The Projects

Twice, once at mid-term and once at the end of the semester, I'll ask you to develop and write a portfolio in response to a developmental question. Specifically, I'll ask:

Portfolio 1 (Mid-term): Demonstrate ways in which you are (re)interpreting readings/ideas from the first 6 weeks of class and applying them/testing them against your lived experience of work (including your work crew, our common work of service, and your previous working life).

Portfolio 2 (End-of-semester): Following Matthew Crawford's distinction betwen "thinking" and "doing," investigate, describe, & analyze your thinking and your doing (throughout all of the Triad) this semester.

Background

As a portfolio (rather than an essay with the the same prompt), I'm asking you to re-engage with previous coursework and experience. In returing to things you have read and thought before you'll push toward articulating new and synthetic understandings.

One of the important challenges of this assignment is for you to determine and orchestrate a meaningful and readily-apparent structure for your presentation. It's expected that the experiences on which you'll draw (both within and outside the Triad) are multiple and varied. As such, you have the challenge not only of structuring varied elements, but also the challenge of communicating the details of those experiences to an audience that has not shared all of them.

Both of these portfolio assignments are designed to move you toward synthetic re-imagining and new understanding of elements you may have previously considered "complete." As such, these are true Triad assignments, asking you to draw together various experience in classes, in work, and in service.

Project Specifics

A successful portfolio draws in varied material and presents it in an organized fashion to demonstrate a conclusion and come to the next set of questions.

A basic framework includes:

• An Introductory Essay + Reader's Guide (which combine to offer an overview of your conclusions and your thinking-in-progress as well as a guide to the reader of what you'll include to make your point and demonstrate your learning)
• Annotated Artifacts (which include any items that influenced your conclusions) Considered as separate but related elements, this means:
  • Artifacts (Texts):
    whole or excerpted readings (from this or other courses)
    whole or excerpted responses (e.g. Writing/Thinking assignments, excerpts from your Mid-Term essay, & notebook entries)
    Also: work from other courses, recreated conversations, narrated out-of-class conversations, relevant news, film, and/or music (possibly previously collected in your Notebook)
  • Annotations (Paratexts):
    inline commentary detailing why you included each piece and how it contributes to your evolving understanding of the question. A broader conclusion may also be used to bookend the portfolio
    

In addition, each of the two portfolios will include:

Portfolio 1: Revised Work Crew Profile (with heightened analytical component AND a separate commentary detailing your revision choices)

Porfolio 2: Your First-Year Letter, an open letter to the Warren Wilson Faculty and Staff describing your experiences with academics, work, and service during your first semester.

Due Dates:

Portfolio 1: in class Wednesday, October 12th.

Portfolio 2: at my office Friday, December 9th by 12:59pm