Final Portfolio

Reflective Cover Letter
Within this portfolio, I have two pieces of work, which are paper #4 and my major re-write paper. With paper #4, I wrote about procrastination and how it may be beneficial in some ways. With my major re-write, I decided to re-write my 1st paper about technology and literacy. With this re-write, I changed it around a little bit and added more information on how we can incorporate technology in the classroom so that students can learn and keep up-to-date with all the advances in technology. I honestly think I deserve an A in the class because I believe that my writing is really starting to improve. I have worked really hard to improve my writing and hopefully it is starting to show within my writings. I think it has improved because normally I have a pretty tough time with the introductions in my papers, but in paper #4, you didn't really have to make any corrections and you said you really liked it, which is a pretty good sign. I'm well aware that my writing is not perfect, but I really have put in the time and effort to become a better writer. I personally really enjoyed the class overall. What I really liked about the class is being able to discuss our readings with our own personal thoughts and opinions. I also really enjoyed the fact that we got to choose what we wrote about. Normally when I'm assigned a topic that I'm not interested in, then I won't put that much time or research into it. One last thing I really enjoyed about your class is that we weren't forced to write a million papers. We actually focused on what writing really was so that we could improve our understanding of our own writing styles and ways to improve them. Something I really didn't like about the class is that we didn't really do much to keep the whole class involved. I liked when we did little in-class things with small groups, but we didn't do that very much at all and I think it would've been more enjoyable if it was more interactive rather than lecture. I learned so many things in this course, just like how there really isn't a "perfect" way to write because everyone has their own writing technique and there's nothing wrong with that. Something else I learned is that it really doesn't matter if you're a multi or single draft writer; whatever works for you, works for you. There really isn't anything that I wish I would have learned because we really did touch on a lot of the things that I was told in high school that didn't really make much sense, just like how we were only taught one specific way to write and how we weren't really allowed to be creative with our writing. I think the class overall would've been better if it was more interactive instead of a straight lecture for 2 hours, but as I've said before, I really did enjoy your class and I'm definitely going to miss it!

Paper #4
With this paper, I was trying to show that procrastination isn't as bad as most people make it out to be and it actually may be beneficial in some ways . My main claim was that although procrastination is normally viewed as a bad thing, sometimes it could be beneficial. I tried to support this claim by using quotes and interviews with students and other scholars on their views of procrastination. The counter-argument I used was using other quotes and ideas from other scholars who opposed the idea of procrastination. I believe that my introduction was my strongest part of the paper. I took the comments and corrections that Professor Whicker suggested and tried to make changes by explaining my study a little better and why students procrastinate.

URL: http://www.scribd.com/doc/85565005

Major Re-Write for Paper #1
For this re-write, I was trying to show the different views that people have over if the use of technology and text messaging and its effects on student’s literacy.  I was trying to prove that the use of technology and text messaging does not affect the literacy of students. The support I used for my claim is using different scholar’s quotes as examples and a couple of studies that have shown that the uprising of technology and text messaging is actually a good thing for the new generation of students. The counter-arguments that I used was where a couple other scholars have claimed that it is actually damaging our students. I took the comments that Professor Whicker suggested and incorporated them into the paper, as well as change some things.

URL: http://www.scribd.com/doc/85799306