portfolios ENGL301 Writing & The Teaching of Writing
|
Need to be in touch with me?
LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 [email protected] www.leetorda.com |
Fall 2015 Office Hours:
MW 11:30 to 12:30 T 11:00 to 12:00 and by appointment. |
OVERVIEW: Portfolio grading is an opportunity for an instructor to evaluate students as a whole—not based on a particular assignment or even on an average of those particular assignments. Rather, the portfolio allows for an instructor to value and evaluate effort, quality of work, future potential, willingness to risk, and the ability of a student to recover from earlier mistakes. Additionally, for me, the portfolio, and in particular the midterm portfolio, is an opportunity to assign a formal letter grade to your work so far this semester, a measurement understood and recognized by you, certainly, after years of the things, and by the institution. But, most of all, the portfolio is an opportunity to take stock of where you are as an individual student and of the class as a whole and, as a result, adjust course (quite literally) accordingly. To do this, I need to see your most polished work to date and how you got there.
Midterm Portfolios
Your midterm portfolio will consist of the following documents:
I will give you a manila envelope during class for you to put all your material in. There is no need for fancy binders and the like. Sincerely, I will only have to dismantle it to read everything. You will receive your portfolios back by the end of the following week with a grade-so-far. What I will look for: effort in the revision and the philosophy of teaching-so-far (even if neither is perfect) and sincerity and thoughtfulness in the reflections.
THE FINAL PORTFOLIO
On the last day of class, you will turn in to me the following material:
1. Up to three reading journals from the entire summer that really marks a moment of discovery for you, include a half page, typed, single-spaced reflection that tells me what your discoveries were. This is the same assignment as from midterm but you can select (but do not need to) one more journal. Perhaps all three of your selections will have changed. Perhaps they will not. Either scenario is OK. You don't have to pick three or even two either. Pick the journals--and, thus, the readings--that most affected how you think about being a teacher of writing and reading. Explain to me the reason for that selection. This was my favorite part of the midterm portfolio and look forward to seeing what you have to say.
2. Your completed Philosophy of Teaching. Include your workshop/conference drafts with the final draft.
3. Your completed Assignment Design. Include your workshop/conference drafts with the final draft. NOTE: you can include as much or as little written material as you want to help me understand your assignment, in addition to the cover letter explaining it (as outlined on the assignment information for the project).
4. A revision of one of your annotations from your annotated bibliography. Yes, just one.
5. A final portfolio cover letter. You will have at least 50 minutes to work on this cover letter. If you hare hand-writing it, the document should be about two and a half, three, single-spaced pages. If you are typing, it should be about two-pages, double-spaced. You can email me your cover letter if you choose to do this on the computer. You can come to class with prepared notes and even a draft if it makes you feel more secure, but you will have and should use that time in class to complete the letter. All summer, I have tried to offer you different ways you might engage your students in the work of reading and writing--and part of that engagement needs to be about reflection on what it means to be a highly skilled reader and writer--what does it mean, for a student, to know where they are at in terms of skill, where they need to go next. The cover letter I am asking you to write for the final portfolio is a version of that. It asks you to spend extended time thinking about literacy and process:
“The charm of baseball is that, dull as it may be on the field, it is endlessly fascinating as a rehash.” - Jim Murray
“You can’t be afraid to make errors! You can’t be afraid to be naked before the crowd, because no one can ever master the game of baseball, or conquer it. You can only challenge it.” - Lou Brock
“People who write about spring training not being necessary have never tried to throw a baseball.” -Sandy Koufax
“Don’t forget to swing hard, in case you hit the ball.” -Woodie Held
Explain to me why I think four quotes about baseball tell us all something about why and how we teach reading and writing to our students. You can use all of the experiences you've had in our class this summer to answer this question and provide examples of what you mean--every reading, every workshop, every group assignment, every random moment, every everything. Don't stress over this. Enjoy writing it.
As I did at midterm, I'll give you a manila envelope for you to put everything in so no need for fancy folders or protective sheets. I will email portfolio cover letters to folks who want them; portfolios will reside in my Tilly 310 office for a full semester for claiming and will be sent to the University archives after that. If you want me to mail your portfolio back to you, please give me an address for that purpose.
Midterm Portfolios
Your midterm portfolio will consist of the following documents:
- One or Two Reading Journals that really marks a moment of discovery for you, include a half page, typed, single-spaced reflection that tells me what your discoveries were. You've read a lot so far this semester about a wide range of things, and hopefully it has given you pause to think about classrooms you've been in and will be in. Select one or two reading journals that identify a moment of insight for you. You don't have to have had the insight in the journal so much as in the act, perhaps, of doing that reading, or in the act of reflecting on the reading before or after class. But wherever and whenever you had your insight, it should be about a moment when you really understood teaching and learning in a new way. You do not need to revise or in anyway alter these journals. You simply need to include them, my comments and all, in your portfolio, along with your half-page reflection.
- Your revised Mentor Text Memoir. Consider the feedback you received on your narrative, and revise as you see appropriate. Include both your revision and the draft you originally turned in to me (you do not need to turn in the workshop drafts this time). Include also, a half page, single-spaced reflection about the changes that this revision reflects in your thinking about what a mentor text is and what it tells you about your future classroom.
- Your book club journals and reflective essay. Please see the book club assignment page for complete details. In the days preceding the midterm portfolio, you will present your book club work in your groups to your class. In the midterm portfolio, you will turn in your individual work.
- A midterm Portfolio Cover Letter: What is your philosophy of teaching-so-far? Your cover letter for your midterm check-in is a document that will live with you for the rest of the semester. In the final portfolio, I will ask you to write a one page philosophy of teaching, something you might include with a resume and cover letter or a teaching portfolio. This document that you create now is like a draft of that later document. It is a first effort. A first attempt to articulate what your classroom will look like, what it will value as a teacher. To write this, consider what you had to say in the other parts of this check-in. This document can be typed or it can be handwritten. You can bring your laptops to class to do this work. You will have at least 50 minutes of class time to write this. You can come to class with prepared notes and even a draft if it makes you feel more secure, but you will have and should use that time in-class to complete the letter. If you are hand-writing it, the document should be about two and a half, three, single-spaced pages. If you are typing, it should be about two-pages, double-spaced. You can email me your cover-letter if you choose to do this on the compute
I will give you a manila envelope during class for you to put all your material in. There is no need for fancy binders and the like. Sincerely, I will only have to dismantle it to read everything. You will receive your portfolios back by the end of the following week with a grade-so-far. What I will look for: effort in the revision and the philosophy of teaching-so-far (even if neither is perfect) and sincerity and thoughtfulness in the reflections.
THE FINAL PORTFOLIO
On the last day of class, you will turn in to me the following material:
1. Up to three reading journals from the entire summer that really marks a moment of discovery for you, include a half page, typed, single-spaced reflection that tells me what your discoveries were. This is the same assignment as from midterm but you can select (but do not need to) one more journal. Perhaps all three of your selections will have changed. Perhaps they will not. Either scenario is OK. You don't have to pick three or even two either. Pick the journals--and, thus, the readings--that most affected how you think about being a teacher of writing and reading. Explain to me the reason for that selection. This was my favorite part of the midterm portfolio and look forward to seeing what you have to say.
2. Your completed Philosophy of Teaching. Include your workshop/conference drafts with the final draft.
3. Your completed Assignment Design. Include your workshop/conference drafts with the final draft. NOTE: you can include as much or as little written material as you want to help me understand your assignment, in addition to the cover letter explaining it (as outlined on the assignment information for the project).
4. A revision of one of your annotations from your annotated bibliography. Yes, just one.
5. A final portfolio cover letter. You will have at least 50 minutes to work on this cover letter. If you hare hand-writing it, the document should be about two and a half, three, single-spaced pages. If you are typing, it should be about two-pages, double-spaced. You can email me your cover letter if you choose to do this on the computer. You can come to class with prepared notes and even a draft if it makes you feel more secure, but you will have and should use that time in class to complete the letter. All summer, I have tried to offer you different ways you might engage your students in the work of reading and writing--and part of that engagement needs to be about reflection on what it means to be a highly skilled reader and writer--what does it mean, for a student, to know where they are at in terms of skill, where they need to go next. The cover letter I am asking you to write for the final portfolio is a version of that. It asks you to spend extended time thinking about literacy and process:
“The charm of baseball is that, dull as it may be on the field, it is endlessly fascinating as a rehash.” - Jim Murray
“You can’t be afraid to make errors! You can’t be afraid to be naked before the crowd, because no one can ever master the game of baseball, or conquer it. You can only challenge it.” - Lou Brock
“People who write about spring training not being necessary have never tried to throw a baseball.” -Sandy Koufax
“Don’t forget to swing hard, in case you hit the ball.” -Woodie Held
Explain to me why I think four quotes about baseball tell us all something about why and how we teach reading and writing to our students. You can use all of the experiences you've had in our class this summer to answer this question and provide examples of what you mean--every reading, every workshop, every group assignment, every random moment, every everything. Don't stress over this. Enjoy writing it.
As I did at midterm, I'll give you a manila envelope for you to put everything in so no need for fancy folders or protective sheets. I will email portfolio cover letters to folks who want them; portfolios will reside in my Tilly 310 office for a full semester for claiming and will be sent to the University archives after that. If you want me to mail your portfolio back to you, please give me an address for that purpose.