This portfolio is specific to ENG 105, an Advanced English course at Arizona State University. The course focuses on the Learning Goals designed by folx at The Writers' Studio and the Habits of Mind. In brief, the Learning Goals are as follows: rhetorical understanding and practicing, critical languaging, and composing as a process. In this course I'll aim to better integrate these goals and habits into my writing by means of reflective self-assessment, peer review, instructor feedback, and then applying that support strategically.

Habits of Mind are practical ways of learning and assessing learning, which makes them a natural adjunct to the more philosophical Learning Goals. The Habits of Mind are as follows: curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, and responsibility. Another key element of ENG 105 is the emphasis on multimodality. Multimodality is a difficult concept to define because different writers will manifest it differently in their work. To me, it means applying the advantages of technology to enhance written works or to go about what would traditionally be a written work in an adjacent medium, such as a podcast. Some benefits to be gained by incorporating multimodality could include greater persuasiveness, a wider reach for one work, and the artistic satisfaction of having attempted a new way of writing.

Taken together, I feel that the Learning Goals, Habits of Mind, and feedback will facilitate a clearer and more systematic perspective on my writing past and present. That perspective will certainly help me when it comes to the social and collaborative elements of writing as well as writing as a process that leave me a little nervous. I’m looking forward to the challenge and succeeding.