Keyerra King Reflective Essay 11/15/13 Coming into a college writing class was very nerve-racking for me.

When first hearing about a portfolio I did not know what to think. Ive never done a portfolio of any sort before. This was a totally new concept for me. Once I found out that it was online I was even more shocked. The portfolio was a challenge at first because I had never seen anything like it. Not only was it my first college portfolio but it was my first portfolio ever. Now I can say that though I probably would never hold a workshop about it, I can navigate the electronic portfolio quite well. After all, I need it to showcase my work during my first college writing class, WRD 103, here at DePaul University. I had no idea what I would be walking into having a class on rhetoric. The only thing I knew of rhetoric is what I learned in high school. I learned that rhetoric comes with different literary devices such as alliteration and of course rhetorical questions. The only writing I did were the analyses of the stories I read in class. In this class I learned that rhetoric is more than that. Rhetoric is the understanding of appeals, tones, and even writing styles of different pieces. Each piece we were assigned in class had different audiences and different tones that we were to write in. Our first assignment on rhetoric was our rhetorical analysis. For this assignment I was required to find a speech and analyze the different appeals the person giving the speech used. I chose a speech given by Michelle Obama on her Drink Up campaign. I chose her speech because I wanted to go in a different direction than everyone else in my class. Everyone else chose a speech by President Obama about the Syrian crisis which was going on at the time the assignment was given. The goal of the assignment was to identify the ethos, logos, and pathos of the speech. We also watched videos that corroborated with the assignment. We were not to take a side but to just let the audience know that were devices used to capture their attention in order to support the cause the speaker was trying to present. This assignment was not so hard for me because I had learned about theses appeals in high school. I was glad to come across this assignment because it was a much needed refresher on what those appeals consisted of when analyzing a piece. The next piece assigned was the editorial piece. This assignment was a little difficult because it was the first paper that I had to write in a relaxed tone. In high school all the papers I had to write were in a more professional tone. I was a little frustrated with the activity to be honest. In the end it helped to reassure what I knew as the right way to write. This editorial assignment took me completely out of my comfort zone. The assignment was to write my opinion on the technology and language controversy. I chose to talk about the use of PowerPoint in schools. As youll see in the Reading Summaries and Responses section, there is a section on technology and language. One of the readings I chose to respond to is an article written by Julia Keller who only sees the negatives of PowerPoint. In my editorial, I used her stance as a counterargument to my own argument. The hard part of the assignment was not the paper but the tone of the paper. The tone

goes hand in hand with the audience the paper is being written for. Once i got a clear understanding of who the audience was, anyone who might read the DePaulia, it became easier to apply the appropriate tone. The next assignment was the total opposite of this one. The hardest of these was the third piece, the professional letter, I was required to write. It was hard to go from a more relaxed tone, as we did with the editorial assignment, to a professional tone. I had to write to an authoritative figure about an issue that I felt needed to be addressed. I chose to write on making laws that prohibit offensive language. At first I thought it was a great topic. Because my family has endured some hardships because we are a mixed race family, I thought it would be a good topic to bring to attention. With that in mind, I chose to write to the Supreme Court justices about implementing a law that would help cut back on offensive language. Much of the assignment consisted of outside research. This research helped to find anything that could support my proposal for making that law come to pass. As I went on with the writing I felt that it was becoming difficult to focus all my ideas in a cohesive way that did not sound too personal. I spent hours upon hours revising different words and phrases that would sound more appropriate for the professional letter. After I finished the final draft I felt more than relieved to be done with it. If I could go back and fix anything it would be the audience I chose to make my proposal to. A more narrow net would have been beneficial than going so big with this idea. I think that this particular piece did enhance my ability to focus on the tone and the audience of a piece so that it will sound more appropriate for the topic at that time. This paper helped me gain a more in depth understanding of writing conventions and rhetorical knowledge. Both drafts in my professional letter section will show my fulfillment of those learning outcomes. The next assignment is the one Im choosing to showcase for my final portfolio. This is the multi-modal piece I was assigned to write. The first thing we did to get an idea for the paper was write a free write about our view on technology. The free write helped to gather my thoughts about what I wanted to say in my photo essay. I was required to conduct interviews with people in an older and/or younger generation than my own. The interviews were to serve as a different way to gain the perspectives of different generations on the role of technology in their lives. I also had to incorporate photos that were cohesive to the paper. This assignment was difficult the first time around because I had to go beyond the surface level with my observations. It also wasnt as structured as how Im used to which added on to the difficulty of the assignment. I had to learn to think more critically than I normally would have. Since there was no clear layout and it was completely up to me how I should write it I had a hard time doing that. Once I got done with the rough draft, I brought a copy of it to school so that I could go through our usual peer reviews that we do after every rough draft. They helped me to understand how I could go deeper with my own thoughts as well as those thoughts of those I incorporated into the paper. The final draft was better after the peer reviews but I wanted to go further with it, which is why I chose it as the piece I want to showcase. With the help of my professor, Professor Cardi, I was able to go beyond my usual level of critical thinking. I was able to take the interviews, the class readings, the videos, and the opinions therein to a new level of understanding that I can share with others. I must say that I procrastinated

the most with this assignment. I waited to the weekend before it was due to conduct the interviews and find pictures that would be the most appropriate. I prefer to wait longer to start the assignment because I honestly do work best under pressure. This portfolio is a look at the journey I set out on as a participant in the First Year Writing program here at DePaul University. Through the formal writings, as well as through in class writings and activities, I was able to learn what rhetoric actually consists of. I can say that I now know what is expected of me as I progress through the rest of my years at DePaul. I know that with this knowledge I can take different assignments headon and know that I will always have this portfolio to look back on whenever it will be needed.