Christian Laney Professor Linda Hofmann English 1101-005 26 March 2013

Dear Professor Hofmann, By far, English has always been a subject of mine that has not been my personal favorite, mainly due to the nature of writing, reading, and literature of the course. I have come to realize, however, that this course has been one of my favorites. From the course pack reading assignments to the discussions we have in class, I have to say that I have been one-hundred percent committed to the course since day one. You have provided a great environment for me to come to share opinions and explore my literacy and learn to be a better writer. My engagement in the course has enabled me to take from it more than just a three page writing assignment. At the beginning of the course, I was not too familiar with the people around me, nor had I even thought about being as open as I am today. I came in a little hesitant to share my ideas, and also, I did not know much about the main topic of the course, literacy. I believe it took me a couple classes to really grasp the meaning of literacy, and open-mindedness of literacy. I remember watching The Age of Ebonics, and having a discussion and reflection on the video. I did not comprehend the full concept of literacy at that time and how it applied to Ebonics. Long thoughts and connections were going on inside my head, but I still had not understood the most basic concept. Following that, we moved into what made us literate and what influenced our literacy. By this time, I had the principle of how literacy is shaped and how literacy has variety. Exploring the backgrounds of my class mates was interesting to me, because it did show off the variety of different literacies among a group of four people (when Rachel was here). I realized that there is no right or wrong to an effective literacy background. This allowed me to prioritize what I thought to be most influential to my literacy. It also gave me the first opportunity to really rewind, and find out what my literacies were, when they begin developing, and how were they

Christian Laney Professor Linda Hofmann English 1101-005 26 March 2013

shaped. This would all be able to be expressed in my literacy memoir. This was a huge thing for me, because I had never understood, yet alone, really learned about the word literacy. It makes sense to me now that my literacy has a background of different culture reflections and important literacy events. For me, I had a blast writing the literacy memoir. The first that I begin to think about was the importance of what has happened in my life to be most influential on my literacy. What literacy events impacted my literacy the most? I sat down, had a conversation with myself, and came to terms that my familys values, education, and hobbies were of my most influential shapers. Upon completing my literacy memoir, I felt as if I had a strong reflection. The draft was successful, and the feedback I received from you was extremely helpful. The questions you posed were a great note that I could elaborate more, and get more specific with what I had already written. Although, I thought it was pretty well explained, your questions gave me those aha moments. From your comments, I understood that I had to dive a little deeper into the background of my parents literacy in order to fully show that their influences has shaped mine in a way of broadening mine. Also, a hearty chunk of my memoir was the education foundation. To me, I explain well enough the reasoning an education foundation, but your comments to that section were useful, because I could go into detail on a few ideas that I mentioned. I have reviewed and made notes to what I am going to add into my literacy memoir based upon your critique. With your help and my revision, I know that I can have a solid memoir. I believed it was shared in class, by you, about the Writing Resource Center? So, I plan to make a visit with my revision and my current draft to make sure that I have targeted the questions, and address all the critique in order to strengthen my memoir.

Christian Laney Professor Linda Hofmann English 1101-005 26 March 2013

In addition to literacy and the literacy memoir, weve also been keeping track of our eportfolio. I know in the past couple of weeks, it has been pretty stressed. I have had some experience with portfolios. For example, my graduation project was mainly a portfolio. It housed all legal documents, research papers (drafts included), and product proposal. I would say that my graduation project portfolio was a not as difficult. That portfolio was strictly graduation project material. I have had no experience with an online portfolio, nor have I ever created a website. This will be a challenge for me, but I am definitely going to produce a portfolio that is satisfactory, I hope. I have begun exploring the construction site, Weebly. I created my account, and have messed around with the layouts, pictures, text, and etc. I plan within the next week to have my twelve or more in-class or reflection pieces chosen. I would like to do these first, because these are not going to require much editing and these will also display my improvement in reflection and my overall writing as well. Over this course, the reflection and in-class assignments have begun to improve for me as a writer. I am now more open to ideas, thus I can reflect more and give a broader or narrow view point. I also think that my reflections are showing more depth and elaboration. These qualities will be expressed through the assignments that have been giving over the course. I would also like to get a basic design of the e-portfolio, so I can have a template to start working. I have toyed with a few web designs, but I am not sure which is best for me right now. I know there will be links, but also, full documents placed on the site. Not having any experience with an online portfolio will cause some challenges, but with the help from my peer group, I am certain Jermonte and Brittany can help me out. This is the bulk of our grade, so I know that it is important that I have all components of this e-portfolio included. I still have to revise my literacy memoir and start on the discourse

Christian Laney Professor Linda Hofmann English 1101-005 26 March 2013

community assignment. These two pieces will also show my progress over the course. My main worry at this point with the e-portfolio is getting it all together. There are going to be many aspects of the portfolio, and I am that I will have to divide the work up. I plan to work on each component at a time, rather than trying to everything at once. I am thinking about the in-class writing assignments and reflection assignments first. This will be the start of my portfolio, and I can carry on from there on what I want to incorporate as time goes. Overall, I will be able to learn a lot from this e-portfolio. Being able to produce an online portfolio will be one major accomplishment. I mean, I am in college, and I do not know how many I will have to do, but on a professional outlook, being able to create an online portfolio is a skill that should be mastered. Literacy wise, the pieces that are going to be included in this portfolio reflect many aspects of literacy. From my literacy to Ebonics, I have really interpreted the word well, and can use it in a sense to apply to communities. The e-portfolio, literacy memoir, and writing assignments have all kept me engaged in this class. The many outlooks of literacy that each bring has involved my learning and personal experience. I feel as though I have grown over the course in ways that I would not have if I was not committed to this course. I have always been quite in class, but in this class, I feel free to express whatever opinion I have. I learned that there is no judgment on what standard English is or what level of literacy I should have in this class. The improvements over the course will showcase my performance, and my literacy shall continue to grow during the remainder of this course and afterwards too. I am more open and I want to personally thank you for not creating any limits or expectations. I sincerely enjoy this course, and hope that I can show my growth through my continued hard work.

Christian Laney Professor Linda Hofmann English 1101-005 26 March 2013

Your student, Christian Troy Laney