Dear Reader,

           I am writing this letter to tell you about the projects that I have completed during my time in English 167. You see, over the course of this semester I have been exposed to many different aspects of an English majors’ life. We have done work with English language learners in high school and college environments, literary analysis, and poetry interpretation. As the name of the class suggests, this class was all about an introduction to the possibilities for those in English studies. For me, the most interesting focus of English studies was interacting with the English language learners at Fargo South High School. Helping the students with their English was extremely fulfilling. It was especially important for me to help in that classroom because it is the career that I am pursuing. Of course, it is not a direct comparison example, as I wish to teach in another country. It was enlightening nonetheless, and it gave me a real look at what teaching English to non-English speakers requires.

            Over the past couple of weeks, we have had the opportunity to observe the English 467 Capstone students’ presentations. Of those, two presentations were thought-provoking: Home Language Literacy and Educational Background Impact on Refugee Resettlement in the Fargo High School Student Population by Samantha Hamernick and A Façade of Broken Ceilings: The Depiction of Women in Edge of Tomorrow by Marley McDunn. Hamernick’s presentation was extremely relevant to my future career as she focused on two students in the English Language Learner program in South High. She compared how well these two students have learned English and their educational backgrounds before coming to America. The quality of these students former education were shown to directly affect their English learning abilities now. Realizing this, further research can be used to implement plans for this in the educational background. McDunn’s presentation was equally engaging; she illustrated the lack of feminist characters in Hollywood today. She discussed how the male gaze influences the roles that are created for women in movies. There are casted into three categories: sex objects, male females, and the believable feminist archetype. In Edge of Tomorrow, the protagonist, Rita Vrataski, is the latter. She is a combat veteran who still retains her feminine qualities, but she gives up all of her feminist qualities by falling for the supporting male role and sacrificing herself for him.

            If I were to conduct research for a Capstone presentation next semester I would draw from my I-Search paper. I would further expound upon post-colonial Africa and why the socio-economic states of the nations are remaining underdeveloped. My research on this subject has been very enlightening and thought-provoking. I would discuss the different aspects that have factored into the slow recovery from colonialism that can be still seen today. I would discuss how the brief exposure to colonialism violated the continent and its people. Then, I would discuss measures that have been taken and could be taken to improve the development and of the quality of life of the people.

            Two of my greatest strengths as a student are dedication to my studies and my drive to succeed. An example of this is seen my revised essays. It would have been easier for me to simply accept the pencil grade given, but I would rather work as hard as I possibly can than sit idly by while my grades slip. That is why, with both my Stafford essay and my I-Search essay, I have made major revisions. I did so by fixing grammatical and spelling errors, as well as re-writing whole portions to present stronger views and improve the essays. In regards to my I-Search, I knew that my subject matter had great potential so I took it to the Center for Writers for peer review. After following the suggestions there, I had fellow English majors peer review it as well. I made doubly sure that I had done all of the research that I needed to fully understand my subject matter and pay it the justice and respect that is owed to it. I will later write more on the revisions made to my other works that are presented in this portfolio. Some goals that I have set for myself as an English major are to be fluent in Spanish, have a concrete understanding of how to teach English, and an in-depth ability to perform literary analysis to novels and other forms of written word. I plan on accomplishing this by continuing to take Spanish, as well as Introduction to Linguistics and World Literature Masterpieces. I will also be taking many education classes. Part of insuring success in those areas is working hard to submit projects that are made to the best of my ability.

            As aforementioned, I have made many types of revisions to my projects. The only project that I didn’t make any changes to was my poem because I feel satisfied with the original work which I have presented to you, the reader. For my critical essay on “A message from the Wanderer” by William Stafford, I changed the title from “A Message from the Wanderer Essay” to “A Critical Look at Stafford’s “A Message from the Wanderer””. I also added to my interpretation of the essay because, upon looking into the historical events that were happening around the time the “A Message from the Wanderer” was written, I found that there could be a new angle from which to view this poem. For the I-Search paper I edited quite a bit more. I added in necessary in-text citations, I changed sentences so that paragraphs could flow smoother. I even deleted an entire paragraph in which I talked about how children that I had previously tutored understood the importance of a college degree even though many of them just wanted to be ranchers because I felt that it took away from the overall paper and wasn’t relevant to my research. I added in additional quotes from my research findings to support the claims that I make throughout the paper. Finally, I made the appropriate spelling and grammar corrections. When revising my observation notes, I simply added in more information for each observation. Adding in the additional information into each observation gave me a plethora of observations that I could draw upon for my synthesis memo. When looking at the synthesis memo, the only revision I made was to put it in proper memo formatting. The revisions made to my Career Compass are threefold. Firstly, I changed some of my dialogue to make the narrative flow better. Secondly, I added in a “thank you” page after seeing “thank you” pages on my fellow classmates’ presentations. Lastly, I added in a map image behind my motto and my thank you page. This map image is my emblem. These are all of the revisions that I have made to my projects.

            I hope that this introduction will serve as a guide to you, dear reader, for navigating my portfolio website. Please, take your time to enjoy every project, as they are here for that purpose. There is a wide variety of work on this site relating to different areas of English studies. For that reason, it provides a detailed look into what being an English major entails. Perhaps, this site can even inspire you to become one yourself. I must warn you reader, that if you do wish to pursue an English degree, you will find yourself among supportive peers and endless book talks. You will make fast friends with others in your major who are not only willing, but extremely capable of editing your paper to perfection. You might say that some of us are “grammar nazis”, but that is not the case. Instead, we are just passionate about the English language and how attractive it makes a speaker if they are prolific. Do not say that I did not warn you!

Sincerely,

Alex