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Bryce Harris
Midterm
Ingram
1 October 2014
Question A: Since August, I have already answered all the questions that I pondered. My first
question inquired how the due dates worked. It was questionable whether or not the actual date
was the work due or the work to do. Now, it is clear that the dates in the syllabus are due dates.
How do the peer groups operate within an hour and fifteen minutes? Each group contained three
people. The person that was reading his own paper would read aloud to his peers while they
marked the paper. Then, the next person to read would proceed. I dont understand the concept
of an E-Portfolio. How does it work? It is basically an online website in which you write and
collect your work over the semester, intended to better organize and promote self-improvement
throughout the year. How am I graded? Over the course of the semester, participation in class
and attendance is the lower percentage of the final grade; however, the E-Portfolio counts
seventy percentage of the final grade. Are late drafts for papers accepted? No; student receives a
grade of zero; however, it can be reviewed by the teacher or the writing resource center with an
appointment.
Question B: I really like my writing process. Planning is not one of my favorite things to do; we
always had to plan our papers in high school. My preference is to go off of whats in my head.
That way, my papers sound natural; however, planning is also a weakness of mine. Its nice to
write from my thoughts but its difficult to plan for research papers. When it comes to my
writing rituals, I tend to listen to music while Im writing. My mind becomes stale if there isnt
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anything to listen to. In addition, I have to eat. With an empty stomach, let me just say that my
body is not functioning. My favorite genre to write in are narratives. Its intriguing to write down
what Ive experienced besides saying it out loud. The challenging part is to be personal but not
overbearing. Also, its great practice to retell stories in different and recreated forms. Im still
working on my various sentence structure and vocabulary. I know Im a decent writer; however,
Im lacking in that department. My goal for the semester to know more vocabulary and sentence
structure than I did prior to this class.
Question C: My favorite revision for my literacy narrative was my third draft. It was the most
challenging one for me because I had to be more personal in the paper and elaborative. I wrote
about what really happens during band camp; however, I didnt talk about playing my
instrument. This was first addressed to me in my second draft of my narrative essay by my peer
reviewers. I added a short paragraph discussing certain solos and dance routines I learned versus
the others in the marching band. In my second draft, I stated that the drum major was trampled
by a deer but I didnt go into detail. My classmates said that it was needed so in the third
revision, I had a footnote that said a story for another time and I put the story at the end of the
paper. The purpose was for the reader to want to read the story about the deer, later to be
disappointed, until the end. What made this revision easier to correct was that there werent too
many errors. For instance, I changed the word cooler to water bottle and I canceled out repeated
words.
Question D: The author of sample #1 E-Portfolio is Jala. Her intended audience was her
classmates and teacher; also, it is possible that other people who viewed weebly websites came
across hers as well. The purpose of Jalas E-Portfolio was to blog about her experiences and
organize her major assignments in the class online just like everyone else in the class. The
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content, itself, was both implicit and explicit. For instance, the pictures of little brother
communicate that she is a family person while the piano tells us that she has somewhat of a
musical hobby/interest. In addition, most of her blogs are personal and to the point. (I am a
person who is very trustworthy and dependable can be found in her second blog). She might not
have meant to use specific appeals because many of them occur unconsciously. She applies to
pathos through her pictures, ethos from her personal descriptors, and logos through the different
sections of the E-Portfolio that are organized. It is mainly a visual communication project, and
the format is an E-Portfolio. Whats is great about E-Portfolio is that anyone can track the
progress of another person; however, Weebly.com can restrict certain formats and not everything
can be created for free on their website unless you pay for the website monthly. In whole, Jalas
E-Portfolio was successful because throughout the semester, her writing became more concrete
and clear; looking over her blog, I think her main objective was to become more focused in her
writing abilities.
Question E: So far in this class, I think my grade is a solid 92. I turn in all of my work early or
on-time. There has not been an occurrence in which any of my work or drafts have been late. For
each class, I participate more than some of my classmates. In addition to participation, I am
actively involved in my group. Sometimes, we get off topic; however, we always find a way to
get back on task. All of my reading response letters and small assignments are completed
meeting all of the requirements that are in the directions on Moodle2. I have taken more time to
construct and write my narrative essay, making sure that it is clear and precise, but personal, too.
My E-Portfolio is organized and everything can be found there. The only thing that I can critique
is that my blog does not seem personal enough. I would like to add some pictures of myself and
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the hobbies that I do; however, I dont want to make my weebly website distracting to anyone
that views my page on a consistent basis.