Greetings,
In my
portfolio, you will find a personal, private and unspoken part of me.
Everything represents who I am, and I treasure every piece I chose to include.
Living on
campus made it difficult for me to access papers and essays that I have
previously written in the past. However, to attest to my pass works, I wrote
down the names of the teachers who have impacted me and pushed me the most when
it comes to my development and views of reading and writing. Mr. Brock was my
English teacher my freshman year and then again my senior year which is not a
common occurrence. It was interesting to have the opportunity for someone who
has seen my previous work, to document the growth of my writing skills. He
really pushed me to analyze work to such an extent that you felt that your analysis
was insane and that you were literally crazy for any thoughts you had come up
with. At times, it drove me insane but in the end, I am so grateful. Because of
him, I really learned how to read between the lines and come up with original
thoughts of my own. I learned how to explore messages and themes more in depth
whenever analyzing work or literature. Mrs. Golwaski, my honors English teacher
really pushed me grammatically. She was known on campus as the meanest,
toughest, English teacher but in reality, she was just super sarcastic, and
didn't take people's crap, when it came to writing. I always knew that I could
trust her feedback, no matter how harsh because she really wanted me to
succeed. Her and I became close and I loved discussing my writings with her.
Mr. Hoang is my favorite teacher ever. She was night AP US history teacher and
in his class we did a lot of writing and reading. He taught me how to analyze
and understand the perspectives of the reader in the writer. He has a saying,
" history is his story" thus illustrating how the perspective of the
historical event will always have more than one side. In his class we really
explored historical events through a different lens. I love this because it was
so fascinating to read articles about the unspoken viewpoints about well-known
historical events. All three of these teachers are so precious to me and I am
so grateful to have them in my life.
Next, I
chose to include the memoir, Housekeeping
by Marilynne Robinson. This is literature work is by far one of my favorites
because it is so deep and all literary aspects. Robinson incorporates so many
themes and thought-provoking statements, causing my friend and I to discuss her
book for moments on end. I love the biblical references and approach to
solitude and transience and everything written was beautiful. I wanted to
include my essay I wrote about the memoir, but unfortunately it is at home in
Irvine.
One may question
why I chose to include piano sheet music in my portfolio, but this is because
sight reading and playing music and writing music is a form of literacy. I can
recall countless times when I was stressed with school work or in the middle of
writing an essay and would turn to my piano to relieve tension and to get my
thoughts flowing. This piece in particular was the song I preformed for my last
piano recital before I stopped taking lessons and going into my senior year. I
was overwhelmed with schoolwork, practicing and sports and couldn’t manage the
level of effort needed to continue. However, piano has never left me and is
still my safe-haven when I am stressed, confused or stuck when doing homework
or writing a paper. Writing, reading and listening music allows me to be
creative and they feel this creativity flows over into my writing style.
Sometimes when writing, I will take risks in my word choice or sentence
structure but that's what creativity is. It's being willing to take risks into
expose who you are. Just like books, sheet music must be analyzed. You have to
see where the composer wants the piece to go and flow and understand the music
to appreciate it. Just like any essay or book, it takes time, energy and effort
to perfect your work, understand what you read and and create your piece.
Some of
the more personal artifacts are the letters and poems that my boyfriend and I
have exchanged overtime. Both he and I are very expressive in our words and
express feelings through writing. I adore poetry and love to write poems, and
in our relationship, it has become a special way to get our thoughts across to
one another: good and bad. Words are very special and meaningful, so when
someone really important to me writes personal note or letter it's always
something I will cherish.
Lastly, I
chose to include my Bible scripture sheet that was given to me by my lead
pastor. Christianity has always been a huge part of me and reading my Bible is
a daily routine in my lifestyle. It has and it will always be a huge factor in
my life.
I write
to organize my brain and need to jot down thoughts to understand and analyze
situations and after writing this letter, it has caused me to look back and
reflect on the role and impact that literature has had and plays in my life. I
really do have a fond appreciation for writing and reading and I hope that in
the future I can again look back and see the growth and development in my
writing capabilities and acknowledge the work that I have done up to this point
in my life.
Sincerely,
credit
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