Courtney Barrett

ENGL 211C
Kole Matheson
June 22, 2016/Word Count: 1043
Portfolio Keeping Journal
Portfolio Keeping is an introduction to a various strategies for learning and making
decisions to produce a meaningful final portfolio. According to Reynolds and Rice, a writing
portfolio is a collection of selected artifacts and documents that demonstrate an authors abilities
and works. Portfolios are meant to show others the talent and effort that an author exhibits.
Keeping a portfolio can help an author draw more attention to their capabilities and their
weaknesses by using reflective learning to understand how they write and learn more effectively.
The overall goals of keeping a portfolio are to identify what doesnt work well and develop
strategies for addressing or overcoming those parts of the writing. This method of presenting
ones work has grown thus possibilities can now reach across to any field.
The first step in creating a portfolio is understanding the reason of why it is being
created. Knowing the information that needs to be included and discovering the purpose of
portfolio are important in determining what style of portfolio should be created. There are many
variations of portfolios; learning vs. evaluation, electronic vs. written, development vs.
exemplary. These choices can all be made according to the type of information that the creator
wants to incorporate and the purpose that the portfolio is fulfilling in order to present the best
information possible. All portfolios are different, no two are the same, so there is always some
extent of variety. The portfolio process makes the author look at their writing differently as
keeping a portfolio requires that each writing piece be analyzed and have a reason of why it was

chosen to be incorporated. These principles of choice, variety and reflections are important
processes for each creator.
There is a series of steps and guidelines that involve critical thinking and reflective
writing skills which lead an author to successfully organize and manage a portfolio. They are as
follows:
1. Setting goals and planning ahead - this step is simply making sure that all the
primary choices have been made prior to jumping into creating a portfolio. An
author must determine the type, style and purpose of the portfolio before anything
can be created.
2. Staying organized and keeping a working folder - keeping a portfolio requires
keeping everything. The greater amount of material an author has to choose from
in which they want to incorporate the better. Creating a working folder can house
and organize these materials as an author begins the portfolio process.
3. Becoming a reflective learner - being a reflective writer and learner means being
aware of all the work that is done while understanding your own strengths and
weaknesses. Reflective learners develop the ability to identify and discuss their
choices, strengths, and learning processes. Writing pieces such as journals, blogs,
postwrites, and self-assessments influences an author to develop a better a sense
of what and how they are writing.
4. Keeping company working with others - writing isn't a completely solitary
activity. The mental activities involved in writing are heavily influenced by
society and culture. As a part of a class, an author is a part of a writing community

in which authors rely on one another to help edited and influence each other in
order to become better writers.
5. Keeping up and getting unstuck - most assignments are done outside of class and
many times understanding the assignments is more difficult than it may seem. It is
important to ask questions and have a clear understanding of what is expected.
Prewriting and working ahead of time can prove to be beneficial in writing more
successfully. If still stuck there are always writing resources that can help edit and
explain what needs to be done in order to complete the assignment.
6. Understanding assessment - authors must analyze the situation that they are given
and decide, accordingly, how to present themselves and how to best reach and
most effectively engage readers. When writing a portfolio assessment, it is
important to convince readers that the portfolio represents the best work and that
it demonstrates writing abilities that fit with the highest standards of the course.
Understanding the audience, it is crucial to present yourself as an author. From the
evaluator's side, there are many misconceptions about grading and correcting a
students work. The instructor wants each student to excel just as much as they do,
therefore any criticism they denote on an assignment is simply there to benefit
and help the student do better.
7. Putting it together: selecting and arranging artifacts - this is the point in which an
author reaches into their working folder to select pieces in which they want to
incorporate into their portfolio. Authors want to develop sections in which these
pieces can be divided up based on the purpose in which they are fulfilling. They
should choose pieces that best demonstrate their writing abilities.

8. Preparing to write the introduction and other reflective components - reflection is

a large component of a writing portfolio. This method of writing is made to
present and discuss evidence of the material that was learned. Reflective
components show the ability in being a reflective learner and to analyze a
rhetorical situation effectively. They explain your choices in compiling the
portfolio and demonstrate your thinking about your learning. Most portfolio
evaluators are looking specifically for an indication that students can name the
type of learning and identify its significance.
9. The final stages: revising, editing, and proofreading the entries - revising, editing,
and proofreading are discrete processes for improving the text. Revising a
document involves fixing sentence structure and elaborating on subjects in order
to clear up misconceptions. Editing requires going through the text in a systematic
way and tending to small errors that can easily be fixed. With proofreading, many
times author cant see the errors they have created, therefore it is important to
discover other methods of hearing or reading it. These errors are more challenging
because they arent as readily recognizable. Reading aloud can help fully
understand the text and can make it easier to find errors.
10. Portfolio keeping continued: revisiting your learning - portfolios are never static;
they must change with the context. They must be up kept with current pieces and
continually edited to ensure everything is still accurate. Because portfolios allow
for making connections across the curriculum, they are becoming increasingly
popular especially with students.