Ethan Tison

Prof. S. Ingram
UWRT 1101 T/R 2:00 -3:15
October 2, 2014
Midterm
Looking back at my first blog post from this class, I notice a few questions I posed in
August that I still do not know the answer to, for example, What is a writing ritual? Will we
be studying grammar rules or punctuation habits? or How many people usually get an A in
the course? but I also now can answer many of the previous questions that I had for myself. For
example, considering the atmosphere of the class, now that Ive been in it for several weeks, I
can tell that there would be no problem in just getting up and going to get a drink or use the
restroom or something, since its a very casual environment. This same familiarness also helps
me know when an Appropriate time for a laptop would be. Also, I apparently understand my
seventh question of What does the blog will induce a midterm mean? Or at least, I
certainly hope I understand it at this point Finally, Ms. Ingram herself has answered several of
my questions, like Aare we required to use our Weebly site as a strictly professional class tool?
Is the syllabus the most important thing to check for assignments? and What do we need to do
about our Writers Notebook?
Looking at the nine key concepts that are listed on the syllabus, It seems to me as though
we are already engaging with all of them, even though we are only halfway through the semester.
For example, as we analyze all manner of texts and writings rhetorically, and as we read and
write responses to our reading, we are practicing critical thinking, making connections, and are
growing in intellectual maturity as we encounter new things to think about. We also, simply by
coming to college are taking responsibility for our own learning, practicing independent inquiry,
and satiating curiosity in different subjects of study. Also, this class is helping us to refine our
writing process and revision techniques and is helping us learn to provide and receive feedback. I
feel that all of these objectives are being met exceptionally, and I think Im doing well with all of
them, since most of these seem to be pretty easy for me. However, one thing this class does not
seem to have done so far, at least in my opinion, is getting us out of our comfort zones. I know I,
for one, have, for a long time now, loved writing, and this class is not really drastically strenuous,
or anything. I have maintained my comfort zone for most of this class, so far, so I suppose the
most challenging of these 9 elements is being challenged, so far.
Some of my favorite revisions that I made to my Literacy Narrative essay are probably
such things as giving more descriptive scenes, and removing boring story summary, and such
things as that. I remember in my first draft, I described pretty much my entire lifes progress up
to that point, but to make it not ridiculously long, I had to summarize monumentally- important
things into uninteresting little sentences like, I took Tech Production, a class for people
interested in running the technology that makes a stage production happen, and I liked enough to
start volunteering to run a camera every week at a local production center, which I still do
today. Even though that section of my life was amazing, and deserved an entire essay on that
subject alone, there were just too many instances of my growth to feasibly list them all while
maintaining an interesting narrative, rather than a dry history description. So I was pleased to
find that my second draft forced us to narrow the scope to just one single event, rather than to
summarize 17 years in five pages. This gave me much more flexibility to set the scene, draw the
readers in, and tell the story in a way that shows or implies the main idea to the reader, even
though it might not carry all the details of the first draft where I literally just told them what I
wanted them to know. My second draft was far more interesting in my opinion, with the story
beginning with, It was a cold winter day, and I had long since given up on layering myself
within bigger and thicker sweatshirts. I now sat cozily in a wooden chair, cocooned inside a
gigantic blanket that effectively warded off the biting January drafts in our Maryland
townhouses basement. Also, I realized in my second draft what I had not in the first; namely
that the assignment was still an essay, and therefore needed a more formal introduction than just
jumping right into the story, though my second drafts intro seemed to ramble a little, and be
repetitive, something I am still trying to fix.
I chose Linsey Woodruffs E-Portfolio to rhetorically analyze. The author was writing to
her teacher, and possibly her classmates, but she has organized her page so that it seems like it
was meant for anyone, and her purpose was clearly to get a good grade on the assignment, but
the message that comes across in the e-portfolio is that she is showcasing her work, experience,
and capabilities from the class. The author clearly really loves pictures and photography, based to
only by all the pictures on her page, but by the fact that her entire literacy narrative is abut
photography. She utilized a spatial, linguistic, graphical, and pretty much every available mode
of communication. This genre, the portfolio, is the type of profile or resume that you would show
to someone when you want then to know what you can do. Of course, you cant show
EVERYTHING, or it would be a very long, boring encyclopedia or autobiography, instead of a
quick burst of information, thus defeating the point of it being an overview of you. The
advantages of this are that it is accessible from any internet connection, it is easily edited, and
can be updated as new things happen. I would say that this e- portfolio successfully presents the
author and gives a quick, endorsing overview of her strong points, since it is well organized, lean
and very professional in appearance and content.
As of the midterm, I certainly hope that I have earned an A in the course! I have
completed all the assignments asked of me as thoroughly as I saw fit, submitted them on time
and in the correct places, and I have attempted to be a thoughtful member of class discussions,
even in the midst of a talkative group. I am attempting to set my e-Portfolio up as complete,
thoughtfully arranged and easily navigable, to complete all work to the best of my ability, and to
grow as a writer in the course. I hope that the above demonstrates that I am still learning as a
writer and that I am and can thoughtfully and thoroughly discuss my engagement with key
concepts. Hopefully, what I am building here in my e- Portfolio is unambiguous and correct, and
will satisfactorily complete all the requirements to be considered an exemplary E- portfolio.