Preface
Dear Readers,
My name is Nicole Bowman and welcome to my portfolio. I am a first year college student, and English 091 is my first college level English class. I would not consider myself a strong writer, but my writing habits have definitely become stronger though the course of English 091. I was actually extremely nervous for college. I had no idea what to expect, but I heard horror stories of students dropping out because it was too difficult. Needless to say, I was quite nervous for my first class. But what I came to realize after a few weeks of school, it was more challenging than high school. I had to learn how to manage my time better, so I don't have to feel overwhelmed when multiple projects are due around the same time. After I learned to manage my priorities and how to manage my time, everything became easier to get my assignments done. This English class was mostly a review of what I have learned from before, but I now have a better understanding of the proper way to write. I feel like the tools I have learned in English 091 will help me throughout the rest of my college career and future English classes I am planing to take. The pieces I have chosen for my portfolio are, “Two Completely Different Teaching Methods”, “Can Social Media be Used as a Weapon”, my third essay, "The American Dream".
I chose “Two Completely Different Teaching Methods”, because it was my first college essay, and I feel I have grown from that essay. I did score pretty well, but I was still vage in my writing. I needed to add more detail and not leave the reader guessing. I have a tendency to forget that the reader does not always know what I am trying to put across in my writing. I need to make sure that I explain everything to make it easier for the reader. This piece of writing also showed my journey through some of my high school english classes and how they have shaped me as a writer. The significance of this paper showed how much one teacher can either have a strong positive or negative effect on a student, and actually prepare them for higher education. In my revised edition of this essay, I showed more reflection of how my teacher did help with my writing skills in the end. I realized that the ending left the reader questioning what happened.
The next piece of writing I decided to share was my second essay I wrote, "Can Social Media be Used as a Weapon". The goal of the essay was to choose a type of technology that is controversial. As you can tell from the title of this essay, I chose social media sites. I expressed in my essay that social media can lead to cyber bullying and parents need to take precautions when letter their children join these social media sites. The main point is teens need to be informed about the severity of cyber-bullying and the effects it can cause. There is no escape from the internet, it follows you everywhere you go. What I needed to improve on this essay, was to make my argument stronger. When I revised my essay, I moved paragraphs around to make my argument stronger. I also had many grammar mistakes that needed to be fixed as well.
The third piece of writing I chose was our third essay. We had to analyze the novel, The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle and choose a theme of the novel that you felt was most important. I chose the theme that was shown throughout the novel, The American Dream. In the novel Boyle shows the desire to achieve The American Dream through two completely different families and how The American Dream can differ. I feel like I have greatly improved throughout these essays. I feel like I followed the prompt well on this essay and explained my point well. In my revision I mostly revised simple grammar mistakes, and I tried to deepen my analysis and show why Boyle would show the different versions of The American Dream.
My name is Nicole Bowman and welcome to my portfolio. I am a first year college student, and English 091 is my first college level English class. I would not consider myself a strong writer, but my writing habits have definitely become stronger though the course of English 091. I was actually extremely nervous for college. I had no idea what to expect, but I heard horror stories of students dropping out because it was too difficult. Needless to say, I was quite nervous for my first class. But what I came to realize after a few weeks of school, it was more challenging than high school. I had to learn how to manage my time better, so I don't have to feel overwhelmed when multiple projects are due around the same time. After I learned to manage my priorities and how to manage my time, everything became easier to get my assignments done. This English class was mostly a review of what I have learned from before, but I now have a better understanding of the proper way to write. I feel like the tools I have learned in English 091 will help me throughout the rest of my college career and future English classes I am planing to take. The pieces I have chosen for my portfolio are, “Two Completely Different Teaching Methods”, “Can Social Media be Used as a Weapon”, my third essay, "The American Dream".
I chose “Two Completely Different Teaching Methods”, because it was my first college essay, and I feel I have grown from that essay. I did score pretty well, but I was still vage in my writing. I needed to add more detail and not leave the reader guessing. I have a tendency to forget that the reader does not always know what I am trying to put across in my writing. I need to make sure that I explain everything to make it easier for the reader. This piece of writing also showed my journey through some of my high school english classes and how they have shaped me as a writer. The significance of this paper showed how much one teacher can either have a strong positive or negative effect on a student, and actually prepare them for higher education. In my revised edition of this essay, I showed more reflection of how my teacher did help with my writing skills in the end. I realized that the ending left the reader questioning what happened.
The next piece of writing I decided to share was my second essay I wrote, "Can Social Media be Used as a Weapon". The goal of the essay was to choose a type of technology that is controversial. As you can tell from the title of this essay, I chose social media sites. I expressed in my essay that social media can lead to cyber bullying and parents need to take precautions when letter their children join these social media sites. The main point is teens need to be informed about the severity of cyber-bullying and the effects it can cause. There is no escape from the internet, it follows you everywhere you go. What I needed to improve on this essay, was to make my argument stronger. When I revised my essay, I moved paragraphs around to make my argument stronger. I also had many grammar mistakes that needed to be fixed as well.
The third piece of writing I chose was our third essay. We had to analyze the novel, The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle and choose a theme of the novel that you felt was most important. I chose the theme that was shown throughout the novel, The American Dream. In the novel Boyle shows the desire to achieve The American Dream through two completely different families and how The American Dream can differ. I feel like I have greatly improved throughout these essays. I feel like I followed the prompt well on this essay and explained my point well. In my revision I mostly revised simple grammar mistakes, and I tried to deepen my analysis and show why Boyle would show the different versions of The American Dream.