Matthew Walters

5/2/16
Morton
Final Reflection
Was it All Successful?
Success. Its an ambiguous word and everyone carries their own definition. The common
trend seems to be that people deem whether someone is successful by what they can show to
others. A man who pulls up to a curb in a brand new Ferrari or Porsche is viewed as more
successful than a humble individual who drives a modest Honda Civic. I believe Booker T.
Washington said it best: Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has
reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.
I have stated this in multiple works and pieces and I have verbally said this to a number
of classmates, I am not a writer. I have never been a writer and in full disclosure, I have no
aspirations to become one. Due to this fact, when I enrolled in this writing course I had my
concerns. I worried my writing style would not match up and I would struggle to make the
grades. Throughout the semester, I stressed over how I would ever show my true creativity and
impress my professor. I assured myself everything would be okay. Early on, I made sure to set
the proper processes in place to set myself for success. I allotted myself time every day to work
on my assignments and made sure that not only myself, but others reviewed my work to ensure
the best work could be put out.

In the beginning, when we were first assigned our teams, I felt a sense of hope. Those
who I was grouped with were more than nice and were nothing but helpful. They provided
nothing but constructive criticism and even if they did not agree with a stance I may have taken
on an issue, they remained respectful. As the first assignments came and went, I admit I
struggled with making them as well thought out as they could have been. My transitions were not
smooth, my syntax was awful and grammatically I was all over the place. At this point, I realized
the full benefit of having the teammates around. They looked over my work and with their
assistance, my work dramatically improved. I went from receiving substandard grades to turning
in much more elaborate pieces that received much higher scores.
Upon the realization of the benefit that truly came with the help of my teammates, I
started to open up with issues I had with some of the assignments. If I recall the correctly, the
first assignment that I truly had issue with was the first genre remix. Granted, it was a group
assignment to begin with but in my group, we divided the work up evenly in hopes everyone did
their fair share. My assigned bit was to create a paragraph in the memo that was supposed to be
turned in with the remix itself. I felt embarrassed that I could not come up with anything to
contribute and that I would not be able to complete my bit. Fortunately I was able to go to my
teammates with my concern and they gladly helped. They did not complete my part for me but
rather assisted me with coming up with ideas that would they lead to the eventual piece. At this
point, I no longer worried or stressed about passing the class. I began seeing my true writing
potential thanks to my teammates. That new found knowledge and confidence carried into
probably the largest assignment I have been given and I knew it would pose no challenge.
From the first day of class, we, and by we, I mean the class, were told that we would
have to turn in a final portfolio at the end of the semester showcasing our works throughout the

class. It was made clear that in no way could this project be completed at the last second and if
that if we had any hope of passing not only the portfolio, but in turn the class, we would need to
remain on top of our work and put forth maximum effort. In addition, I took notice that many the
assignments played into one another. The team mind maps and individual mind maps provide the
sources that would later be used in the argumentative essay. The standpoint statement, though it
had no direct influence on the final form of the essay. With this in mind, I wanted to be sure each
assignment was done well, that way the issues that would arise when completing the portfolio
would be minimal. As it turns out, the extra effort paid off.
Though I grew out the having the issue of finding my creativity and expressing it early in
the semester, I found myself regressing and running into the same problem again when it came to
planning out my portfolio. I knew when I began working on it that I would need to gather all of
the work I had done through the semester. I knew I need to locate and compile everything from
commonplace book entries, to scratch pieces of paper where I had doodled little notes and ideas.
I knew that I would have to edit the drafts I turned into my teacher, which I was not stoked about
considering I really do not like looking at my own work. Growing up through school, I was a
once over kind of writer were I would type up and edit the draft as I went. I accepted all of this
without issue but where I struggled was with the theme that had to tie everything together.
Upon distributing the assignment to the class, our teacher, Ms. Morton, informed us that
our portfolios had to have a central theme or metaphor. For the longest time I had not the
slightest idea of what that was going to be. I considered multiple ideas but as I chewed on each I
could not for the life of me picture how I would going to structure my portfolio to showcase any
of them. I considered making my portfolio have a growth metaphor. I figured I could try and
demonstrate how my writing had grown throughout the class but I realized that I would have to

make a sort of analysis explaining to the readers how exactly my writing changed and where it
can be seen in each of my pieces. That, however, would require addition writing and at this point
in the semester, I was not for it in the slightest. I took the issue to my teammates but for the first
time, they could not offer any support. I decided to sit down with Ms. Morton and there I found
the answer. She brought up to me that because my argumentative was about the benefits and
drawbacks of both physical and electronic textbooks, my portfolio could play from that.
Suddenly, I had an epiphany and decided to structure my portfolio as a book.
As previously mentioned, I decided to structure my portfolio in the layout of a book. In a
single moment, everything became clear and perfect sense. I could picture, clear as day the
finished product. The more that I thought of the idea, the more and more sense it made. I saw
how each part of the portfolio could take the place of certain parts of a book and how it could all
flow in unison. The home page and the about me page would play as the cover page just as a
book would have and each tab following, containing the each of the pieces I had completed
throughout, posed as the pages. I wanted the contents to follow in chronological order just as
events would in a story. I included a table of contents page that outlined each tab following, or
chapters, and broke down what all was included on each.
As mentioned before, I envisioned a flow throughout. As I began work on my chapters
I started with the composing processes, where ideas were convinced and mauled over. These
pieces proved to be the birth of final projects down the line. Following up the composing
processes were the drafts that were turned into Ms. Morton. As with everything we turned in,
she, and sometimes other students, gave a grade and feedback, highlighting areas where I
excelled and areas that could use some work. Frequently, it was mentioned that my polishing
needed work and it seemed as if no revising or editing was done. Truthfully, it wasnt. At this

point, the edited drafted that I had to complete came into play and they formed their separate
chapter, the final drafts. Just as with any book, there is that brief section in the very back that
usually plays no role in the outcome of the storyline and is completely irrelevant to the heart of
the story. This portion is so irrelevant that most, if not, all readers with simply skip over it: the
acknowledgments. It is here that my final reflection, the piece that you are currently reading, sits.
All of this culminates into my grand work, my novel, my final portfolio.
Looking back to this concept of success, many questions must be answered in order to
draw an accurate conclusion of whether or not my efforts have produced something that I view
as a success. Do I feel this represents my best effort? Do I feel this piece accurately portrays who
I am as an individual? Did I face my adversities and overcome them? Or did I take the easy
road? Booker T. Washington gives light to the fact that not every successful story tells of one
reaching the spotlight or gaining international recognition. Success can go unseen to the public.
What matters is that the individual striving to reach success feels deep down that he or she
accomplished his or her goals. When it comes to my final portfolio and my progression through
the course I feel as though I was successful in growing as a writer and showing that to my fellow
classmates. I pushed myself to be open to outside advice and not shut it out as if they would tear
down everything I had worked on. I made sure that if I had questions or concerns, I would ask
and not assume so that I could more fully understand the content. Finally, I took in criticism,
both good and bad, and adjusted my writing to incorporate all that I had learned to the best of my
abilities. Because of that, I feel I was successful in this course and on this final portfolio.
Regardless of my final grade, what I have taken from this course will help me perform as a better
writer in the future, near and far, and that in itself demonstrates a level of success.