EL 237 Portfolio #1
This portfolio showcases my best work thus far in EL 237: Writing About Literature. In this portfolio are examples of my best blog entires, as well as my interaction with my peers.
Coverage: I wrote a blog entry for every assigned text so far in this semester:
- High school flashback? -"The Necklace" In this entry, I focused on the details of the piece as a whole. The author did a great job with sensory details, and I decided to praise his efforts.
- Writing About Literature: Preliminary In this entry, I touch on several subjects rather than focusing only on one aspect of this chapter--it was a long chapter, so I decided to make sure I wrote a long response to all of the information, because a lot of it was useful.
- Luck or Destiny? I argue in this entry that maybe the main character wasn't luck, maybe it's destiny. I question whether different military figures would still be remembered had their "luck" been different.
- War. I connected the piece by Hardy to a previous piece read in class by Twain, and I went off into a tangent about supporting our troops. Oops.
- It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book...Roberts CH 2 I disagree with Roberts in this blog entry, but also comment on his strengths in this chapter.
- To kill a Canary... I question whether Mrs. Wright is guilty in this entry, explaining that the author of the story leaves a lot of questions unanswered in this one-act play.
- Fiction=TrueLife? Roberts, CH 3 In this entry, I disagree with Rogers when he says that all fictional characters are like people in real life.
- You've only got 100 years to live In this entry, I not only analyzed the poem "On Turning Ten," but I also explained how it made me feel emotionally, and I linked to a classmate's blog.
- Times goes by so slowly Again with the sensory details. I really emphasize their importance in "Owl Creek." I explain that the details really helped me to visualize the character's last moments alive--this was a high topic of dispute in class; not everyone appreciated the details like I did.
- Reality is just a point of view away I identify a book I read for my own leisure in this entry and connect it to the assigned reading about points of view.
- Another surprise ending, Oh my! This was just a basic reaction to "The Strangers" by Hardy. I explained that the ending surprised me and I also talked about the start of the story and how its details were *really* boring. But, I later explained that the story made up for itself when it introduced dialogue into the story.
- Two lines can change everything In order to analyze the sonnet by Shakespeare, I looked on some of my peer's blogs before reading the poem. I mentioned this in my blog and basically just discussed what symbolism I found in the poem.
- Structure, My dear Watson, Structure...is key Again, I bring up the Time Traveler's wife in this entry, and apply it to what I read in Roberts. I explain that I never really thought about structure before reading this chapter and what I learned from it.
- Dying is an art In this entry, I discussed Plath, and the fact that I didn't understand with her, but agreed with some of the stuff she said in her poem "Lady Lazarus." Note: I'm not suicidal.
Depth: These blog entires are simply more detailed and analyzed entries. I spent more time writing my entries and attempted to bring in outside ideas into my analyses:
Interaction: This section has examples of discussions I conducted with my peers on their blogs, as well as mine, including several examples of disagreements:
- Aja's All Tied up--I disagreed with Aja. Her blog entry had 9 comments total about our discussion.
- Jess's Close Reading or Closed Mindedness is another example of me disagreeing with a peer
- I also made several comments on some of Aja's other blog entries: Short like the chapter, I knew it! and Go Gentlemen...go confederate?
Timeliness: These entries were posted around 24 hours before class met, allowing ample time for discussion on my blog:
Xenoblogging: My contribution to the blogging world, whether it be commenting on other blogs or linking to them:
- You've only got 100 years to live-The Link Gracious. I linked to Jess Orlowski's blog in my blog
- Two lines can change everything-The LInk Gracious. In this blog, I linked to both Jess and Aja's blogs
- Aja's Captain Jack Sparrow--the comment informative. I answered her question in this blog
- Aja's The Necklace--The Comment Primo--I started a heated discussion in this blog entry
- Jess O's Close Reading or Closed Mindedness--The Comment Primo. Again, I sparked a large discussion on Jess's blog in this one.
- War--I demonstrate the ability to link two assigned texts to each other in this blog, and offered additional insights.
- Two lines can change everything--this entry shows that I am able to use and relate to what my peers say on their blogs, as well as learn from them
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Wonderful content, wonderful presentation. I particularly like how you make every homework assignment an opportunity to hone your writing craft. Your contributions are both broad and deep, and your enthusiasm is catching. Good work!