You
are interviewing next month for an opportunity to write an article about
the American Dream for the nationís leading literary magazine (for big
$$$). The exact details of the article donít matter. What does
matter is that the job requires an understanding of what it means to be
an American, an ability to analyze literary texts, and a strength in expressing
yourself clearly and creatively in writing. Your interviewer will
expect you to be able to demonstrate your mastery of these requirements.
In short, she wants to see a portfolio of work from your most recent English
class. Thank goodness your English teacher is preparing you for just
such an assignment. Hereís what to include in your portfolio:
ï
Cover page ï
Table of contents ï
Statement of purpose: What did you hope to accomplish by taking American
Literature? What did you accomplish? What kind of reader are
you? What kind of writer are you? What kind of writer would
you like to be and what steps do you plan to take to achieve that goal? ï
Work samples: For each of the following samples, please include
a reflective paragraph or two about the piece (See ìReflecting on Your
Writings). You may choose to include marked-up copy or clean, new
copy unless otherwise noted. 1.
Two or three examples of essays or reading logs written in response to
a literary; 2.
One (or more) poetic or otherwise creative expression(s) of your understanding
of what it means to be an American; 3.
One (or more) paragraphs that show your understanding of an element of
the American dream. 4.
One series of at least two drafts (including the final draft) of a paragraph,
page, or paper that shows your attention to the writing process. 5.
One or more pages that show you to be an active thinker pursuing readings
of your own choice and sharing your ideas with a peer. 6.
Optional:One or more pieces of
which you are particularly proud. 7.
Optional:Other pieces important
to understanding who you are as a writer. 8.
Optional:Any artwork youíve created
in class. ï
Parent or guardian response form: You may place
the reflective paragraphs on separate pages to serve as introductions to
the samples or you may cut them out and glue them to the bottom or top
of a sample like a footnote or editorís note. ï
How did I discover my topic?How
did I know what it was what I wanted to write about? ï
What did I learn by writing about this topic?What
new ideas did I uncover? ï
Was my way of writing different in any respect from the way I usually write?Stylistically,
does this represent a departure or an experiment? ï
Which of my peer readersí suggestions did I follow and why? ï
What was I trying to accomplish in this writing?How
well did I succeed? ï
What special problems did this writing present?How
did I solve them? ï
What do I like best about this finished piece? ï
What would I do differently the next time I attempt a similar assignment? Perhaps
you would like to use some of the following sentence starters? I
chose to include this work because ... I
am proud of this work because ... I
chose to include this piece of writing to demonstrate how much I have improved
at ... This
work represents ... It
might be helpful for you to know that ... The
best part of this piece of writing is ... One
thing I hoped to achieve in this piece of writing is ... My first impression
of this portfolio was _______________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ As I read this
portfolio, I was interested to learn _________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ After
talking about some of the pieces with my child, I began to understand _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ I observed growth
in my childís ability to______________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ As
I looked through the portfolio, I had the following question(s): ____________
_____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Please feel free
to write additional comments on the back of this page. Student name ___________________________Date
_______________ Parent or guardian
name _______________________________ Parent or guardian
signature ________________________________
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