Contents for the final portfolio: English 5A

SPRING 2007

What follows is a list and a little commentary on the contents of the final portfolio

1. A reflection essay, which include two parts: Part I—reflection of the semester;
Part II—the revision process of the major essay included in the portfolio. Length:
3 to 5 pages.

2. One polished, final draft essay and attached materials the student believes were
important in the development of the essay. No more than four process documents
attached.

3. A second polished, final draft essay, no extra materials.

Commentary:
Item #1
A reflection, which includes two parts: Part I—reflection of the semester; Part II—
the revision process of the major essay included in the portfolio. Length 3 to 5 pages.
Note that we are not calling it a cover letter; we want to promote the idea of reflection as
it is based in what students have produced. So we are asking students to do two kinds of
reflection.

Part I calls for a student to write about what they have learned over the course of the
semester. We want to encourage them to think about where they were when they first
arrived, and where they are now. Specifically, it would be good for students to reflect on
some of the following aspects of the class:
• What they have learned about being good readers in a college class.
• What they have learned about being good writers (i.e. process, revision, invention,
editing, planning, reading to writing, evaluating, writing summary, writing with
coherence, writing to explain, writing to set the context, writing to audience etc.
This is a suggestive list.)
• What they have learned about the relation between reading, writing, and thinking.
• What they have learned about preparation.
• What they have learned about knowledge.
• What they have learned about meaning making.

And so on. This is a suggestive list. It may be a good idea to discuss strategies for this
part of the reflective essay with your student as they think about what they are carrying
away from the class.

Part II calls for students to write about the process of building the paper they have
chosen as their best piece of writing. When they choose the essay that best represents
their performance in the class, we want them to also choose (no more than four)
documents that illustrate the kind of decision-making they performed as they developed
the essay. These documents could be:
• A copy of a page of reading they annotated and folded into their essay
• Writing they did about the paper they were writing
• Speculative writing that led to some kind of insight for the paper
• A draft with revision moves highlighted
• A brainstorm with attendant thinking
• A plan for writing
• An activity you did in class
• Peer feedback they used to improve their draft

And so on. The purpose here is to get students to say something about the process of
generating and developing the paper they have chosen as representative of their best
performance in the class. The reflection may:
• Tell the story of the paper’s process and include explanation of the significance of
documents
• Explain how the documents supported the development of a certain passage
• Explain how the documents were part of a specific aspect of process (revision,
editing, etc.)
• Describe the student’s understanding of the significance of a document as it
relates to good writing
• Analyze the way the documents reveal rhetorical decision-making
• Analyze the way the documents related to each other as the paper was developing

And so on. Again this is a suggestive list. But the bottom line for the reflective essay is
that it is an opportunity for students to make a case, or explain, or write about what they
are carrying away from the class and from a particular writing assignment.

Item #2
One polished, final draft essay and attached materials the student believes were
important in the development of the essay.

Commentary:
In our discussion last week, concerns were raised about how much writing to include. We
decided that a student should choose one example of their best writing, drawing from the
pool of three writing projects called for in the syllabus.

The thinking here is that we want students to think about why this piece of writing
represents their best work, and then reference this piece of writing (along with the
materials they choose to illustrate their development of the essay – no more than 4
pieces) in their reflection essay.

More important for assessment purposes is the quality of this document. We are not
obliged to read the process materials. Primarily we have included process materials as
that move supports the process pedagogy and student reflection. However, it was agreed
that exit assessment is primarily concerned with what a student can produce. Therefore,
we are gauging our assessment of a student’s readiness for 5B on their choice of one
essay as the best representation of their performance in the class.

Item #3
A second polished, final draft essay, no extra materials.
Commentary:
This piece of writing serves as more evidence of the kind of product a student can turn
out. Its presence can be used by a reader to confirm evaluation if needed, and its presence
sends a message to the student that they have to focus on more than one piece of writing,
thus encouraging them to think about which writings best represent their progress.

Some comments about the final portfolio and learning:

Assessment is something we perform everyday of our lives, as we leave the house
and begin our day, as we get ready to knock on the door for a date, as we complete any
kind of competition, as we look back on many moments in our lives and think about what
it all meant.
Assessment is a bridge between what we have done and how that relate to what
we will do in the future. In education, assessment means looking at what you have
produced and making some claims about its effectiveness, or performing some evaluation
of its performance, within the context of your developing academic skills.
Over the course of this semester, you have performed as a writer, a reader, and a
thinker in your English 5A class. You have been asked to demonstrate your literacy
proficiency. In your portfolio presentation you will be asked to assess your literacy
performance in the class. Using materials you have developed and produced in English
5A, you are going to be asked to make a case for what you have learned about being a
good reader and a good writer. In short, you will be asked to assess your own work and
make an argument for the level of reading and writing competency you have achieved.
This means you will write an essay that uses your own work in the class as
evidence of what you have learned.

A FEW PARTICULARS ABOUT THE REFLECTIVE ESSAY

1. Make a rubric for evaluating the success of papers and use that rubric to explain
the proficiency of your writing
2. Figure out what goes in your portfolio and what is left out. This is an important
decision. Often students think only of placing final drafts in a portfolio. But
remember all the work you do as you build an essay. You perform effective
readings, you take good notes, you organize information from notes into coherent
plans for writing, you revise well, you take information from course readings and
other texts and use it to make changes in a paper. There may be other documents
you want to use to show your reader what you have learned about writing. Make
sure you consider the representative quality of the documents you choose to
include in your portfolio.
 3. Figure out what you have learned about writing processes. How can you
document that? How could you explain what you used to do and what you think
you need to do in the future?
4. Figure out what you have learned about being a good reader and the way reading
influences your ability to come up with good ideas, revise drafts, read drafts,
make plans for composing, etc.
5. Figure out what you have learned about writing at college by pointing to your
own writing and analyzing that in relation to writing you have had to perform in
other classes this year.
6. Figure out what have you learned about analyzing audience or understanding
purpose, or understanding the way you represent yourself in writing. How could
you show what you have learned by pointing to some of the work you have done
in Eng. 5A?
7. Figure out what have you learned about the content of essays written for college
classes. Are there particular qualities that most college teachers insist upon? Do
your essays demonstrate some of those qualities, and can you explain why those
qualities are insisted upon? Or how you managed to meet those requirements? Or
why you think your writing needs more work in this area?

Now that we have moved through this list of possibilities, remember one thing.
Evaluating is not instantaneous nor is it easy. The best readers control the literal before
they move to the interpretive. Then, after they have interpreted the text, they move into
evaluation. Don’t move too quickly to judge your work. Take some time to describe what
you have produced, what you have done in the class. Then take some time to figure out
the significance of what you have done or learned in the class (what does it say about
your literacy skills and knowledge) and then, after you have made sure you know what
you have made and what it says about you know, then move into some evaluation of it,
some assessment of its value as a representation of your work in the classroom and your
level of competence as a language user.
 GNERAL GUIDING DESCRIPTIONS: 5A FINAL Portfolio

A score of 5: Indicates very promising to excellent readiness for 5B

The portfolio reveals a student who most likely will excel in 5B. This student excels in at
least 90% (about 18/20) of the rubric traits. The student turns out very good to excellent
final products. The 5 portfolio will reveal a more integrated sense of reading and writing
and process; thus this student shows a level of rhetorical awareness that indicates a well
developed or strongly emerging knowledge of reading and writing strategies. The writing
suggests that they are ready to handle analytic, research-based writing, ready to read
more complex essays. Final products indicate decisions about the reading and writing
based on an understanding of context, audience, and purpose.

A score of 4: Indicates promising to competent readiness for 5B

This student is ready to move to 5B. This student is competent, but not exceptional. This
student seems to know how to do at least 80 (about 16/20) of the rubric traits with some
proficiency, but has yet to achieve excellence, or show complexity. The student turns out
competent to very good final products. This student may not demonstrate sophisticated,
or well-developed thinking in their writing, but shows enough progress in 5A to predict
success with the more complex, analytical writing tasks in 5B. This student shows
competence with many of the rubric traits; however, this student’s portfolio indicates a
need to improve in a few core areas. Overall, the writing shows development, has a focus,
and a clear sense of purpose, makes effective use of secondary sources, and explains the
significance of its message(s).

A score of 3: Indicates minimal competence, but readiness for 5B

This student has not failed 5A, but has not progressed in a manner that insures success in
5B. When the student moves on to 5B, he or she will need to find extra support, work to
review instruction from 5A, and commit special attention or extra time to improving
reading and writing practices. This student has minimum proficiency, and seems to know
how to do about 70% (14/20) of the rubric traits. This student produces solid but
underdeveloped writing. This writing may be dominated by claims and evidence but
shows some attempt at explanation. Minimally, the writing develops the significance of
its message(s) and fulfills the promise of its major claims.

A score of 2: Indicates under-preparedness for 5B

This student is on the margins and may not be ready for 5B. If moved on to 5B, this
student will have to show significant progress and make major changes in his or her
approach to the class. This student seems to know how to do at least 60% (about 12/20)
of the rubric traits with minimal proficiency, but the portfolio doesn’t demonstrate a
complex/integrated use or understanding of these traits. Portfolio represents a student
who has not integrated reading, writing, rhetorical instruction; consequently, the student
turns out underdeveloped final products dominated by unsupported or undeveloped
claims. This students seem to lack strategies or guiding assumptions that will lead to
sophisticated, or well-developed thinking in writing. This student may show signs of
understanding some of the rubric traits; however, this student’s portfolio indicates a need
to improve in several core areas. The portfolio may show a lack of engagement with the
class and its content

A score of 1: Indicates student is not prepared for 5B

Based on the portfolio performance, this student should repeat English 5A. If moved on
to 5B, this student will have to show exceptionally significant progress and make several
changes in his or her approach to the class. This student seems to lack strategies or
guiding assumptions that will lead to effective participation in 5B where research and
more independent study are required. The portfolio may show a lack of engagement with
the class and its content. The reflective essay is filled with claims that run counter to the
program’s teaching, seem to restatements of clichés heard long ago, or is primarily filled
with unreflective description of what happened in class (part I) and little description of
how documents in the process relate to the final product (part II). The portfolio indicates
a need for the student to retake the course because they are still under-prepared for
university reading and writing. The portfolio reveals minimal proficiency with at least
30% (about 6/20) of the rubric traits, but the portfolio also reveal several deficiencies, for
example:

• Lacks evidence of responsiveness to other’s ideas

• Lacks evidence of understanding course readings
• Lacks evidence of context for reading and writing (rhetorical awareness)
• Lacks evidence of summative abilities
• Laces evidence of more global – at the level – coherence
• Lacks evidence of paragraph competence (unity, coherence, development)
• Lacks evidence of sentence competence (sentences inhibit comprehension)
• Writing is predominantly characterized by lists, disconnected claims, undeveloped
evidence, frequent misuse of vocabulary
• Fragmented, disconnected thinking that suggests minimal organizational
strategies