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Heidi Ackerman

English 597

Dr. Hicks

21 July 2023

Portfolio Analysis

Writing is communication. It allows us, as the writer, to connect with our audiences by

sharing our most vibrant desires and dreams, our shiniest joys and victories, our darkest moments

and shames, and the slivers of our heart which contain the fibers that are central to our very

being. Writing exposes us. It lets us see others. Writing lets us know that we are not alone. As

Toni Morrison explained it best in her insightful and empowering piece entitled “No Place for

Self-Pity, No Room for Fear”: “There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for

silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. This is how civilizations heal.”

So, while my portfolio, encapsulates my journey through ASU’s MA in English program, even

more importantly, it shows my journey to find my voice and purpose. It illuminates my path to

healing and wholeness. As one examines my portfolio, I believe you can trace the confidence and

strength that grows as my time in the program with my professors and peers aided in cultivating

in my writing and person. Lastly, my passion is easily identifiable as the common thread that

weaves itself through every assignment and project that are displayed: the right of the freedom to

read for all individuals. In one of my earliest classes in this program I discovered the idea of

books being either a mirror or a door. That was an enlightening moment for me. Dear reader, as

you continue to navigate through my portfolio and this narrative, I hope you will truly see me

and my heart’s passions.

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The first writing sample comes from my first class in the program: English 501-

Approaches to Research. What I loved about this class was that it refreshed me on the art of

research and then, I was able to apply those principals directly to a topic of my choice to compile

a research proposal. Back in February of 2022 I thought book banning was wildly out of hand.

Through this class I unearthed a topic that I discovered was a dormant, yet deep-seated passion

of mine. The reason I featured this paper first in my portfolio was to give a glance at my writing

in its infancy stages, as I had just begun the program. It is wild and free. It shows my voice, and

it is untamed. However, as the program went on, I was given the gift of feedback and began to

refine my work. There was only one draft of this paper that was collected, so if I could refine it

now, there would be much that I would revise. First, the information seems so far out of date,

especially with where we are in terms of censorship. Also, I have such a personal connection to

this topic as I am not working in a district where this is happening right before my very eyes. I

would also love to play with the order of my thoughts and how I structured my voice. But one

thing I would not wish to strip of it is the rawness and the heart that I see within this first paper

and first draft that I have written. I am proud of that.

The second writing sample that I wished to highlight was from my English 540 course-

Teaching Young Adult Literature. This impacted me deeply not only as an educator, but also as a

reader. Prior to taking this course, I was not invested or did not value the genre of YA. After

taking that course and being exposed to a plethora of YA in a variety of genres that reached out to

a diverse range of young readers, my heart was forever altered. One of the books that I chose to

read during that course was Angeline Boulley’s New York Times best seller, Firekeeper’s

Daughter. First, I could not put this novel down. The novel was so well penned and addressed

major themes that have the power to connect or inform its readers regarding identity,
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specifically: “Throughout her journey, Daunis contends with her core conflicting identities,

especially pertaining to how she allows her role to be defined in the tribe, how her new role

undercover allows a deeper understanding of her community, and how she responds to being

violated by a powerful man in her society” (Ackerman 1). Throughout English 540 Dr. Durand

not only introduced us to intersectionality that was deeply personal and impactful, but then,

asked us to analyze how intersectionality was seen within the texts that we were reading

throughout our various modules. Not all papers bring life and energy to me, but this one did. I

felt passionately about how could I best respect and honor Boulley’s work, which has deep,

personal ties to her heritage and culture. So, I was careful in my research for this paper and even

began to investigate how Boulley would think or feel about what I was writing to honor not only

her writing, but also her as an author. Because of these factors, I feel like this is the first paper in

the program that I really nailed. Sometimes when I write a good sentence, paragraph, or paper it

is almost as if I can feel my very fiber humming from the power of the ideas finding their way

into the words that best convey my feelings and ideas. Since this class I have since lent out my

copy of this book to numerous students and have even read Boully’s second book, which was

just recently released. If I were asked to revise the paper, I believe I would compare Boully’s two

novels, as many of the themes and ideas overlap and support each other.

My third paper introduces a paper I wrote entitled “Fight or Flight” in English 534-

Shakespeare in which I analyzed The Taming of the Shrew through a feminist lens. In Act I I

began noticing Shakespeare’s use of bird imagery, specifically the nightingale, which conjured

up my many years analyzing the classic tragi-romance Romeo and Juliet. As I went further into

my readings, I noticed the symbolism of hawking as a deeper metaphor for Petruchio’s taming of

Kate. Thus, my thesis for this assignment was born. The first draft of this paper was written early
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in this Shakespeare course. As time elapsed and we immersed ourselves into more plays I began

noticing this hawking symbolism mentioned within Othello. For our final paper we were asked

to revise one of our papers from earlier in the course and I chose this paper because of the

continued bird imagery, specifically the hawking imagery that seemed to be a common thread

throughout Shakespeare’s works. When I went to revise and research more for this paper, I

discovered just how deeply this hawking symbolism was within Shakespeare’s works and why

he utilized it, especially when contemporary writers of the time did not. It was mind-blowing and

enlightening. Going from the first draft to this draft is astounding. It was an honor to have the

opportunity to take my professor’s feedback and time to revise because I learned so much more

from this experience than just simply submitting one paper and moving on. This helped me

understand how vital it is to allow my students the same opportunity to revise within their

writing projects. If I was to go back and revise this paper, I would just ask for more time. After

completing hours of research, I was shocked to see that there were not many academic articles

related to this topic; I scoured sever archives hoping to find more relevant and current articles

and was often left disappointed. I feel that with ample time this thesis could be developed into a

stronger argument.

After reviewing my three writing samples, one will then notice my first project is from

English 598-Teaching Literacy for Action and Change and is an article that asked me to

Refashion the Teaching of Literacy through a PSA. This PSA was penned in November of last

year and much has elapsed in the climate of my school district since then. Considering the events

that transpired last night (July 17th) at the most recent school board meeting in my district, I

would absolutely revise this entire letter. In the PSA I write: “Knowledge is power, but do we

allow our students the full right of exercising that power in their educational endeavors?”
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(Ackerman 2). I cling to those words, especially now. Since June’s school board meeting

seventeen books are under review and are considered being pulled from ALL school libraries

within my district. A few of the titles that resonate with students are: Speak, The Hate U Give,

The Lovely Bones, 13 Reasons Why, Looking for Alaska, Beyond Magenta, and Water for

Elephants. Our school board’s president also warned that other books will be flagged in the

coming days. I live in Southern California; I never expected this to happen. However, at the time,

I was proud of how I integrated all my learning into a PSA that was relevant, at the time, and

pertinent topic in my district. If I were to revise this document, I would need to edit deeply, as

there is much that would need to be addressed in this PSA to bring it up to date. My professor in

this class encouraged me to share this out at a board meeting. Right now, that is not an option.

However, after March 15th and hoping that I receive an offer of tenure, I will be using this PSA as

a foundation for a speech I would love to craft and share at a future school board meeting.

In English 507-Methods/Issues of Teaching Writing we were asked to complete some

interesting, yet insightful projects that often expanded beyond the typical five paragraph essay.

One of the projects assigned was to select an empowering educational book from a list to read

and complete a book chat and infographic for our fellow peers. For this portfolio, I only included

the infographic portion of the multi-media project. This project required us to consider our

audience and purpose in a completely new manner, which was refreshing. Also, we were asked

to provide extensive research, but in a new way as infographics convey information in a vastly

differing way than an essay would. Prior to completing this project, we were given the option of

crafting a practice infographic, which would allow our peers to provide insight prior to

submitting the actual assignment. This project was so impactful I have already been

brainstorming ways with a fellow partner teacher on how to incorporate this within our eight-
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grade curriculum. This project was revised several times after feedback was received not only

from my professor, but also from my fellow peers. Overall, I am satisfied with the results.

My final project also comes from English 540, and it was the final project for the course.

It was a project that asked us to create a unit that was either centered on multi-genre or

multimodal project utilizing the information and strategies that we had acquired during our

studies in this class. I chose a project that I have had students to in one of my previous freshmen

classes, which is a Ted Talk. However, after learning about writing workshops, conferencing,

providing helpful feedback, helpful partner revision guidelines, and more I decided to revamp

what I originally had. It is a vastly different project than what I had before. What I am most

proud of with this project is that after this class and creating this assignment, there is more

scaffolding and feedback along the way so when the students reach the day of their presentation,

they are not only prepared, but they may present the best version of a project they can.

Additionally, I truly took into consideration how to help them consider audience and purpose

when designing their project geared around an issue they see on campus or that impacts the

student body. Additionally, the final step of the project encourages students to present their

presentation to the intended audience, whether it be administration, fellow teachers or staff, or

their peers. The goal is for them to feel empowered and take the skills and standards they are

learning in school and apply them to their daily lives to show them how relevant and important it

is. This project only required four lesson plans, so I am already collaborating with my colleagues

on what the rest of the lesson plans within the unit should look like. This is a work in progress.

Last January when I began this program, I honestly had no idea what to expect other than

expecting to read and write copiously. This portfolio shows my growth. It displays my strengths

when being stretched beyond what I thought I was capable of. I believe one may witness my
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growth and voice become stronger throughout the portfolio. Additionally, I believe that it shows

my ability to dabble in writing and how I have learned to be vulnerable and insightful while

adapting to whatever tone or audience that I am writing to or for. However, one of my favorite

aspects of compiling this portfolio is the revelation that occurred to me, personally. As I was

reflecting on my time within this program and viewing the variety of pieces that I wanted to

showcase, I realized that many of my papers or projects centered around book banning and my

desire to provide an educational environment where diversity in literacy is celebrated. Students

have every right to see themselves or learn about others through the literature they consume

during their time in the educational system. To deny them of a variety of perspectives is to do

them injustice in their education. As Lavar Burton stated in an interview on the Daily Show:

“Read the books they don’t want you to read. That’s where the good stuff is” (SLJ staff). Because

of this program, I believe I have discovered the meaning and purpose for my future in the

classroom.
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Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. “No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear.” Www.thenation.com, 23 Mar. 2015,

www.thenation.com/article/archive/no-place-self-pity-no-room-fear/.

Staff, S. L. J. ““Read Banned Books,” LeVar Burton Tells Kids. “That’s Where the Good Stuff Is.””

School Library Journal, 22 Feb. 2022, www.slj.com/story/read-banned-books-levar-burton-tells-

kids-thats-where-the-good-stuff-is-censorship. Accessed 19 July 2023.