GAS Works: Portfolio Instructions

Instructions for Preparing Your Final Portfolio GAS WORKS: Interdisciplinary Studies in Gender and Sexuality Bryn Mawr College Fall 2009 Anne Dalke

In this portfolio, due by 12:30 on Friday, December 18th, we are asking you to collect and reflect on the written work you have done for this course. This portfolio project invites you to chronicle what has happened in your evolution both as a writer and a speaker in class, and to contribute to and assist me with the evaluation of your work. So--

* Gather together everything you’ve written for this class: copies of all your postings on the course website as well as all the marked copies of your papers. Verify that all of your papers are posted correctly (if the formatting looks screwy, save the paper as TEXT ONLY, then re-cut and paste it into your blog). To print off all your forum comments, log in; type /exchange/mycomments; select "printer-friendly version" (@ top) and print.

Then arrange all this material in a folder, chronologically, back to front.

* Prepare a final short project summing up what you've learned in this course. This can take one of various forms: It might be the script of your final performance, a description of what you were doing in that performance, or of what happened during it. It could be some other sort of account of what you have been learning in the course, overall.

* Review all you’ve gathered together in the portfolio; ruminate for a while on what you’re seeing as you do so. Then write a short (2-3 pp.) essay tracing where you were when we began this process, where you are now, and what’s been happening in between.

Be specific and descriptive, but also evaluative:
**Review your participation in our group work: how present-and-contributing have you been in our discussions, both large and small, what role have you assumed in our group dynamics, both in-class and on-line? How and what have you contributed to the learning of others?

**Review also your written work: how much effort have you put into the web postings and each of your essays. What can you say about the quality of the final products? What have you learned about your writing and thinking processes in this class? Where have you "moved"?

*Complete the checklist and place it in the front of your portfolio

In our response to your portfolio, we'll be giving you a grade not just for the quality of your written work, but also for class participation and process. Your self-evaluation will assist us with our own, as we reflect on your engagement in the course.

We very much look forward to seeing what you come up with, as well as what you have to say about it.

Thanks for joining us in the exploratory journey we've taken together this semester.
We've enjoyed it very much, and learned a lot--

Anne and Kristin