Kylie Wallace

Ingram
English 1101-074
8 December 2014
Final Portfolio Essay
Throughout the semester I have worked to engage with the course
materials and show what I found helpful to my learning by engaging with the
key concepts, analyzing my writing, and completing my work to the best of
my ability. I think that I deserve an A in the course for these reasons and
more. As far as my weebly, I arranged it so that its easily navigable for my
reader and mirrors the order in which I analyze them within this essay which
is another reason I think I deserve an A.
As you read you will find that each piece of writing you find in the
portfolio, will be talked about in the same order within the essay. I did this
because its important to me to be clear and concise with the reader. On
each page there is a checklist on the top of the page explaining what you will
find on that page as another arrangement to help keep track of where the
reader is at and whats next. Spatially on each page, I put the pieces in
chronological order. For example on my literacy narrative page the fist piece
is draft one, then draft two, and finally the final embedded essay to
exemplify the learning I did from draft one to the final essay. I thought it was
necessary to have a home page to help contribute to my ethos as a writer. I
wrote, Welcome to my weebly! My name is Kylie Wallace, I'm 18 years old

and I'm a sophomore here at UNC Charlotte. This portfolio will serve as the
main domain for the compilation of my English 1101 works throughout the
semester. I figure if the reader can understand who I am as a scholarly
writer, it will encourage a more open-minded entry into my writing and help
accredit pathos.
Please note that the questions are in no particular order. One
challenge of this assignment is to write a cohesive essay that doesnt merely
sound like a list of answers to arbitrary questions. This is from our portrait of
a writer prompt. When I went back through all my work and prompts from
the semester, I related it back to this, the Final Portfolio Essay. I felt like I was
going through the questions and analytically writing a dull essay! So, I used
this to sort of drive the artistic side of the essay; really just let my mind
wander with my thoughts; so instead of giving dry answers, I could connect
them, use examples, colorful language, and quotations. Like when I
explaining how difficult it was to keep my mind straight this semester in this
essay I wrote, I had to balance keeping my mind here while it was trying to
wander to my personal life, but by the end I used that scatterbrained
mindset to my advantage. This sentence is really simple but not boring and
thats what I tried to do throughout. I dont want to overcomplicate any of
the sentences with painstaking vocabulary, however I want the essay to be
appealing to read.
In my portfolio I have eight pages. Page one, like I said, is my
introductory page. There is a button on it that takes you to the Final Portfolio

Essay page because the final portfolio essay explains the portfolio in its
entirety. The second page is my FPE page, which stands for Final Portfolio
Essay. On this page I have a process work artifact and my final embedded
essay. The process work artifact is my brainstorming I did about what I
wanted to include in my portfolio and what I needed to include. I do really
well when I have everything laid out in front of me and its all written out.
After I wrote out my brainstorming I went to each of the pages and wrote a
checklist at the topi of each page so I could keep track of what I needed to
include on each page. This really helped with my planning. The final
embedded essay is this essay. It gave me the chance to really look back at
everything and realize what I learned, even if I didnt really notice what I was
doing. I could analyze my work as a writer and see the points of growth and
struggle. On the Writers Notebook page I have my tools notes which
guided my structure as well. The notes explain the different modes of
communication and different ways to reinforce the things Im trying to
convey. I used these notes throughout the essay to explain myself in
scholastic terms rather than trying to explain myself without the proper
words.
Page three is my Narrative page with work from my literacy
narrative. This page includes two process work artifacts as well as the final
embedded essay. I decided to include both draft one and two of this essay
because this really shows the first rally point of growth where I begin to take
risks just from draft one to draft two. Originally I had a very cookie cutter

opening with the definition of literacy as my opening sentence, I wrote,

Literacy can mean so many things to a lot of different people. I always use
the word literate to describe people who can read and write or even
understand music and other things that have actual text, symbols or
something along those lines. Pretty basic and unoriginal and closed minded.
When I got feedback no one necessarily said anything was wrong with my
essay, however, none of it really stood out or caught attention. So I decided
this semester I was going to take risks by getting out of my comfort zone. By
draft two I drastically changed the organization of my essay, so my final
sentence was, Until the day that my time on this earth is over I believe I will
be learning what this word, literacy, means that everyone defines as able to
read and write. Because in no way, shape, or form do I agree that literacy is
just reading and writing, its knowledge and understanding of the world
around you and so much more. I thought it was so interesting to see how
much my opinion of such a simple topic was altered from the first sentence
of my first draft to the last sentence of my second draft. Even my
introduction changed. I shortened the essay and really focused on the
structure of my ideas flowing better. By the final essay I had a polished mix
of the two drafts. Thats why I put draft one and two side by side, I want the
reader to get the full effect of how drastically and quickly I changed my style
and viewpoint. On the writers notebook tab I included a Literacy Narrative:
Dear reader page that I wrote after draft one that sort of reinforces this idea
that I liked my definition of literacy, but that I hadnt put all the pieces of the

puzzle together yet; it didnt quite flow yet. When I read this it was helpful to
bring myself back to the mindset I was in when I wrote it. Also on the writers
notebook page I included the intro and conclusions worksheet. This
worksheet challenged us to write someone elses intro and conclusion. I
loved this workshop because it gives a fresh viewpoint. I did this workshop
on my own a couple weeks after I originally did my essays and got a fresh
view of my literacy narrative which is how I ended up meshing the two
essays together. I twisted the workshop a bit though, and cut up each
paragraph of both essays and threw out what didnt make sense and jut
rearranged and rewrote until I was happy with the outcome. Im really glad
we did this workshop! I dont think I wouldve been as happy with my essay if
I hadnt done that.
My blog page comes next. Overall blogs taught me a few different
things about myself and about how to articulate my words in a manner that
really connects me to other people in a conversational way. A little out of
order but important none the less, on my last page I have a Blog comment
feedback artifact. Two people commented on a blog we wrote about
conversion and discourse communities and I found out that we can all relate
to this. We all wrote that depending on who were with, we change our
vocabulary or accents. I thought this was interesting because we did that
with our blogs too, we changed from a more polished, scholarly writing style,
to conversational. The blogs gave us a place to express, create, and freely
move out of our comfort zone and get feedback from each other. I really liked

that, and how we got a break from the long, daunting essays that we have to
work on al semester.
Midterm tab is fifth. I thought it was important to put my midterm on
its own page because its showing how far weve come from day one, while
also asking what we think and challenging us to understand how far wve
come rather than our professor just telling us where were at and what we
learned. My first answer really explains that, I wrote, In my first blog post I
posed 6 questions based on the syllabus and I think I can answer a good
majority if not all already. My first question was, Why is the participation
scale so simple? Well, I think its because this class is focused on inquiry
which means we will continually be asking questions with an expository lens
that forces us to inquire more. Basically were answering all our questions
with more questions so we will forever be learning therefore there is no
definite answer so Professor Ingram can only grade us on how far weve
come from our start point. This is how I feel about the midterm as well. Its
just another format that we have to critically think about our learning rather
than someone telling us. I learned how to explain my learning and how I
know I learned that.
My sixth tab is the POAW tab which stands for Portrait of a writer. I
have my draft one as well as the final draft on this page. I included draft one
because this is another essay where I started on my basic level of
understanding of what we were supposed to do, and then when you read the
final essay you as the reader can really see where my understanding of the

overall goal sets it. For example, using examples to strengthen my points. In
my original essay I wrote, If I can recall it or at least come up with a
situation like that, I can describe it with sensory detail and include dialogue
to make my reader feel like theyre their with me. Ok well how does my
reader know that! I realized I need to show how I do that so in my final essay
after that sentence I wrote, I remember sending a text to my ex-boyfriend
when I was getting food on the way home from Raleigh the other day
because I had been following a cop. When Im driving, if I see a cop speeding
I follow it. When him and I went to a concert in Charlotte once we drove on
that same road and I followed a sherif going eighty five miles per hour the
whole way from Raleigh to Charlotte. I texted him saying, Remember
summer after we graduated high school, two years ago, when we went to
see Hollywood Undead at The Fillmore in Charlotte? I had decided Id rather
drive during the day so I drove there and you drove back. And it was such a
pretty drive with the sun shining and we got energy drinks, coffee, and five
hour energies. We were so hyped up on caffeine, singing the whole way there
and only stopping because we forgot food. My favorite part was scaring the
crap out of you by following that sherif the whole way to Charlotte going
eighty five miles per hour and he was still ahead of us! He had to have been
going at least ninety. When I can picture something I can usually describe it
well, even if Im just texting it. Its just something in writing I noticed I can
do. I think that this mini paragraph really proves to the reader that Im not
just saying things to say them, that theyre true. The final essay showed me

who I am as a writer. I didnt even know we could write to understand

ourselves as writers. We got to start wherever we wanted in our writing
career and it gave me a chance to see the change in myself. For example, in
high school I didnt realize how I acted like a robot kind of, I wrote, I didnt
think like this in high school though. I just did what I was told really. Mostly
just did whatever the teacher asked exactly the way she asked it to get an A.
If I tried to do anything creative it was wrong. This really shocked me
because thats the easy way out! I didnt even know I was doing it. After I
wrote about my writing habits now, I realized I changed into a well rounded
critically thinking writer, however, and that pleases me.
On my writers notebook page the only thing I havent discussed is my
Dear ms. Ingram letter. I included this because at the very beginning of the
semester I was very concerned with my mindset and how I was going to do
while I was so distracted. I wrote, I will make sure this is my priority with
one exception, her surgery is next tuesday and I think Im driving to see her.
It turned out to work in my benefit as far as my critical thinking to be so
scattered and emotional, bu tI was concerned at the beginning so I told my
professor that.
Finally, on my feedback page I included and RRL with my professors
feedback. I had no idea how to interpret an article we had to read for this
response aand I wasnt understanding it at all. I wrote,This article was really
hard to understand to figuring out what to write about was really difficult. I
made sure to convert twhta I was thinking in the response. I took a stab at

what I thought it might be able and definitely missed the whole point of the
article. My professor replied to my respoe with, No you werent really wrong.
It was a complex read to illustrate a complex issue. I really appreciated this
feeback because I tried to understand something that was obviously difficult,
and didnt just stop at not understanding. It helped me realize that no matter
what the topic is, whether I understand it or not, the best thing I can do is
dare to be wrong. The rest of the semester I just took risks and tried to figure
things out that didnt really make sense to me and that pushed me to want
to understand things on another level.
The three key concepts that really resonated with me throughout the
semester and overall throughout my writing were critical thinking, getting
out of my comfort zone, and making connections. This semester was really
very mentally challenging. I had to balance keeping my mind here while it
was trying to wander to my personal life, but by the end I used that
scatterbrained mindset to my advantage. I figured out that if I just write and
it doesnt make sense, its ok! I can revise the order and change everything
about it if I want. As long as I could start and get my ideas out, I could fix it.
When I wrote out my plan for what to include in my FPE, I left blanks under
each topic. Like under process works artifacts I just left four blanks until I
knew what I wanted to use. I realized that critical thinking isnt necessarily
always perfect and eloquent, you have to revise your original ideas and that
opened up my writing process immensely.
I got out of my comfort zone a few times in my writing with major

works as well as just warm ups. The main example of this was in my literacy
narrative. I decided to shake things up a bit and start my essay in the middle
of the story rather than using an introduction. I wrote,
August 30th 2013:
Ring! Hello?
Hey! This is Nancy a representative of Sigma Kappa, we would like to
offer you a bid!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Ill see you next week.
That was the moment I joined the sorority that would change the way I
see literacy for good. I always use the word literate to describe people who
can read and write or even understand music and other things that have
actual text, symbols, or something along those lines. I was so wrong it made
my head spin! I got so much good feedback and suggestions throughout my
process of revising this and making it how I wanted it, that by the time I
wrote my final draft of my literacy narrative it didnt seem so much out of my
comfort zone anymore. After I just did it and learned how to work with it, I
got more comfortable with the idea.
Making connections was a hard one for me last year, but when I looked
back I did it without even realizing it! The very first essay we did was the
literacy narrative. I wrote it, revised it, polished it, and didnt think about it
again until about ten minutes ago. In my Portrait of a Writer essay I wrote,
Thats why I really like to write narratives or stories about or based of off
things that have happened. If I can recall it or at least come up with a

situation like that, I can describe it with sensory detail and include dialogue
to make my reader feel like theyre their with me. I used an example that
wasnt my literacy narrative! What was I thinking! I had a perfect entire
essay as an example but I never put the pieces together, it was so easy for
me to write because its in a genre I think I do well in. Needless to say I went
back and revised my Portrait of a Writer essay and included another example
in support of that quote.
I think altogether these three key concepts are connected. I was in a
different mindset therefore was able to think deeper and from a different
angle you could say, that brought a different outcome. Because of that, I got
out of my comfort zone a little and made connections that I wouldnt have
otherwise noticed.
Writing has been really eye opening for me this semester because its
a much bigger part of my life. My mom created a blog to write how shes
doing in her battle with breast cancer and how shes feeling and anything
she wants! (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/andreawallace) Usually I draw
when Im happy or sad and you can tell because I either draw flowers or
skulls. Even when I draw skulls they can be happy though. Being able to tell
how Im feeling is all about how I shaded the drawing. I noticed when it was
hard for me to get a lot of my thoughts out I would just go to my moms blog
and read through some stuff - cry my eyes out in a happy or sad way,
comment, and just release my emotions through it and get back to the real
assignment I had at hand. When I was writing this essay the quote from my

moms blog that kept me going was, It's temporary and it's to save my life. I
get that! It's just hair. I'm okay with this. It's still very strange though. She
wrote this on a blog called Deep Breathing.
This was the foundation of my growth as a writer. I started connecting
it to life and its impact on people; we read everyday and have our thoughts
and feelings influenced by what we read so blindly. For instance, within my
international studies class we water a video about the world as one hundred
people and how many would be of each gender, race, poor, rich, who would
have internet and so on. Even though its a video, its a video of words meant
to bring about a feeling. I decided to do that in my writing. One of my
assignments in my International studies class is to write responses to critical
thinking questions. My professor posed the question, how does globalization
effect terrorism. This was the perfect platform for me to use writing to invoke
emotions to make people believe in what I was saying. Part of what I wrote
was, I Think humiliation and the failure of governments to address problems
are the other two key factors. Iraq didnt have terrorist groups until we
invaded and striped them of what they had humiliating them and angering
them. Hurting a persons pride is bad, so humiliating an entire country is
more than likely going to have some backlash. This also traces back to
globalization. Without the level were on with globalization, Im not sure any
of that would have played out the same. I focused on the emotional and
personal aspects rather than the bigger picture and I loved the outcome.
I tried this again with my Portrait of a Writer essay, but this time I tried

to conjure a different emotional reaction. I used honesty to gain a sort of

trust from my reader to create a closer bond than just an author to a reader. I
tried putting the reader on a more personal level so I said, Writing is
something that Im not very good at honestly. I even have trouble talking
sometimes and expressing what Im trying to say to someone clearly. I
stumble over words and phrases so much that I usually end up pissing my
friends off by saying never mind. This was the most honest, straight to the
point sentence Ive used in academic writing. I got out of my comfort zone
with this as well and I think it did what I needed it to.
My growth as a writer has been more about my state of mind and
realization of the impacts of writing and learning different ways to push the
reader in the direction you want so theyll feel what you want them to feel. A
lot of my learning was done outside of the classroom and thats why a lot of
my quotes arent from classwork, but once I drew the connections to the
syllabi and prompts, the lessons I was learning clicked completely. I definitely
learned on many different platforms this semester and I think this will stick
with me longer.
As you can see while discussing my growth as a writer, I quoted
throughout my analyzation of each piece of writing included in this essay.
Also, I thoroughly demonstrated my engagement with three key concepts
that helped my learning. One of my favorite quotes from the syllabus helped
guide my thinking about this entire semester is, Some critics will write
Maya Angelou is a natural writer which is right after being a natural heart

surgeon. -Maya Angelou. We all had learning to do no matter where were

at in our education. I left no questions about what I learned, how I learned it,
and how I engaged in this course and that is the final reason I think I deserve
an A.