FINAL PORTFOLIO

Dear Valentina,

This quarter I learned several new things. I think most importantly I learned that I enjoy

creative writing and reading and I would like to thank your writing course for that! I would not

have come to these realizations if it were not for the writing projects, discussions, and several

other activities done throughout this course. Through the writing projects is where I did a fair

amount of learning of reading and writing and how much I enjoy it. Not only did I come to

realize my joy for reading and writing, but there were plenty of academic aspects that I learned

from the writing projects. Through the writing projects, and project builders, I learned a great

quantity of aspects of reading and writing. These included genre, genre conventions, modes of

communication, revision, and drafting.

Other aspects of this class which I thoroughly enjoyed were the discussion groups and

revision workshops. Earlier in the quarter, in groups we discussed our own experiences with peer

revision in the past. My group members came to the consensus that their previous encounters

with revisions were not as helpful as they were within this course. Personally, my experiences

with peer revision in the past were not as bad as my peers. In fact, I thought peer revision in

middle school and highschool was very helpful and significantly improved my skills in reading

and writing. Although peer revision in highschool and middle school was extremely helpful for

me, it does not compare to the experience I had with the revision workshops in this course. The

instructions for every revision workshop were very detailed and I knew exactly what to look for

while I was revising my peers’ text. Not only did that help my peers but it also helped me

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because my peers, too, gave me amazing feedback. I feel that the peer revision helped me with

my success in this course and in my writing growth overall.

Despite learning a great deal about reading and writing within this course, there is still so

much I hope to learn about. I want to learn more about how to find my style and I feel like I can

never learn enough about how to efficiently analyze in papers. Analyzing and style are two

difficult concepts for me and I think that it will come easier with practice, and of course, more

writing courses. Analyzing was covered a lot in this course and I feel like I have definitely

improved in my analyzing skills. Style, however, was covered briefly and I wish I could have

learned more about it and how to develop my own unique style. I feel like I’d like to learn more

about both.

In my revisions I focused heavily on the pointers you gave but also took the very helpful

feedback my peers gave. I worked on being more specific when analyzing and adding specific

examples from the sources and texts. Another main thing that I revised was my topic sentences,

my introduction and conclusion. I made sure that my introduction was specific for my audience

and my conclusions were focused and synthesized my argument. I also made sure to make my

paragraphs focused on one main idea rather than having several ideas in one paragraph. My goal

was to make my projects more comprehensive and organized rather than having several ideas

jumbled into one paragraph. When I was revising, your feedback was helpful but also my peers’.

In particular, the feedback that I received for Writing Project 2 was super helpful. Having

feedback from multiple peers on their focused aspect of revision helped me focus and enhance

several aspects of my essay. I think the way the revision for Writing Project 2 was set up made

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the revision process really helpful. I was able to target many aspects of my writing with the help

of my several peers’ coaching.

I think my portfolio displays what I’ve learned this quarter through the content that I

shared and the way I exhibited it all. My use of evidence from several sources and thorough

analysis are parts of what I learned from this course. I learned that with a specific audience--in

my case, an academic setting-- evidence is crucial for strengthening my claim. My addition of

specific examples in my writing showcase an aspect of writing which I learned this quarter.

Writing Project 2, in particular, was exciting and I feel that I showcased my creative side and my

new-found enjoyment of writing. The writing project utilized several ideas of genre convention,

the idea of multimodality in writing and my own reflection. I used ideas of genre conventions to

translate a piece from one genre to a completely different genre taking into consideration the

different conventions used to convey a particular genre. I also tried my best to implement

multimodality into my genre translation through the addition of a setting. The reflection was

interesting too because I looked back at what conventions I used in my writing that I didn’t

realize I used.

From what I have learned throughout this course, there are several things that I will

continue to implement in my writing in the future. I will definitely consider using multiple

modes to communicate if I can. I have realized that there are several modes of communication

that can help in different cases all being useful in their own way. I will also consider the genre I

will write and the different conventions I should use specifically for that genre. Lastly, I will not

see my project as a chore. In this writing course, I approached my writing as a fun and learning

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experience. The comfort that I had with you and my peers gave me ease in my writing which I

feel made me way more successful than in previous writing courses.

Again, I would like to say thank you for an amazing quarter. I felt a sense of ease and

was always excited to participate in the activities you had planned out. This course was a great

relief from the other strenuous courses I had in my schedule and it was even more amazing that

you were very understanding of the circumstances we are all facing at this difficult time. Thank

you for helping me realize that I am not completely awful at writing and it could, at some point,

also be my strong suit (or at the very least a hobby). I loved this course and will definitely take

the things that I learn in this course to my future writing courses!

Sincerely,

Cynthia Ordaz