Lewis Jones Ms.

Ingram English 1101 5 December 2013 Portfolio Essay In this essay I will take you through the maturation of my writing in my first semester of college. Organization For my e-Portfolio I tried to make it as funny and as visually pleasing as possible, whether that be through the goofy pictures that I have taken throughout my time in college. I have separated each of my papers onto their own individual pages to minimize clutter and provide a simple and smooth transitions between papers for my readers. In each of my sections I have given a brief description of what has been embedded on the page. Also I have included three brainstorming pieces from each essay I have written. I didnt include my drafts and brainstorming papers for my portfolio essay because I want to dedicate an entire page on my weebly site. Since this is my final essay for this class I want this piece to be the main focus of my entire essay. The Pieces Each essay along with its corresponding brainstorming worksheet is provides support and cause for future edits to make each of the final essays a masterpiece in each of their own ways. I put my portfolio essay on one of the first visible tabs. My portfolio essay is my best paper from

this semester. So by placing my final portfolio essay first you can see how I have matured throughout this semester. Midterm: The mid-term essay was one of my favorite assignments because of its clearness and it allowed for a personal reflection on the first half of the semester. This was somewhat difficult because of the amount of time that had and looking back and remembering some things proved to be a little difficult. So during the next half of the semester I would make sure to write down whatever it is we did and this lead to me doing this for all of my classes. Now reflecting back is nowhere near as difficult as it was during the middle of the semester. Genre Analysis: The genre analysis was the most difficult writing because of the numerous options to use in the essay. I narrowed my choices by making a t-chart I had no idea how effective they can be when you are struggling to make a choice with a lot of options. Through my genre analysis I was able to strengthen my skills in critical analysis. Now taking two writings that have very different purposes and contrasting them seems to come easier now. Literacy narrative: When we did the activity in class when we closed our eyes and remembered the moment that we were going to write about I vaguely remembered my moment so I didnt feel a connection to this assignment. Near the due date I knew I had to make some serious adjustments in order to make it the best version it could be, because
One day my teammates were arguing about how could be the best coach, so we decided to coach our own team of grade school kids

was nowhere near what I wanted to turn into Ms. Ingram. So I tried to re-revision the specific day when my teammates and I got into the argument about coaches. After I took about 30 minutes to sit in quiet and meditate on that day I was able to turn that sentence to

The most fun Ive had all summer started with a simple bet, who could be co ach the best football team. It was after a long and grueling day at football practice my friend David and I began to argue about who the best coach in football was, David believed That Bill Beliechick, of the New England Patriots, was the greatest coach ever. While I on the other hand felt that Nick Sabin, coach of the University of Alabama, was far better considering the fact that he has won an unprecedented amount of BCS National Championships. After we broke it down the team headed off the field. Our argument continued and escalated until we reached the locker room. In the locker room some more of my teammates joined in on our conversation until we eventually we had twelve different people arguing and throwing out random coaches names like Chip Kelly, Tony Dungy, Tom Coughlin, and Les Miles. I guess all the noise coming out of the locker room caught the attention of Coach Sams. Coach Sams was the designated coach to break up any fights in the locker room. He burst in the locker room with authority yelling trying to make sure none of us were fighting. I then explained to him what we were arguing about. Sams then said, Coaching isnt easy none of y all have ever coached a team so how can any of you rank and judge on something youve never done. So then m y friend Kahlil Says I bet I can coach 20 times better than anyone of yall in this locker room. Now the argument has resumed except this ti me it was more intense. Lets coach a team then said Tevin.

Now when Im having trouble writing or think Ive hit a dead end in my writing I sit back and take a break to think about the assignment this has been a real valuable lesson and has helped me in many of my other classes. RRLs I used two reader response letters to use for my writers notebook because through the response letters I was able to really connect with each of the readings. The RRL in response to Mr. Doss Forbes blog post was my absolute favorite thing not only in writing the RRL but also by the class activity when we got to talk to Mr. Doss. The other RRL I choose to write about was in response to What is Genre and How Can It Help You. I choose this one because it was one of my better writings this semester. I also used this as my wild card because I just really think I did a good job on this RRL.

Growth Our first assignment was to write a letter to Ms. Ingram, and in this letter we were supposed to ask questions about the class and give a little background on ourselves. My vocabulary was decent but I wasnt able to construct sentences that would showcase it, I also and very often didnt go into enough detail or expand on good points. For example in my first draft of my literacy narrative I said
The first day of practice couldnt have been worse we had no idea how hard it is to keep kids attention for more than three minutes. We got a few plays in and one or two defensive plays put together. Over the next two practices I felt that we had a real good shot at winning the whole bet.

But after my group and I workshopped my paper I was able to elaborate on this section.
Once all of the kids arrived at the elementary school we made our way to the playground where a large field was located. David and I then split the kids up and began to teach them the fundamentals of football like proper tackling, blocking, catching, and in Cheetahs case how to through a football properly. As we went through the drills one by one each kid would l ose focus and begin to play with bugs or just zone off. By the end of the day we only were able to cover about three offensive plays and two defensive sets. This wasnt the perfect practice that David and I thought our first practice as coaches was going to be. Instead it was full of blunders by us as coaches but over the next few practices David and I learned how to get the attention of each kid. What motivated each kid to stay focused was the promise of a surprise that would be worth all of their hard work. So over the next two practices the focus and readiness of each boy improved immensely. This gave David and I a renewed hope in our team.

The workshops that we did on our papers were instrumental to advancing my writing. Another aspect of my writing that I was able to improve upon through workshopping was my attention to the detail by growing through and correcting my grammatical mistakes. In the first paragraph of my literacy narrative I said
The most fun Ive had all summer started with a simple bet, who could be coach the best football team.

I know this is an obvious gaffe, but things like that would always creep past me and I would be penalized for it. Now I have found myself sometimes going through each of my papers with a fine tooth comb. Key Concepts I connected strongly with the key concepts of the writing and revision process, and risk taking. Before this class I felt that I had somewhat of a generic writing style but near the end I saw myself becoming more confident in my writing. Instead of using I feel or I think I just say my opinion and I noticed my writing starting to sound more and more like myself. I was never use to using huge quotes in papers and making them tie in to my paper now it is like second nature. Also I started to list things using numbers like in my literacy narrative this was something I had never done before but through risk taking I learned that changing up your writing style can not only keep your readers interested in what youre saying but also it keeps you interested because you want to get feedback on your new wrinkle you put in your writing. In the past I wouldnt think about the class until the next time I was in the class but during this semester I would find and use other classes and other events in my social life to influence and aid my writings in English whether in my blog or in my papers. In the workshops I really took all of the feedback I got on my papers to form and create a better final project. Revision was something I never did in high school because I was sure that my first draft was the best thing I was going to write but now I know that I need at least three drafts to make a really good draft and the difference between the first draft and final product is astonishing.

Grade Through all of my work I have put into this class I deserve a C. After looking at most of my classmates and your previous students portfolios and portfolio essays I just dont really stand close to theirs.