The Portfolio

1. The Portfolio Early Planning & Preparation A workshop designed for the beginning of your semester.

2. To complete this workshop, you will need: Something to write with~ you will want to take notes and complete the five activities in this workshop. A monthly scheduler Your course syllabus & calendar Free planners are available online. http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/53268.html http://www.uksafari.com/planner.htm

3. So…What IsA Writing Portfolio? The Writing Portfolio at JCC is a collection of yourwriting at its best. It offers evidence of achievement and progress related to department standards defined by the college’s composition faculty and personal goals identified by you. Every writing student at JCC must submit a portfolio consisting of a variety of revised papers completed during the current semester that best demonstrate competency in skills and strategies appropriate to the course in which you are enrolled.

4. General Portfolio Requirements Include

5. The Purpose of the Portfolio The portfolio is meant to help you understand and appreciate writing as a skill that develops over time. The portfolio process encourages study of rhetorical skills and thoughtful revisions of papers. English 131.01 Shirk Student #4

6. In addition to serving as a learning tool, the portfolio is an evaluation tool. Put plainly, the portfolio serves as your final exam. It is worth 35 – 50 % of your course grade. Your instructor determines this percentage. Look through your course syllabus and make note of what portion of your grade the portfolio is worth. Remember through this workshop

7. Unlike a traditional exam that requires you to show what you know in a timed setting, you will work on your portfolio over the entire semester! This way, you have time to meet course expectations, master skills, establish quality goals, and revise all of your papers in order to present your best writing. In a very real way, you can write your way to the grade you most desire.

8. Goal Setting & Planningare Keys to Success The rest of this workshop will help you set solid writing goals and plan for your portfolio success.

9. Activity 1 Since reflection and self-awareness help with goal setting and are great predictors of success, this first activity asks you to write responses to: • Identify two things about yourself as a writer that you consider strengths. For instance, if you enjoy writing poetry, your strengths might include the ability to capture detail. If you are an organized person, outlining may be a strength. • Identify two things related to writing with which you are most uncomfortable. • Identify two characteristics of good writing that you would like to practice. Once you have identified these areas, you can work from your strengths, address concerns, and practice new skills over the semester.

10. Portfolio Outcomes JCC composition faculty have also created goals, called outcomes, for you. Outcomes promote writing that: • is engaging, original, clear, focused, and well-developed; • uses a variety of modes; • addresses purpose, engages audience, and establishes credibility; • develops a central idea using specific supports; • controls organization; • integrates source material and documents sources correctly; • creates polished drafts through drafting and revision; • uses correct grammar and mechanics. Your portfolio grade will reflect your competency in these areas.

11. Activity 2: Check In Line up your goals with department goals. Take notes as you compare and contrast the strengths, concerns, and desires you identified about yourself as a writer with the previous list of outcomes. • Make note of outcomes that are similar to strengths or concerns you identified. Look over the course syllabus to discover how the class will be addressing these outcomes. Review the text for chapters or units that work with the these areas as well, note them. If you cannot see where the class materials address outcomes, ask your instructor • Identify any of your strengths or concerns that you do not see listed in the outcomes and note them. • Later, you may need to talk with your instructor about any areas of concern that you do not see addressed by the outcomes and/or you do not see in your text. Ask how the class will address your concerns. ASK your questions! Self-advocacy is a positive skill to practice on the road to success.

12. Your instructor, JCC writing technicians, CSS tutors, and fellow writing students are here to answer questions, help you analyze your writing process, assist as you develop skills, and discuss the ideas in your writing. We want to help you develop skills that will strengthen your writing and enhance your critical thinking. Flying Time Purpose: To show how time management improves student learning Audience: College students

13. The portfolio process is an opportunity to develop personal habits that enhance your skills as a writer, serve your educational goals, and make you an individual employers will value.

14. Activity 3: Time Management Professionals find success is often tied to effective time management. Planning adequate time to write, receive feedback, and revise your drafts will help you produce stronger portfolios. For this activity, you will need your course syllabus, calendar, something to write with, and a planner.

15. Activity 3: Step One Forecast: Review your class syllabus and calendar to find the answers to the questions on the next slide. They will help you think about writing you will be doing. If your syllabus and class calendar do not contain the answers, ask your instructor. Plan: Record important dates in your scheduler. ???

16. The Questions: • How many papers will you write this semester? • What modes will you be studying? • How much time has the instructor allotted for you to write your papers? • Which ones will require primary or secondary research? • How many drafts does your teacher require? • When are you scheduled to share (workshop) drafts with your peers? • When are drafts and revised papers due? • When are you required to complete GPAW activities? • Are there special projects that require collaborative writing, service learning arrangements, or field research that you need to plan for? Record all draft and workshop due dates in your scheduler. Save extra time for special projects and research. Write up interview Editing Bug-a-Boos 2-4 Paper 2 Due

17. Activity 3: Step Two How Much Time to Plan? Very few writers can dash off a cogent, coherent draft in one sitting. Quality writing requires investment in the methodology you will use to accomplish the task--often referred to as The Writing Process. How you engage the process will differ from project to project. While we cannot tell individuals exactly how much time to plan for each paper, we can tell you that good writing requires intellectual sweat and many hours. Research writers often create a formal writing schedule to help keep themselves on track. However, you need not limit good planning to larger projects. Shorter papers still need time for discovering, focusing, developing, organizing, and revising. A paper planner is provided on the following slide. Copy and paste it into a Word document; use it to plan for each of your papers.

18. Date assigned:___________________________ Date first draft is due______________________ Date revised draft is due:__________________ Required Length_______________ Assignment parameters. For instance, does the assignment require a specific mode—literary analysis, compare/contrast, cause/effect, subjective opinion, objective factual? Must you write on a specific subject? Are you confined to a period of time or a political slant? Discovery strategies you would like to use (circle as many as apply): focused free writing and looping brainstorming mapping/clustering journalist questions exploring the senses dramatization Topic:_________________________________________ Purpose for Writing_________________________ To inform, entertain, explain, persuade, argue? Audience Identify your primary readers—to whom are you addressing this piece? Identify your secondary readers—who else may be interested in reading? Audience needs What does your audience already know about your topic? What is their attitude toward the topic? What information do they not possess that you need to supply? What response do you hope to achieve from the audience? Writing Process (methodology): How do you plan to achieve your purpose? How will you develop your ideas? Will you use details, facts, examples? Will a scratch outline help? Will you work with your peers, your instructor, a writing technician Will you research? Planning Research: If you need to conduct primary or secondary research, what sources will you need? Plan time to take research notes, summarize source information, and document source information. How many sources are required?__________ Your Topic’s Significance Why is this an interesting topic to write about? How will it connect with readers? What one idea are you most interested in conveying? A Working Thesis Statement___________________________________ Will your thesis be implied or directly stated? Where in your paper will your audience encounter this main idea? Essay Outline Will you make a scratch outline or a formal outline? When will you begin to consider an organizational plan? Be sure to include references to researched materials in your outline. List of GPAW workshops that might help with this paper. Paper Planner

19. Based on the information gained by completing the paper planner,you canset aside writing time for each phase of your project. Include time for discovery, organizing, drafting, and revising. 9-11 English: Invention & Discovery Workshop 7-9 Write first draft 11-12 make a Scratch outline Of the rough draft More writing Send to writer’s group 9-12 Read feedback Revise

20. “To Do” Lists are also good time management tools “To Do” lists are not simply records of what we need to accomplish during a day or a week. If, during the day, you need to go to two classes, work, shop for groceries, and study, listing the events will not, alone, help you manage your time. Effective ‘To Do’ lists estimate how much time each activity and assignment will take. Some things on your list may end up in your planner. Keeping daily or weekly “To Do” lists will help you to become more time-conscious and a better time manager. Remember to include writing time on your list! Tuesday 1 Study for calculus exam 2 hours 2 Pick up cat litter, errands and oil change –1.5 hr (lunch) 3 Library: 2 hrs research for English paper 4 Pick up Danny at 5:00 (½ hr) 5 Dinner/family 2.5 hours 6 Practice dialogue for theater class 1 hour

21. Planning and listing are good habits; they work even better when flexible. Be sure to give yourself permission torevise and reschedule if work or other concerns require a shift in your plans. In other words, accommodate your life while still accomplishing your goals. One key to continued success is follow-through on the reschedule. Past writing students testify over and over again that loose promises to oneself to ‘do the work later’ are rarely kept and that such self-talk results in last minute, poorly written products. When plans shift, reschedule a new writing time right away. DON’T LISTEN TO THAT VOICE! Reschedule time now! I I CAN WRITE AFTER I GO OUT WITH MY FRIENDS. Ignore this little voice! It leads to procrastination.

22. Activity 5 The little voice of procrastination is only one obstacle that can jump in your way during this semester. Identify other internal or external obstacles that, in your past, have prevented you from engaging the writing process. List them.

23. THE DEVILS THAT PLAGUE US CAR PROBLEMS computer crashes: the computer ate my homework NEGATIVE SELF-TALK Work calls me in & I have to go MONEY WORRIES Watching TV procrastination DISTRACTIONS NOT ENOUGH SLEEP SICK KIDS HOUSEWORK POOR NUTRITION FAMILY INTERUPTS a friend calls & wants to go out dog had puppies in the swamp WRITER'S BLOCK HATE THE ASSIGNMENT

24. Activity 6 Discovering the best approach to writing is a personal process. What works well for one may not work for another. Some of us require complete quiet while writing; others need music in the background. Some of us have supportive family members who will pick up some extra housework while we write our papers; others may have friends or family that mock our educational goals. For this activity, first identify what you need, want, and/or enjoy in order to write; think in terms of space, environment, and materials. Close your eyes for a minute and think about writing. Visualize yourself writing successfully, without distractions. What do you see? Next, identify two or three habits (little devils)that prevent you from fully engaging your writing process. Write for at least five minutes about your needs and bad habits. Try to come up with ways to meet your needs and eliminate bad habits. For instance, if family interruptions are high on your list, you may need to consider if you have tried to find a space that separates you from the maddening crowd OR if you’ve made your needs clear OR if you’ve not fulfilled something you promised your family, so they are bugging you. Remember, very little is totally beyond our control. We always have choices. After you finish this workshop, talk about this exercise—identifying your obstacles and solutions—with those folks who may be part of the problem Or with someone whose thinking you admire. Ask them for their ideas. Return to your work on this activity, record new ideas, and write up a plan for making the changes you desire. Write up your plan in no more than two paragraphs or make a bullet point list.

25. Some Recommendations from Teachers and Former Writing Students • Understand that your education deserves a priority place in your life, after all, you are paying for it! • Identify places you can write that support your needs. The library is your friend! • Identify times you can write when you are not plagued by fatigue, hunger, or time pressures. This may require you to rethink the rhythms of your day. When one JCC writing instructor was in graduate school with two children under the age of four, she set the alarm and wrote papers beginning at 2:30 in the morning. She caught up on her sleep by reading to the kids at nap and bedtime and falling asleep with them (much earlier than her ‘adult’ schedule had been). • Stock healthy snacks that work with your metabolism. • Use writing breaks to take a walk, drink a big glass of water (water fights fatigue), snack, or do a load of laundry. • Understand that life happens. Successful people learn how to handle the bumps. They don’t use bumps as an excuse for not succeeding. Acknowledge the bump, then dive back into your life. • Avoid alcohol—it’s a depressant and it dehydrates you, causing both lethargy and sleeplessness. Not good. • Learn the art of negotiation with family and friends. Craft responses to invitations or requests. For instance, “I’d love to, but I have another hour of studying to do. Could we meet up then?” or “This semester, Wednesday nights really don’t work for me, could we change our pool game to Thursday?” or “I need you to fix your own school lunches.” • Establish connections with your classmates in case you need to ride share or catch a missed assignment. • Use a calendar and planner. If you have a busy schedule, increase your self-discipline, schedule writing times during breaks at work, between classes, while you are waiting to pick up the kids from soccer, or before the family wakes up. • Utilize teacher conferences, office hours, the Center for Student Success, and reference librarians. No one expects you to have all the answers. Seek help from the experts who are paid to help you. If you connect with any of these ideas, include them on your list of solutions to devilish distractions.

26. Activity 4 When Is the Portfolio Due? Portfolios are traditionally due two weeks before the end of the semester. They are returned at the end of the semester. Scan your course syllabus and calendar to find the due date for your portfolio. Record this date in your scheduler. Plan time prior to the due date for preparing the portfolio, polishing papers, and working with your instructor or a writing technician to put the final touches on your work. Note this time in your scheduler. 7-10 finish revisions Portfolio Due 3-4 visit CSS Review portfolio with technician

27. How is the Portfolio Assessed? Your portfolio will be read and assessed holistically. Readers use criteria based on the outcomes identified earlier in this workshop. To review they are: • competency in a variety modes--for instance, when writing a narrative we demonstrate attention to specific narrative action, time sequencing, active verbs and the use of verb tense to represent action. When writing an argument, we logically assert and develop a position using clear and precise wording and valid supporting evidence; we avoid logical fallacies; • ability to write with purpose toward an identified audience; • ability to focus on and develop ideas using of variety of examples, details, reasons, and/or facts appropriate to context; • ability to use voice and tone in support of identified purpose and meet audience needs; • control over organization; • correct incorporation of outside source material using Modern Language Association’s (MLA) rules for documentation and citation.

28. Other Important Considerations • Include a cover sheet for the portfolio listing your student identification number, course number, section number, and instructor last name. • Include a title page for each essay in the portfolio offering the title of the essay, a brief description of your purpose, and identification of your audience.  • Format your portfolio in Microsoft Word using double-spacing, a 12 point Times or Arial font, and one inch margins (top, bottom, right, and left). • Place your ID number in the upper right hand corner of each page. • If you use source materials, you must follow MLA Guidelines for Documentation and Citation. Specifically, you must correctly include parenthetical citations and a Works Cited Page. • Fulfill the page requirements for the portfolio (see slide 4 for specifics). • Submit your portfolio in a two pocket folder. No other folders or binders accepted. • Deductions are taken from your earned portfolio grade for • submitting less than required pages; • lack of variety; • disconnected audience and purpose statements; • incorrect or missing MLA documentation and citation • *****Plagiarism results in a failed portfolio***** don't let this happen to you!

29. Who Grades Your Portfolio? Your instructor will evaluate your portfolio and offer you feedback.  You may be asked to write a reflective letter about your experience producing writing for your portfolio.

30. Practice these skills during semester toward success: Set Goals Predict and Plan Writing Time Use a Personal Planner Develop Daily or Weekly To Do Lists Create the Writing Environment That Serves Your Needs Develop Time Management Skills Identify Obstacles and Plan Your Responses In Review Portfolio success not only requires understanding of the portfolio guidelines, it also requires you to engage personal study skills.

31. Above all else, avoid end-of-semester stress and despair! Why didn’t I do my work? Maybe I can get an extension.. Just say NO to procrastination! procrastination

32. Review Take this time to reflect on what you have learned. The portfolio has many purposes; list three that resonate with you and say why you connect with them. Review the general portfolio requirements for a writer in your course (090, 131, or 132). Note any that are still unclear. Review the outcomes identified by composition faculty that are used to assess the portfolio. List the outcomes you understand and feel comfortable with, then list outcomes that are most problematic for you. Clearly identify areas you do not understand. Take a few moments before, during, or after class to share this list with your instructor in conversation. Write up any questions you have about the portfolio grading process and seek the answers for them from your instructor when you talk. Identify the goals/actions you will engage over the course of this semester in order to create a successful portfolio. Write a summary paragraph on what you have learned or had reinforced for you during this workshop. For two hours of GPAW credit, print this slide, attach it to the activities completed during the workshop, and submit the packet to your instructor. .