Demer 1 Nolan Demer Megan Keaton ENC 1102-31 4/28/14 Portfolio Reflection Letter For my reflection letter I have

decided to follow the theme of the writer. I chose the theme of the writer to reflect on because I feel it applies most directly to me as a student in this class. Referring back to the very first daybook entry, or the first writing sample we ever did in the class, I stated in the entry that I wanted to leave this class a better writer more than anything else. I still hold that intention of leaving this semester a better writer as my main motivation in this class and my driving force behind all my motivations in regards to this English class. I chose this topic because I feel that a part of me has largely become a better writer, and looking back over my assignments over this semester confirmed my belief of this. In many ways, this class brought forth many new things that I had personally never experienced before. Some of the papers and assignments we did were truly unique to any other English class I have ever taken before. In all honesty when I first read some of the assignment descriptions and heard them discussed in class I often found myself thinking What in gods name is this all about, or How am I supposed to do this. But despite my negative thoughts initially, I feel confident in saying that each of these assignments proved to be beneficial one way or another. One of the assignments I remember being most daunting was the first part of joining the conversation. Although it didnt seem like it at the time, the JTC-mini assignments are what got me moving in the right direction, I was able to refer back to the JTC-mini assignments throughout my writing process when coming up with ideas for the paper, the character description assignment was one of the best parts, because once I had established an

Demer 2 Nolan Demer Megan Keaton ENC 1102-31 4/28/14 identity for my characters in JTC part 1 the writing and dialogue came much more naturally, I knew how each character would respond and react based on their personalities and experiences. Up until that point I had never written a paper that wasnt a formal essay or research paper in any English class ever before, nor had I ever created a character dialogue that read like a play or book. I didnt know where to start or how to tie everything together, so I just started typing. I faced some difficulty with this particular assignment and wondered how I was going to get my points and finding across through the characters, but in reflection I feel like I accomplished all that was required of me by the assignment. This, to me, was almost like a small victory when it comes to the development of my writing. I think that assignment allowed me a degree of creativity that I wasnt previously familiar with. All in all JTC part 1 was a very interesting and different assignment for me, and I hope if I ever encounter a similar assignment in a future class I will be better equipped to handle it as a writer now that I have some experience. The next big assignment that contributed to the development of my writing in this class would be the annotated bibliography for me. In my ENC 1101 class we mainly did stardard essays and I believe we had one research paper, so you could say this was a paper style entirely foreign to me. When I first heard the words Annotated bibliography in class I must admit it was a moment of confusion and nervousness for me, I didnt even know what those words meant, much less how to go about writing one. In time however, it became clear of what was required of me for the assignment. I must admit that I found the annotated bibliography to be one of the easiest assignments we did in the class. The annotations served their purpose very well I

Demer 3 Nolan Demer Megan Keaton ENC 1102-31 4/28/14 felt by allowing me to gather all the information I would be using for my consecutive assignments into one place, I referred to the annotated bibliography often when doing my joining the conversation drafts, and also my exploratory essay. I took away an understanding of writing I didnt previously have from doing the annotated bibliography, so if I ever hear the words annotated bibliography again in another class, I know I will be much more confident in my ability to complete the assignment, and actually know what it is. So I can say without a doubt this assignment helped improve my abilities as a writer, and broadened my academic capabilities overall when it comes to both research and writing. The annotated bibliography didnt act alone however it helping me to realize my development as a writer, in fact I didnt really come to understand how much I had learned from this assignment until I completed the self-assessment for the annotated bibliography. The self-assessment allowed me to understand how far I had come while doing this assignment, sometimes reflection is the best method for learning from your mistakes, because without that reflection assignment I may have never realized what I actually gained during the writing process. Another assignment that helped me out in my writing abilities was semi-formal reflection #3. I chose this as an example for my reflection because this particular semi-formal reflection was a reflection on the very first daybook entry we did in class, as I referenced above. I think this was one of the first times in the class that I actually had the opportunity to go back and look at my own writing and compare how much I had learned. Even looking back at semi-formal reflection 3 and the day book entry I can visibly tell in that amount of time I made improvements

Demer 4 Nolan Demer Megan Keaton ENC 1102-31 4/28/14 to my writing style, organization and sentence structure. I think when it comes to any skill in life the more you do it the better youre going to get. Even if my intentions werent always to create a better written assignment than the prior one, I can see an improvement from assignment to assignment, which I attribute largely to the act of writing itself. A few other things contributed to my improvement as a writer in this class also, most notably work shopping. I learned a lot about revision and improving papers at each workshop we did in class, but one that sticks out in my head was the workshop day we had for the annotated bibliography. In my first draft of the annotated bibliography I had a rough approximation of what the assignment was supposed to be, but after receiving advice and criticism from my peers in class, I felt my second draft took a turn for the better, simply hearing my mistakes made me aware not to make the same ones over again in the second draft, effectively making me somewhat of a better writer. Another in-class assignment I felt helped me were the curious researcher presentations. My specific presentation was about revision and making corrections in your paper, a skill that I tried to apply to all my consecutive papers after learning about it in my group reading. I was able to refer back to my section of the curious researcher numerous times making this portfolio, eliminating holes in my writing was always a problem for me as a writer, after learning more about how to do that in class I firmly believe that it improved my writing skills for the better, and will allow me to have better revision skills no matter what class I apply it towards in the future. All in all I learned a lot of new writing styles and worked my butt off this semester in English, I feel that I am a better writer because of it, so I would consider this semester a beneficial one for my academic skills. I

Demer 5 Nolan Demer Megan Keaton ENC 1102-31 4/28/14 think this class was worth the money and I definitely was kept busy by it, but in the end it was for the better I suppose. Thanks for a beneficial semester Ms. Keaton, I wish you all the best. Sincerely, Nolan Demer