Portfolio Essay Henry DeJong Weebly Organization The organization of my e-portfolio played a crucial part in terms of my eportfolio.

I wanted to present my e-portfolio in a fashion that would be both easy to navigate for the user and have significance. When the user goes to my e-portfolio website the first thing they will see is the About page with my personal introduction. I made this my first page for several reasons. For one, this was my first major writing assignment during all of English 1102 for me. Having my Weebly website follow a semi-chronological order will allow the user to observe the transitions I have made as a writer over the semester. I also believe what I wrote was a more informal introduction and will help welcome the user to my portfolio. I believe the user will identify and care more my writing if they know the writer more. After reading my short introduction from the beginning of the semester the user will find my portfolio essay below it. The portfolio essay is the most crucial part of the e-portfolio, therefore after the user is introduced I believe the portfolio essay is the next piece they should read. My portfolio essay explains my pieces and will orient the user as they continue to navigate my portfolio. The next tab on my portfolio is the Blogs tab. I chose this as this next tab as my blogs were my first pieces I worked on over the semester. I also believe they are the most simple pieces I had the pleasure of writing in the semester. Starting with simpler assignments will help ease the reader into my portfolio.

The following tabs in my portfolio are oriented by chronological order followed by the additional pieces we included in our portfolios such as wild cards. As the reader keeps reading the additional pages and tabs the complexity in the writing increases as the pieces were written later in the semester. I believe this style of organization (the chronological order) helps demonstrate and show the reader how my writing has grown. I have included the process work and feedback artifacts next to their respective pieces. For example, the feedback artifact for my reflection piece is after my reflection. I did this to show the connection between the process work and reflections with their respective pieces. For my ending piece I thanked the reader and told them they had reached the end of my portfolio. Concept Engagement I believe throughout this semester I have been well engaged with the concepts we have been studying. Our key concepts this semester have been critical thinking, independent inquiry, responsibility for one's own learning, curiosity, risktaking, the writing process and revision, providing and receiving feedback, making connections, and intellectual growth and maturity. I believe I have successfully engaged with all of these concepts. The first concepts I that I feel have successfully engaged with is critical thinking. Throughout the semester I have used critical thinking. One specific time I believe I used a great deal of critical thinking was during the last portion of the midterm. For the midterm I had to think of a round table of people who would debate my specific subject. To come up with all of the people for the round table I had to think of every aspect of my subject. One of the people I thought of was an

atheist scientist. While I didnt use this perspective because I didnt think it was necessary to my argument, I think it would have been an interesting perspective. I stated, An atheist scientist could explain why they would believe there couldnt be a God. While not conducive to the argument I decided on, it could have been interesting to include. I had to think of what factors were involved in the Christian debate of Evolution versus Creationism. The idea of coming up with a round table was foreign to me prior to this assignment, and therefore required me to think in a way I had never thought in before. The next concept I engaged with this semester was independent inquiry. Prior to English 1102 the most extensive independent inquiry I had ever taken part in occurred during English 1101. For this semester however I felt the fashion in which I researched my projects was much more independent than the last semester. In English 1101 I was told how I would conduct my research. The research was all done on my own, but was dictated by someone else. This semester however I had total control over how I conducted my research. When I first started the task of my independent inquiry it seemed overwhelming, as there are almost unlimited sources I could base my research off of. However, I as I became more familiar with my subject I became more accustomed to figuring out how to pick and choose which sources were best for my research. When I first started the research I would just choose statistical studies on my subject, I quickly realized those sources were not that beneficial to me at all. I found the best sources to be those where I was sourcing from information from an expert. I attempted to base my argument off of the expert

opinions. If I had to do another independent inquiry I feel I would be well prepared after this semester. The next concept we covered this semester was responsibility for our own learning. I believe I had to engage with this concept well over the semester. With class time only being 2 and a half hours a week, most of my English work was done outside of class. Through blog posts and reading response letters I had to independently read text and be able to extract information from them. For example, on blog post #3 I had to use the UNCC Library website to figure out how I was to research my project. I found that exercise particularly demanding and unique .Many of the concept we learned this semester, such as rhetoric was taught through the comic textbook. Most of my learning for my multi-genre project, Christianity and Evolution was done on my own. The subject of my project is very important to me as it affects my faith. I took the responsibility to attempt to correctly inform myself, as the subject is so dear to me. I believe I engaged with the concept of curiosity well this semester. Curiosity was crucial to my learning for my multi-genre project. Over the past year I have somewhat battled with the question of whether or not I could believe in both Evolution and Christianity. Evolution seemed semi-logical to me. I had learned evolution from a young age, and coming from a semi-secular background was not something I doubted for years. When regaining my faith I believe I never answered the question to myself if I still believed in Evolution, and f I should. My desire to know about this subject made researching for my project enjoyable. I also felt motivated to learn as I felt it could better my life not just academically, but

spiritually. This curiosity was the main drive for the majority of my multi-genre project. Grade I Deserve After this semester in English 1102 I believe I deserve an A. Throughout the semester I was engaged with the concepts, used the various modes of communication, and put time and effort into my portfolio. Most importantly I believe I pushed myself in this course and allowed my writing to grow. For my research I chose a tricky subject, Christianity. Using the genres of a to-do list as well as a flowchart was difficult for my research subject. However, I revised, edited, and improved the genres to my best ability. I think this semester expanded the boundaries of my writing as improved my writing skills. I believe my portfolio is aligned with the criteria specified in the syllabus for this semester. The syllabus states, the writer can thoughtfully and thoroughly discuss his/her engagement with key concepts and can clearly explain and illustrate his/her growth as a writer by quoting and analyzing his/her writing from throughout the course. I believe I have demonstrated my thoughtfulness and thoroughly discussed my engagement through this portfolio essay. I have done my work this semester to the best of my ability and tried to convey how I have been engaged in this class and engaged with concepts to the best of my ability. Utilization of Various Modes of Communication Throughout my portfolio I have used various modes of communication. The main modes of communication used in my portfolio include spatial, visual, and linguistic. Throughout my portfolio the dominant mode of communication was

spatial. This class being an English class the linguistic mode was by far the most dominant. However, I believe I was still able to effectively and purposefully use spatial modes and visual modes of communication in my online portfolio. Spatial mode was very important to the structure of my portfolio. The portfolio requires a great amount of work and it is important that the work be displayed in a manner that is easy to navigate. I also tried to make the individual pages visually attractive through allowing space between pieces of work to avoid a cluttered look on the pages. For my flowchart the spatial form of communication was important. The spacing of the textboxes showed the level of association for each piece of text. For example, when it comes to the flowchart for evidence of creation from the Bible the verses from the book of Genesis are placed on the left and the verses from the rest of the Bible are placed on the right. While not a dominant feature, visual communication played a role in my portfolio. My banner for my portfolio is a picture of a blue sky and bright, light clouds. This is seen on every page. Personally, this image soothes me and I think it has a positive affect on me when Im reading and checking my portfolio. I b elieve it communicates a positive message and feeling to the reader. Also, my main focus for this portfolio was Christian research, and the clouds portray a heavenly aura. The other role the visual form of communication had in my portfolio was throughout my pieces. I attached a corresponding picture to a large number of the pieces throughout my portfolio. I read a portfolio for English 1101 in which the author did something similar and I found it helpful. I believe the pictures above the pieces help give the author an idea of what theyre going to read and makes reading my

portfolio a more interesting experience. In my flowchart for my multi-genre project the visual aspect was important as well. I used colors and different shapes for the text boxes to help convey my message. I used the color of the text boxes to show association for the different pieces of the text. Linguistic mode was the most dominant and important mode of communication throughout my portfolio. As the vast majority of my work depending on writing and my word choices linguistic mode is without a doubt the mode my portfolio relied on. The main focus of my portfolio was to have my writing pieces be thoughtful and informative. As stating in the reflection the goal of flowchart was to be informative and I tried to allow the language in the flowchart to reflect that by using words such as prove, theory, and stated to convey the intended tone. How Each Piece Of My Portfolio Contributed to my Learning During my time in English 1102 each piece of my portfolio that I worked on contributed to my learning. My portfolio consisted of blog posts, a midterm, an exploratory essay, multi-genre projects, and my portfolio essay. While all of these pieces are unique to each other, they all contributed to my learning in English 1102. Firstly, my blogs contributed to my learning to a great deal. The first blog post I created required me to read the syllabus. Reading the syllabus helped prepare for the class by looking the overview of what was to come in English 1102. Also, writing about it in the blog post helped me further process the syllabus and come up with questions I had about the year. In my first blog post I also had to reflect on my time in English 1101. This reflection helped me think about what skills I needed to

work on in English 1102. The second blog post required us to review the rhetorical triad, the five modes of communication, and Aristotles appeals. Most of the concepts were new to me, and by doing this blog post I realized I didnt have a good grasp on what the concepts had meant. I also discovered through the blog post and reading that the comic book was an excellent resource for understanding some concepts. The third blog post as well contributed to my learning. For this blog post I had to browse the UNCC library research website. By conducting extensive browsing I became much more familiar with the resources that the library offers. This helped me in my research for my multi-genre project, as I was able to better search for resources for my project. The third blog post also made me believe my multi-genre subject was a great for doing research on and motivated me further. The fourth blog post was crucial to my learning as well. The fourth blog post required me to review my portfolio pieces and identify which pieces I should edit and polish. This blog post made me realize I should make attempts to improve my vocabulary and grammar for several of my pieces. This blog post helped me with improving my editing skills, as it required me to brainstorm how to polish my work. My midterm helped further my learning this semester in English 1102. For the midterm I had to do self-assessing, reflection, and brainstorming for my multigenre project. For the first portion of my midterm assignment I had to reflect on my understanding of the concepts we have gone over as well as assess my grade. Reflecting on my conceptual understanding made me realize there were several concepts I needed to review. At that point in the semester I did not understand Karios. I then made a point to research Karios and find out what its meaning was.

In the midterm I stated, I believe Karios is more complicated than the other rhetorical concepts, which I know realize is false. I also reflected on concepts I believed I understood. This was important to do as realizing what I have learned helps motivate me to do more work. Assessing my grade was also crucial to my learning. Assessing myself made me reflect on how I was doing in the course and what I could do to improve my work in the class. The second part of the midterm assignment required me to analyze a portfolio from Weebly from a previous semester. This was great for my learning as it helped influence how I structured my blog. The author of the portfolio I read was more personal in his blogs. Because of this, I tried to be less formal and write incorporate more of my initial thoughts for my blog posts, rather than trying to restructure my thoughts or reword my thoughts. For example, in blog post 4 I wrote, I would also like to go over colons and semi-colons usage in class, as it is something I have always been fuzzy on and never sure when to use them. In this quote I was communicating my thoughts and being honest amount my weakness when it comes to my grammatical skills. My goal was to be truthful and direct especially in my blogs. I also noticed that throughout his blog he incorporated pictures that were helpful to communicating his points. This is not something I had thought of prior to viewing the portfolio. The last portion of the midterm required me to think of people who would sit at a round table and discuss my topic. This portion of the assignment allowed me to think of the different views on my topic and the types people I could search to get resources for my mutli-genre assignment. I had not thought of using a pastor as a source for my mutli-genre prior to doing this portion of the midterm. As it turned out I used

the video source with a pastor for the majority of my sources for the mutli-genre project. This midterm definitely helped further my learning as it allowed me to reflect on the semester and further my progress with the multi-genre project. The annotated bibliography helped contribute to my learning in this course. Prior to this semester I had never done anything similar to an annotated bibliography. The annotated bibliography taught me how to summarize and explain their significance sources in a fashion that allows me to easily sort through the sources later. For example through looking at the data in one source I was able to state, Also only a third of pastors even teach evolution or creation. Referencing the sentence later was simpler than reading through data on a website which helped me. Being another genre that I was not familiar with I think learning to write in this format has further made my writing more adaptable. I believe annotated bibliographies are a format I will utilize in the future as they allow me to better understand the sources I use for research. The multi-genre project contributed to my learning in this course in many ways. The first part of the multi-genre project that contributed to my learning was the research for the project. I had never conducted an independent inquiry of this scale in my life before. Discovering how to find sources using the university library and online was not something I was familiar with when it came to a project this large. I learned how to search for sources based on the author to find better information for my projects. The first genre I created was a challenge for me. Having covered the topic of Christianity and Evolution it was difficult for me to attempt to condense all the information into a to-do list. My first rough draft of my

to-do list was disorienting, as I could not execute the genres purpose initially. For example, in the first draft I had a bullet point that was very confusing and unclear, however I was able to change it to, Decide if after investigation further into the Bible if you believe God could have created evolution (Theistic Evolution), or if conflicts with the teachings of the Bible. I believe the bullet point in the final draft better conveyed the message. I also included the definition of evolution in the final draft. Stating the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth helps the reader differentiate evolution from creationism. My second genre, my flow chart was the first time I use the genre of a flowchart to display information on such a complex subject. I had experience using flowcharts for simpler ideas and concepts, or using broad ideas. Using a flowchart while displaying specific information was a challenge. Through the creating of that genre I learned how to better condense information and display it to the reader after rehashing my flow charts. For example I created a key stated, *A blue line from the right shows a verse referencing the Book of Genesis from a verse from the rest of the bible. This helps disprove the theory that creationism and the story of Adam and Eve is only shown in Genesis. Creating this key then allowed me to use blue lines to connect points, rather than relying on multiple text boxes to prove explanations. The reflection for the multigenre project was great for my learning as well. I believe the reflection helped me improve upon my multi-genre projects. When I reflected on the projects I realized I had a lot of improving I could do for my projects. I think the reflection was

important to my learning as it taught me that reflecting on your work is beneficial to improving it, and not just something you should do after youre finished. My exploratory essay was a critical piece for my learning in English 1102. Because the exploratory essay was the first major piece I wrote this semester it shaped my view and approach to the course. Writing the exploratory essay was both easy and difficult for me. I wrote about my faith, which was easy for me to write about because I am very passionate about the subject. Because I was writing about my own life it was easy to know what to say. At the same time it was difficult to write the paper, as I do not enjoy talking about or writing about my personal life. My approach to writing the exploratory essay was to emotionally distance myself from what I was writing about. While what I was writing was personal I was forcing myself not to care about talking about my life. Writing this paper helped contribute to my learning greatly as it gave me practice and helped me write about myself. I also believe it encouraged me to write more as because I was writing about a topic I was passionate about it made me excited about writing in general. I chose the multi-genre project reflection feedback as a choice for my feedback artifacts. I chose this feedback artifact as I think my initial reflection was weak and the feedback I received was helpful and helped me improve my reflection for the better. The format of the reflection feedback was also direct because it was comprised of a series of bullet points on things to work on with notes from the professor on specifically how to improve those points. This piece helped me learn as the direct feedback allowed me to effectively and easily revise my reflection. It also

helped me view feedback as much more constructive than I had in the past as the feedback was so well organized. The second feedback artifact I chose was the to-do list multi-genre project feedback piece. I chose this feedback artifact as my second choice because the feedback I received helped me expand my thinking for my to-do list. For example, one of the points of feedback was maybe part of this genre can/should include a definition of evolution? This feedback was very helpful. In turn I gave a definition of creationism and evolution and was also more mindful when I was writing to genre to keep the readers perspective in mind by trying to make my genre more readable. This piece helped me learn this semester as it helped me keep the readers perspective in mind and further improve on revising work. The first notebook artifact I chose was my Reading Response Letter Number 4. In this reading response I responded to the section in Understanding Rhetoric about forming arguments. I think this assignment was important to my learning as it helped me reflect on how I could improve on forming my arguments as well as citing evidence. I think it was important for me to do the reading response because those skills were crucial to the multi-genre project. I also think this notebook artifact was important to my learning as it helped me reflect on my weaknesses when it comes to arguments in papers or arguments in general. The second notebook artifact I chose was the reflection on the first peer review on February 6th. I chose this notebook artifact because I believe peer review as an excellent skill we learned and improved on this semester. In the reflection I stated how the reflection went. I stated in the reflection one thing that could have

gone better would have be getting more detailed and specific feedback. I made note of how this was important and made sure to give more specific feedback to peers work I reviewed. This assignment was critical to my learning as it helped me improve my feedback and my perspective on peer reviews. The first piece I chose from my process work was my to-do list multi genre project. I chose this piece as it helpful to my learning as it pushed my critical thinking. Trying to fit all of my thoughts and opinions on my stance on evolution and Christianity was difficult with the genre of a to-do list. For a while I wanted to abandon the genre and choose something that I think fit better. However, I persisted and completed the first draft of my genre. While I think the first draft was confusing and incomplete it was integral to my learning as it helped me push myself and use critical thinking skills to solve the problem in front of me which I think is important to English and the rest of my classes. The second piece I chose from for an example of my process work was my flowchart genre. I think for a first draft I did well crafting the flowchart. I had no prior experience making a flowchart, especially with such a complicated issue. However, I had fun learning to adapt and present my information in such a fashion. I also believe it helped me organize my thoughts and present them in a readable fashion. I believe this piece was important to my learning as it helped me organize and present my thoughts in a new way, and give me practice adapting my thinking and writing. The draft of the exploratory essay was the third piece I chose for an example of my process work. This draft was the first major writing assignment I had all

semester. The draft was important for my learning for multiple reasons. Writing about something I was passionate about made me learn how easy writing could be when you care about the subject. I also learned by writing about something personal how to move past caring about if what I was writing about was personal. I think writing the draft was a huge step for me in terms of my perspective on writing. My first wildcard, my Java Source Code was unique piece I worked on in another course that helped with my learning. Not knowing Java the code may look foreign and strange. However, I believe writing code as helpful to me for writing papers and essays. In code organization is very important to your code. When writing code the goal is to make it as efficient and clear as possible. You also are supposed to try to limit each part of the code to one function. This helps me think about trying to compartmentalize my writing and my thoughts, and try to focus on one point at a time to allow my writing to be clear. Another aspect of writing the code that was helpful is that you have to make connections with different parts of the code. For example, I have a driver class and a converter class (class means file). Every part of the driver class communicates and relies on the converter class and vice-versa. While they are different files and have different functions they are still connected. This helps me think about writing is all connected, and how my current writing is connected and influenced by past writing. Coding helps me organize my thoughts when writing for English 1102. The second wild card piece I chose was my Economics graph and response assignment. For that assignment I took the data on GDP from 2008 to now and plotted in on a graph. I then had to analyze the data from the graph I created. I found

this assignment helpful for conducting my research. With much of my research I had to find data and opinions and use the data and opinions to create a opinion much like I had to use the data from the graph to figure out a conclusion from the data. This practice was helpful for my research and therefore contributed to my learning in English 1102. Why and How My Writing Has Grown My writing has grown this semester through both the drafts of my projects, to the scale, complexity, and genres I can write in this semester. I am pleased with how my writing has grown this semester. I believe the multi-genre project helped me the most with my writing, as it pushed me into forms of writing I had not experimented with before. This course did not allow me to stay in my comfort zone of writing essays and papers throughout the semester. The most significant way my writing has grown in my opinion was the transition from the exploratory essay to the multi-genre project. The exploratory essay as Ive mentioned was easier for me to just write. I was writing about something I was passionate about and knew a great deal about. While it was difficult for me to write about something personal, I had no trouble letting the words flow. However, the multi-genre project allowed my writing to grow to the point where I could adapt my writing to unusual formats. As I found out choosing the genres of a to-do list and flowchart did not lend itself to the arguing on the subject evolution and Christianity. But, by writing these genres I learned more how writing is about adaptability, not just putting words on the page. The genres helped me practice fit my thoughts into required

genres. I believe this will help in my career because there are many genres I will be constrained to, such as memos, emails, and other unforeseen genres I may have to write in. The other major way my writing has grown has been with the drafts I have written. For example, in my exploratory essay I added my favorite verse from the Bible to give the reader more personal insight as suggested by my professor. I think this helped add flavor and personality to the paper. Another example of this is how I rehashed my to-do list. I connected my to-do list to my flowchart by telling the reader appropriately, For explanations read the flowchart genre. I used the flowchart genre as a supplement to the to-do list and had them work together in order to improve the necessity and message of both genres. I had never used two different pieces of writing in conjunction like that, especially with pieces that are of different genres. I also believe this portfolio essay shows an enormous growth in my writing. I have never in my life reflected on such a large scale, or written a paper of this length and complexity. I was impressed by my ability to have so much to say on my time in English 1102. I think the skills I have learned in this class to reflect and present my ideas in multiple fashions will carry over into my other classes and my career.