gradesheets have been sent

I have sent grade sheets to everyone who completed a portfolio.  Unless you contact me and we come to some different agreement, the grade on the gradesheet is what I will post to Keanwise on Tuesday.  Be in touch if you have questions.

Thanks for your great work this term, and have a wonderful summer!

5.13 Last class and final grades

You gave your final presentations today (good work!) and as we agreed in class you have until midnight this Friday to post any revisions to your work.

Reviewing your grade:
I will begin reviewing your portfolios on Saturday, May 16, and will email you a gradesheet with your final grade as soon as I finish reviewing work for the whole class.  I will post here on the blog when I have sent out the gradesheets.  If it says on the blog that I have sent out the gradesheets, and you have not recieved your tally - let me know (send me an email) so we can figure out what happened.

Take a look at this gradesheet and make sure you agree with the numbers.  If you see any mistakes or confusions - be in touch.   If you are good with the grade - then we are done.

I will post your grades to Keanwise 48 hours after I have sent you your gradesheet.  If I do not hear from you before this, and if we do not work something out, then you will receive the grade on the gradesheet, and any further review will need to be done through a grade appeal.

Grade sheet/scoring:

Participation: /150

Literacy narrative: /100

Process Narrative:  /150

Group work (peer review)+presentations:  /100

Portfolio: /500

• 150 reflective introduction
• 100 resumes
• 50 cover letter
• 100 personal statement
• 20 for each short sample
• 30 for each long sample

Thanks for your participation, and best to you in your future adventures as writers!

5.13 Portfolio presentations

5.6 Portfolio presentations

Jo-Sette, Maria, Celena, Brittany, and Julia presented their portoflios today (thank you!) and we will hear from:
Alleli, Eve, Heloiza, Ally, and Brittany next class.

Have a great week!

4.29 Resumes, scoring portfolios, and plan for Presentations

Schedule for portfolio presentations:

May 6: Celena; Maria; Julia; Jo-sette; *Ivelouse - if there is time; *Alleli - if there is time.

May 13: Anyone left from May 6 + Heloiza; Britany P, Ally, and anyone not signed up.

If you were not in class, and would prefer to present on May 6 - be in touch.

Points for the portfolio
At the beginning of class we reviewed what to include in the portfolio, and decided how to distribute the 500 points credit allocated to the portfolio.  We came up with the following scale.

150 reflective introduction
100 resumes
50 cover letter
100 personal statment
20 for each short sample
30 for each long sample

Criteria for the resume, cover letter, personal statement and writing samples will be derived from the rhetorical contexts you describe in your reflective introduction.  Criteria for the reflective introduction are stated on the assignment sheet.  If you have additional questions - bring them to the attention of the class (somebody else probably wants to know, too!) or send me an email.

Resumes
We spent most of the class analyzing/providing feedback for resumes.  You had a lot to say to one another and you did a great job.  We gave feedback both in terms of visual design, and a contextual analysis of what your potential employers would be most interested in reading.

As we talked I noticed that sometimes we gave presenters conflicting feedback - and - sorry to say - that is just the way it is.  In the end, you will need to think carefully about the audience and purpose for your resume, and then you will need to make decisions about focus, organization and content that best serve that audience and purpose.  Remember that you are making visual decisions to take your reader's eye to the most important information, and that the most important information is "what your audience is looking for.

Criteria for portfolio presenations (see assignment sheet posted to the right).

For next class.
Come to class prepared to provide feedback to classmates on portolios.  While this can feel like a lot of "down time"  - keep in mind that it won't be that long before you use materials very much like what you have developed for this portfolio to represent your abilities and accomplishments to a potential employer.  Evaluating other applicants' portfolios and reflecting on your own materials can give you an edge.

4.22 Presentations on cover letters and personal statements

Resumes.  At the beginning of class we looked at some resumes - to get a feel for how visual presentation can get the attention of the reader.  We noted the importance of (subtle) use of color, of identifying sections with headings that are in contrast to the information beneath them - through the use of bold, font size, lines etc, - and how breaking the information under each heading into "bites" of information with bullets or some other succinct statement that won't lose the reader in too much text.  We then talked about how tesumes that have been posted so far could make better use of these visual elements.

Cover letters+ personal statements.  During the rest of the class you presented and gave feedback on cover letters and personal statements.  I gave lots of comments - take what is useful and disregard what is not.  You are the best judge of your audience, and there are lots of successful approaches to creating these documents.  At the same time, it is  essential to think about who your readers are and how they will receive your documents.  In light of this:

• write your cover letter so that it appeals to the interests of your specfic audience
• make sure your personal statement  represents who you are AND is a good match for your employer's expectations

For next class:
Come to class prepared to give a presentations on your resumes + the gap paragraph.  In your presentation you will cover the following.

1. Describe the career you intend to enter.
2. Present your current resume and state how you would use it (=> give a specific description of its audience + purpose) - and ask the class for feedback on any issues you are struggling with
3. Present the dream resume , state how you expect to use it, and ask for any feedback you think might help strengthen this document
4. Discuss your plan for moving from the current to the dream resumes (gap paragraph).

For the last part of class, will also work on developing a rubric for evaluating the portfolios

4.15 Resume workshop + introduction to cover letters and personal statements

We have arrived at the point in the semester where most of class will be spent as either a workshop or a presentation on some part of your portfolio.

 Resumes.
During the first part of class, you worked on your resumes.  We reviewed both the elements of rhetorical analysis and design analysis as a way to assess how the resume was working (see last post). Audience issues are key for resumes; the resume is your effort to get the attention of your potential employer.  Design choices for your resume (like the idea to feature the shark on the sample resume) could make the difference between an interview and being passed over.  As discussed in class, when you write your actual resume to submit for a particular job - you may want to start with a template (where you have all your information listed) and revise (create a specific resume) for each particular job.

While you worked on your resumes, I had one-on-one conferences with each of you to talk through your choice of career and the materials you plan to use for writing samples in your portfolio.  So far, so good.

I will provide you with general comments on any resumes which are posted by next week.


Cover letters and personal statements. 
I fixed the links to the readings on cover letters and personal statements - so they should all work now.
The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce yourself, direct the attention of the reader to any information on the resume or enclosed documents that you feel is particular important to his/her assessment of you; provide any information or rhetorical moves which did not fit into the materials the letter introduces - and which you feel will help your chances for selection.

The  readings on personal statements available at the links are general; the form and content of your personal statement will depend on your particular career.  In general, personal statements position your beliefs, values and abilities with respect to the field you hope to enter.  Personal statements for graduate school applications sound slightly different from personal statements (often teaching philosophies) for teaching postions.  Cruise the internet for samples of the "genre" for your profession.


For next class:
Come to class prepared to give a presentation on your cover letter and personal statement.  Also, come to class prepared to give your classmates feedback on their cover letters and personal statements.

For your presentation, begin by giving the class detailed information about your chosen profession, and the particular employer to whom this letter is directed (you will want to include a link to the employer's web site, and to be able to talk a little bit about what this site shows about your possible employer's values, beliefs, and preferences regarding its employees skills, behaviors + identities).   To this end, at the top of the  cover letter posted to your portfolio, include tsome writing to answer the following questions.

• who is my audience (include a link to the potential employer's web site)  
• what are the audience's values (as evidenced by what you have read about them & the way they represent their business/institution?)
• how an I a match for this employer?
• what will be the context for where my materials are read? portal?  print document? interview? web site? . . .?)
• what do I want to emphasize in order to be a top choice by this employer?

Also - get started on your writing samples, and if you have questions let me know.