ENGL 1001Final Portfolio and Portfolio Reflection Assistance

The Portfolio

Your portfolio is the collection of your work from this course: the revised (significant polish and revision work should be evident) final paper, the formatted versions of the first two papers, and the final portfolio reflection document (discussed below).

Format for naming files electronically: Please name your files in some way so that it’s clear, once we’ve opened them, what they are and what draft version they are. I might consider calling them the assignment name and the draft number, and I would consider putting my own name in the file name, as well.

The Final Portfolio Reflection Essay

NOTE: This is a lengthy, detailed task. Please read these notes all very carefully prior to beginning work on this part of your final assignment.

Rationale for the portfolio reflection essay: Following this assignment discussion, you will find a learning outcomes statement that composition faculty from all over the United States have constructed. It is used in writing programs across the country and even in other countries. The purpose of this document is to specify the kinds of knowledge and skills that students should acquire by the end of the first-year composition sequence. It is broken down into the categories of learning outcomes that you will see in our syllabus – those same categories we urged you to use to organize your reflection work through.

Because only some of that knowledge and some of those skills will be evident in any given project that you complete for this course, you need to provide a sampling of all your work in this course to demonstrate what you have accomplished as a reader, writer, thinker, learner. In general, this reflection essay provides you an opportunity to illustrate how you make informed choices as a writer. The outcomes statement also is something you can “lay against” the textbook and course assignments—that is, how well does what we’re doing in class help you understand and enact the goals and objectives of the class?

General Considerations: One purpose of this reflection essay and critique is to demonstrate that you have acquired rhetorical knowledge. Second, you should also demonstrate that you have further developed your reading, writing, and thinking skills. Third, you should demonstrate that you know how to use composing processes. Finally, as the outcomes statement suggests, you should demonstrate that you have gained further control over conventions of written language, especially by showing in your writing what you are doing . . . and why you're doing it (that is, what's your rhetorical purpose?). The essay itself may demonstrate your reflective learning and abilities, though addressing these directly, and relating precisely to the learning outcomes, is encouraged.

Inside your reflection essay, you should provide copies of materials (entries from your writer’s journal/learning log, blogs, drafts, comments, commented-on papers, invention activities, etc.) to show what you've learned.

The Task: To complete this reflective essay, you will need to review your written work from throughout the quarter--invention work, drafts of projects; "final" versions of projects; notes of reflection on your work; notes from conferences with classmates, the instructor, or the writing center; and the like. However, you need only include and submit copies of whatever you consider necessary to demonstrate that you have accomplished the goals specified in the attached outcomes statement.

For your reflective essay, you need to be as detailed as possible, using examples from your writing projects as well as the other work we've done to illustrate your growth as a writer—what you've learned from the invention, peer review, and other activities, etc. Your reflective essay should also include a paragraph or two in which you look to the future, commenting on how you plan to use your rhetorical knowledge and your composing skills in your academic, professional, personal, and/or civic lives.

Writing Goals and Objectives

Our program supports the “Writing Program Administrators Outcomes Statement” for first-year composition students. The goals and objectives developed from these outcomes are provided here to help teachers better understand what materials and knowledge students will be expect to acquire in first-year composition. Since learning to write effectively is a complex task that requires lifelong practice, any composition class should never be seen as "the" course that will make the student an effective writer. Rather, any writing class, including any of our first-year courses, should be seen as a step toward gaining the strategies necessary to engage in that practice.

The national outcomes are listed below. Consider these are you write reflectively about your own development as a writer this term. Which are you comfortable exhibiting in your work as well developed? Which are not as strong for you? Etc. You can use these instead of or along side of the language from our syllabus, or you can use only the language from our syllabus. The choice is yours. (Our course outcomes come from these outcomes, so this list new might be more or less manageable for you.)

Understand Processes:In this course, you should learn how to

Approach writing assignments as a series of tasks, including reading texts and finding and using sources.

Use flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading texts. Write multiple drafts to create and complete successful texts, using “later

invention” and re-thinking to revise your work at various phases of the process. Experience and understand the collaborative and social aspects of reading and

writing processes. Learn how to critique your own and other’s texts.

Learn how to balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing your part.

Understand and be able to explain your rhetorical choices, the strengths and weaknesses in your own writing, and the connection between what you have done in one writing assignment and what you will do or have done in the next.

Gain Rhetorical KnowledgeYou should

Understand how specific situations, purposes, and audiences guide the choices you as a writer make in composing and revising.

Make thoughtful choices about the form and content of your writing, becoming more proficient in using conventions of format, structure, voice, and tone appropriate to rhetorical situation.

Write essays that achieve the purpose and reach your audiences, responding appropriately to different audiences throughout the quarter.

Knowledge of ConventionsIn this course you will

Practice adjusting format and organizational strategies for different kinds of texts. Learn to control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and

spelling as appropriate for audience and purpose. Proofread and edit papers to make them “audience ready.” Final products or

presentation drafts should be polished, attractive, readable, and relatively free from surface errors.

Learn to appropriately document sources following a specific documentation style.

Critical Thinking, Reading, and WritingIn this course you will

Use writing for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating Develop a thesis (focus) and support that thesis with ample and appropriate

evidence, producing texts of sufficient length and complexity. Consider the relationships among language, knowledge, and power in your own

writing and in other texts. Construct informed, critical positions.

Reflection, Self-Monitoring, and Self-AssessmentIn this course you will

Explain your purpose, audience, and the rhetorical choices you made for each writing assignment.

Assess the strengths and weaknesses in your own writing between drafts and between writing projects, using the assessment to guide revision.

Reflect upon and monitor your developing writing ability by considering (1) your processes, (2) your writing strengths and weaknesses, (3) what you have learned in completing each writing assignment, and (4) the connection between what you

have learned in completing one writing task and other writing tasks, using the information to plan for your further development as a writer.

Composing in Electronic EnvironmentsIn this course you will

Use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts

Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources, including scholarly library databases; other official databases (e.g., federal government databases); and informal electronic networks and internet sources

Understand and exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the affordances available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts

On the following two pages, you’ll find a rubric to help you develop your ePortfolio. It can guide you in how you work with the artifacts you select, as well as remind you to include ample evidence from whole artifacts, as well as to highlight portions to which you want the reader’s attention drawn in the reflection.

Rubric for the Course PortfolioAdapted from a rubric developed by faculty at Cochise College

Skill Excels Is Above Average Is Average Unsatisfactory

Con

tent

C

hoic

e

Artifacts impress the reader by providing compelling evidence of how you have met or exceeded the course outcomes.

Artifacts effectively provide evidence of how you have met the course outcomes.

Artifacts adequately provide evidence of how you have met most of the course outcomes.

Selections seem random or do not adequately reveal how you have met the course outcomes.

Ref

lect

ion

You display impressive insight into your learning, with interesting generalizations well supported by details. You offer profound evaluation of personal strengths and weaknesses.

You display effective insight into own learning, with generalizations mostly well supported by details. You give accurate consideration of personal strengths and weaknesses.

You display adequate insight into own learning, with some generalizations supported by details. You give somewhat superficial consideration of personal strengths and weaknesses.

You make perfunctory reflections displaying lackluster interest in your own work.

Inte

grat

ion

You have achieved a seamless integration of outcomes, artifacts, and reflections. The reader is impressed at how well your reflections reveal the connection between the artifacts and the outcomes.

You have achieved an effective integration of outcomes, artifacts, and reflections. You use the reflections effectively to reveal the connection between the artifacts and the outcomes.

You have achieved an adequate integration of outcomes, artifacts, and reflections. There is little or no question as to how the reflections reveal the connection between the artifacts and the outcomes.

You have not achieved an adequate integration of outcomes, artifacts, and reflections. There are significant questions as to how the reflections reveal the connection between the artifacts and the outcomes.

Exp

ress

ion

You impress the reader with command of written expression. The focus remains sharp, the organization clear. The tone is consistent and suitable. The diction is apt and precise. The writing is free from problems with word choice, sentence construction, and errors in punctuation spelling, and mechanics.

You display an effective command of written expression. The writing reveals few problems with focus, organization, tone, diction, word choice, sentence construction, punctuation, spelling, or mechanics.

You display an adequate command of written expression. The writing reveals an acceptable number of problems with focus, organization, tone, diction, word choice, sentence construction, punctuation, spelling, or mechanics.

You display a weak command of written expression. The writing reveals an unacceptable number of problems with focus, organization, tone, diction, word choice, sentence construction, punctuation, spelling, or mechanics.

Des

ign

Electronic Portfolio has a landing page that has been formatted and designed for the project, with text that indicates the site is used for this purpose. The navigation of the site is clear and indicates purposeful construction, including reflection and/or introductory statements for each document/page in the ePortfolio, as well as an overall reflective or introductory document/page.Paper Portfolio has a cover page with appropriate course information, is organized with purpose, includes a table of contents, is neatly assembled with consistent formatting throughout to reflect the care and attention.

Electronic Portfolio has a landing page that has been formatted and designed for the project, with text that indicates the site is used for this purpose. The navigation of the site is clear and indicates purposeful construction.Paper Portfolio has a cover page with appropriate course information, is organized with purpose, includes a table of contents, and is neatly assembled to reflect the care and attention.

Electronic Portfolio has a landing page with some text and an additional page with the housing of the portfolio documents.Paper Portfolio has a cover page and some obvious separation between sections of the portfolio contents.

No consideration for method of delivery is apparent in the design and organization of the portfolio.