Wednesday, May 21, 2008

 

Portfolio Checklist Spring 2008

Name__________________________________________________________
Mailing Address_______________________________________________
Phone Number__________________________________________________
E-mail address________________________________________________
Course number and code________________________________________

The only paper copies are the freewrites. Do not give me your originals. I can make copies, if you can’t.

The portfolio narratives (These are essays)

1. The narrative will look at the 18 weeks, the themes we looked at this semester, social justice and the movement for civil rights in this country past and present. We read and watched films that illustrated the dangerous time many volunteers faced during Freedom Summer. Perhaps many of you were shocked at the bigotry and racist attitudes, the terrorism and brave men and women and children, named and unnamed who worked to make democracy available to all. In your research papers you chose a person to highlight who has made it their life’s work to continue in the same spirit of those leaders 40-50 years ago who sacrificed their lives, many of them, so racist policies like Jim Crow was outlawed. Talk about what you've learned and discovered this semester about writing and yourself, college and life, which have transformed or changed you.

What have you learned about yourself this semester? What have you learned about the discipline you are studying here: reading and writing that you plan to carry forth into your lifelong pursuit of learning.

Please also comment on the texts and whether or not they were helpful in this process. You can also talk about the instruction, culture of the class and the teacher. You can also offer suggestions.
2. The second part of the narrative looks at the writing process and what you have been learning about yourself as a writer. Take two essays and talk about the planning, research and revision strategies you used. It helps to choose an early paper and compare to a later paper. Often you can more easily see the differences in your writing and a better example of mastery of certain concepts. Also discuss skills you need to improve and how you plan to address that.

Besides the two essays, I also want you to include the midterm essay and research essay, cyber-essays, and all the writing from Letter’s from Mississippi, including your scene. Please have a separate section for Children of the Movement.

Additional narrative considerations for the portfolio essay:

The second essay has students look at the writing process and discuss their own writing process: the topics chosen, the information used, revision strategies, writing as a process. This should include a definition of the difference between editing and revising and a value statement on the place for both in composition.

I am really interested in discourse about audience and how that shapes or determines how the writer approaches her topic.

I am also interested in discussion of the revision process, and whether or not seeing writing as a work in progress or a draft, liberates or stagnates the creative process. (Students are to use examples from their writing to illustrate these points.)

I'd also like students to think about and give at three specific ways how they have grown as writers and thinkers this semester. Each essay should be minimally 1-2 pages (250-500 words).

Writing Workshop Tuesday, May 27, 9-1 in the Writing Center, L-235
We will work on the narratives together next week, Tuesday, May 27, 9-12 noon, maybe 1 p.m., in the Writing Lab. We will meet in the smaller lab, L-235.

Our final for the 10-12 class is Friday, May 23, at 10-12 in the Writing Center, L-235. If you need technology, let me know today. I have a laptop, a TV with VCR, DVD player and CD capabilities. Your portfolio is due Wednesday, May 28, at 12 noon. If you need more time let me know Tuesday, May 27 when you come to the writing workshop. Bring all your work with you, drafts, etc.

The English 201, 1-3 class have a final, Wednesday, May 28, 12-2 in the Writing Center, L-235.

Grade Justification
What grade do you think you earned in the course? If you have a strong argument with proof: graded work. I will consider it. ____________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Your essay and the attached copy of a completed grading sheet are the evidence.__________

Do you have any questions about writing or anything else?
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Teacher Research

Can I use you writing in teacher research projects? I will give you full credit and inform you of its use. Indicate Yes or No. Please circle one.

Evaluation

In a third response evaluate the semester: teacher, textbooks, assignments, methodology, etc. Please be frank and feel free to offer suggestions.


Assignments:
I didn’t include assignments like the cyber-assignment for the Darryl Hunt film, because no one responded 

Just put a check next to the assignments you have completed. I will put a grade next to the sections and assignments you do not have grades on. I will be emailing you grades for the midterm, research essay, and the final essay on Malcolm X’s daughter.

The narrative essays are the introduction to your portfolio which is a collection of all your writing this semester. Please give me a copy of your in-class notes if applicable. Do not give me a hardcopy. I’d like the portfolio on a CD or disk, with a completed checklist filled out.

Letter to professor in response to her letter to you 1/28 ____
Choice 1/28 _____
Coretta Scott King 1/30 _____
MLK III 2/4 ______
My Dungeon Shook (from The Fire Next Time)2/6 ______
Ouida Barnett Adkins 2/13 _____

Midterm
Penny L. H. from Children of the Movement 3/17 _____

Research Section

Library orientation worksheet ______ (paper copy)
Evaluation of a website_____ (paper copy)
Frontline World 4/9 _____
James Foreman Jr. 4/14 _____
Planning Sheet post 4/21_____
S.E. essay draft posted 4/14 & 4/16 ________
Timi Gerson 4/23 _______
Research essay post 5/13 _______
Research essay grade___________ (written essay) _________________ (presentation)
Abstract_____________


Letters from Mississippi/Children of the Movement

Reflection: Letters from MS 2/13 _____
Letters from MS 2/27 ______
The Road to MS 3/3 _____
At Home in a Black World 3/10 ____
Maisha Moses 3/12 ______
Questions from the Long Walk 4/28____
Mr. Charlie and Miss Anne 5/14 _____


Other essays

How to Mark a Book ____
Propaganda Techniques _____

Films

Eyes on the Prize 2/19 ______
Banished (film) 3/3 _____
Freedom on My Mind 4/7 _____
The Trial of Darryl Hunt ____
Argumentation 4/2 ______

Field Trips
Michael Eric Dyson____

Freewrites_____ (copies)

Anything else? _______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Comments:
Portfolio Essay #3
Dylan Cunningham
English 201B
05-28-08
For the past 18 weeks, we have been studying social justice and the movement for civil rights to learn more about how and why we Americans act and live the way that we do. Freedom Summer was one of the main topics that we studied this semester, and it was a good one because we had so much information on it that we could construct several different assignments out of it. People who lived back in that movement were somewhat racist. Terrorism and brave women and children were the main characters that we would study. Many people worked secretly without revealing their name so that they could make democracy available to everyone. I wrote a research paper about Ernest Coulter and Richard Miles. These social entrepreneurs have made it their life’s work to continue in the same spirit of those leaders 50 years ago who sacrificed their lives so racist policies like Jim Crow was outlawed. Ernest was a person who was considered the official founder of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America who lived in the early 1900s. They helped society change the way kids grow up in these streets. They try and keep them away from bad role models, getting into lots of trouble, drugs, alcohol, and jail. His accomplice Richard Miles helped him make this dream a reality in the San Francisco Bay Area. This semester has taught me a book full of new things about researching social entrepreneurs and other important figures in our society and past because I did it last semester and it was really hard to find certain facts until I read Hacker and used Google a lot more. That way proved to me that it was possible to do research way more often than I ever felt confident enough before to do.


Portofolio Essay #2

My writing strategy has developed into that of storytellers, because I feel confident about using certain sources such as internet and mainly library books to acquire all of my information to do research with. Everything that I have written this semester I have put in my full effort and hard work to complete with loads of meaning and not just words on a piece of paper. College is becoming a little bit more of a hope now that I am almost done with the first year, I just get so scared sometimes when there is certain assignments due, because it’s hard to keep track of everything all of the time. This is something that all college students must get used to at some point in their school life. When I am not a College Of Alameda, I am either working or hanging out with friends or family. When I am at those other places, I see the point in going to school because we study social entrepreneurs and other people like that that made it pretty far in life, and working where I work gives me motivation to get a better job in the future after I have some educational background under my belt. Coming to the writing lab made things really easy to research and gave me plenty of time to plan and construct certain assignments such as the research essay and certain cyber blog assignments. I am more disciplined about my reading and writing nowadays that I plan to acquire a job one day that requires me to carry this subject with me to my lifelong pursuit of learning. All of the instructions in this class were pretty hefty but clear enough to pursue work. I love the culture of the class because no one hesitates to talk about what’s on their mind, so that gives me confidence to act the same way. If everyone didn’t feel like talking, then no one would ever get anywhere and we would all take long days doing work and getting failed for it in the long run because we were playing around. This atmosphere that this class produces is a good one and I hope I get you again Ms. Sabir! Another thing about my writing process is that I go back and back to Google all of the time to see if there are any other sites that would help me out a lot better than the current one I am using, because when I do this, I get to pick one out of ten sites to get information from to use on the person or topic that I am writing about. This way, my essay will be formatted perfectly and there will be no question as to if I took enough time and effort to revise it enough times and produce the best I ever could. I have grown as a writer and a thinking this semester by bringing my utilities to class more often and taking twice as much time to finish an assignment because I actually revise my work nowadays. I also do not procrastinate anymore because I plan ahead so often that I write assignments down either in my cell phone or on a planner or notepad, this way I can have a clear head about what’s expected of me this week or the next. The main way I have progressed as a writer and a thinking is by talking a lot more with my parents and classmates about how to finish or start certain assignments. This way, I know even if I get lost, there will be another brain out there to help me get through it and not stress in the least bit. I hope that I have learned enough facts about writing and enough strategies that in the future when I have any class, preferably English, that it helps me get through the teaching structure no matter how foreign it is to me, because I have to admit this blog style was extremely foreign to me but I caught on to it in no time. I have definitely progressed as a writer and a thinker due to this class.
 
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