#18: Final Porfolio Reflection

1. Two  assignments you are most proud of, and why. (2-3 paragraphs)

For each piece, refer back to your E-portfolio. Why are these your favorite pieces? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each work? What have you learned from the work(s)?

My assignments I am most proud of are my summer reading creative assignment and my Hamlet blog post #2. These are my favorite pieces because overall I think they’re the projects I had the most success with and were the most interesting for me to work on. The creative assignment I had a lot of fun creating, and while analyzing the text for my paper and project I found myself understanding the text better. As for the blog post, I was very comfortable comparing Hamlet with a familiar film I had a strong grasp of, and I found the assignment rather amusing in regards to Shakespeare’s tragic tale vs. the humorous Princess Bride.

Each project had many strengths, the biggest being solid evidence from the text and film. In my creative assignment, there were five consistent quotes pulled from the text to back up my claims and in m blog post there were five incorporated into the argument and five more from Hamlet and the movie trailer each that analyzed the similarities and differences. Another strength was my citation; I am very accustomed to Shakespearean citation and smoothly integrating quotes into paragraphs. My major weakness for each would be my thesis statement; I understand it doesn’t delve deep enough into the analysis I should be reaching, nor does it occasionally match up directly with my final claims. I have learned some of my strengths, weaknesses, and interests from these works, as well as where my current ability lies in relation to my goals.

2. Your own participation in class. (2 paragraphs)

Much of this class rests on the assumption that you are self-motivated to participate, read, ask questions, help your classmates, and do what you need to do in order to succeed in the class. Although I have my own view of who participates and who doesn't, I would like your input here about yourself. Consider how you assess yourself in terms of class, individual papers, and collaborative group participation. Provide examples.

Honestly, I have not participated in class conversations as much as I could be; I follow along and take mental notes but don’t vocalize my opinions due to horrendous stage freight and some inability to articulate thoughts into proper claims—this is a matter I’d like to improve during second trimester. Individual papers: I put a lot of effort into, I have spent many sleepless nights trying formulate A+ papers, and devoted myself to communicating valid arguments. My collaborative group participation is not nearly as strong but I did whatever I could for my group when needed. The group I spent most of the trimester working with was complete with very intelligent members who were terribly good at thesis statements, leadership, and analysis that I was sometimes left in the dust. However, I put forth all my effort to help where help was needed; attending all google docs meetings and American drama work time, writing assigned PowerPoint slides, and researching to the best of my ability, such as author background and Foster chapters.    

3.   Address your time-stamped, measurable goals for future improvement. (2-3 paragraphs)

My measurable goals from the beginning of the trimester are completely revised. I intend to focus on thesis statements, focused arguments, and participating in class discussions further. To develop my ability to make a solid thesis statement I will study from my previous group presentations, and practice formulating claims based on my analysis of texte pulled from various sources, for example: working with old AP prompts listed on Edline. Somewhat going along with thesis development, is keeping a focused paper as I tend to change topics slightly, which I realize it extremely problematic, I’ll do practice papers and work on outlining and planning out arguments beforehand. The hardest goal to achieve will probably be boosting m confidence, which I hope to achieve with more group presentations and reviewing topics that are going to be discussed before class.

To measure these goals, I’ll have different methods for each. To stud m advancement in writing thesis statements, I’ll check with Ms. Wilson, and when I feel confident enough I’ll start timing myself to see how fast I can analyze a piece and articulate a valid claim. I feel 30-40 minutes is a good goal to push myself to. As for my rambling problem, I’ll have several people review my papers in advance, as well as draw up outlines before writing. Similar to my thesis goal, if I can write convincingly with evidence, 3 paragraphs in 20 minutes that relate directly to the thesis then I’ll be happy. The only way I have to measure my confidence is the amount of panic I have in front of a large group and the amount of shaking in my voice.