Photo by Isaque Pereira on Pexels.com
a
Please include the following items in your Final Portfolio:
-A Cover Letter (150-200 words, single spaced) that addresses the following: Which piece of writing for the class are you most proud of and why? How have your views about yourself as a writer changed (or not) since the start of the class? In what ways do the two informal pieces of writing you’ve included in your portfolio represent how you’ve developed as a thinker/writer in the course? In general, what would you say are the most important things you’ve learned in this class? Is there anything else you’d like me to know about your experience of or performance in the class? While some of these questions are the same as the ones in your midterm cover letter, your answers should be different (or at least more thoughtful) since more time has passed and you have gained more experience as a writer and learner.
–“Critical Learning Narrative” (1400 words; 12pt font, double spaced): The critical learning narrative is meant to help you process and reflect on your own learning experiences by positioning them in relation to the readings and ideas you’ve encountered in the class. You must cite at least 3 readings from the course in your essay. Please use MLA format. For information on how to cite sources in MLA, see Purdue OWL; you do not need to include a “Works Cited” page at the end of your essay unless you cite a text that is not already on the syllabus. For this assignment, your task is to explain to readers how your thinking about learning (and about yourself as a learner) has evolved this semester. This topic is intentionally broad to provide you with some flexibility. Regardless of its focus, your essay should include personal anecdotes about your own (formal or informal) learning experiences as well as quotations from the course readings that informed your thinking. We will be looking at example essays from former students and you will receive feedback from myself and your peers along the way.
As you begin thinking about your essay topic, consider these questions to help guide your writing (though you don’t have to address all of them in your essay if you don’t want to): How did you think about learning, or about yourself as a learner, before this class? In what ways have your ideas about learning changed (or not) since you entered this class? Which course readings or discussions or “experiments” made you think differently—or perhaps challenged your previous assumptions—about your own learning experiences? Why? What about learning still puzzles you? What questions has this course raised for you? What is the value of thinking more about those questions, and how might you begin to write about them?
–Two pieces of informal writing that you have completed since midterm. You can choose any informal writing you’d like (it might be a Collab post or an in-class writing exercise or journal entry), but try to pick the writing that you’re most proud of, or that contains the most interesting ideas. I’d encourage you to revise and polish this writing as well.
-Revised “Scene of Learning” Narrative (this is no longer required but you may turn it in for extra credit); 1500 words, double-spaced): If you would like to pursue an “A”, you must also include a revised version of your midterm “Learning Scene” essay; your revision should incorporate at least 2 new sources and show evidence of expanding on or rethinking previous ideas in a substantial way. All parts that are new or substantially revised must be highlighted in yellow (using the highlighter tool in Word). This revision should respond to the feedback you received at midterm and attempt to not only polish, but extend or deepen the ideas from the previous version of the essay. If you’d like to chat about your revision at any point after midterm, feel free to set up a meeting with me. Also, you are more than welcome to turn in this revision to me before the final portfolio is due (I’ll accept revisions any time from week 10 on).
a
To submit your final portfolio:
Please email me the contents of your portfolio as a single Word doc (.doc or .docx) labeled like this: “LastName_FinalPortfolio” (e.g. “Smith_FinalPortfolio). I will not accept Google Docs or PDFs.
Final Portfolios are due via email by 11:59pm on Wednesday December 7.
a
a
a
Experiments in Learning 