country, culture, or even
neighborhood, their writing can be affected by ones language, or how they speak. I also believe
that students have a right to their own language. With the whole peer workshop I realized that
many people have their own way of writing and what appeals to one might not appeal to the
next. Students write differently from opinions to phonetics. I could relate to this because I grew
up in a neighborhood and environment where many of the people there spoke very differently
from the norm.

For our second big piece of writing which was our midterm, I reflected back on things
that I had picked up at that point in the year. By then I had understood how the class went and I
had learned more about writing. Also in learning how to reflect on myself I learned how to
reflect thoroughly on others. In this small selection I chose I was reflecting on a students eportfolio. For the sample e-portfolios I choose number 1. After looking through this portfolio, I
could tell the author really took time and effort in order to complete it. It was well organized and
thorough. It seemed to me that all of the pieces worked. Based on some of the authors
writings I would place this portfolio under the genre, in the e-portfolio genre. The author made it
appoint to show that this was her own original, unique e- portfolio. For her assignments the
author covered all aspects. Her page was displayed very neatly and she seemed to have
completed all of her work. Some of the rules in writing in the genre portfolio would be
following all of the instructions carefully and thoughtfully. Personally, I believe that the author
exhibited both of these in her midterm responses as well as her other works in her portfolio. One
of the key modes of communication that the author displayed was through personal stories using

emotion. Many of the authors stories, views, and challenges brought the audience closer to her
by making her relatable. I would definitely consider this sample portfolio was successful. From
what was read it seemed that the author covered every aspect of the portfolio.
For our third large piece of writing we had was the Portrait of a Writer essay. To me
this was a difficult, but very helpful essay assignment. It was difficult for me because many of
the questions that were asked were challenging to answer. However, it was the most beneficial to
me because all of them required me to think deeply about each question asked. I chose an
excerpt of my portrait of a writer paper to show how I benefited from it. Many writers with
writers block will stumble across the question, Who am I? while writing. To me, as the
writer, I feel that I am obligated to convey my message clearly and passionately to others. In
high school, I was the typical, boring, clich writer. I would start off many of essays with a
definition, followed by a quote, followed by a question. The writing process became second
nature to me because I was so used to doing the same things, all the time, for every essay. I later
realized that, although I would receive decent grades on these papers, I had the writing process
completely wrong. I had the writing part down but I was missing the process part of it. To me
there was no true process. I usually would write one draft and then check for any grammatical
errors and then turn the same essay in for my final draft.

For one of my wild cards I chose to talk about my latest blog post. For this assignment
we had to reflect on our e-portfolio experience at that point in time. I think that this is interesting
because my views are still the same. We were asked to read an article by Dr. Davis and then
relate her topics to our experience in this class. Here is an excerpt from this:

So far, my process has resembled that of the process displayed from Dr. Daviss post.
Much of the work that we have done for the e-portfolio requires that we understand the material
for ourselves. The ideas that we collect, map, and then arrange, help us connect to our audience.
From there, we must reflect and share what we have learned with the audience. While this might
sound like an easy process it can become very time consuming and requires much thought from
both parties. For the writer it can be very difficult for them to come up with topics that are
interesting to them and writing so that it can appeal to others as well. If I were to add anything to
Dr. Daviss display it would probably be another arrange and re-arrange. The writing process is a
very long process that consists of a lot of trial and error. Many times over the course of this class
I found that my first draft of an essay almost always looked completely different from my last
draft.

I found this to be a nice guide to refer to when completing my e-portfolio. I think that

this will be helpful to me because it will remind me of what to do if I become off track.
For my second writers choice artifact I chose to use my second Readers Response Letter.
This was one of my favorite RRLs because it was the first time I learned how to edit. One of the
main things that stood out to me from this reading was the detail the author but into correcting a
peers paper. The description of how not to correct a paper on page 187 was exactly how I would
correct one. This reading helped me understand the importance of helping your peer advise their
paper. I agreed when the author was talking about correcting a peers paper. Youre not an
editor. Youre not the teacherYoure not the writer. Youre the reader. This is great because it
reminds the reader of his or her true purpose in the process that many times people forget.
Another thing I agreed with was that one should not rewrite any parts of the paper. This is true,
however, I think that it is key to make helpful suggestions to your peer in order for their paper to
reach its full potential. Another great thing that the author said that I agreed with was in

reference to the praising and criticism of the paper. I agreed that one should write as many, if not
more, praise comments as they do critical ones. This gives the writer extra motivation and even
more confidence about the paper. I found this reading to be both interesting and very helpful to
me in order to become a better writer and an even better advisor. I felt that this helped me utilize
the tools given to me in order to critique the writings of my peers.

Over the second half of the semester I feel that I displayed improvement in at least three
of the classroom concepts. I believe that experience growth in both my maturity and my intellect.
I felt myself becoming more and more comfortable completing my papers and assignments and I
gained a confidence with my writing that I have never had before. Along with those concepts, I
think that I was completely engaged in the curiosity concept. Many of the chosen selections that
we were asked to read for class were very intriguing and beneficial to me. The last concept that I
experienced growth in was my independence. All of our assignments required us to be
independent and responsible. Other than the peer workshops from our classmates the
assignments were done all independently. I think that this class was a great learning opportunity
and experience. It was extremely beneficial to me in understanding how to express my thoughts
through writing. I learned about the writing process, how to provide and receive feedback, and
also how to reflect. Looking back on the semester I think that I deserve a B for my final grade. I
spent a lot of time and thought on my final e-portfolio and although I have missed some
deadlines I fell that I completed the majority of the work on time and thoroughly.