Organizing My Internal Portfolio

The last week has been quite a bore in terms of work for the journal and the conference. I have only done a few tasks around the office like familiarizing myself with the files (and carrying on the task of reorganizing them) and checking the registration sheets for the conference. I understand that this will only make my work with the conference and the journal that much more better and quicker, but I have not had such a grueling week as last week.

Therefore, I have spent most of my internship hours trying to organize my thoughts for the final web portfolio. Hopefully, this counts as reflection on my work. Since I am not really a Professional Writing major, I feel that many of my other classes are highly imperative to my overall writing process. Therefore, while looking at the helpful online web portfolios from other students (provided by Dr. Wible), I am attempting to look at what I want to achieve from this web portfolio whether it be a job, an academic placement, and/or personal growth. Honestly, I want my web portfolio to include aspects that will hit each of these purposes with audiences that correspond to them accordingly.

I am briefly going to list what I wish to include in my web portfolio so they will be almost like tasks to get me started in exposing myself and my writing.

1. An introduction page for what to expect in the portfolio, my purpose, my goals,

how to navigate through the webpage, and briefly discuss how I achieved my goals

2. A conclusion that restates what I achieved and how I achieved it

3. Separate the writing into processes with reflections that intervene between the

drafts

4. Add writing sections for other classes and editing sections for internship purposes

and describe how writing has helped me develop my editing skills

5. Include a resume

6. Design an easy, yet creative way to navigate through the pages and display links

7. Include an inspiration page with pictures of my daughter, fiance, nature, passions,

my home, etc. that keep me grounded and motivated

8. Include an about me section

9. Inventory of classes and writing samples from specific classes

I think this is the majority of my needs for my portfolio. Now, I must go about getting started at least on what I can. I do have a brief question: where do we access webpages or web space for the portfolio?

Here is a little picture that I will include in my inspiration (number 7) which is an extremely important section for me because I am doing all of this not only for myself but for them as well, and they are there pushing and supporting me in fulfilling my dreams.

Busy, Busy Bees

I feel like I have been a worker bee for the past week and a half or so in my internships! I have been working on one major project the past week, and this is proofreading the program that hundreds of people at the conference will be receiving upon registration. After reviewing and checking for maticulous little errors over and over and over again, I did become a little frustrated and I felt sort of a like a failure because I was so frustrated and felt like I really couldn't check the document any more. The program director kept redoing and adding different things to the program each day and I would have to correct the changes that I made earlier to new changes. However, I was forced to realize that it wasn't his fault: all of the nitpicky work was necessary to produce a great program for the conference. My final job was probably the most satisfactory though because I took the index of the program and compared each name to where and when the presenter was in the program. I found probably over fifty changes in about four hours of work. It was very rewarding and satisfying when doing this.
I find that a large part of my internship is the allowance of networking. I met with the copyeditor, Cris Clifford, for the journal yesterday. We are meeting sometime next month along with another copy editor, Linda Spatig (who I keep in touch with also) about a manuscript that will included in the upcoming journal. I have also been in charge of putting together the CSEGA board member panel, organizing their board meeting, and making sure I am able to attend to take the minuets for that. I have met numerous professors that offer advice about graduate school and offer extraordinary field experiences. I am able to keep in touch with the program supervisor, Dr. Green. Lastly, my "boss" is Mary Thomas who is over the Appalachian Studies Department at Marshall University and she puts her trust in me whole-heartedly. I truly appreciate her belief because I think our friendship and correspendence will only lead to a very positive experience for me in the internship (under her direct guidance) and while job searching in the future.
My goals for this upcoming week is now to do some normal office duties because I have been putting in about five to six hours extra at home during this busy time. Things in the office have been dying down for a couple of days, so this may break may provide me some rest for the busy conference time!

Response to Page 19

Maria is definetely being a reflective learner when she is evaluating her work on her project. She is being critical that she did not use the correct writing process and did not listen to her peers when they suggested that her thesis was too broad. Her admittance of her mistakes of not taking her peers' advice and keeping the historical parts of her paper in when they are not relevant to her new, specific thesis shows she is critical of her writing and wants to improve her writing as much as she can.
Surprisingly, most of my personal creative writing comes from writing in the middle of the night or a life event. I will be asleep and wake up with an idea to write: I write immediately in order to capture my emotions and feelings. Also, my best ideas come to me after some sort of inspiring event in my life or a realization about something. For instance, I was driven to capture my mom's struggle with lung cancer because it inspired me so much. However, when writing simple facts or papers for school I find more concentration and organization of the paper in the afternoon hours. I seem more distracted and unable to organize my thoughts into an appropriate, tight thesis and supporting evidence the later in the day it is.
In the summer, I used to do my best brainstorming outside because it reminds me of my comforting home so much. When I feel comfortable, I am able to relax and not worry about whether my writing is wrong or right. Now, I must be in a dimly lit room with soft, inspirational music to do my best work.
I especially like to have a pencil and a personal journal with me when I write. Also, I like to have colored chalks because I like to illustrate much of what I write. This became apparent when I felt the need to illustrate my journal entries and creative projects for school. Again, I like to have a dim light on and soft, inspirational music which to me is Alison Krauss.
Most of all, I believe all of these habits or preferences state that I am a very interactive learner: I like to surround myself with all of the arts. Also, I think I am definitely more of a creative writer more than I guess conventional or the norm. I like to add other types of creativity to my writing by adding drawings or even putting them in scrapbooks that may correlate with the context of the work.