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Lauren Raker
UWRT 1101-070
Ingram
11 November 2014
Final Portfolio Essay
Throughout this writing course, I have learned a lot about myself as a writer. Before
taking this course, I didnt know much about my strengths or weaknesses, and I didnt know how
to think outside the box when writing. I was always given a narrow and specific topic and I
couldnt think out of the box when I was in high school. I was used to a five paragraph,
seven to ten sentences in each paragraph essay. Now, Ive learned that when writing it is okay
to connect with other things, use inner dialogue, and be creative. I never thought when writing
the essays that we have written that I would connect literacy to softball and the writing process to
planning a wedding. The writing that we have done in this class has given me confidence in my
writing. It has helped me identify my strengths, conquer my weaknesses, and grow as a writer so
that I can write any paper to the best of my ability. Throughout my final portfolio essay, you
will be able to understand why I put what I put in my e-PORTFOLIO and how it contributed to
the growth of my writing during this course.
Home
When you first pulled up my weebly site, this is what you came to, my home page. This
page contains a little of information about me, a picture of me, and a button that you can push
that will send you directly to my Final Portfolio Essay.

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FPE
On my FPE page, you will find the mind-map I created to help keep me organized. You
will also find my Final Portfolio Essay. The Final Portfolio Essay is the last piece of writing that
I did in my UWRT 1101 class. It is the readers tour guide for my e-PORTFOLIO. I organized
my e-PORFOLIO in chronological order. I wanted it to mirror the flow of this semester long
UWRT course.
Literacy Narrative
My literacy narrative was the first college essay I had ever written. Before I started
writing my literacy narrative, I definitely was not confident in my writing. I could help but
wonder, is everybodys paper going to be better than mine? I am going to look ridiculous in
front of everyone in my peer group; they are probably going to think that I cant write to save my
life. After the first peer workshop, I discovered that I was a much better writer than I had ever
imagined, and I was able to provide feedback, as well as receive it. Geena and Olivia, my peer
group members, did not have much negative feedback for me at all. All they had to say was,
Maybe combine some of your sentences to reduce the repetitiveness of He taught, She
taught, and how to, and Talk about your best experiences. Through the process of writing
my literacy narrative, I discovered what I was capable of doing with my writing skills. I was
able to think out of the box and connect literacy to softball. I was challenged to use all of my
senses. I had to capture almost every emotion my teammates and I had in that championship
softball game that we played six years ago against Steele Creek.
On my literacy narrative page, I have included my first, second, and third drafts and my
Dear Reader Letter. I included all of the drafts for this essay because I think that these drafts

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show a lot of growth, and it shows the criticism that I got back from my peer workshop group
and Ms. Ingram. In my first draft, I was very brief and wrote about three of my softball literacy
sponsors, and I talked about what each person did to help me become literate through the journey
of my softball career, but I failed to go into detail. After my first draft, Ms. Ingram had us write
a Dear Reader Letter. In this letter, I said that I didnt think that I used the word literacy
enough, and that I think that I just wrote a paper about softball. Then I realized that almost
nobody wrote a paper about literacy. This wasnt a paper about literacy aka reading and writing,
even though it very well could have been, but it was a paper about how you became literate in
something. In the second draft, I zoomed in on my dad, all the things that he taught me, and I
used my senses to help make the championship game come alive. I had way more emotion in
this draft. For example, He yelled at us until our faces were filled with tears. He had a way of
making all of us feel worthless. In my third draft, I combine the first and second drafts
together, added a few more details, and took a few things out. My third draft also presents all the
feedback that I received from Ms. Ingram. As you read through all three drafts and the
comments, that helped me make some changes when I edited and revised my drafts to help create
the final draft of my literacy narrative. In my final draft, I took all of my peers and Ms. Ingrams
feedback into account. I played around with dialogue and inner dialogue. For example, Believe
me, I was cussing him up and down while I was running those laps or doing those pushups too.
While writing this essay I engaged in three key concepts. I received my peers
feedback, I provided feedback for my peer, I made the connection between literacy and softball,
and I took responsibility for my own learning. I used my peers as resources and took their
feedback into consideration that helped my Literacy Narrative blossom into a beautiful piece of
writing that I never in a million years would have thought was possible.

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When organizing this page, I knew I wanted to use some of the modes of communication,
so I decided to add a few pictures and labels for every piece of work. I organized my Literacy
Narrative page from left to right and top to bottom in chronological order. All of my drafts are
labeled as what type of artifact they are and what they are, and the artifact was placed below
each label. The pictures on the page have descriptions underneath them to tell you what they are
and who is in them.
Portrait of a Writer
The Portrait of a Writer Essay was very challenging for me. It was hard to talk about
myself as a writer, especially my strengths. At this point in the course, I could only base my
strengths off of the Literacy Narrative and how I progressed through its drafts. Also, I am a very
negative person, especially when Im talking about myself. I dont ever have anything good to
say about myself; this is why it was so hard to come up with a strength or two. After several
minutes passed of me just looking at the computer screen trying to figure out what to write, I
decided to think about the drafts from the peers I work shopped with, and I looked through my
own drafts to get a good idea. I noticed that I only have a few grammar errors, and that other
people struggled with it. On the first draft of my Portrait of the Writer essay, Nancys comment
said, Out of all the essays this semester, yours is the most clear and grammar-free. Because you
barely had any grammar issues, it was really easy to understand what you were trying to say.
Your thoughts are very clear and I have no problem comprehending your thought process.
Therefore, I listed that I was a clear and concise writer with minimal grammar errors as my
strengths. It was fairly easy to describe my writing process because I do it every time I decide to
write. It was also easy to come up with a weakness. Since Im so clear and concise, sometimes I
just cant elaborate on anything I write about.

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On my portrait of a writer page, you will find my first draft, the side-shadowing exercise,
and feedback from Ms. Ingram. To create my first draft, I used all of the critism that I received
from all of my Literacy Narrative drafts. When I was done writing it, I felt like my paper was
too boring and I needed something clever to put in my paper. During my second draft, I was
looking through Pinterest and I got the idea to connect the writing process to planning a
wedding. I also used the second draft in the side-shadowing exercise. This exercise really
helped me figure out what needed to be changed and what did not need to be changed. The sideshadowing exercise asked you questions to make sure each sentence had a purpose in every
paragraph. Whether it was a topic sentence, supporting sentence, or a concluding sentence, it
had a purpose. This exercise also made sure that every paragraph transitioned well to the next
paragraph. In my third draft, Ms. Ingram pointed out a few things that could be improved, such
as when I considered myself as a freedom writer. She said, Consider explaining this allusion a
bit? I havent seen this movie in years, so its hard to grasp your true meaning. But I didnt
mean for it to be related to the movie. I just meant that I had more freedom with my writing
throughout this course than I did in high school. Overall, she and Geena thought I had made a
lot of improvement from my Literacy Narrative. I had all of the elements she was looking for,
dialogue, sensory details, and relatable details, and Geena stated, I really enjoyed reading your
paper. I am honestly very impressed. As you said in your paper I was in your first group and I
saw major improvement. (Ms. Ingram commented, Yes, beside Geenas comment.) In my
final draft, I included all of the feedback that I received from my peers and Ms. Ingram and the
elements that she was looking for to create the best final draft to the best of my ability.

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On my Portrait of a Writer page, I included five pictures from my sisters wedding. This
personal touch really helped the page come alive and not look so bland. So that the reader would
know what was what, I put a label above each artifact.
Midterm
On my midterm page, theres nothing fancy; all it includes is my midterm. My midterm
measures how much I had grown as a writer half way through this writing course. It explains the
three concepts I have conquered while being in this class.
Providing and receiving feedback is my specialty. I love revising papers and giving the
author positive and negative feedback. I also love receiving feedback. Receiving
feedback helps me grow as a writer and there is always room for improvement. Making
connections can be tough if I am not interested in a topic of a paper. I have always taken
responsibility for my own learning. [I take the feedback I get on every paper, and I learn
from it.] I like to have other peoples opinions, and when someone else reads my paper
they are more than likely going to find issues with it whereas I would probably think
there is nothing wrong with it.
Blog
On my blog page, there are six posts. One thing I notice as I look through my blog posts
is that they are all very organize. Either the answers to the questions are numbered or the
answers in paragraph form corresponds to the question numbers in order (Blog Post #6). Each
topic for each blog post was assigned by Ms. Ingram. I followed the directions given and
completed each blog post to the best of my ability.
Other Artifacts

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On the other artifacts page, I decided to include my first reader response letter and my
artifact check sheet. My first reader response letter really helped open my eyes to what writing is
all about. Ms. Ingram commented on my paper and she said, If the writing doesnt
communicate well or fulfill its purpose, does grammar/punctuation even matter? This idea had
never really crossed my mind until I read Ms. Ingrams comment. In high school, the teachers
main focus was grammar. I dont want to say that they didnt care about the content, but it just
didnt come across as important as grammar. The comment that Ms. Ingram made in my reader
response letter really helped my writing grow. After I read this comment, I wasnt as focused on
grammar anymore, and I started focusing on the message I wanted to relay to the readers of my
papers. Needless to say, I was mind-blown after reading this comment; its like everything I had
ever been taught about writing papers had just disappeared from my mind. The other artifact I
decided to include was my artifact check sheet. By making this check sheet, I was able to keep
track of what artifacts were what, and what artifacts I needed to put on each page of my ePORTFOLIO. The check sheet really kept me organized throughout this whole process; it also
kept my mind from being all over the place when thinking about what artifacts I needed to
include in my e-PORTFOLIO.
Conclusion
In this essay, I have portrayed every aspect that Ms. Ingram is looking for in an ePORTFOLIO. I have made a complete, thoughtfully arranged and easily navigable ePORTFOLIO. In my final portfolio essay, I have explained and illustrated how all work is
completed to the best of my ability. In the FPE, I have thoroughly illustrated my growth as a
writer by quoting and analyzing pieces of my writing from this course. I have thoughtfully and
thoroughly discussed my engagement with at least three key concepts. I have quoted from at

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least five texts from the course (by other authors) to illustrate my engagement with course
materials and to highlight what was most meaningful to my learning. My e-PORTFOLIO leaves
no unanswered questions for the reader/teacher about my work and engagement in the course (EPortfolio Grade Scale, A-100-90 exemplary, Ingram). With that said, I feel as if I deserve an A
on my e-PORFOLIO and in this course.