For Class April 29

Thursday you will work on the reflective writing to introduce your portfolio. This is the last class I will be available for workshopping. If you have any remaining questions about how to organize your portfolio, look at the sample portfolio (https://sites.google.com/a/kean.edu/chandler_eng2020/) and if you are still confused - make sure to ask me in class.

Your portfolio will be due at the end of class on Monday, May 3.

Reflective writing for introduction:

On the introduction page of your portfolio, write an essay in which you answer the questions listed below. Unlike the reflections on the resumes and the analysis of your writing samples – this piece needs to be an essay. It should have a focus, and you should use examples from your portfolio to develop that focus. Overall, this focus should develop a discussion of the following points.

1. What did you learn about writing in this course? Include reflections on what you learned from the readings, and what you learned from the writing assignments. You might include reflections on what you learned about writing process (pre-writing, drafting & revising); different forms for academic writing; rhetorical analysis (how audience & purpose influence the form of your writing), or writing for particular audiences. Pay particular attention to information or practices that were "new" and helpful.

2. How have you improved or grown as a writer? Which assignments / activities do you feel were most important to making you a better writer? Use references to work in your portfolio as examples.

3. What do you feel you still need to work on? Use examples from your portfolio to support your discussion.

Grades: I will grade your portfolios & send your final gradesvia email by Wednesday, May 5. When you receive your grade, if you feel I have made a mistake - either in the math or in evaluating your work - send me an email so we can come to a fair agreement. You need to be in touch with me before May 10. On May 11, if I have not heard from you, I will enter the grade sent via email into Keanwise. If you have any questions, ask me in class.

See you Thursday!

Class April 26: Reflective Writing for Portfolio

Post a discussion of the following points on the introductory pages for the Resumes and for the Writing Samples. You are not required to create a smooth-flowing essay for this writing, but you do need to demonstrate some in-depth thinking in response to each of the questions.

Rhetorical analysis of the general resume:
Who is the audience for the general resume? What purposes do you intend to use it for?
Describe how and why you think the particular headings, organization and content will work for the audience and purpose you have identified.
On a scale of 1-10, rank how you think your resume will compare to those of other applicants. What do you think is your greatest strength? What do you think is your biggest drawback?
Are there any changes you anticipate making before you actually send it out?

Rhetorical analysis of the particular resume:
Who is the audience for the particular/dream resume? What purposes do you intend to use it for?
Describe how and why you think the particular headings, organization and content will work with the audience you have identified.
On a scale of 1-10, rank how you think your resume will compare to those of other applicants. What do you think is your greatest strength? What do you think is your biggest drawback?
Are there any changes you anticipate making before you actually send it out?

Rhetorical Analysis for Writing Samples:
Who is the intended audience for these writing samples? What are the expectations of that audience? What in particular about the pieces will interest this audience and why?
What is the purpose of each writing sample? How well does each writing sample meet your intended purpose?
For each sample, describe what the audience will learn about you (name specific abilities, skills, accomplishments, aspects of who you are). Do these features correspond to the audience & purpose identified in the first two questions? If not, what do you need to work on?
How well do your samples represent the range of your abilities (all the different things you can do relevant to your purpose)?
How well do your samples represent you as a writer?
Anything else you would like to work on?

Class April 22

Matt and Brian gave their presentations today (thank you).

We then spent the rest of the class working on your writing samples + catching up with posts to the Blog. I invited you to create posts for:
Blog 22: Short writing samples, and
Blog 23: Long writing samples.

I will be looking over Blogs 21-23 today and tomorrow. Work not posted by Friday morning, we can talk over in class - but you won't get feedback/credit from the Blog.

In class on Monday we will start on the reflective writing. I will give you the prompts for creating the reflection on your resumes. We will also work on any remaining issues associated with posting your work to your portfolio.

On Monday we will also finish up presentions and continue working on writing samples, and the portfolio.

Good class today, and have a great weekend.

Class April 19

Walmbe and Michelled gave their presentations (thank you). And the rest of the class was a workshop. We talked as a group briefly about what you plan to use for your writing samples, and I worked with some of you one-on-one to set up your portfolios + revise your work. It will be more of the same on Wednesday.

See April 15 for an overview of the rest of the term.

Class April 15

In class today Lana and Andrea gave their presentations on being an ESL pre-K & elementary teacher, and on being a nurse practitioner.

We then looked at some sample personal statements and talked about how to write a strong personal statement. We had a brief discussion of how you might apply what you learned from reviewing the samples to your work - and almost had a workshop - but we ran out of time.

For the rest of the term: You will be working on the writing samples for your portfolio. We will have presentations (as per the schedule) and open workshops on April 19, 22, and 26. On April 28 you will get started on the reflective writing - in class. You will then finish your reflections & polish the pieces in your portfolio to hand in on Monday, May 3.

For your writing samples, you may use pieces you have developed for other classes, or you can write samples specifically for your portfolio. The object is for you to present "evidence" of the kinds of writing you can do. Your portfolio will be particular effective if these samples are relevant to your profession.

I will be available in the writing center and in class to help you plan and polish your work.

Have a good weekend and see you Monday.

Personal statement workshop

Samples Personal Statements: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/02/

Before you begin discussing your personal statement - tell your reviewer who you will submit this statement to. If possible, go to a website that has information about your reader.

As you work on your statement - keep in mind what the employer/institution/program officer will be looking for.

What is the overall organization of this statement? (What points does it address and in what order?)

State how the organization of this personal statement connect to or reflect the agenda/mission/objectives of the institution/program/or employers who will read it? What needs to be re-arranged? What needs to be added? Deleted?

Which points can be made more relevant or more powerful?

What we did in class April 12

Karilyn and Aydin gave presentations on their professions, we talked over your indtroductory letters, and set you up to get started on your personal statement.

In class Thursday, Lana & Andrea will give their presentations. Then we will go over some sample personal statements and you will workshop your statement. We will then do some talking to set up the sample writing that you will be working on for next week.

Overview for the rest of the term:
For the rest of the term you will be working on your portfolio (created through your Kean gmail site). The directions for the portfolio + the schedule for creating the different sections are available on the March 25 post of this blog. Tbe general procedure will be: class discussion of the piece you are working on, you then post your draft(s) on your blog, we work on the draft in class, and you then post your revised/final version on your portfolio.

For a working sample of the portfolio format - along with descriptions of what you will include on each page, see Chandler Portfolio.

For Thursday, you should post your revised introductory letter to your portfolio, and post your draft personal statement to your blog. Thursday's blog post should also include a list of the genres (kinds of writing) you will include as writing samples for your portfolio.

I have been in touch with each of you about your portoflio. I will be sending feedback on blogs by Thursday. I think I finally have the blog posts numbered correctly. Sorry for the confusion.

The schedule for the remaining presentations is as follows:

April 15: Lana - pre-school teacher; Andrea nursing

April 19: Walmbe - theater advertising; Michelle - elementary teacher

April 22: Matt lyric/song writer; Brian script writer;

April 26: Deborah - author Mario - teacher; Lauren - human resources

If you have any questions, let me know.


Blog 21: Post your draft personal statement + a list of the genres you will include in your writing samples.

Personal statements

So you might be getting the idea that one place to look for models and directions for most writing genres is the Purdue OWL.

For personal statements, check out:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/

Class April 8

Homework:
Blog 20 (see below)
Post both completed resumes to your portfolio.

Also - in class Karilyn and Aydin will be presenting.

Make sure to send my the link to your portfolio (check it to make sure it works).

If you are just creating your portfolio you check out Sample portfolio. - you can use the menu on the left as a sample/template to organize your portfolio.

In class today Tim + Taylor gave their presentations on their vocations: history teacher + author.

We talked some more about the resumes you have been working on - and if we you exchanged documents & workshopped what you had so far.

I also talked about your assignment for Monday - an introductory letter. Depending on your profession, you may write:

A cover letter for a job application
A query letter about available positions
A query/overview for a piece of writing you want to submit for publication
Or some other kind of letter to put you into contact with individuals/businesses/institutions in your profession.

Blog 20: Introductory letter + a preliminary list of the kind of writing you will submit for the writing samples in your portfolio.

Class April 5

Before we talk about your resumes, we are going to talk about overall organization, features you will want to include - and how to develop them, and the use of headings + font to make a favorable presentation. You will then create your resume as a document and send a copy to me.
chcke out: sample resume

For Thursday:

Blog 19: post a resume for your "dream" job. It is OK to set goals (not yet accomplished qualifications) and include them on your resume in italics so I can tell them apart from what you've actually done. This "dream" resume will help you think about some of the training and experience you need to "fill in" before actually applying for the career of your choice.

Presenations will take place according to the following schedule. If your name is not on the list - send me an email to confirm a date. Your choices are for April 22, and for April 26.

April 8: Taylor - fiction author; Tim - history teacher

April 12: Karilyn- lawyer; Aydin - sports writer

April 15: Lana - pre-school teacher; Andrea nursing

April 19: Walmbe - theater advertising; Michelle - elementary teacher

Class April 1

Today I gave a sample presentation - and we talked about resumes.

Important points to remember about resumes are that your resume:
1. needs to provide the information your prospective employer is looking for
2. will include headings or categories that reflect your particular profession
3. will have variable headings even within your profession
4. should be designed to cast you in the best possible light - even if it means writing a slightly non-standard document.

For Monday:
Write a draft resume for your chosen profession. Your resume should reflect both the expectations for your profession - and form & content that allows you to cast yourself and our accomplishments in the best possible light.

Blog 18: Describe the profession your resume was written for - and post your resume.

In class Monday you will workshop your resumes. After the workshop we will talk about how to tweak a general resume to make it work for a particular job.