Final Reflection 1101

 

Congratulations! You’ve completed a substantial body of work. Now it is time for you, as the title suggests, reflect on your work over the semester. For this final assignment, reflect upon the following questions:

 

What have you learned about yourself as a reader, writer and scholar this semester?

 

How will you be able to use what you have learned this semester and transfer that knowledge to other writing situations—either in college or in your community?

 

 

The Reflection should be a 1000 words.

 

As a way to begin your Reflection, look back through your compendium of work: in-class writing exercises, homework assignments, earlier reflections, essays/projects, and so on. As you browse through your work, ask yourself about and take notes on the following questions:

 

• How would you compare/contrast work done early on in the semester to now?
• What was your favorite/least favorite assignment and why?
• What are some notable lessons or discussion posts that have stuck with you after completing certain assignments?
• What changed in your writing (and reading and thinking) as the genres changed?
• How did you make decisions in your assignments about content and genre?
• What were your early assumptions/beliefs about yourself and writing? Have they since changed? Explain.
• What was your experience revising assignments?
• Was there any peer feedback that stands out to you and why?

 

Don’t simply answer the above questions in your final reflection; they are just meant to help you brainstorm ideas. Think about all of the essays we’ve read about writing this semester—some of them certainly hooked your interest while others… probably did not.  The ones that did were well-written, they had a point, the writer had a voice that you felt was worth listening to.  Try to do that in your own writing here.  Remember that this isn’t just you writing off-the-top of your head; this is a finished piece of writing.

 

You are also open to write this reflection in another genre. For instance, you can write this reflection as a guide, a how-to essay, instructions for succeeding in 1101, etc. If you do choose to write in another genre, you must still address the questions listed above and quote from each of the papers you are including in the writing portfolio. Think of this reflection as an introduction to your portfolio and take the reader on a journey focusing on your academic growth in this class. Don’t be afraid to be honest, if you didn’t find yourself liking a particular assignment, let the reader know.

 

 

 

Here’s what I will be looking for (and grading you on):

 

• Attention to audience. You need to have a “so what?” Don’t just list off a bunch of random opinions about your writing—write an article about what you’ve learned. Think about who you are writing for (hint: it’s not just me).
• Attention to organization. This does not have to be a traditional organization, but you should have paragraphs (not just a 1000 word paragraph, please) and some reason for why they’re in the order they’re in!
• Evidence and analysis. If you tell me you learned something about yourself as a writer, show me proof! By proof, I specifically mean quotes from your own writing. All reflections should have at least three quotes from your own writing this semester. And, as usual, don’t just drop those quotes in there and expect your readers to figure out why you’ve chosen them. Explain why that passage is important to your readers and to your “so what?”
• Proofread. Make sure it’s long enough. As usual, you can use whatever language you see fit to use, but make decisions about your language—that is, the words that are there should be there for a reason.
• It’s gotta be on time. The reflection is due TBA and I don’t have any leeway because I need to turn grades in. Make sure to post it by then! You’ve probably never written anything like this before, so I’m sure you’ll want to get some feedback before you submit it with the final portfolio due on TBA (no late portfolios will be accepted)

1101 Writing Portfolio

Congratulations! You’ve completed a body of work (about 6000 words!) and are ready to compile your writing portfolio.

What to Include:

The writing portfolio should include the final drafts of all three papers:

Literacy Narrative

Research Report

Writing in a New Genre

The reflections you’ve written for the three papers and the final reflection for the semester.

You are more than welcome to include any other writing (in class writing, reading responses, etc.) that you felt stood out this semester.

With the exception of the final reflection, you must include a paragraph introduction before each writing sample.

How to Submit?

Email to me at alowensteinisaacs@citytech.cuny.edu

All documents must be saved as YourFullName1101D371WritingPortfolio

 

Formatting

The Writing Portfolio must be in Times New Roman and a 12-point font, double-spaced.

It must include:

 

Title Page (You can come up with a creative title if you’d like or you can just title it–“Your Name Writing Portfolio”)

 

Table of Contents with page #s

 

Paragraph intros before each new writing sample (you don’t need one for the final reflection)

Writing Portfolio Example
Page 1:

(Title Page)

Your Name Writing Portfolio

English 1101 D371

Professor Lowenstein-Isaacs

 

Page 2:

These word count and page numbers are an example of how to format and aren’t reflective of real page counts

Table of Contents

2020 Reflection: Word Count: 1000 words (pages) 3-6

Literacy Narrative/Title Word Count 1000 words and reflection 7-12

Research Paper/Title: Word Count and reflection 13-18

Writing in a New Genre/Title: Word Count reflection 19-22

Page 3-6:

Final reflection about semester

 

Page 7:

Intro and paper #1

Example:

Intro:

The literacy narrative was the first major writing assignment we were assigned. I found it to be a bit challenging because I don’t like to write about myself. However, after reading Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue,” I was inspired to write about… (Just give us a summary of your paper and what you’ve learned from writing in this genre). The intro doesn’t need to be more than a paragraph.

 

Paper:

Your Literacy Narrative

By You

This would be your literacy narrative…

 

Follow this format and congratulations you have completed your writing portfolio!

 

Revising:

Please revise all pieces. Watch out for typos. A good idea is to read your work aloud before you submit it. I always catch typos when I read my work aloud.

 

Any questions? Let me know! I will go over this in our virtual class on May 11^th.

 

Grading Criteria

 

The writing portfolio is 50% of your grade.

 

You have received grades for the writing assignments included in this portfolio, but this is your final chance to rework them to increase your grade. You should only include your final draft of each writing assignment. I will grade the portfolio based on the criteria for those specific assignments (including the Final Reflection), but this is how I will grade the overall Writing Portfolio.

 

 

• Effort and Care. Did you do a thoughtful job of putting together the portfolio? Did you write introductions that both summarize the writing samples you have included, but also explain what you have learned from writing in that specific genre? Did you revise the pieces? Did you make sure they were polished before including them in the portfolio?
• MUST BE ON TIME. I have wanted to be as flexible as I possibly can this semester, but the final portfolio is due May 20^th and I don’t have any leeway because I need to turn grades in.