portfolios ENGL489 Advanced Portfolio Workshop
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LEE TORDA Acting Dean, Undergraduate Studies & Associate Professor of English 200 Clement C. Maxwell Library 508.531.1790 Teaching Website: www.leetorda.com [email protected] [email protected] www.leetorda.com |
Open Hours for students (office hours):
By Appointment. Email me at [email protected] with times/days you'd like to meet, and I will respond within 24 hours. HOW TO ATTEND ZOOM CLASS: Click here to attend. Zoom room opens at 4:30. “Let’s save pessimism for better times” --Eduardo Galeano (Who is Eduardo Galeano? ) |
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 writing work but effort and progress in class. Finally, portfolios in the creative world are a showcase of an artist's best, most representative work.
The portfolios you will turn in will do a little bit of all of those things, depending on which portfolio we are working with. The midterm is a chance for you to collect and 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 portfolio by posting to our Class Discussion Board. Another way you will showcase your progress is through revision. You’ll write about this in your reflection letter as well. The final portfolio, on the other hand, is really all showcase.
Both times you turn in a portfolio, I will use them as a way of assessing your effort, your progress as a writer and as a student, and the quality of your written work. I will read 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.
Midterm Portfolio
The midterm portfolio is a moment to figure out where we are both at in the semester. It's time to take stock to see what you've learned so far and what you want to learn in the rest of the semester. The midterm portfolio reflects this. You will include the following material in your midterm portfolio:
Finally, the last thing you will post to the Class Discussion board, is a cover letter, that will answer the following questions . I don’t care how you structure this letter. You can write it as a letter. You can write it like a memo, an essay, a bulleted list. All I want is for you to answer this. Your portfolio cover letter should be about 300 words (but no more than 500). Here are the questions to answer:
It will be tempting, perhaps, for some of you to sort of blow smoke, if you know what I mean. I get the impulse, but try not to. Try to answer as honestly as you can.
How you will be evaluated
Your Midterm Portfolio is worth 15% of your grade. That 15% is made up mainly by your Revise/Rethink project. You should consult that assignment information for details on how that will be evaluated. In addition to your work on the Revise/Rethink project, you need to complete the other elements of the portfolio to earn the full 15%. The Revise/Rethink project is evaluated based on completing the requirements and about the quality of the work.
Final Portfolio
As I mention in the overview above, some portfolios, namely the portfolios of creative people, contains someone's best, most representative work. That is what the final portfolio for this class should do. Ideally, you will put together a collection of work that you wrote in this class that you might use to get into an MFA or get a writing job or build a teaching portfolio. I am imagining some level of cohesion and symmetry, but I am aware that this might not be the case---that you might not need or be in a position to put together quite that level of portfolio. But, by the end of the semester, all of you should be able to put together solid work. And that's what your final portfolio should be: a collection of your best work. Some of you may need to consult with me because you will either have more or less pages, but, generally, I am looking to see 15 to 20 pages of your best work from this class.
In addition to your revised work, you will write a final portfolio cover letter. That cover letter is also much simpler than your midterm cover letter. Here, explain to me why this is your best and brightest work and what you did to get it that way. Additionally discuss what your next step is (if you have one) as a writer. In a way, I'm thinking of this as an artist's statement--or grad school personal statement, or cover letter, or elevator pitch. This will be your last Class Discussion Board post for the semester.
The portfolios you will turn in will do a little bit of all of those things, depending on which portfolio we are working with. The midterm is a chance for you to collect and 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 portfolio by posting to our Class Discussion Board. Another way you will showcase your progress is through revision. You’ll write about this in your reflection letter as well. The final portfolio, on the other hand, is really all showcase.
Both times you turn in a portfolio, I will use them as a way of assessing your effort, your progress as a writer and as a student, and the quality of your written work. I will read 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.
Midterm Portfolio
The midterm portfolio is a moment to figure out where we are both at in the semester. It's time to take stock to see what you've learned so far and what you want to learn in the rest of the semester. The midterm portfolio reflects this. You will include the following material in your midterm portfolio:
- A selection of your ICRNs. You can select one or two ICRNs from the semester. What should the basis of your selection revolve around? Choose notes that represent an experience with the readings/genre that affected how you thought about your own writing--in terms of what you might want to write, in terms of how you write (so craft), in terms of inspiration, etc. You do not need to revise or recopy your ICRNs. You can simply tell me which Discussion Board entries you are referring to. Include in your google drive materials for your portfolio a 300 word reflection on why you picked what you picked and the ways it affected your writing. You should do the selecting and the reflection out of class. And, it goes without saying, you don't get more points for picking three. Pick as honestly as you can.
- A selection from your writer's notebook. Your basis for selection is simple: pick something you wrote that you really liked. You can pick something you think that maybe, one day, you might revise into something else, but you don't even have to want to revise it. You can just like it. Please include a short, 300 word, overview of why, essentially, you liked it so much that you picked it for inclusion in your google drive materials for your portfolio. You can pick more than one thing, but don't go overboard. You do not need to revise the material in anyway. You can just tell me what entries you are referring to. You should do the selecting and the 300 word reflection out of class.
- Your completed Rethink/Revise piece. Please include any interim drafts that you workshopped with your colleagues or conferenced with me. Include with this piece an overview--500 words--that explains to me what you did to revise the piece, how you think it affected the piece (good or bad), and where, if anywhere, you'd like to see the piece go from here (and I mean that both literally, like getting it published, and figuratively, as in what work you'd still like to do on it). This will be something you will post to the Class Discussion board as part of your work for our asynchronous class on 29 October 2025.
- A proposal for your final project. In the midterm portfolio, I would like for you to include a 500 word discussion of what you think your final project is going to be. Tell me about the following in your 500 words:
- What genre are you writing in?
- How would you briefly summarize the writing you will be doing in the project?
- Why this project and not some other project?
- What are you nervous about as you undertake this project (talk about yourself as a writer here; don't tell me about how you are worried about graduating or fitting all the work in--all that is a given)?
- What might you do to help you know how to do this project better (what kind of reading, what kind of research, what kind of exploration)?
Finally, the last thing you will post to the Class Discussion board, is a cover letter, that will answer the following questions . I don’t care how you structure this letter. You can write it as a letter. You can write it like a memo, an essay, a bulleted list. All I want is for you to answer this. Your portfolio cover letter should be about 300 words (but no more than 500). Here are the questions to answer:
- Upon reflection, what do you know about yourself as a writer at this moment in time?
- How did you get here?
- What sort of writer do you want to become, and what will you have to do to get there?
It will be tempting, perhaps, for some of you to sort of blow smoke, if you know what I mean. I get the impulse, but try not to. Try to answer as honestly as you can.
How you will be evaluated
Your Midterm Portfolio is worth 15% of your grade. That 15% is made up mainly by your Revise/Rethink project. You should consult that assignment information for details on how that will be evaluated. In addition to your work on the Revise/Rethink project, you need to complete the other elements of the portfolio to earn the full 15%. The Revise/Rethink project is evaluated based on completing the requirements and about the quality of the work.
Final Portfolio
As I mention in the overview above, some portfolios, namely the portfolios of creative people, contains someone's best, most representative work. That is what the final portfolio for this class should do. Ideally, you will put together a collection of work that you wrote in this class that you might use to get into an MFA or get a writing job or build a teaching portfolio. I am imagining some level of cohesion and symmetry, but I am aware that this might not be the case---that you might not need or be in a position to put together quite that level of portfolio. But, by the end of the semester, all of you should be able to put together solid work. And that's what your final portfolio should be: a collection of your best work. Some of you may need to consult with me because you will either have more or less pages, but, generally, I am looking to see 15 to 20 pages of your best work from this class.
In addition to your revised work, you will write a final portfolio cover letter. That cover letter is also much simpler than your midterm cover letter. Here, explain to me why this is your best and brightest work and what you did to get it that way. Additionally discuss what your next step is (if you have one) as a writer. In a way, I'm thinking of this as an artist's statement--or grad school personal statement, or cover letter, or elevator pitch. This will be your last Class Discussion Board post for the semester.