Matthew Bailey

UWRT 1101-074
Ingram
11/24/14
My Final Portfolio
A lot of work went into my e-portfolio. I had to organize it in a way that was easy to
navigate, look scholarly, and in a way that the web site appealed visually. Everything that is
included in the website contributed to what I have learned in this course, even the things that
were not from the class itself. Each piece shows how I have grown as a writer and this can be
shown by how I was engaged in the key concepts that were given to me in the syllabus. All of
these things also reflect on what grade I feel that I deserve at the end of the semester.
I chose to organize my portfolio in a chronological way for the main papers that the class
was given. The only paper that is out of order is this paper, the Final Portfolio Essay (FPE). I
chose to put it as the first essay listed on the website because it gives an overview of the website
itself and it would make the most sense for it to be read first. I chose to post the blogs before the
FPE because they were what was first put on the website. I also wanted all of the papers
together. The notebook artifacts and wildcards were put on the more tab because I felt that they
were the least important pieces of the website. They still are important but they do not show the
way that I developed quite as much as the essays did. I also tried to make the website appealing
to the eye. I chose only pictures that I had taken around campus because I did not want to put up
random pictures of things that were irrelevant to the school. I also tried to pick a template that
looked professional for my e-portfolio. I didnt want anything that looked to cartoony but I also
didnt want something to serious that my deter someone from the site. So I chose a basic

template and spruced it up with pictures and font. That basically sums up why I chose to order
my paper the way that I did.
In discussing how each piece of the website contributed to my learning process I might as
well go in order of the e-portfolio itself. First off my blogs gave me a chance to reflect on the
reading assignments that I was given. These reflections allowed for me to look deeper into the
readings and actually take something out of them myself instead of just overlooking what I had
read. For example my blog post number five contributed to the FPE. In the blog I was asked
questions like Did this chapter give you any ideas for your FPE? If so, what? Or perhaps this
chapter answered some questions for you? Explain. The question caused me to have to take a
step back and actually think and allowed for responses like This chapter helped a lot. It did
more answer questioning than anything but it also threw in a few ideas too. I had a hard time
completely understanding what exactly I was supposed to do with my FPE but this article has
helped me a lot with understanding what it is that I need to do for my essay.
Each essay allowed for me to develop too. Although I do not believe it to be a drastic
change I still feel like I have become a more professional writer and I also feel that it is reflected
in the essays. If you look at each of my papers the Literacy Narrative, Midterm paper, and
Portrait of a Writer you can see how I have developed as a writer. The original draft of my
Literacy Narrative was not up to par but by my final draft it is probably my favorite paper that I
wrote all semester. This is probably because it is something that I pulled straight out of my
memory. I got to choose what I put into it like It was even hard to hear our quarterback call out
the plays and cadence which was okay, okay, set go. This satisfied me as a writer because I
was able to choose an exact moment to be put into my paper. The Midterm was a way for me to
look back on my performance so far this semester. In my Portrait of a Writer I gave an

accurate description of myself as a writer. I did this by looking at how I changed from high
school to college, my writing rituals, writing process, my strengths and weaknesses, how I think
and talk about writing, my favorite genres to write in, and what I appreciate most about other
writers.
The writers choice pieces that I chose to put in included the processes and feedback I did
and received in order to get my final draft, two RRLs from class, a UCOL Journal entry, and a
LBST Blog post. I chose to include my writing processes and the feedback that I received for
my essays because without them a viewer of my e-portfolio would not have an accurate
representation of my development with the papers. I chose the two RRLS because I felt that they
showed the importance of reflection after reading something in order to get more out of it. The
UCOL journal I chose is from around the middle of the semester and I included it because we
were instructed to write about a quote that we had heard before and reflect on it. This quote was
If you find a job that you love you will never work another day in your life. This quote could
apply to writing because writing about what you want is much easier than writing about
something that you do not have any interest in. I have seen this to be true because I enjoyed
writing both my Literacy Narrative and my Portrait of a Writer because I was about to write
about what I wanted, not what I had to write about. The LBST blog that I included simply shows
a creative piece that I had written to introduce my blog character. I chose it as an example
because it shows how my creative writing attributes had developed while taking this course.
My writing has grown a lot since the beginning of the semester and it has been reflected
in my work. If you look back at each piece I wrote you can see the development from each draft
to its final. If you look at my Literacy Narrative you can see how the paper completely changed.
It went from a broad overview of my literacy to an exact moment where my literacy was shown.

My paper went from My reading and writing skills are most likely much like everyone else. I
learned at a young age and developed more and more as I got older. To Many people know
how football works and about the penalty calls, but I know how plays are to be called and how
each position and movement sets way to the next. My paper when from an overview of my
literacy to how I was literate in football. I dont feel that my Portrait of a Writer was my best
work this semester but you can still see how I developed from my first draft to my second.
Mainly what has changed in it were the revisions that were suggested by students and Ms.
Ingram and added pieces that I felt would make the paper better and more enjoyable for the
reader.
I have engaged in many of the key concepts that were given to us at the beginning of the
semester but the three main concepts that I have shown over the entire semester were critical
thinking, getting out of my comfort zone, and the writing process and revision. I have shown
critical thinking in all of my class assignments. As I said in my Midterm paper Critical thinking
was an easy one for me to get a handle on because I already had to do that for high school, which
was one thing that my English teacher did well in preparing me. I have quickly come to learn
that learning the material is all on me now. Not only in this class but in all of them. I still
believe that this is true and that critical thinking has been a key part of my learning process in
class.
Getting out of my comfort zone is one thing that I have had to do in most of my papers
too. I have taken chances and put things into my paper that I would not have normally put in. I
have also tried new styles of writing, like my Literacy Narrative where I styled it in a way that I
had never done before. In my Portrait as a Writer essay I tried to add in new and interesting
things that I had never done before in order to give the paper that little extra to make it great.

That assignment was particularly uncomfortable because we were asked to answer it in a way
that we answered the questions without them sounding like we answered them. That was one big
way that everyone in class had to step out of their comfort zone.
The writing process and revisions is something that I was engaged in with every paper.
Without it my papers would have been lacking in material and overall they would not have been
as good as they are now. This semester has shown me the importance of these two things and it
has also shown me the importance of peer review. Before while in high school I did not care as
much for either the writing process or revisions but now I know that in order to do well in
writing I must do these two things.
I think that overall I deserve an A for this course because I have put in the work that I
believe was necessary to achieve this grade. In this essay I have shown how I deserve that grade
by giving you the accurate description and overview of my e-portfolio and I believe that along
with the rest of the material in my portfolio that I have created that I will get this grade.