My Transformation

When I began UWRT 1101 I thought it would be just like my high school English classes
in the sense that I would be writing essays every day. When I walked into class on the first day, I
quickly realized my experience would be different. I was not forced to jump right into a writing
assignment, but given direction and feedback in order to write a proper draft and eventually a
final copy. High school did not really prepare me for college, but fortunately writing has never
been a challenging subject for me, it just was never my favorite either. I like to compare writing
to a movie, so like a movie I wanted my e-portfolio to flow and hold a deeper knowledge of my
transformation process. Like Joe Quatrone, who wrote I am Not a Writer, I am a Good Writer,
I like to write like Im a camera and take a snapshot of my thoughts, emotions, etc. I always
say a movie can be whatever you make it, while a camera catches a snapshot of a moment.
THE LITERACY NARRATIVE
Starting my literacy narrative was a challenge in itself. My mind was stuck in a scene of
sitting in my high school English classes and writing 5 paragraph papers with topics picked by
the teacher. At first I was confused as to why when I got the literacy narrative rubric there was
no word limit, or specific topic, because those were preconceived notions I already had about
college. I chose to include my first draft and the comments I was presented with during the
drafting process on the third draft to show my improvement. For this particular assignment by
the third draft I had to narrow down my topic to one specific moment and expand on that period.
The only thing I could think of that I remembered a lot about was my senior year. When the
directions were given to write a timeline of my high school career and title my narrative I knew I
would discuss my friendships because I take pride in every single relationship I form, plus senior
year brought about a lot of drama and learning. The seeing the moment activity we participated
in during class really helped me to form details and commentary when I was creating my third
draft. During the activity I began to write bullets points stating details like eyes pricking with
tears, dumbfounded, and ANGER. With those details I ended up writing a very detailed draft. I
constantly struggle with making my thoughts clear and interesting on paper instead of just simply
writing. By the time I finished my third draft I felt like I really challenged myself to flourish and
expand my horizons when it came to emotions and personal details. The main piece of
information I learned while creating my literacy narrative was to be completely honest in every
aspect of my writing, whether I wanted people to know or not because it is relieving, cleansing,
and helps the reader to really connect.
Underneath my final copy of my literacy narrative I chose to include two pieces of
feedback artifacts that were related to the essay. The first artifact are comments from my very
first draft stating that I needed to add more detail. The second artifact to the right are comments
from the third draft stating that I used a lot more detail and created a solid draft based off of the
notes I received from the other two drafts.
PORTRAIT OF A WRITER
My portrait of a writer essay was easier for me to write than my literacy narrative by far.
First of all, I already had a few blog posts under my belt and in class we had done enough
activities for me to be able to form ideas and details to support my topics. This essay allowed me
to tell a story while including moments from my past. I did not have trouble using dialogue this
time and felt as though I had a solid first, second, and third draft. I used my past experiences to
answer questions about my writing journey thus far. At this point, even after completing that
assignment I think I have improved more. There are always more improvements to be made
when writing which is why writing that draft was a good experience for me. I was able to say a
lot more about how I see myself as a writer now, and in the future. For this essay it was
important for me to include a picture of a part of my writing process. I always like to write on
paper before beginning an essay to get my thoughts out and also to help me organize what I want
to say. I chose to include an image of that in my final draft rather than as an artifact so that I
could separate some of the thickness of the sentences and appeal the reader to the visual mode of
communication. I discovered that all five modes can be reached when writing an essay and it
does not necessarily have to be made so prominent, but subtle and easy to understand by the
reader.
Beneath my portrait of a writer final copy I included an image of the process/
organization I conducted while trying to complete the essay. I used the same image that I
included in the essay itself to reiterate just how helpful that portion of my writing process was/ is
to me. By writing everything down on paper I easily finished my draft for that paper and did not
need to look anywhere else but the paper I had written on for information.
Blog Posts
The blog posts were a good addition to the class because they allowed me to begin to get
comfortable with using Weebly. I learned how to embed documents and add pictures through
writing a weekly blog post every Wednesday. Each blog post was a ways for me to express my
thoughts about the class and assignments in a not so formal format. Through my blog posts I was
able to ask questions and read articles in order to analyze them. I chose to embed two of the five
blog posts to make them appear to be visually organized and appealing. I knew I would write a
lot and I think each post looks best when the reader can see the true format and fonts used,
instead of Weeblys. I appreciated most that through the blog posts I learned how to organize a
blog page for the future. My major is communications, so knowing how to create a blog is a
helpful skill to have.
Design/Organization
The colors I used for my e-portfolio are bright and cheerful because I truly enjoy writing.
Writing makes me happy so using a favorite color of mine, like pink, makes sense. The header
on the top of each page is flower, which was the default header. I decided to leave those headers
because the flowers are symbolic of how I bloomed and flourished in my writing throughout the
semester. On my home page there is a button that is a direct link to my final portfolio essay page
because that is the first essay the reader should be able to access in order to understand the entire
e-portfolio site. The next page I felt was necessary to be accessed was my blog posts because
majority of them had some relevance to each writing assignment that would follow. After the
blog posts each essay in order from the first we wrote until the last I available. The very last page
on my site is the wild card page because they pull everything together. My final portfolio essay is
a compilation of everything I learned and wrote about throughout the semester. Taking a regular
fifteen week writing course in six weeks caused a lot of work to have to be done earlier and at a
quicker pace, but ultimately helped me blossom, into a better, more confident writer. My blog
posts are a weekly snapshot of how class was going, what I was learning, and how I felt. They
read from bottom to top in order, with blog post number one being at the bottom of the page and
number five being at the top.
Next, is my literacy narrative, the very first essay I wrote in a college writing class. The
first title I chose for my literacy narrative was friendship literacy, because I thought that was
all that I would be writing about. But, after peer editing I realized that there was a lot more I
needed to say about high school and my friendships. I changed the title to Turned Upside
Down on my second and third drafts because it fit the situation I was writing about much better
than friendship literacy. Through the literacy narrative specifically I learned how to show
emotion and use great detail when writing. My portrait of a writer essay was easier for me to
write when it came to details and using quotes. I felt as though I was telling a story about myself
that ended with me discovering who I am, who I have become, and who I want to become in the
future as a writer. The easiest part for me when writing the essay was answering the questions
without sounding I was answering them directly because I had enough knowledge and quotes to
help me weave a full story together. That was the first essay that I was not told that I had too
little detail and or needed to rework full sentences. The order that those two essays are put in on
my e-portfolio reflects the successes and failures that occurred during my writing process.
For my wild cards and process work I chose to scan embedded documents that showed
the most important parts of my writing process. Each piece chosen highlights the components
that fully embody every aspect of writing that I addressed in the other essays.
On my very last page on my site I included two writers notebook pieces of work. The
seeing the moment activity on the left demonstrates a new portion of my writing process that I
developed through the course. While, on the right I chose the reading response letter that I
resonated most with and enjoyed writing the most. They were placed side by side because they
are both of equal importance to me because of the course work I was given.
Throughout my site and essays I used internal dialogue in order to keep the reader
involved in the paper while also appealing to the gestural mode of communication. Spatially I
used spacers and dividers when embedding more than one document on a page, so that
everything would be seen separately and be visually appealing. Linguistically I did not try to be
fancy or use words that I dont know the meaning of because that has nothing to do with my
writing process and/or what I learned in the course.

Purpose/ Grade
My e-portfolio was created in order for the reader to be able to follow my journey and
learning process through UWRT 1101. Each assignment including class activities and rough
drafts helped to shape me into a better writer. Through each assignment I learned either what to
do or what not to do when it comes to my writing. I began to critically think and think beyond
the writing prompt when it came to describing something simple. Every time I write an essay I
automatically begin to ask myself questions about how I can better the writing or any details that
I may not have thought about at first. By doing that I feel like I am taking responsibility of my
writing and all of its content. The class as a whole taught me to explore my curiosities about
situations that I encountered in the past that dealt with my feelings and how to leave my comfort
zone of just generically writing about them. Now, when I write an essay I think about how I can
give each topic emotion and/or how I can give the reader an inside look into my life.
Making connections to my real life helps with that immensely. Adding quotes to a piece
of writing from a journal from years prior adds life to a page of just words. Like, in my portrait
of a writer essay I used a quote from my orange Lizzie McGuire journal and said
I dont even want to move to South Carolina Ill miss my friends, but my dad has been
there for a while and he likes it. My mom said were moving in the next week. I dont have
time to say bye to anybody and I really just dont want to go. Lauren wont answer her
phone and I havent seen Alicia all summer
That quote alone connected the reader to my life in a deeper manner than before because I used
something from my past and related it to that present moment. Writing should always move like
and movie and flow through scenes as if the reader is actually there.
All in all, my writing process and revisions have improved greatly as I actually make
changes when my peers leave comments in order to make my essays better. Also, I am better at
giving feedback. I do not just edit the paper because as the peer editor it is not my job to edit the
authors paper, but to give them notes on how to make their paper better. When I peer edit I no
longer look for grammatical errors I look for content and if the author is following the rubric
and/or writing prompt. Increased maturity in myself and writing is how I know that I am making
progress and becoming more intellectually sound. I no longer have to second guess myself
because I am more confident in the choices I make and that they are the right choices for me.
If I were grading my own e-portfolio I would give myself a B. I would give myself that
grade because although I feel like I followed all of the instructions there is always improvement
to be made. If the project was so easy that anyone could get an A then I do not think that it would
count for 70% of my final grade. Although I would love to receive an A on my e-portfolio I have
to be critical of myself in order for it to be the best that I can make it. Teachers do not just give
out grades, so Im not just going to give myself a high grade because I want one. The purpose of
the e-portfolio is to show the progress made during my writing course while including pieces of
work and activities that helped me get there. I completed the project to the best of my abilities
and believe that although there is always room to improve I have done well.