Sofia Slovik
Portfolio Reflection
A. to compose for particular audiences and purposes.
I have written for particular audiences and purposes in my essays and a style exercise.
Writing for a particular audience requires careful word selection and sentence formation. It is
important to sound professional yet appealing for a particular audience. Within my essays I had
to careful formulate an appropriate tone for my college peers and professors. The content in my
essays also had to be professional and factual. I believe if the content was less factual and more
opinionated, it would not be as appropriate for my audience and purpose.
For essay #2's style exercise, I was required to write a letter to a private foundation
asking for a donation. In that letter, my audience was slightly different from my usual academic
audience of professors and college students. I had to be factual but also convincing in order to
sway the foundation to donate to my cause rather than anyone else's.
Here is the letter:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I, Sofia Slovik, am writing this letter to bring to your attention the issue of Hispanic students
with a low motivation to learn and work hard in school. This is a growing issue among schools
with high populations of Hispanic students and action must be taken in order to improve
conditions.
On behalf of the large Hispanic student population at Reading High School, I ask that you
consider donating money to go towards a translator, a curriculum that includes Hispanic culture
classes and a Mexican-American Studies Department. The money will also go to one
educationally benefitting item that the Hispanic students vote on.
Thank you for your time and generosity. Please be aware that your contribution is greatly
appreciated and will make an immense positive impact in hundreds of students lives, both
personal and academically. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Sincerely,
Sofia Slovik
B. to compose using language and conventions appropriate to the genre of college research
papers.
My second essay, "Hispanic Student Populations: A Growing Concern", my topic and
thesis is relevant to Spanish majors and scholars. My thesis stresses the importance of the
growing Hispanic population and the need to accommodate the Hispanic student population for
their benefit and the benefit of all. My essay reminds the audience that Hispanic students are the
future of America and should be attended to accordingly. My sources are scholarly articles and I
used appropriate transitions to remind the audience of my thesis.
Here is my Introduction to Essay #2:
All schools are widely diverse but a growing number of schools have an outstanding
Hispanic population that needs more attention than usual. According to a New York Times
interview with Maria Figueroa, a school in Tucson had gone to its own measures to tailor to
their Hispanic students by creating "culturally relevant" curriculum, new classes, and a MexicanAmerican studies department (Santos 2012). Unfortunately, due to a bill that banned lessons that
encouraged racial resentment, the program ended and was replaced by tutoring for failing
Hispanic students. As funds were cut, a new curriculum had to be put in place, actions other
schools should be taking to support the Hispanic population in schools. A growing number of
schools in the southwest have large Hispanic student populations that schools should be
concerned with academically accommodating, in hopes of success and the benefit of the entire
United States.
C. to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments.
In my first essay, "Success and Student-Teacher Relationships", I successfully used
quotes from scholarly articles to support my thesis that student-teacher relationships are essential
to good school climates ad successful students. I also paraphrased facts from experts in the field.
Here is a passage in which I quoted experts in the field within my essay.
Teachers who are not concerned with developing relationships with students create a negative
school climate. Teachers may not realize how important their relationships with students are.
Manning and Saddlemire (1996) define school climate and its effects as, "trust, respect, mutual
obligation, and concern for other's welfare can have powerful effects on educators' and learners'
interpersonal relationships as well as learners' academic achievement and overall school
progress" (p. 41).
D. to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres.
My poster for Essay #4 contains several illustrations and charts that help describe the
information and get the point across in a different yet affective manner. I think the graph
depicting the Hispanic population in the U.S. is very affective because it presents the information
in a different form. It may make the information and facts more real to someone. Also, some
people retain information and learn better when presented information in a different form. It is
hard to fully describe the intense population of Hispanics in the U.S. in just words. A visual
helps a lot and intensifies the information.
E. to describe and apply appropriate writing processes.
I went through a long process before producing my final draft of "Hispanic Student
Populations: A Growing Concern", my second essay. I got my idea from Professor Riley since I
am undeclared but thinking about declaring Spanish, Professor Riley suggested I write about
Hispanic students. I initially found a New York Times article about a Tucson school that tailored
its curriculum to accommodate its large Hispanic population, that was continuing to grow. This
article. I came to form a thesis about the importance of accommodating Hispanic students at
school and wrote a few paragraphs from there. I wrote a little bit, then reread what I had written
before moving onto the next few paragraphs in order to make sure I stayed on track and
supported my thesis. I then made sure to include a few quotes to support my thesis and form a
strong essay. After perfecting my essay, I proofread before handing in my final draft.