Portfolio Cover Letter
Shannon K. McMeans
Professor Marlen Harrison
English101-013
April 19, 2009
To Whom It May Concern:
Spring semester 2009, as I walked into my English 101 class, I was unaware of what I was going to endure in the months ahead. I was expecting the typical English class of papers after papers, the regular grading rubric and a few tips on grammar. Instead I learned to free write, write with topics on different genres, use my resources and my own experiences for references and learned about myself. I would like to expand on the fact I learned about myself this semester in this English course. As I read over all of my essays at the end of this semester, I realized I stuck on the subjects of my family, faith, friends, and experiences. Marlen gave me multiple topics to write about, along with the five sense of touch, and I always went back to those four subjects: family, faith, friends and experiences.
For my first essay, I was to write about my sense of touch. The genre we were to use was a narrative, and this particular genre is my favorite. A narrative is an opportunity to think and write about ourselves, to explain how our experiences lead to some important realization or conclusion about our lives or about the world, in general. The title of this essay is, ‘Papa’s Little Girl’, it is about the relationship I had with my Grandpa who passed away all brought together by my wonderful unique sense of taste of buffalo chicken wings. The reason I wrote about this is because when the topic of my sense of taste was stated as my assignment, my mind took me back to that little restaurant I use to visit so frequently in my younger years. In my essay, there is one paragraph that I let my voice speak out from the pages. On page, 25 in my portfolio, I really feel I was able to give my reader an idea of how strong of an affect my Grandpa had on me. To me, that is a very huge accomplishment. With all of this said, I chose my first essay to be my standalone essay, because it truly developed into a stand alone piece of work. I had this essay turned back into my twice and in my portfolio I will be requesting a final grade.
The next essay I am going to touch on is my essay on the sense of smell. The genre I chose to use for this essay was a mixture of genres, like the Millie Chen’s ‘winter’s Day’. The way Millie wrote her piece of writing was so entertaining to me and I found myself going back to read it multiple times. The title of my essay is ‘My 4 Seasons of Smell’, I chose this title because I found myself listing the different smells of summer, fall, winter and spring, so it just fit. I also want to reference back to this essay because I used this particular piece for my process set. I was to have one of my class mates edit my piece twice, using a rubric. Having another class mate edit my paper gave me the ability to have someone else my age and at my writing level to help me with my completion of the writing. This specific process set essay can be found on page 66 of my portfolio.
In our class, I was to use a different genre for each of my essays. As I stated in the paragraphs before, I wrote using the narrative essay and an essay that used multiple genres. For my second essay, I chose to use a business style letter for these genres. This specific piece was to write about my sense of being able to see. The main topic I focused on was Thomas Kinkade’s painting of California Powell Street. The first reason I chose to write to this brilliant artist was because of the fact we shared the Christian faith.
My family has had his wall calendars hanging in their kitchens since I can remember, and have always loved to just sit and look through the wonderful paintings. Each person’s individual imaginations could elaborate on what they saw in the paintings.
For my sense of hearing, I chose to create a brochure. At the beginning of the semester my major was Elementary Education and I have recently changed it to Business Education and Business Technical Support. I wanted to create a brochure that I could use as an aid to use while teaching a class. This is why I mentioned my choice of major, Education. The business aspect comes from the ability to use a Microsoft program to create a brochure. This brochure can be found on page 97 of my portfolio.
As I stated in previous paragraphs, I was to write about my five senses throughout the course. For my final essay on my sense of touch I chose to use multiple genres to interpret my ability and wonderful hobby of playing the beautiful instrument—the piano. On page 100 of my portfolio, is my fifth essay on my sense of touch. I chose to write about the piano because I never realized I would not be able to experience it to the fullest without my sense of touch. So many times during my daily routine I tend to not realize what wonderful things I experience with my five senses.
Without references, I do not think I would be able to write any of the essays I have accomplished. Marlen chose a wonderful variety of writings to use to show the wonderful world of writing from different genres.
With the references from all of the writings Marlen gave to read, the Writing Center, my peer-editors, Marlen himself, and quotes from famous influential people, I was able to fully let my voice be heard, with a little help from the professionals themselves.
As I write this cover letter for all of my pieces in my final portfolio, is when I realize just how far I have grown in my writing process. I have gone from just writing the required number of pages etc., to actually developing a process to completing my writings. First I start out by finding a topic by making mind maps or researching on a specific subject, to writing my pre and post paragraphs to set my goals for my writing. After I do this I go on to writing my first draft and then proceed to reading it out loud and having someone read it to me as well, while editing it. It is always good to add references into the piece as well, to get your point across completely. After revised multiple times is when you will have your final draft. Even after that, I still don’t believe I have my final draft. My essays never seem to be finished. After this course, I have found my voice, which is the most important thing to me, everything else aside. As my reader goes throughout my portfolio, I hope you can hear my voice as an individual.
Sincerely,
Shannon K. McMeans
