Christian Troy Laney Professor Hofmann English 1101-005 1 May 2013

Dear Guest, I would first like to say that this semester in English 1101 has been amazing. Coming into this course, I did not think I would be leaving with so much joy, and accomplishments. I have been able to grow within this course and within the classroom like I have never done before. I remember having to state my name, my major, where I was from, and what language I spoke on the first day of class. I was extremely nervous to do so. Today, I am able to state that without any problem, and also, I found that this was the hidden beginning to the accumulation of topics and discussions to follow. I am happy to have taken this course with Professor Hofmann, and with the peers I have been able to share my experiences with. I have learned so much in this course. I have learned things about myself, my writing, my peers, and all kinds of new things that I had not known before. This course has equipped me with skillsets that I am able to use in other courses and better polish my writing works. The most important skillset I have learned is revising. I thought revising was editing and making punctuation correction; however, I learned that revising is putting myself into another persons shoes to interpret the writing how they would. To revise, you have to look at something in the attended audience perspective. I want to appeal to Professor Hofmann and my peers, and I was able to receive feedback from the two to help me revise my pieces of this portfolio. Without the revision process, I would have pieces that werent appealing to others but only me because my

first drafts would be the final, and I would be the only perspective reader. This process has allowed me to finish some great pieces, and you will soon be reading them within my ePortfolio. This course is focused around one goal, and that goal is to complete a portfolio that reflects my writing, and showcase final pieces. The components of this portfolio are the guts of the portfolio, and without these components, my portfolio would be an empty shell. In class writing assignments are the first to be showcased in my portfolio. This component of the portfolio is the informal writings that I completed inside and outside of class. In-class writing assignments, at the beginning of this semester, were about dialect, and speaking. These were the discussions about Ebonics and dialects that we spoke. Then, there was a transition into literacy, and this standard of American English. Lastly, there were assignments based on major writings that we were completing, and mainly, reflections upon those. These in-class writing assignments served to get my peers and I thinking, and reflecting on experiences that we may or may not have had with the topic at choice. At home writing assignments were the reflections on the readings that we read outside of class. My favorite reading through this course has been Jhumpa Lahiris Trading Stories. This memoir by Lahiri shows how she was influenced by her parents, culture, and aspirations and how they have influenced her literacy. Her family has that connection with books, and reading. I thought this story was relevant to me, because I have a strong connection with my parents, and they have influenced my literacy a lot. This brings me to my most favorite piece of the portfolio, my literacy memoir. This course has a main topic, and that topic is literacy. Dialect, background, and influences have shaped my literacy, and I was able to reflect upon my literacy and give insight to where my literacy is today.

My literacy memoir is a great reflection on a few of the main influences that have attributed to my literacy. This memoir has such a great connection with the course, and me as a writer. At the beginning of this course, I really did not know what literacy meant. I never had discussed it before, and I had not completely comprehended what it meant. At first, I thought it was how well someone could read and write, and I thought it only pertained to English classes. However, through readings such as, Mirabellis Learning to Serve, I was able to understand that literacy is formed through all experiences, and it is not subjected to one genre. My overall piece has three main influences that have mostly impacted my literacy, and they are: parents background, educational background, and automotive background. When I started to brainstorm for this memoir, I was not sure what I was going to include, but then, I decided what the most important influential factors were to my literacy. These were the three I chose. I completed what I thought was a strong rough draft, but I soon found out through peer and professor review, I had a lot of revision to do. I began the revision process by answering the questions that Professor Hofmann and peers had considered. This stage of the memoir was my favorite because I was able to further reflect, and add more information to my memoir so that people could have a better understanding of my literacy. After a few more revision, I have a literacy memoir that I am most proud of, and am happy to share with my peers and professor. Being able to look back and provide a concrete memoir and to showcase where my literacy has gotten me is the reason this is my favorite piece. I am happy with the revision choices that I made, and I have polished this piece until it is shining bright like a diamond. The next major piece of the portfolio is the Discourse Community Ethnography piece. This is a piece in my portfolio that I have thoroughly enjoyed producing. Using what I learned through Swales characteristics of a Discourse Community, I had the opportunity to choose a

Discourse Community that I wanted to further explore. I chose the Multicultural Resource Center Sex & Gender diversity here at UNC Charlotte. I had to overcome some challenges with completing this paper. One requirement of the paper was to conduct an interview of a member within this community, and incorporate into the paper. I had two failed attempts at an interview, and I guess they say, the third time is a charm. The third time I was able to complete the interview, and incorporate into my paper. The interview portion of this paper was very important, because I had to obtain a lot of insiders information from my interviewee, Joshua Burford. Although there were some ups and downs with completing this assignment, I am proud to represent my community, and I feel as though I have done so in a way that outsiders will gain insight into my community. This e-Portfolio is a success that I have had within this course. The components are a success, and my e-Portfolio showcases them well. I was not familiar with Weebly or Wix, so I knew that this would be a challenge when constructing this online portfolio. I chose Weebly, and I had to figure out how to create a site. Of the two, Weebly was the one that was less difficult and friendlier user to create a website. I used time to navigate myself through the site and learn how to create and design my e-Portfolio. What I have done with my portfolio is attempted to allow the reader to feel welcomed and drawn to read my pieces. My idea behind the design of my portfolio is to have an aesthetic appeal. UNC Charlotte is located near the city of Charlotte, so I thought this would be my theme throughout the portfolio. While I went with a city theme, I wanted to have my country roots represented somehow, so the design of the portfolio has a sleek wood pattern as the background. I have incorporated personal pictures, and easily navigable ideas into this e-Portfolio, so that readers can fully enjoy my pieces as well as the portfolio. I hope you enjoy my English 1101 e-Portfolio.

Thank You, Christian Troy Laney