1) Did Yancey's essay help you decide whether or not to use portfolios in your classes? Why or why not?
2) Reiff writes that her essay is directed at new instructors. Did you find her discussion of genre added anything new to what we have already learned and if so, then what?
Hi, Annaliisa,
ReplyDeleteI think I will be using portfolios in my classes. I like the process of building the site and the rhetorical choices that go into creating an online portfolio, and, knowing that Wix secures webpages through password protection for students who do not want their work public, I think there is minimal risk for them to publish websites with their texts. I also find value in the process of selecting pieces, revising them, and the assessment that goes into it; that is, students can be given verbal assurances of their standing currently and work towards that A. Or, take the shadow grade approach and give students as-is, pre revision grades. Between these benefits and the artistic/expressive/reflective qualities of portfolios, I think this is something I will want to try.
Hey Annaliisa,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your first question, I'm not at all completely sure that I will use portfolios in my class. However, I can say that while before I read her article I had no interest in it, just because I had heard horror stories from friends who had to do portfolios and just the stress I imagine it might put on students, I'm at least open to the idea. I think Yancey made a great point about how evaluation forces us to consider writing as a product, which is something we obviously want to avoid, while at the same time forcing teachers to read student compositions in an unfair way that places them all on an unequal "collective present." To agree with Noah, I think that portfolios would put the focus back on process and help students, as well as us, reflect on student writing in a beneficial context which the student deserves.