Writing Portfolio Cumulative Self-Assessment

What is the easiest part of writing for you? Developing a thesis? Creating description? Organizing?

I believe that using description is the easiest part of writing. For me, I think it comes naturally to say what I feel and describe the things I see.

The most difficult? Spelling? Punctuation? Finding support?

Using the correct format with my writing is something I definitely struggle to do consistently. I usually have to go through a second, third, or fourth time to see if I formatted things accurately.

As you look over your writing, select one particular essay with which you are satisfied. Below, discuss the specific effective traits of your piece. In other words, what did you do well? What does this particular essay have that the others don’t? BE SPECIFIC! Support your answers with excerpts from your essay.

The best piece of writing I think I have submitted to Mrs. Reidenbaugh was my essay called “Mystery Men” that discussed the book Their Eyes Were Watching God. My use of description and multiple vocabulary and transition words make reading the paper smooth and interesting (or at least in my opinion it does, you may think differently). I also think that I succeeded in really trying to understand and describe the characters and their personalities or tendencies. The following excerpt of my essay supports my claim. “Joe or 'Jody' Starks was a man who fed off of and hungered for power, supremacy and ultimate control. He seemed to have his own ideas of who Janie was and who she should be.”

Over the past year, in what ways have you grown as a writer? What sorts of things do you now do more effectively? What specific skills have you learned? Do you have the “hang” of the five-paragraph essay? Will you be prepared for the OGT?

Knowing and understanding what a paragraph is has been something I learned as a freshman. I feel ridiculous that I didn’t know what a proper one looked like until this year. Writing essays has definitely become simpler as a result of this. I believe that I have been prepared for the OGT next year. There will probably be more that I need to learn before I take it, but as for this year, the knowledge I have gained will definitely aid me when I take that test.

Set a goal for next year. What do you still need to work on? What areas of your writing would you like to strengthen?

I would love to advance my creativity, imagination and vocabulary. I’m interested in becoming an author so developing those skills next year is really important to me.