Portfolio Essay On my homepage I used a lot of visual modes of communication to help present myself through the project due

to that the non-genretized project was very personal to me because I also event. I wanted to make the homepage look almost like a scrapbook to show photos of my Eventing career. Additionally, by proving I competed in Eventing, this adds ethos appeal to my homepage because then when the reader comes to the exploratory essay and the multi-genre project, these writings both become more reliable. It shows I know first hand on what is being talked about in each writingfor instance, I have felt the feelings that were talked about in my poem, so the writer knows that these would be real-life thoughts during an Event. Additionally on my multi-genre project tab, the way it is set up is overall a spatial mode of communication. I put the video first so the audience has a visual form of communication and also an ethos appeal to the video. Then following the video the audience has a linguistic form of communication and a pathos appeal to the poem. I chose to put them in this order, so that initially the audience can see first hand what Eventing is like; they can see what is actually happening during an Event. I felt this was very important to give the audience a visual idea because the average person most likely does not even know what Eventing is. Additionally, this is another ethos appeal because all of the pictures/videos provided in the video are of myself and of a close friend that also competes at the same level as I. After the video, the audience has a very reasonable idea on what is happening, leading them into the poem. With a visual, the reader is capable of imagining what is happening

in the poem as it is being talked about. This makes the poem much more powerful to the reader if they can actually have an accurate imagination of what is happening. Secondly, the way the tabs are set up above shows a form of spatial communication. Putting my Exploratory essay in front of my multi-genre project allows the reader to firstly gain knowledge about Eventing because how the sport works is the main topic of my Exploratory essay. Additionally I want the reader to understand my passion for the sport from my own personal view so they can understand how intimate I was with my multi-genre project.

Blog The blog was an excellent way for me to write about whatever came to my mind. Although initially my blogs were somewhat short and to the point, it was nice that I had the capability to go back and add on to them whenever I pleased. Also, it was a great way for me to see the changes in my writing personally. For instance, my first blog was very scattered and short. But when I went back a few weeks later to work on my blog and apply new techniques that I had learned, I was capable of seeing more mistakes then I would have initially. Additionally I enjoyed the blogs due to that I was capable of freely writing. With this in mind, I was capable of writing in a more personal, and informal way. The blog was also a good brainstorming technique. The blog allowed me to go ahead and think ahead for class, and additionally informed me on the questions that I needed to be asking for the next class time. This was very helpful because

then in class I knew exactly what to expect, and in addition; be prepared with questions or need-to-know information.

Midterm Essay When I wrote the midterm essay, it was a great refresher on being able to apply new skills I had recently learned, and almost a reward to be able to show off my new skills as well. (Almost like I am able to do with this Portfolio Essay) The midterm essay also made me dig deeper into the syllabus and see what would actually make an A worthy portfolio. With that research that I did, I am now able to apply my findings into this portfolio. Although I did not use the inquiry question that I talked about in my midterm essay, I was able to apply my round-table audience to help mold my multi-genre project. In other words, by coming up who would be interested in Eventing, it lead me to discover how the Olympics are debating on taking Eventing out.

Exploratory Essay The exploratory essay was probably my favorite piece of writing this semester. I finally had a chance to express who I was, and tell the class about something that truly interested me, and something that I was passionate about. Being able to write about something I loved made it much easier to apply new skills that I had learned. For example, being able to elaborate has always been a problem of mine. But, when you look at my essay, you will clearly be able to see that I had no issue at all being able to fully discuss my passion for Eventing. Additionally, I am

very proud of this piece, because I hope I get my audience interested into the amazing sport of Eventing. Also, while writing the essay, if you refer to my feedback tab you will see a highlighted note that explained to write out numbers if they are under 100. This was something that I learned while writing the draft due to that I was originally switching between three and 3. This was very helpful to me due to that I have always been confused on which way to go with numbers. Also, working on making an essay flow has always been a challenge for me. But in my Eventing essay, I feel like I ended up doing an excellent job flowing between expressing my passion and also informing readers on what exactly Eventing is. For example, in my essay I am explaining what cross country is but then turned the thought into my own personal opinion of that specific portion of the Event. The course is usually two miles long and to complete within the given time, both horse and rider have to be in top competing shapeI find it very exhilarating when I gallop through the finish line and know I did the very best I can Being able to flow through the fact and my own personal opinion is something that I am very proud of in this essay.

Multi Genre Project In my multi genre project, I learned the most from writing my reflection paper. Before having to write this essay, I was confused on how to apply the 5 modes of communication, and Aristotles Appeals. On my first rough draft I thought I did okay, but after getting feedback on my essay from Ms. Ingram (located in

feedback tab) she showed me even more of how my project showed ethos appeal and spatial mode of communication. While writing my essay, I was able to make connections to all of the new ideas, and be able to make my project much more than what I originally thought it was. For instance, my video is riding footage of a close friend and myself. Originally, I just thought it would be neat to use personal events, but Ms. Ingram showed me how this additional has an Ethos appeal due to the it shows the audience my personal experience, reigning me reliable. I was then capable of putting new idea into my essay stating, By acknowledging the pathos side through my poem, with the video I tried to pull that over into ethos. For instance, all the videos and photos are of myself, and of one of my good friends who competes at the same level as I. By using my own footage, I gain credibility of the sport from the audience, because I personally compete in Eventing. Now being able to make these connections now, make me capable of doing the exact same thing to my whole E-portfolio. Overall I have found this new technique to be very useful, I feel being able to apply modes of communications and appeals to make a project/paper much more personal and more meaningful. The only thing that I wish I could change about my multi genre project is on my video I wish I could have added music to also have an aural mode of communication. Trying to take Ms. Ingrams advice and doing so, I attempted to add a song. But unfortunately, the program I made the video off would not allow music. I feel that this would have also made the video much more powerful. It was very

unfortunate that I couldnt make that happen, but I did attempt to take that piece of feedback and make it happen.

Annotated Bibliography The annotated bibliography was very interesting for me. When I first began my research, I was looking at a totally different angle than what I expected to end at. Firstly, I was researching the history of Eventing, spending my time trying to figure out when Eventing when from a military all men sport to an open all gender sport. But, as I dug deeper, I started researching current events of Eventing. This is what caused me to stumble across my final inquiry question. After discovering Eventing was going to be removed from the Olympics, I knew this is what I wanted to continue my research on.

Notebook Artifacts For my two Notebook Artifacts I chose two Reader Response Letters that really helped me throughout the course. One was the very RRL that was based off of our initial thoughts of the textbook. I stated how I thought I would dislike the layout of the book, but throughout the course I began to appreciate it. Due to the uncommon style of teaching, the book actually entertained me, as well as taught me and refreshed me on very important key concepts. In my response letter I wrote how the textbook said, Your surroundings affect your writing. At first I did not fully understand or grasp what this meant, but as I have continued writing throughout this semester, I have grown to realize how my settings do affect my

writing. For instance, it tends to take me twice as long to write if I am in a room with noise or any type of distraction. I have realized that that the only place I can efficiently write is in a quiet room and at a clean, organized desk. In my second RRL, I discussed an article called RespondReally Respond. This article helped me a lot throughout the semester with my revision/feedback skills. Initially before entering this course, when I revised I simply just corrected grammatical errors or typos in someones paper. But with the help of this article I grew to understand that there is much more to giving feedback. Such as discussing the piece, showing them options, or asking more questions to help give the writer something else to talk about in their writings.

Wildcards The first wildcard that I decided to chose to put in my portfolio was the Improving Peer Review paper. This was additionally an excellent paper that helped guide me through the semester to improve my peer reviewing skills on others papers, but additionally peer review my own paper. Once I begin to write an essay, I have a very hard time trying to completely change it. Although my final drafts were not changed drastically after being turned in originally, after this paper and our cutting up our essays workshop, this did open up many options to me on what I can do with a paper, or how I can make changes just by switching paragraphs around. This paper along with that specific activity taught me a lot to reviewing sometimes it is not just the little stuff, but looking at the essay overall, and making big changes as needed.

The second wildcard I chose was a piece of paper Ms. Ingram had handed out in order to help us dig deep for our inquiry question. This paper helped me come up with a basic easy to answer question, and turn into a question that I cant just type into Google and answer. Ms. Ingram did an excellent job in showing us a basic question, and pushing the question farther and farther into deeper meaning. I constantly went back to this paper to see if the questions I was asking were as meaningful as Ms. Ingrams questions. Also, if your refer to the process work, you can see where I would keep up with my questions, and try to push farther and farther till I found a question I was satisfied with.

Throughout the semester, I feel that I have grown and matured as a writer. Initially when entering second semester English, I was beginning to grasp the concepts of writing essays, such as elaborating on ideas, or making an essay flow. But throughout the class, and completing my final portfolio, I can see a huge difference from the beginning and now. This was noticeably apparent when I went back and revised my blogs (as I have stated above). Additionally, I learned about giving feedback to other writers. No other class that I have ever participated in has actually taken the time to teach how to give feedback. In that case before, I never truly knew what to look for, or how to help another writer. But after taking the time to look at actual papers on revision, I feel that I can actually help another writer now, and help improve someones essay. By the end of this semester, I can honestly see the improvement in my writing. From how my blogs initially started, to how proud I am of my essays and

especially this final portfolio I believe I deserve an A in the class. During class time, even though I am usually a silent participator I still actively listen in class, and try to be as useful as possible during workshops. I always come prepared with the materials required for class time, and always ask questions about assignments when needed. All of my essays are written to the best of my ability, and my multi genre project not only has my time and effort put into it, but also has my heart in it as well. All of my writings from this semester have been a reflection of me, and they are something that I am very proud of. Additionally, my portfolio has been very nicely put together. From the way it is organized, or setup everything has meaning behind it. Also, all assignments were completed and I believe I did an excellent job explain each piece in my final portfolio essay. With all of the hard work I have put into each assignment I believe all of this justifies to an A.