Activity Title Drama Gilded Age Interdisciplinary Skill Public Speaking/Performing

Year Freshman Portfolio Category Social Awareness

For the first quarter Gilded Age interdisciplinary I was placed in drama and I was a part of the Vaudeville -like performance that we put on. I had no idea what I wished to perform; I dont play an instrument, I cant sing, I tend to trip over my own feet when I dance, and although Id acted a little in the past, it wasnt my forte. Once Ms. Jeral asked what everyone was interested in, it became clear that I wasnt alone in my confusion. No one raised their hand for any of the listed performance ideas. Ms. Jeral then asked if anyone wanted to be a host of the show and I decided to just go for it; Whats the worst that can happen? I asked myself and with a shrug I stuck my hand in the air. I ended up hosting the show and writing several in-character dialogues between myself and my co-host as well as dancing in the final performance, a traditional Ziegfeld Follies Dance. The entire week was spent learning about early New York performing arts and practicing for the show on Friday. My group and I made up our entire Follies dance and no one batted an eye when I tripped while trying to spin; we were all in the same boat of not really knowing how to dance, but just making the best of what we had. I created sassy remarks between the two hostesses and organized the order of events. I even had fun dressing up in the ridiculous costumes. After I got over my initial nervousness at volunteering for a part, I had a great time learning about Vaudeville and the 400s Club, and performing at the end of the week. I realize now that I have always enjoyed performing. I like knowing a part, practicing it in front of my mirror at home, describing the show to my friends and family, I like performing. I always have, if I think about, Ive just never been brave enough to volunteer f or something new. I was always afraid that I would be criticized for being too ambitious, too outgoing. Taking a chance, raising that hand can make the biggest difference in a project, in an education, in life really. This lesson in taking confidence in myself and not being afraid goes beyond theater performances. Over the past few weeks at school Ive joined several clubs, something which I had never done before, and even tried out for the swim team. I was nervous walking into the unfamiliar classroom for the first time or diving into the water surrounded by 40 other swimmers, but I did it. Now Im an official member of two new clubs and the swim and dive team, all because I took that chance. It all comes back to raising my hand in Drama one day. I got an A on the assignment, but thats not really whats important. I could have gotten a D and I would still feel good about the decision I made. I took a chance and found success and happiness and all sorts of rewards that are much more valuable in life than grades. It was a step in the right direction towards being completely confident, taking risks, and not passing up on opportunities just because I might embarrass myself. Im not completely there yet. I still turn red when I get an answer wrong in class an d I still feel jittery before I walk into the swimming pool and club classroom each week. I realize it will take a while to build up the type of confidence and fearlessness that I want to have, but thats what high school is for. Thats what CAP is for. Im putting this into my portfolio as a reminder to myself to know that whenever I feel uncertain or nervous or self-conscious, just how great things can turn out if I would just raise my hand.

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Assignment/Activity Title Maggie Tone Essay Skill Writing

Year Freshman Portfolio Category Critical Reasoning

When I used to write, I wrote with longwinded descriptions and rambling sentences. My paragraphs would go on forever, spewing out facts that hardly relate to my thesis but I just had to include. Run on sentences were a necessity and adjectives made up about half of my word count. Thats because for as long as I can remember there was always a pressure to write more, to explain, to never leave a single detail out. The longer the piece of writing was, the better quality it had. More is better than less. Thats what I used to believe anyways. Then along came the tone essay for Maggie: a Girl of the Streets. I was given a pre-scripted outline to guide my essay with only ten sentences to fill in. I was baffled to say the least. I couldnt work out how I was supposed to include all the things I would need to make my argument within the limited space given. To make matters worse I was only allowed to describe the tone with two contrasting words. I stared at my paper for a good ten minutes, millions of adjectives flitting in and out of my head. None of them seemed quite right to depict the powerful last paragraph of Maggie Johnsons short life. Around me, my classmates seemed to finally be selecting their two words so I went with the next two that popped into my head. I inserted them into the thesis and bit my lip nervously; there wasnt a single comma in the sentence and only one conjunction. But I moved on, filling in each spot until my seemingly flimsy outline was complete. How is this a whole essay? I questioned anxiously. Sure, I had packed each of those sentences with as many extra parts as possible, but to me it seemed lacking in many aspects. All the same, I went home and typed it up, hardly adding any new parts. As I expected, it was only a page and a half. I frowned, twiddled my thumbs, narrowed my eyes, all the while feeling that this essay was much to empty. Then I reread it. It was so unlike my previous works that went on for pages without really saying anything at all. This essay, only a page and a half, said far more than any of those papers had. My paragraphs werent lacking as I had expected; they were straightforward and easy to understand but still containing insight and reason. My sentences werent plain and boring; they were rich with language without running on for pages. Best of all, all the sentences in the essay were directly connected to the thesis. No longwinded run-ons this time. No unnecessary facts. No pointless adjectives. Just simple, clear, powerful arguments. What shocked me the most was how easy it had been to write. Normally I would sit at a computer for hours trying to find five different ways to say the exact same thing. This essay, however, had flowed right from fingertips without any hesitation. As I thought about this, something dawned on me: maybe less is more. In the adult world, there wont be teachers there to spend hours trying to decipher my drawn out responses to yes or no questions. Ill need to be able to get my point across right at the beginning and support as best I can in the clearest way possible. As with all lessons Ive learned with CAP, this goal will take time to accomplish. It wont happen overnight. As I grow as a writer and communicator I will be able to perfect this ability and if I am ever lost in the world of lengthy writings again, all I need to do is look at this brief and to the point essay.

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The Follies Post-Performance