ePortfolio Reflection

23/11/2023

1.0 Overview Of The Year

Overall, I have done well in English this year. As the year progressed, my grades improved as did my confidence in my knowledge of the topics we were studying. During English this year, I have had the opportunity to develop effective communication, problem-solving, ethics, collaboration and leadership on the capabilities wheel through group projects, for example, Task Four: Oral Presentation on Teenagers. I also feel that I have been able to develop creativity on the capabilities wheel through creative writing, for example, Task Seven: Composition of a Genre-Specific Narrative. Finally, I have been able to develop organisation on the capabilities wheel by completing take-home assignments and preparing for in-class assessments.

2.0 Specific Achievement One

2.1 Briefly Outline The Achievement

An assessment that I did particularly well in would be Task Seven: Composition of a Genre-Specific Narrative. The task for this assessment was to compose an original short story that adheres to one of the five genres we were provided. We were to select either a visual or written prompt (provided) from one genre, which was the basis of our narrative.

2.2 Describe The Process That You Took That Led To That Achievement

For this assessment, I chose the genre that I would be writing and chose whether I was going to use the visual or written prompt for that particular genre. I chose to write a dystopian short story with the written prompt of ‘in a future world, emotions are controlled by a mysterious organisation. One day, someone finds an object that sparks unfamiliar feelings.’ We then planned our short stories including main and minor characters, settings, the main conflict and how it was resolved. I then created a plot diagram, giving details of the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. I created a draft of my short story. Afterwards, I edited, rewrote and changed lines of my story, creating my final draft.

2.3 How Long Did It Take?

This assessment was an assignment, meaning that it was a take-home task, compared to an in-class task. We were given two weeks in Term Three and one week in Term Four for this assessment. This means that we were given three weeks of class time for the assessment and a total of five weeks, including the school holidays. I appreciated this time for the assessment as I had a lot of time to create a thorough plan, a draft and an edited final copy.

2.4 How did you feel about your achievement?

Overall, I was really happy and proud of my achievement. I thought that all of my efforts had paid off.

3.0 Specific Achievement Two

3.1 Briefly Outline The Achievement

Another assessment that I did particularly well in would be Task Eight – Essay on Feature Film. The task for this assessment was to answer a question relating to the feature film we studied in the form of a two or three page essay. We were given a choice of the three questions, ‘explore how the director manipulates filmic conventions for a specific audience response throughout the film, discuss how a character’s construction or development reinforces key theme/s throughout a studied film, or, how do setting or symbols support a key idea/theme of a studied film?’

3.2 Describe The Process That You Took That Led To That Achievement

For this assessment, I chose to answer the question, discuss how a character’s construction or development reinforces key theme/s throughout a studied film.’ I wrote an introduction using the structure of a restatement of the question, a global statement, a nutshell sentence and a thesis statement. I then wrote three body paragraphs using the structure of a topic sentence, an example, an explanation and a linking sentence. Finally, I wrote a conclusion using the structure of a restatement of the question, a summary of my discussion and analysis and my thoughts on the feature film.

3.3 How Long Did It Take?

This assessment was an essay, meaning that it was an in-class task, compared to a take-home task. We were given 50 minutes to plan and write our essay to answer the question.

3.4 How did you feel about your achievement?

Overall, I was really happy and proud of my achievement. I thought that all of my efforts had paid off.

4.0 Where To Now?

Next year, I am going to work on evaluating research so that in future assessments on this topic, my essay response to these questions will be more analysed. I will also state specific examples, as these are the two pointers, I was given to improve upon for Task Two: Evaluate Podcast Research. I am also going to work on the analysis of a studied topic so that in future assessments on this topic, my essay response to these questions will be more precise. I will make my responses more precise by identifying conventions and referring to the question, as these are two pointers, I was given to improve upon for Task Five: Close Analysis. Next year, I also hope to continue to develop my capabilities from the capabilities wheel, for example, effective communication, problem-solving, ethics, collaboration and leadership through group projects, creativity through creative writing and organisation by completing take-home assignments and preparing for in-class assessments. I will also develop my inquisitiveness on the capabilities wheel through further analysing studied topics.

Figure One: Capabilities Wheel