Your portfolio should include two main things:

1. Your self-evaluation, including a well-supported argument for the grade you think you deserve;

2. Soft copy of electronic work to date (including notes, drafts, research materials, weekly assignments, responses, revisions, etc) as well as your self-evaluation in my teacher folder under "Portfolios."

As you prepare to write your self-evaluation, review our policy statement and note that the minimum requirements for passing this course are satisfactory attendance, substantial course participation and on-time work. Remember especially our two explicit sets of criteria for evaluating your learning and your work in this course (given to you on the second day of class).

The first set of criteria is composed of five main strands: (which you may think of as the specific "skills and strategies" and "content knowledge" you're striving to acquire in this course):

• American Literature, where we will discover that literature is the result of interaction with history as well as cultural practices and that it does not exist in a vacuum. How did other kinds of art influence literature? How did historical events impact a writer's work?
• Computer Technology, where we will learn to use it in the context of the class to build your own narrative of American literature;
• Critical Interpretation, where we will develop strategies and vocabulary for analyzing texts;
• Research, where we will utilize online and conventional search strategies to gather information or data objects about a topic;
• Collaboration, that recognizes multimedia often requires multiperspectives and work.

1. Confidence and independence: in your own reading, writing, and thinking abilities.
2. Specific skills and strategies: involved in composing and communicating effectively, from concept to organization to close reading, and including technological skills for computer communication.
3. Content Knowledge: gained about new technologies, strategies of literary analysis, research methods, the topics you write about, organizing and presenting your ideas to others, and so on.
4. Use of your own prior and emerging experience: the ability to draw on your own experience and connect it to your readings/project work
5. Reflectiveness: reflecting about your own learning process, as well as developing a more analytical approach to reading, writing, and communication.

A soft copy portfolio with your self-evaluation and a neat compilation of your work to date. I'll look for thoroughness and thoughtfulness, and I'll expect your self-evaluation to be reasonable and well-supported.

Look back at the observations you've jotted down about your learning and your work in our class. Look back, too, at my comments and your classmates' regarding your responses, papers, ICs, e-mail, etc. Use these observations and comments, along with excerpts from your own work, to support your claim about the quality of your learning and your work in E316K. I shall expect each student to observe his or her own development in each area of the course and to jot down such observations as they occur. You will be given several minutes at the end of every class to record and assess the day's learning in your Learning Journal. Do not discard any notes, drafts, papers or research materials you produce during the course because you will draw on these materials as evidence in your Midterm and Final Portfolios of the quality of your work and your learning. Create a diskette called "last name--Portfolio," and save materials generated in this course on your diskette. Much potential evidence of your work and your learning will also be recorded in the electronic forums of the course: Director, InterChange, Internet email, message forums, etc.

What You Can Expect From Me . . .
On the Midterm Portfolio
A response with comments to help you think about your goals for upcoming activities, plus an estimate of what your course grade would be if the class ended at this point.

On the Final Portfolio
Careful evaluation of your argument for the grade you deserve. I'll consider your argument persuasive and effective if the evidence you present in your portfolio supports the claims you make about the quality of your work and your learning this semester. I will, of course, compare the evidence you present with the observations of your work and learning that I've made all semester, and (straight from the policy statement) "all reasonable and well-supported grade claims will be honored."

This portfolio assessment is modeled on Dr. Syverson's use of portfolios in her courses. For more information check our her 309M page.

However, note that our dimensions are the same, but our goals differ (after all we teach different courses).

Note: Final grades for the University, unfortunately, cannot show a plus or a minus; however you may indicate a plus or minus in your midterm or final evaluation if you wish.