Essay #4: Letter of Introduction and Portfolio
This assignment gives you a chance to reflect on what you know about writing–reflection gives you a better understanding of what you know about your subject. This semester we have used reflection in this way on several occasions. For this assignment, you’ll write a Letter of Introduction to guide your reader (your classmates and me) to your portfolio. The Letter of Introduction should be on the introductory page of your portfolio website.
Letter of Introduction Criteria: Review the Course Learning Outcomes on the opening page of the course site. Choose at least three of the course learning outcomes to discuss in depth (and make sure to identify which three you will discuss). In your letter, tell the reader what it is about these outcomes, as they apply to your own work, that are meaningful to you. Be sure to describe to the reader where in your portfolio they can find evidence of your successful attainment of these outcomes. Explain your theory of writing (your personalized strategies for composing your best work) and how it has developed or changed over the semester.
Evaluation Questions:
How effective is your Letter of Introduction in
- quoting and addressing at least three of the course learning objectives );
- orienting your reader to your site (how is it laid out, what will they be reading, what should they look for as they navitgate and read through the material on your site);
- providing evidence for how your theory of writing has developed over the semester (in the form of quoting your own writing and/or retelling specific learning moments);
- identifying (if relevant) any areas in which you have not progressed?
Portfolio Criteria: The digital portfolio should contain, at a minimum, all of the major writing assignments from this semester–the Inquiry Based essay, the Source Based Essay, the Composition in Two Genres, and the Letter of Introduction–plus anything else (reflections, work from other classes or your non-academic life, or something else) that will support the claims you make in your theory of writing.
So what sorts of “additional documents” might you include? Consider including earlier drafts of essays, examples from homework, peer reviews, etc. Or, you may want to include copies of your annotations of course texts or copies of the notes you took while reading to demonstrate that you have developed strategies for critical reading. Use this same approach for all of the Course Learning Outcomes.
The portfolio will be composed on a WordPress site and housed securely on CUNY Academic Commons, a password-protected CUNY server. It will be read by your instructors, some members of the class, and other CCNY faculty and administrators
Evaluation Questions:
How effective is your Portfolio in
- presenting the content so that it is easy to navigate and appropriate for digital audiences;
- maintaining stylistic consistency from one page to the next;
- using color and contrast to make things simple for digital audiences;
- using font and page layout to create a neat, easy-to-read text?
Timeline
Evaluation Rubric
