Category Archive

What’s that old saying? Time flies when you’re building online portfolios? Time certainly has flown this semester, and we’re rapidly nearing the end of our class and the beginning of great new things for all of you. It’s been a pleasure working with you, and I hope your portfolios and job application materials serve you well in the months and … Read More

We’re in the home stretch of the semester, and our final task is to finish our online portfolios and publish them on the web. Next week, we’ll spend the entire class period reviewing and critique your portfolio drafts, so be prepared to share your portfolio with everyone in the class. I’d like our critique session to focus on the “little … Read More

At this point in the semester, each of you is doing highly individualized work, so it’s hard to plan class workshops that serve all of you equally well. Hence, I’ve decided to replace our Wednesday morning class session with a set of individual conferences. Sometime during Week 13, I’d like to meet with each of you to review the current … Read More

I hope our conversations and class workshops on job hunting and cover letters have been useful. For the remainder of the semester, we’ll focus mainly on your online portfolios, but I’m happy to review and help you revise your job materials if you’re applying for a specific position. Just let me know how I can help. During Week 12, we’ll … Read More

During Week 11, we’ll continue our discussion about the job application process, focusing on cover letters. Before you come to class, please review Allison Doyle’s “How to Write a Cover Letter” (we covered this in Week 4), and read “A simple how-to for writing that killer cover letter,” by Anna Helhoski. Your portfolio task for Week 11 is to draft … Read More

In Week 10, we’ll turn our attention to the daunting and often stressful topic of “The Job Search” (capitalized for effect, of course). Before you come to class, please read the following articles: “No More Digitally Challenged Liberal-Arts Majors,” by William Pannapacker “Why I Hire English Majors,” by Steve Strauss “Your Résumé, for All to See,” by Patricia R. Olsen … Read More

My conference trip set me back a few days, so I apologize for the delay in adding the Week 9 post to the site. I’ve emailed or met with most of you, but here are a few quick reminders about what we’ll be doing on Wednesday and how you can prepare: In class, we will focus on how to design … Read More

Next week is spring break, and I hope all of you enjoy some well-deserved rest. When we return, all of your efforts in this class should be directed toward your professional online portfolio, which will keep us busy until the end of the semester. I will be traveling for a conference on Wednesday of Week 8, so we won’t meet … Read More

Week 6 marked a big turning point in the semester — we wrapped up our work on your English Department portfolios, and from this point on we’ll focus on your professional online portfolios. If you haven’t uploaded all of your materials to the portfolio site in Scholar, please do so this weekend, then bring a completed copy of the “English … Read More

At this point in the semester, you should have identified all of the artifacts you need for your official English Department portfolio (in the Core Matrix and the Professional Writing Matrix), and your short reflections for each of these artifacts should be complete. I’ll take a look at those this weekend and suggest revisions, if necessary. Once you get the … Read More

A month into the semester, all of us are discovering how early 8:00 a.m. is, so let me take this opportunity to gently remind you about the importance of coming to class — and arriving on time — each week. I realize this is a one-credit course, and I’m doing my best to keep your workload manageable, but you need … Read More

Did our discussion on finding (or creating) careers that build upon a professional writing degree inspire you to start looking for a job? Or maybe give you a little confidence boost about your job prospects? I really hope so. I genuinely believe that your PW background positions you well for many different types of careers — it all comes down … Read More

I hope our class session on Wednesday helped you determine which artifacts from your English classes will make the best fit for the various cells in the Core Matrix and the Professional Writing Matrix. All of those materials should now be uploaded to your shared Google Drive folder, where I can review and help you refine them before you upload … Read More

It was nice to meet everyone on Wednesday morning — especially those of you who haven’t taken a class from me in the past. We may be a small group, but I think that has several advantages. Chief among them will be our ability to focus on each of your portfolios in detail. We’ll get started on that goal next … Read More

Welcome to ENGL 4864: Senior Portfolio Development in Professional Writing. This website will function as the online headquarters for our class this semester. Each week, I will post an update to the website with details about coming week, deadline reminders, links to helpful resources, etc… I will use Virginia Tech’s Scholar site to record your grades, but otherwise, everything related … Read More