My name is Harper Ward and I am currently a junior at Longwood University. I am a Liberal Studies major working towards my teaching license for both elementary and middle school. I have a concentration in middle school English and I am studying for a minor in children’s literature. Since I was in kindergarten I’ve known that this is what I wanted to do with my life. In middle school I spent my second period volunteering in the guidance offices to learn more about how a school worked and to see if I would actually be interested in pursuing a career in the education system. In high school I took a class called Teachers for Tomorrow that allowed me to student teach at local elementary schools under the supervision of a licensed elementary school teacher. All of this made it easy to choose a major at Longwood and shows how serious I am about becoming a teacher. I believe that to be a teacher you have to be a person that your students can rely on and look up to, you have to come into work everyday loving what you do. I’m happy to say that I love teaching and I love English, I can’t wait until I get the opportunity to share my enthusiasm with my students and hopefully foster a lifelong sense of curiosity about the subject.
This is an ePortfolio for English 400 with Dr. Guler. It was created to showcase what I have learned in this class and provide examples of what I have accomplished. I believe that I have grown as a researcher in this class, my Common Good Project required a lot of research and careful reading of sources to find which ones best suited my topic. This ePortfolio will show how my writing skills have improved thorough the Course Journals. I have also become a better public speaker throughout the course of this semester. I have shown improvement in the articulation of my thoughts when answering questions during class, as well as improvement in the delivery of an actual speech. I have become an active citizen with an agency to begin enacting change through written communication. I have accomplished learning the course outcomes and feel as though I have a solid understanding of how to integrate them into my life. This class has improved my writing through practice and research and I am excited to use these skills in the future.
| Course Learning Outcomes (to address in your reflective essay)
1) engage in the process of citizen leadership by investigating multiple perspectives on important public issues; 2) understand the nature of public discourse/debate as determined by purpose, audience, and context; 3) choose appropriate formats in writing for a variety of purposes; 4) analyze the effectiveness of their own texts and processes for specific rhetorical situations; 5) understand how the knowledge, skills, and values learned in general education are interwoven and interrelated, and how they can contribute to the process of citizen leadership. |