Category Archives: 1121 Portfolio

Final Reflection and Portfolio

Final Reflection 1121

 

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?
  • Did you encounter any challenges or successes while working on your multimodal project?
  • 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 1121, 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)

 

Writing Portfolio 1121

 

Writing Portfolio: Spring 2020

English 1121 CP20

Due May 20th(no late portfolios will be accepted)

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:

Discourse Community Paper

Call to Action Paper

Call to Action Remix/Artist Statement

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 alowensteinisaacs@citytech.cuny.edu

 

All documents must be saved as YourFullName1121WritingPortfolio

You might have to submit your multimodal project under a separate file. Please title it YourFullName1121CP20MultiModal

 

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 1121 CP20

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

Discourse Community Paper and reflection: Word Count 1850  7-12

Call to Action and reflection: Word Count 2200  13-18

Call to Action Remix: Paper Artist Statement and reflection Word Count 1800  19-22

 

Word Count for Portfolio: 6,850

 

Page 3-6:

Final reflection about semester

 

Page 7:

Intro and paper #1

Example:

Intro:

The Discourse Community Paper was the first major writing assignment we were assigned. I found it to be a bit challenging because I couldn’t decide which discourse community to focus on, but eventually I settled on… (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:

Word Count: 1350 words

Your Discourse Community Paper

By You

This would be your Discourse Community Paper…

 

Follow this format with the additional papers, 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 11th.

 

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 20thand I don’t have any leeway because I need to turn grades in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINAL DATES, DEADLINES, INFO AND ETC.

And so, we draw to a close.  It has been so great working with all of you.  I said it before, and I’ll say it again, but I have been truly impressed with your work this semester.  You really came through, especially during the pandemic, which goes beyond anything I have literally ever seen (of course). I’m excited to see those final assignments and portfolios.

I will eventually be sending you a little survey in which I ask you to do your own (brief, 1-2 paragraph) reflection on the semester.  This will help us plan next semester’s PD, which will be entirely online! I also want to let you guys know that, though the PD is done,  I am here as a resource for you whenever you need me.  I’ll be continuing Zoom office hours next semester (and a couple of times in August) and also will be around for one-on-one meetings if you need help, have some cool assignments to share or just want to talk!

Here are the amended dates:

May 29th: Final student portfolios to be uploaded to Google Drive.  I’ve sent you this link.  If you did not get it, email me and I’ll resend.

  • Please use the folder “’20 Current PD Portfolios.”
  • Please make a folder with your own name in this format: (HallCarrie_20)
  • Within THAT folder, make subfolders for each class you are teaching with course and section number. (HallCarrie_1101_351).
  • In that folder, you will have either a file or a folder, as you see fit, for each of your students.  Make sure these are also titled clearly by the students’ names (Blair_Ruben) so they can easily be accessed.

June 5th: All of your final drafts of assignments for 1101 and 1121 will be uploaded to the Open Lab.  This is a HARD DEADLINE– as in this is honestly the last possible day! The “deliverables” include: Syllabus (front matter only, you don’t need the full schedule), Assignment Sheets for Units 1,2, and 3 and the handout for the final portfolio: this would include info on the reflection and what the final portfolio should include.

I will attach a copy a template for the 1101 syllabus if you’d like to use it (it’s optional). The 1121 syllabus template is under “Readings: 2020 Winter Institute”

For each of your final assignments, I know this is annoying, but… you will have to post them separately under their correct category.  This will help the next PD be able to look up examples of each assignment.  So, please use the following  format:

  • Categories: FINAL and the unit you are uploading, such as: 1101 Unit 1-Lit Narrative
  • Subject line: (YOUR NAME) FINAL 1101 UNIT 1 ASSIGNMENT

Please don’t forget the category “final” OR the word “Final” in the subject line.  Believe me, it matters in the long run!  Also, you can select two assignment categories, in case you have an assignment sheet that includes, say, 1101 Units 2 and 3, as some of us do.  It’s fine to combine those two.  Please don’t combine all of your materials onto one sheet, though!

Download (PDF, 127KB)

Here is an example of my final portfolio assignment sheet– I gave this to you a MILLION YEARS AGO in the winter, before “the troubles”.  I don’t expect you to be a graphics dork like myself. I also think the reflection Christine and I wrote this semester was much (MUCH) better than this one. However, I include this because it shows what I had my students include in their portfolios:

Download (PDF, 3.41MB)

Thoughts on Final Reflection/ Link to Monday Zoom


Claiming Dropbox Account

Colleagues,

During the Winter Institute, I mentioned to everyone that we’re going to be claiming out CUNY Dropbox accounts in order to have faculty submit their portfolios.

Claiming the dropbox account is easy. All it requires is using your CunyFirst username and password. Go to the following link and claim your account. Once you have, please leave a comment below letting me/us know that you have. This way, we’ll be able to share important folders with you.

Claiming Your Dropbox Account Is Now Easier! (On the bottom left, click the button that says, “Log into Dropbox.” Then type in your CunyFirst credentials to log in on the next page.)

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE THE COMMENT !  !

 

Portfolio Materials

Hey Everyone,

Some things promised from the last meeting;

  1. Here’s the Ed White Phase 2 article I was discussing. Worth the read.
  2. Here’s the Institute Guide that I reminded you of. The guidelines for the reflection paper for the portfolio suggest three things:
    • Students should address change as readers, writers, and learners.
    • Students should document their changes by referencing specifics from the course.
    • They should look backwards, inwards, outwards, and forwards to address the issue of transfer.
  3. Here are four sample final reflection portfolio assignments.
  4. Here’s a sample Portfolio of 12k words, but please note that it does not reflect the current changes in the curriculum.