Portfolio AssignmentJoanna Coslett

March 26, 2012ELED 3151

Table of Contents

Because the Form of Words Matter

Language Awareness

Ruining a Poem

Reading as a Writer

Overview

My favorite activity of this assignment was ruining a poem. I loved analyzing the standard English language and the Appalachian language. It gave me a new appreciation of the differences in the two languages. I also found analyzing my own writing to be very rewarding and engaging. I think the whole assignment allowed me to think about literacy in a different way. I like creative assignments when dealing with writing because all writing comes from you and is creative. It is nice not to always follow a strict form.

Because the Form of Words Matter

Grocery Item: › The item that I am thinking of is sweet and

made of chocolate. It also has creamy caramel and peanuts in it. This item is good in ice cream as well!

Because the Form of Words Matter

Poetry Form: › O Snickers, thou art yummy!The creamy caramelThat melts in your mouthThe peanuts that crunch Along with all the sweetnessOf chocolate

Because the Form of Words Matter

Reflection:› There is a huge difference between my prose and poetry version

of the Snickers description. The placing of words and description is the first difference that really stands out to me. In the prose version, the descriptive words do not have as much impact as they do in the poetry version. Descriptive words are very important to poetry. I think they help the poetry flow and make sense. Another big difference is the sound of words in both versions. In the prose version the sound of the words do not have much impact on the description. In the poetry version, the sound makes a huge description. For example, creamy caramel paints a picture in my head and I can see the caramel and how creamy it is. I believe the poetry version says more than the prose version and I think the poetry version is a much more effective piece. However, for young children, I do not know if they would understand the impact of the poetry version. I think they would relate to my prose version better.

Language Awareness

If language is a web, are you a spider or a fly? › I think if language was a web, I would be the fly. I

think this because while I enjoy language and have an open mind to it, I often feel like I am on the outside looking in. I also think this because when it comes to language I always think in my mind what I want to say, but often do not say it. I feel like this would be a fly in the web. The spider would catch the fly, just as language sometimes catches me off guard. I really like this analogy when discussing language and I feel like it makes you think of language in different way.

Ruining a Poem

Choice of drink: Coffee› I was fixin to drank some black coffeeCoffee goes great with flannel cakesI always go to the springhouse to get the

creamI swan Coffee is the best drink

Ruining a Poem

English version:› I was about to drink some black CoffeeCoffee is a great to drink with pancakesI keep the cream for the coffee in the

refrigeratorI declare coffee is the best drink

Ruining a Poem

Reflection:› I think the more effective piece is the standard

English piece because you can understand the meaning of the words and describing the drink coffee. However, I think the Appalachian language piece is more interesting because it is free of form and does not make much sense and is more creative. I really enjoyed this because it gave me a chance to see the Appalachian language and how different it is from the standard English language. It really is very different and I think it is neat to see the differences.

Reading as a Writer

What is the greatest improvement you could make to your writing, and why?› I think the greatest improvement I could make to my

writing is the planning process and use more descriptive words. I have always had trouble brainstorming my thoughts and going through the writing process. I have a bad habit of just starting to write a piece without trying to organize my thoughts. The writing process is so important to writing and I need to improve this aspect to make my writings much more interesting and organized. The other improvement I would make to my writing would be using descriptive words. I seem to use general words that do not have a great impact on my writing. I would like to use more descriptive words to make my writing more interesting.