Writing the three portfolio essays

This week we had to write our three essays for our portfolio, which I actually enjoyed doing.  It was kind of cool to look back on the semester as a whole.  I was able to really evaluate what I did and how I grew as a writer, which I wasn't sure about before.  I'm going to be honest, I was a little skeptical about this course at the beginning.  I never was a big reviser in high school, and I didn't see myself making big improvements on my writing because I was confident with the way it was before.  However, I feel that with the group work and interaction with others in the class I was able to model my writing off of theirs and better my own work.  I would definitely say I grew as a writer because I branched out and tried new things.  I never have written an editorial, and I am not really used to writing narrative or personal essays from high school.  

I really want to sit down and take yet another look at my portfolio before doing my final revisions.  I am very interested to see what my reviser has to say about my writing, and hopefully I will get constructive criticism so I can perfect my writings and be confident in my work.

This week in class

This week in class, I really enjoyed listening to everyone's initiating action projects.  Professor Scott sent my feedback for that, and it was sort of what I expected.  My main concern that I expressed in my cover letter was that I wasn't sure if I was fitting into the genre of an editorial.  She told me that it was more like an essay, which I expected to hear.  I had changed my editorial to add more detail, but realized that less detail may leave the reader wanting to know more, and therefore get involved.  

In class, I was happy to observe what other people did for their projects as well.  I really liked the way that people used videos or a website.  That was very creative, and had a good effect on me.  It also helped me to observe the posters and get a sense for how other people were presenting the posters in relation to mine.  I made the decision to have my poster display the facts so that people got the basic aim of my project, but didn't know exactly what I was doing.  

I think over Thanksgiving break I'm really going to focus on revising my work for my portfolio.  I haven't really done much work yet for that, so it will help me a lot if I can get that done with and focus on actually making the portfolio after break.  

Creating my Editorial

Tonight I worked on finishing up my first draft for my editorial.  I found that it seemed to be easier than a research paper for me, which I was surprised about.  I think it was the freedom that made it easier, because I could use first person and talk about my own opinions, backing them up with facts.  The things that I would really like everyone to look at in class tomorrow is if it really sounds like an editorial.  I tried to sort of mimic different styles of editorials that I researched in newspapers.  However, I feel that it seems like I am sort of just ranting.  I would really like to hear people's opinions on this.  Also, I want to make sure my point is made well.  I tried to use facts and examples from my field research, but I want to make a strong argument.  I think the class and Professor Scott's feedback will be useful in perfecting this. Also, were we supposed to write cover letters for this assignment already, or do that later?

Research on my Genre

I did some researching and browsing around the internet this morning on Editorials, which is the genre that I am going to be using for my research project. This genre seems to typically be used for newspaper editors who have an opinion on a certain topic. They generally present information and research on the topic, but sway towards one side or the other. It seems that in most of the editorials I have read online, they are not directly trying to initiate action, but rather get the word out about the issue at hand. An example of one editorial I found online was in the Los Angeles Times. It is an editorial about how before getting the public's money, the "Big Three" tire companies should have to prove why they are the best. This editorial gives suggestions on ways for these companies to present their arguments and prove themselves. However, the editorial is not demanding anything. It seems that editors generally have a lot of freedom in this genre, because the reader generally knows that they are simply expressing their opinion and giving their own solution. Another interesting editorial I found was in the New York Times by David Brooks. He is discussing conservatism vs. reformism in terms of the recent presidential election. He concludes with an opinion that the republicans will suffer mild defeat now with the reformists like Obama in charge. He seems to hold a more liberal standpoint on the argument. Therefore, it seems that editorials can have obvious bias and get away with it, because the genre is based on opinions. Therefore, it seems that editorials are opiniated, but also supported with facts. The writers seem to be editors of newspapers or magazines. Usually current topics or problems are discussed and sometimes, but not always, some sort of solution is suggested.

Response to Essay Feedback

I just read the feedback that Professor Scott sent me on my essay.  I was very excited after reading this because it seems that I am definitely headed in the right direction and have handled the genre (personal/anecdotal) very well.  One suggestion that Professor Scott gave was to show more of my own thoughts throughout the essay.  I mainly focused on descriptions and story-telling about the day that I spent in my community, rather than on my own thoughts during the site visit.  When I revise my essay, I am going to try and put more of my own thought and opinion into the essay to help the reader understand how I felt.  That was a very good suggestion.

I also plan on trying to correct my "scenes of a play" theme.  I sort of felt before I turned it in that it was not fully clear how the scenes switched, and Ms. Scott suggested I fix this.  I think I just need to make the paragraphs flow better and make it clear what events occur in each scene.  I think these two suggestions will be very helpful in organizing my essay and making it more obvious what I am trying to convey to the reader.

Initiating Action Project ideas

I've been thinking over my Initiating Action Project a lot after our class discussion on our ideas.  I was thinking before about using the same idea as I did in my research proposal and focusing on the teacher and her teaching ways.  However, I thought about what I would do with that and I felt sort of like it was going nowhere.  If I did use the lesson plan idea that the class suggested, I just feel that I would be repeating the same ideas over and over again.  

At this point, I actually decided to consult my roommate for an outside perspective.  I mainly just asked what she thinks would be a problem in a classroom.  She suggested using funding as a problem, which sort of triggered an idea.  I know that every school could use more funding, but I realized that Blacksburg High School specifically probably needs more funding than most.  I remember that when I was observing the class, they were planning a field trip to Harrisonburg to see a Shakespeare play, and they were worried about the money situation.  This seemed surprising to me because at my high school we would worry about whether to go to NYC or Orlando, and they were afraid of not enough funding for JMU.  I was thinking of maybe doing an editorial about educational funding in Southern Virginia using Blacksburg High as an example.  

I am thinking that consulting Ms. Lynde about this idea and her thoughts on the funding at BHS would be a good idea.  She is the chair person for the English department, so she probably knows first hand about the funding and the problems in that school specifically.  She also probably has been to meetings and talked to teachers at other schools in the area.  If I did an editorial, I could use a sort of comparison of Fairfax County (one of the wealthiest school districts where I went to school) and Montgomery/other Southern school districts.  I could sort of use my opinion on the matter and also suggest better funding and more opportunities for this project.  

In addition to this editorial, I could have a "speech" about this problem, using our English class as those on the Board of Education in Montgomery County.  I could make a powerpoint presentation with statistics and examples of my reserach that would be persuasive to that type of audience.  I think these two things would be successful in getting the word out.

How I did in class this week...

I decided to write about how I did in class this week since my essay was due Wednesday and we did a lot of work with that.  Overall, I was very proud of myself.  Last weekend when I was writing my first draft, I felt sort of at a standstill.  However, during the week when I was writing my draft that was due on Wednesday, I really picked my essay apart and made a lot of changes.  I am fairly happy with the way things turned out, and I feel that I have sort of grown as a writer.  I am not at all used to writing personal essays, so this was sort of exploratory for me.  I took a broad look at the essay and took a step back to look at the purpose.  Also, the comments from the peer revision sort of helped me to realize that the reader was not feeling my intended effect.  

I hope that this next week and in the future I can start using my group time more wisely.  While I feel like I made a lot of positive changes, I would like to start getting more feedback from others and work off their ideas as well.