Welcome to my E-Portfolio. Wow! I can't believe I’m closing in on the end of my first quarter of college. While it's been a positive experience for me overall, it has been accompanied by a range of emotions. I've gone from feeling afraid of my new challenge, to feeling like I didn't belong in college english, to a sense of relief that I was able to write an essay again, and to self satisfaction because I found out I could really do it. When I met with Professor Lolly Smith one night I told her that English had to be my worst subject ever. She told me everyone says that, but I told her it had to be!! I must be doing better than I give myself credit for because I'm maintaining an A. But, if anything can make my head feel like it's going to explode, it's English. Part of it could be because I've been out of school for 18 years now, and haven't written one essay during that time. I graduated in 1989 and couldn't attend college because I was a new mother. Instead I had to make my way into the working world. But, when I lost my job in November, 2006, I began soul searching to figure out what it was I wanted to do for me. Making a decision this huge was scary, but so exciting at the same time. Now I have a long term goal to do something I know I will love - to become a veterinarian. For anyone who knows me, they know that there isn't anything better suited for me to do on a daily basis than to work with animals.
This class was not only about writing essays, it brought me up to speed on what a discussion board and a blog was and how to use them. I really enjoyed the discussion board throughout the quarter. They allowed me to feel like even though I was not in a classroom with my classmates, I was able to learn about who they were and form a foundation of trust with them. The code of ethics we had for our discussion board made the trust issue come easier. When we know that we aren't going to be treated with negativity and rudeness we are more likely to lay out our questions and statements. But, the first time I had to post something that required me to show my critical thinking skills – the thesis statement - I was nervous. Not only did I not know what I was doing, I had to show everyone!! The group discussion boards had the same requirements, and ended up being just as helpful and fun. They allowed me to get to know one group of six people better, and rely on them for feedback, critiquing, and expertise. We shared discussions about movies we watched and our views on them, and used them as a place to submit our rough drafts for essays. The best benefit of the class for me was the ability to post pieces of my essays; a rough draft, a thesis statement, or a final copy, to my group discussion board and receive their suggestions on how to improve it.
This English 101 class was made up of four parts - identity, community, tradition, and our E-Portfolio. We began this class by studying identity. My interpretation of this word was about who I am. I didn't realize until well into our first discussion boards that it means much more. Identity is not only who we are, but it is how others view us and how we view them. It became obvious to me that we were all too quick to judge others; trying to determine who someone is from the outside without knowing who they are inside. One of our discussion boards was based on an essay we read called, "High Schools Secret Life" by Emily White (Remix 15). We were to write about the parallel of two things we recalled from high school with her essay. I chose to write about popularity and cliques, because these were both important things to me in high school. For popularity it was important to have the "cool" lunch period. This was determined by who had it, obviously the one with the most popular kids was the coolest. Cliques were important to me, as they were for many kids, because it gave us a sense of belonging. Popularity played into cliques, because each of them were categorized into which was the most popular. Jocks were always at the top of the list, with preppies close behind. I realize now that I'm older that neither popularity of cliques play a part in everyday life, but it was who I was at that time of my life.
The next topic we studied was community. Prior to reading essays and having discussions with classmates, I didn't realize what was actually considered a community – anything where multiple people are involved and they are sharing the same interests. It doesn't have to be a group of people that are joining each other for bible study, 4H, or Brownies, but it can be all the people that go to Starbucks for coffee. One of our assignments for this chapter was to make an entry into our blog about a community we are involved in, what makes it a community, what values and interests the people share, and what tensions or differences work against the cohesion of the community. I chose to write about my church. We are a community because we all want to know God through His son, Jesus Christ, and we do that together every Sunday. Our values are love, honesty, faith, and family. We are faced with challenges from other religious groups and anti-believers, but the one I wrote about are the TV shows on Discovery that are always based on the fiction of Jesus Christ. Each person should be allowed to practice the faith they choose, and as we learn not to criticize others for their choices and love them unconditionally, it would be great if that's how it worked in return.
The last topic we studied was tradition; this was my favorite. I love traditions in my home, passed down from my family, which I’m trying to pass down to my son. Our essay was about our choice of items in pop culture that we felt was changing or challenging a tradition. I chose video games – that was easy for me since I’ve seen my son play video games since he was 3 years old, and how the games have changed over the years. The violence, sex, and rude behavior challenge my innermost traditions, so I really enjoyed writing about it. My thesis for this essay was "Today the cultural obsession with video games is changing the way children play and interact with their friends." My arguments for this thesis were things such as when I was a child we had video games available, and while we thought they were cool, our traditions were strong enough to pull us back to playing among our group of friends; today's children don't engage in enough athletic activities, which is unhealthy; no longer is it important for children to use their imaginations to come up with activities to do with their friends, they are using it to play and describe their play in video games; instead of friendly competition with their friends they are engaging in competition that is based on violence and anger. On the other hand, if playing video games is what children love, they should be allowed to have fun doing that; traditions don’t last forever; each generation is constantly creating new ones. Although there are negative effects from playing video games, it is important to realize that children’s play time will change along with technology. A better approach for parents can be to have a balance in supporting their children by allowing those things they love, while continuing to guide them toward making good, healthy choices.
These are the writings I chose to share:
Critical Writing - this is a timed writing that took place after watching and analyzing the movie "Remember the Titans". This was our last assignment in the Identity chapter, and what I feel shows my best analytical skills. We spent a week reviewing the movie and discussing it with an assigned group of classmates prior to our timed writing assignment. This movie was about being an outcast or outsider, and we had to depict why that was and how it effected the lives of the people in the movie.
Re-write Essay - this was our second timed writing of the quarter, and was also based on a movie we watched. This time I watched "Lone Star". This movie was our last assignment for the chapter on community, and our assignment was to write about our view on non-conformity and conformity and how it crossed the line of our cultural and personal views. We reviewed the movie and wrote about it for a week in a discussion board with assigned classmates. When I wrote the essay I spent more time analyzing the content of the movie than discussing how my cultural and personal views were challenged. I think this essay could benefit from a re-write.
Audience & Voice - this was my first group discussion board, and it was also part of the Identity chapter. This assignment asked us to read two essays in the chapter, "Dude Looks Like A Lady" by Kathy Wilson (Remix 21) and "The "He" Hormone" by Andrew Sullivan (Remix 25), and identify the thesis and how the author argued their point. Kathy Sullivan's essay was about being a woman but looking like a man, and the challenges that brought her which forced her to prove her identity as a woman. The other essay by Andrew Sullivan was about his story of taking testosterone and what that has done for him. He also discussed facts from his views on what testosterone does specifically for a man vs. a woman, and what the signs of not enough are for a man vs. what too much is for a woman.
Writers Choice - this is my final essay for this class, and one in which I could see my personal growth through my writing skills. This was from the Tradition chapter. Our assignment was to write an essay on a pop culture which is challenging a tradition. As indicated above, I wrote this essay about video games and how I see them impacting the tradition of play for children today vs. the children of my era.
This class was not only about writing essays, it brought me up to speed on what a discussion board and a blog was and how to use them. I really enjoyed the discussion board throughout the quarter. They allowed me to feel like even though I was not in a classroom with my classmates, I was able to learn about who they were and form a foundation of trust with them. The code of ethics we had for our discussion board made the trust issue come easier. When we know that we aren't going to be treated with negativity and rudeness we are more likely to lay out our questions and statements. But, the first time I had to post something that required me to show my critical thinking skills – the thesis statement - I was nervous. Not only did I not know what I was doing, I had to show everyone!! The group discussion boards had the same requirements, and ended up being just as helpful and fun. They allowed me to get to know one group of six people better, and rely on them for feedback, critiquing, and expertise. We shared discussions about movies we watched and our views on them, and used them as a place to submit our rough drafts for essays. The best benefit of the class for me was the ability to post pieces of my essays; a rough draft, a thesis statement, or a final copy, to my group discussion board and receive their suggestions on how to improve it.
This English 101 class was made up of four parts - identity, community, tradition, and our E-Portfolio. We began this class by studying identity. My interpretation of this word was about who I am. I didn't realize until well into our first discussion boards that it means much more. Identity is not only who we are, but it is how others view us and how we view them. It became obvious to me that we were all too quick to judge others; trying to determine who someone is from the outside without knowing who they are inside. One of our discussion boards was based on an essay we read called, "High Schools Secret Life" by Emily White (Remix 15). We were to write about the parallel of two things we recalled from high school with her essay. I chose to write about popularity and cliques, because these were both important things to me in high school. For popularity it was important to have the "cool" lunch period. This was determined by who had it, obviously the one with the most popular kids was the coolest. Cliques were important to me, as they were for many kids, because it gave us a sense of belonging. Popularity played into cliques, because each of them were categorized into which was the most popular. Jocks were always at the top of the list, with preppies close behind. I realize now that I'm older that neither popularity of cliques play a part in everyday life, but it was who I was at that time of my life.
The next topic we studied was community. Prior to reading essays and having discussions with classmates, I didn't realize what was actually considered a community – anything where multiple people are involved and they are sharing the same interests. It doesn't have to be a group of people that are joining each other for bible study, 4H, or Brownies, but it can be all the people that go to Starbucks for coffee. One of our assignments for this chapter was to make an entry into our blog about a community we are involved in, what makes it a community, what values and interests the people share, and what tensions or differences work against the cohesion of the community. I chose to write about my church. We are a community because we all want to know God through His son, Jesus Christ, and we do that together every Sunday. Our values are love, honesty, faith, and family. We are faced with challenges from other religious groups and anti-believers, but the one I wrote about are the TV shows on Discovery that are always based on the fiction of Jesus Christ. Each person should be allowed to practice the faith they choose, and as we learn not to criticize others for their choices and love them unconditionally, it would be great if that's how it worked in return.
The last topic we studied was tradition; this was my favorite. I love traditions in my home, passed down from my family, which I’m trying to pass down to my son. Our essay was about our choice of items in pop culture that we felt was changing or challenging a tradition. I chose video games – that was easy for me since I’ve seen my son play video games since he was 3 years old, and how the games have changed over the years. The violence, sex, and rude behavior challenge my innermost traditions, so I really enjoyed writing about it. My thesis for this essay was "Today the cultural obsession with video games is changing the way children play and interact with their friends." My arguments for this thesis were things such as when I was a child we had video games available, and while we thought they were cool, our traditions were strong enough to pull us back to playing among our group of friends; today's children don't engage in enough athletic activities, which is unhealthy; no longer is it important for children to use their imaginations to come up with activities to do with their friends, they are using it to play and describe their play in video games; instead of friendly competition with their friends they are engaging in competition that is based on violence and anger. On the other hand, if playing video games is what children love, they should be allowed to have fun doing that; traditions don’t last forever; each generation is constantly creating new ones. Although there are negative effects from playing video games, it is important to realize that children’s play time will change along with technology. A better approach for parents can be to have a balance in supporting their children by allowing those things they love, while continuing to guide them toward making good, healthy choices.
These are the writings I chose to share:
Critical Writing - this is a timed writing that took place after watching and analyzing the movie "Remember the Titans". This was our last assignment in the Identity chapter, and what I feel shows my best analytical skills. We spent a week reviewing the movie and discussing it with an assigned group of classmates prior to our timed writing assignment. This movie was about being an outcast or outsider, and we had to depict why that was and how it effected the lives of the people in the movie.
Re-write Essay - this was our second timed writing of the quarter, and was also based on a movie we watched. This time I watched "Lone Star". This movie was our last assignment for the chapter on community, and our assignment was to write about our view on non-conformity and conformity and how it crossed the line of our cultural and personal views. We reviewed the movie and wrote about it for a week in a discussion board with assigned classmates. When I wrote the essay I spent more time analyzing the content of the movie than discussing how my cultural and personal views were challenged. I think this essay could benefit from a re-write.
Audience & Voice - this was my first group discussion board, and it was also part of the Identity chapter. This assignment asked us to read two essays in the chapter, "Dude Looks Like A Lady" by Kathy Wilson (Remix 21) and "The "He" Hormone" by Andrew Sullivan (Remix 25), and identify the thesis and how the author argued their point. Kathy Sullivan's essay was about being a woman but looking like a man, and the challenges that brought her which forced her to prove her identity as a woman. The other essay by Andrew Sullivan was about his story of taking testosterone and what that has done for him. He also discussed facts from his views on what testosterone does specifically for a man vs. a woman, and what the signs of not enough are for a man vs. what too much is for a woman.
Writers Choice - this is my final essay for this class, and one in which I could see my personal growth through my writing skills. This was from the Tradition chapter. Our assignment was to write an essay on a pop culture which is challenging a tradition. As indicated above, I wrote this essay about video games and how I see them impacting the tradition of play for children today vs. the children of my era.
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