Writer’s Portfolio Reflection Tips

10 original pieces and 4 revised/rewritten pieces

  • Explain the assignment, including when or in what context the assignment was given.
  • Describe how you felt about approaching the assignment.
  • Evaluate your first draft using language of the standards listed below.
  • Use specific quotes from your writing to prove what you mean.
  • If this is a revised piece, add an explanation of what you changed in the second draft and why you made the changes.

2 pieces by well-known authors

Explain why you chose to include the piece:

  • How does it make you feel?
  • What does it remind you of?
  • How does it compare to other things you have read?
  • What makes it an example of good writing?
  • Use specific quotes from the writing to prove what you mean.

Reflection of an Original Piece Example

“Fieldstone”

I am an emotional writer; like most writers, I find it infinitely easier to write about something if I care about the subject. The family artifact assignment mandated that each person bring to class an unusual “artifact” that had some significance to their family with a brief explanation of what it is, who made it, where it came from, et cetera. After sharing the artifacts with the class, we had to write a journalistic essay fully explaining all of those things, using sources and research and no first person pronoun outside of those included in quotations. Because my artifact—a piece of stone from the family’s mountain house—held such deep significance to me and to my entire family, I found it extremely difficult not to make it a directly personal piece. Instead, I turned it into a third-person account of a very precious piece of my family history. The girl in the piece—“Dan’s seven-year-old daughter”— is me.

I am most proud of the organization of this piece. I used “transitions to … create cohesion” as mentioned in standard ELAGSEL9-10W2.c. I mentioned the items I collected from the wreckage in both the second paragraph and the last paragraph: “The significance of her little pieces—a rough and blackened metal spool; a mug of the same; a piece of a plate with a flower design, and a burned-but-solid piece of Wyoming moss field stone” and again “one girl with valuable pieces: a spool, a mug, a piece of a plate, and most importantly, a piece of the uncle she never knew.” This “book-end” style structure “Provide[s] a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented” as directed in ELAGSEL9-10W1.e.

As an aside, I alluded to this mountain house and its destruction by fire in my “Where I’m From” poem, found on page three of this portfolio: “I’m from fire. / I’m from the duplicitous destruction of hard work / And a lifestyle past.”

Reflection of a Revised Piece Example

“Dragons and Princes”

This was a short story I wrote in response to an informational text we read in class. The idea hit me one day, and I felt the urge to write it down before I forgot. I kept it brief and open ended, so I could expand the story if I wanted. This was very fun to write because it wasn’t a project, but simply me writing for fun. While I wanted to get the plot of the story out, I also wanted to experiment with separate lines for dialogue like they do in fiction books. Most of the stories I wrote in school were giant blocks of text, but I always saw the different way authors did dialogue between characters. I just started The Road and saw how important separate lines were for speaking because of the author’s lack of punctuation. I used mostly dialogue “to develop experiences, events, and characters” as stated in standard ELAGSE9-10W3.b in this story. One example of using dialogue to develop characters is Yang, one of the characters in my story. I use indirect characterization of Yang’s speech to show off her personality. When I revised this piece, I tried to improve my grammar to make everything flow together. I also added more paragraphs to highlight the theme of friendship and make it more apparent in the story. By giving a little more backstory, I managed to show the bond between my two characters. The red text in the before story is all of the work I added and everything crossed out was deleted.

Reflection of a Famous Artist’s Work Example

Pride and Prejudice Reflection

Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley’s attentions to her sister, Elizabeth was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some interest in theeyes of his friend. Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely allowed her to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration at the ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticize. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded in some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced toacknowledgeher figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of thefashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. Of this she was perfectly unaware.

Austen, Jane.Pride and Prejudice. New York: Modern Library, 1995. Print.

I am not very fond of romance novels, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice in 1813 in 3 volumes. I watched the movie adaptation first, but loved it so much that I read the book. It is a hard read because it uses old English, but I got used to it quickly. The story revolves around Elizabeth Bennet facing morality, manners, and marriage in 19th century British society. Elizabeth is the second oldest daughter of five in the Bennet family. Elizabeth has a sharp tongue and is not afraid to speak her opinion. While Elizabeth’s sister, Jane, is the sweetest of all the girls and the most beautiful.These character types are stillrelevant and popular in culture today.Elizabeth and Jane try to find love and not just marry for money. In the end of the book, Elizabeth marries Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich gentleman, and Jane marries Charles Bingley, Darcy’s best friend. I love how Jane Austen put in details to show how Elizabeth was growing on Darcy. The first time Darcy and Elizabeth met, Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth saying “she had hardly a good feature.” Darcy tells his friends that he found her unattractive and ill-mannered, but the third time they met Darcy realizes he is attracted toElizabeth. I love this quote because it shows the first hints that Darcy is becoming attracted to Elizabeth. Even though the book was written over 200 years ago, it still has the same romance and love found in books today.Pride and Prejudice develops a beautiful romance and is a classic that I will enjoy for years to come