A helpful question about what to include in the evidence section.

A another student wrote with the following helpful question (earning some extra credit):

Besides my Rhetorical Analysis and my MLK Analysis, all I have are some quick notes from some of the activities you had us perform through the semester. Should I go back and perform the activities more thoroughly? Also I really am not sure what grade I deserve, my group has kind of fell apart over the last few weeks and the little feedback I received back from them was good. But I truly don't feel that all my work was great, it could have been better in some cases.

I thought you might all profit from a revised version of my response:

If you composed your rhetorical analysis and MLK analysis using google docs, you can look under TOOLS in google docs and see a feature which offers you your revision history. Printing out an early draft of one of your revisions or of the King paper and discussing it and the changes you made is a good way to develop the evidence section, as it gives you an opportunity to discuss process writing, the steps you took in revision and proofreading, etc. Before you begin looking at your revision history, make sure to save a hard copy of your final version.

As to what to discuss concerning your group. I am looking for what you learned by trying to work with them; so, discuss why your group fell apart and your own contributions and performance as a group member. Remember, you can also discuss learning outcomes like, "I learned to help others through critiquing their work." Here, you might include in the evidence section a print out of the draft you critiqued, and explain your comments and advice.

As to the grade, only you can judge the effort you put into the course, how well you functioned as a group member, and the amount of learning you have done, but you have a week or more before the course is done and the portfolio is turned in. One way to improve your learning is to go back and learn more through reviewing the reading and thinking about how the work you did fits. For 60% of your final grade I will judge the quality of your portfolio and the argument you present me in it. For the remaining 40%, I will then go back through everything you wrote and look at your class participation for the semester. The upshot? You grade is more based on how much you learn before turning the portfolio in, how you present this learning to me, and the quality of your portfolio than on past performance of either you or your group. Having said this, it isn't too late to use your group to help with the portfolio.