portfolios ENGL389 Topics in Writing: Ethnographic Writing
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 [email protected] www.leetorda.com |
Spring 2018 Office Hours:
M 2:00-3:00 W 11:00-12:00 and by appointment. Need to make an appointment? Click here: https://goo.gl/3CqLf |
OVERVIEW. Portfolios work in different ways in different classes. Sometimes they are used to simply collect the work that a student has done over a period of time. Sometimes they are used to mark progress via revision. And sometimes they are used as a way to assess student work—not simply his writing work but his effort and progress in class.
The portfolios you will turn in will do a little bit of all three of those things. This is a chance for you to collect/reflect on your work, to think about what you’ve done well and what you still need to learn. I’ll ask you to write about this in a reflection letter that you include with the portfolios. Another way you will showcase your progress is through revision. You will revise some of your formal writing from each half of the semester. You’ll write about this in your reflection letter as well.
Finally, I will use the portfolios as a way of assessing your effort, progress as a writer and as a student, and the quality of your written work. I will assess the portfolios and include a lengthy letter to you when I return them. That letter will detail your entire career in this class up to that point. It will give you feedback on the quality of the portfolio itself, and I will give you a letter grade that marks your progress in a way that is valued by the college.
NOTE: I can give you two pieces of advice about how to approach portfolios: 1) I take the cover letter seriously. If you don’t, I will know. It only frustrates me to have you waste my time with fluff that you don’t mean and that doesn’t help me to read your portfolio. So take the cover letter/analysis seriously. 2) I look for revision. If you have attempted good revisions, then you will be rewarded for it. If you say you’ve attempted revision but haven’t, you’ll be penalized for it. I don’t know how I can be anymore straightforward about what I will look for in the portfolios .
MIDTERM PORTFOLIO
All of the materials for the midterm portfolio are due to my Tilly 310 Office no later than 3:00, 3 March 2018.
Your midterm portfolio cover letter asks you to reflect on five things:
1) what is ethnography, based on what you understand about it so far;
2) what revision did you do to create the combined draft included in your portfolio.
2) what is working right now in your ethnography based on what you understand ethnography to be;
3) what is working maybe less well, what do you want help with, where do you see a lack--either in the writing or the research;
4) what is next for you in terms of gathering data and/or your writerly craft? Where do you see this piece going?
I'll give you some time in class on Wednesday the 28th to start to develop these answers, and the final is due with the portfolio (on, again, Friday, 3 March 2018).
How I will evaluate your midterm portfolio
The midterm portfolio is worth 15% of your final grade. In order to earn a "B" grade for the portfolio you must:
In order to earn an "A" grade for the portfolio you must:
If you fail to meet the requirements for a "C" grade for the portfolio you will receive an "F" for the 15% of your grade that the portfolio represents.
The portfolios you will turn in will do a little bit of all three of those things. This is a chance for you to collect/reflect on your work, to think about what you’ve done well and what you still need to learn. I’ll ask you to write about this in a reflection letter that you include with the portfolios. Another way you will showcase your progress is through revision. You will revise some of your formal writing from each half of the semester. You’ll write about this in your reflection letter as well.
Finally, I will use the portfolios as a way of assessing your effort, progress as a writer and as a student, and the quality of your written work. I will assess the portfolios and include a lengthy letter to you when I return them. That letter will detail your entire career in this class up to that point. It will give you feedback on the quality of the portfolio itself, and I will give you a letter grade that marks your progress in a way that is valued by the college.
NOTE: I can give you two pieces of advice about how to approach portfolios: 1) I take the cover letter seriously. If you don’t, I will know. It only frustrates me to have you waste my time with fluff that you don’t mean and that doesn’t help me to read your portfolio. So take the cover letter/analysis seriously. 2) I look for revision. If you have attempted good revisions, then you will be rewarded for it. If you say you’ve attempted revision but haven’t, you’ll be penalized for it. I don’t know how I can be anymore straightforward about what I will look for in the portfolios .
MIDTERM PORTFOLIO
All of the materials for the midterm portfolio are due to my Tilly 310 Office no later than 3:00, 3 March 2018.
- Select two sets of RESEARCH NOTES from the first half of the semester that reflect significant moments of learning for you. Select two sets of notes where you learned something about ethnography or writing or both. You do not need to revise these notes unless you are doing so because you are revising an unacceptable set of notes into an acceptable set of notes. In addition to the actual journals, please include a reflection of half a page, single-spaced, typed about why you selected these particular research notes--in what ways do they document moments of learning for you, in what ways were these readings helpful to you, etc. Please note: one 1/2 page reflection that covers both sets of notes, not one reflection for each note, one reflection for ALL of them.
- A revised version of your "The Writer in Her Place" and "Site Description" essays. This is the midway point of your project. You will have written feedback on your first paper and the chance to get verbal feedback on your second paper--as well as the comments of your colleagues to help you revise. Your midterm should include a version of your final project that weaves the first paper and the second paper together in such a way to suggest what your final, final version of the paper might look like and suggests to you as a writer what your next steps might be. Be sure to include your original drafts that you turned in to me or brought to conference.
- Midterm Portfolio Cover Letter. On the last Wednesday before Spring Break, we will do a class exercise that will prepare you to write this cover letter. You will, however, write the letter outside of class, and include it in your midterm materials (due to my Tilly 310 office no later than 3:00 on Friday, 3 March 2018.
Your midterm portfolio cover letter asks you to reflect on five things:
1) what is ethnography, based on what you understand about it so far;
2) what revision did you do to create the combined draft included in your portfolio.
2) what is working right now in your ethnography based on what you understand ethnography to be;
3) what is working maybe less well, what do you want help with, where do you see a lack--either in the writing or the research;
4) what is next for you in terms of gathering data and/or your writerly craft? Where do you see this piece going?
I'll give you some time in class on Wednesday the 28th to start to develop these answers, and the final is due with the portfolio (on, again, Friday, 3 March 2018).
How I will evaluate your midterm portfolio
The midterm portfolio is worth 15% of your final grade. In order to earn a "B" grade for the portfolio you must:
- Include all of three of the required pieces (research notes--including 1/2 page reflection, revised/combined draft of "The Writer in Her Place" & "Site Description", and your midterm portfolio cover letter).
- Attend and participate in the midterm portfolio workshop.
In order to earn an "A" grade for the portfolio you must:
- Do all the things required for an A grade
- Attend a midterm portfolio conference. Sign up for a conference here.
- Attempt some nice, elegant writing--that suggest a tone or style that you might be trying to develop, a writer's voice, throughout the piece.
- Include all of three of the required pieces (research notes--including 1/2 page reflection, revised/combined draft of "The Writer in Her Place" & "Site Description", and your midterm portfolio cover letter).
If you fail to meet the requirements for a "C" grade for the portfolio you will receive an "F" for the 15% of your grade that the portfolio represents.