Final Portfolio

Matoaka Berry
ENG 241
May 10, 2010
English Portfolio

This class was one of the last English classes I needed in order to graduate this spring. I went in thinking that this will be another boring English class with all this reading and writing, little did I know what I had walked into. It started off different than any other online class I have taken before. It made me look beyond what was in the reading. This class helped me to develop my critical thinking skills and writing skills. It has also helped me to look at myself in a different way. With everything that has been going on with me during this semester this class has allowed me to see that things are not as bad as it seems. I have gained the respect for history and have learned how rich in history Richmond Virginia has. I have also gained a since of respect for the struggles the country has went through in the past because it has helped me to understand some of the struggles we are going through now.
My portfolio is designed to showcase the growth that I have gone through this semester. I will show all my hard work to complete and keep up with the weekly assignments and blogs. I worked rather hard in this class because the level of thinking and the level of knowledge that was in this class to gain. This portfolio will show why I believe that I have worked for and deserve an “A” in this class.
The first assignment was to write a letter to someone who plans to immigrate to America and let them know what it means to be an American. They only know about the country by what they seen on television and heard. Well when I first read this assignment I thought to easy, I have lived in America my whole life so this is going to be a piece of cake. Well I was so wrong about that. The reading came from the Heath Anthology book by J Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. The question “What is an American” came from his reading. I must say when it came down to me writing out what I thought an American was I was lost for words. It was kind of hard to explain to a person who has never been here what an American is especially when you don’t know if what they heard was good or bad. So I begin to think if I was going to move to another country that I knew nothing about; what would be most important to me to learn before I get there. This is when I came up with the subject of knowing the history of the country; this way you can understand how the country works and what to expect from the people. Next I came up with the fact that America is a place where dreams come to. I hear from people all the time that they came here to become a model, a singer, an actor/actress, or to be able to provide for their family. Then I concluded that when you come here just enjoy every experience. It may be a lot to take in and a lot of adapting but it is a great place to live.
This assignment was a great way to start this semester off. It allowed me to look into myself and see what America meant to me. It showed me how life would look to others from another country. I enjoyed this writing so much because it made me look at life in a whole different meaning. It made me think about taking this place for granted and just being so stagnate. So now I have vowed to go learn more about this country and at least the state in which I live in.
The next assignment that has helped me through this emotional semester was the sublime experience assignment. It made me go to this place that I have kept shut out for a while. I must say that I am not a very open person but this semester has allowed me to open up and speak out. I guess I am open when it comes to writing and this class has really shown me that.
The sublime experience was very emotional for me. I decided to write about my aunt and her cancer diagnoses. This is an area that is very soft to me because it is still new and it is something that I am still going through and it is a up and down battle. Even though this is not me who is sick I am still feeling the effects of it because of the warning that it causes on the family to. I chose this topic because even though it was not a great experience mentally it was a great experience to learn from. As for now in my life there is nothing that has happen to me that will take the place of this. What she has gone through has shown me that I have to be strong for her, for me and for my family. She has been through so much and I have been right there beside her. So this assignment has been very helpful to me to see what I have gone through and that I have been strong through it all.
The next assignment was living a full life. This was a fun writing for me because it really let me express myself. I have set the standard for myself that when it is all said and done for me I want my full life to consist of me leaving a positive name for myself. I want to help with the girls growing up that come from single family homes. I want to show them something different that they are not use to. Being able to provide for me and my family is also going to contribute to me living a full life. Right now I am working on finishing my degree program so that I can be able to provide. To me living a full life is more than just the material things and being able to live to see 80. I would love to see that age and beyond but also I want to be known as the person who helped out in my community, who made a way for the youth to grow and who just did all I could do to better myself.
We then moved into the next month where the learning continued. This assignment made me look more into myself. I have always thought about myself and making sure that I am the best at the things I do, but when it came to this assignment I was lost on how to write about myself. I just feel that the best me is strong and independent. I have been this way for so long that it is just time for me to keep it up. I have to be strong for me and my family, they depend on me. My independence was learned at an early age. In this assignment I used quotes from the story so that I can relate it to my life now. I felt that the story we had to read had things in it that reflected in my life. With everything that has happened to me this semester I have to be strong. It felt like every time I took a step forward I get pushed ten steps back, but this is okay because I have made sure that I am on track with school so that I can graduate this May. So even now when I look back at this assignment I still believe that the best me is strong and independent.
My next assignment I felt may have been a little controversial. The assignment was entitled “Is it Fixable.” I chose to write about gay marriages. I personally don’t have a problem with them getting married but I also see the religious part that people are complaining about. One thing I say is that it is not something we will have to deal with in the end so let them have the same rights as everyone else who gets married. This is the only thing that I think they want more than anything. I was very uncomfortable when posting this because I didn’t want to offend anyone with my words. I didn’t want to make people feel that I was coming off to strong because I have been known to be a little too strong on my opinion. I did like this assignment because it allowed me to put out my views on one of the topics of today. No it may not be right but I am not here to make all the fuss over it, I have too much going on in my life to worry about that. I know that people feel strong about certain things especially when it comes to religion.
The last assignment that I am going to share is the assignment of the virtues. This was very interesting because there can be a lot of things that you can use but when you put a number on the important ones it gets hard. I feel that the list I came up with is very good. The one that I picked that I need to work on was the one with self-respect. This one is very important in my community because the youth is losing this. They have no respect for themselves but then wonder why no one else is respecting them. This is also why I want to get a group and help the youth get this back. This is very important because you have to respect yourself.
This semester has been full of new and exciting experiences. I have grown in the field of critical thinking. This semester has made me think so much harder about things and how I feel about certain issues. I have also learned more about myself and the fact that I am more expressive on paper. I have also learned about my history and how to put it into play when it comes to what is going on now. This semester has also made me more away on people thoughts. I have also enjoyed the discussions in our groups. It was very interesting to see what people had to say about certain things and to see that there are people out there who think like you. This was my favorite because I thought that when I wrote something no one would agree with me. This was a great class and I believe that my hard work will pay off when I see the grade that I get out this class. I believe that I have shown how I learned and grew this semester and why an “A” is what my work shows and what my participation shows.