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-1Emily Wiebel

Dr. Jan Rieman

English 1101x

April 20, 2010

What to Expect

In my final portfolio I was able to show many pieces of works that I did

throughout the semester. The portfolio was a great way for myself and others to look at

what I have accomplished in this course. My portfolio shows day book entries to papers

that I wrote throughout the semester. I included pieces that I felt I did my best work and

have the most feelings towards.

The first thing I am going to talk about are my seven Day Book entries that I

included. I chose these entries because I had plenty to say on the topics and I was able to

go back and reflect on what I had wrote. For instance I wrote about my Day Book entry

on group work. I chose this because group work was a major element in this course and I

was able to grow from my experience of doing it. Another example is my entry on the

idea on if the senior year of high school is actually needed. I was able to look back on

my own experience of my senior year and write about my own opinion on the debate.

Day book entries were a very influential part of my learning in this class and I benefited

tremendously from it.

The second part of my portfolio is my process piece which I chose my

interpretation on Jean Anyons essay. I chose this because this essay was my favorite one

to write during the semester and I had much to say on it. I work with children and after

reading Anyon’s essay I was not content with the information I had just heard. I was able
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to write on the essay with no problems and I never ran out of words. I also went through

many steps in completing this piece, and took more time on writing it compared to my

other writings. I took my partners and Dr . Rieman’s comments on my paper and edited

it until I did not know anything else to do. I feel I work very hard on this paper and I was

able to express what I needed to which I was never able to do before this course.

For my final product piece I selected my Gatto interpretation. I felt that my final

product was completely done, and I could not have changed anything else in the paper. I

also included this piece because I had strong feelings on the subject and I felt that Gatto

expressed my feelings of the school system perfectly in his essay. It was easy for me to

relate to his words and I was able to include my own personal experiences that went right

along with Gatto’s.

The final pieces I included in my portfolio were my mid-term and final reflection

piece. I was able to compare my improvements and achievements throughout the

semester which was very interesting to me. I believe these two pieces are very important

and show the improvements I have made and the goals I accomplished. I am glad that I

can now look back on my progress throughout the semester and I now see how much I

have grown as a writer in this short amount of time.

I believe this portfolio was a great way to reflect on myself as a writer. It has

been a great way to go back through and look at what we have accomplished throughout

this course. I feel more comfortable as a writer and I feel I have learned enough to make

further improvements on my own. I am now a open writer and I know that there is no

wrong way to write. I believe that in the future I will not struggle as much when I am

writing and I will be able to accomplish more.

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