Month: September 2023

Prep Note 9/5/23

On September 3, 2023

After reading the portfolio guide, I am much less nervous about what the course has in store. Before reading the book, I had only ever heard of art portfolios so I was confused about what a writing portfolio might look like. Now I know that there are two main types of portfolios. They can either be physical or online. Online portfolios have more opportunities to include materials to help showcase yourself, such as music, pictures, or videos. There are various ways to organize each one, and I’m excited to learn which type of portfolio we will be making this semester.

I thought that the articles were extremely interesting as well. I believe that storytelling is innate to humans, I just think that how we tell stories differs from person to person. You can tell a lot about someone from the way they tell stories, so I can see where storytelling as a child affects our later personalities. Storytelling is a way to not only socialize but to learn. Making sure that children and people overall have good storytelling interactions is a huge way for us to grow together as a society.

Prep Note 9/5/23

By Kristine Nguyen

On September 3, 2023

In kristine, prep note

While reading through “Portfolio Keeping,” I was reminded of when I had to make a research portfolio for my AP Research class last year. This class requires you to do a year-long research project, which all culminates into a 20-minute oral presentation and a 5000-word research paper. This was one of the most academically intensive classes I had ever taken in high school because the whole process of doing a research project was new to me. But once I had submitted all of my finished work to College Board, I was told to make a portfolio of the research process. Luckily, I had stayed very organized throughout the year and labeled every document I had ever made for the project and kept them in a folder labeled “AP Research.” Therefore, it was easy to gather any straggling materials and officially put my portfolio together.

At the beginning of the year, my teacher suggested we keep a journal and take a few minutes after every class to write about our progress. Since I regularly keep a diary, I found that this would be a great way for me to keep track of my progress and to rant about anything stress-inducing (which was pretty much all of it). This journal ended up being my best resource when putting together my final portfolio. I made this journal the central hub of my portfolio and I could refer to it any time I needed to know what I did on a specific date (I labeled each entry with a date). It also served as a reference for my portfolio evaluator (in this case, my teacher) because whenever I mentioned working on a specific document, my teacher could go back into my folder and view it as needed.

All in all, I enjoyed the process of making this portfolio and even viewing it after I’ve finished the whole project. I had never done a project like this before, so this organized documentation makes me feel proud of all I accomplished in AP Research. I hope that whatever portfolio we create for this class will be just as exciting to me. I do know that I can refer back to my prior experience of making a portfolio when creating a new one in the future.

Prep Note – 9/05/2023

By Mitchell Parker

On September 3, 2023

In Mitch, prep note

I hadn’t ever considered composing a portfolio before taking this class; prior to this blog I wasn’t really sure what a portfolio even was. In my opinion, portfolio keeping seems like such a formal analysis of worth in contrast to works of art, but I know there’s a point to it. I see art as a thoughtful form of self expression rather than any sort of competition or measurable metric where one can be ‘better’ than another at making art. However, I’m not in a position to be able to judge portfolios as a concept, mostly because I’ve never composed one myself, so I’ll stick to writing about what I could possibly gain out of making one.

I’m not much of a writer, so I don’t have an extensive bank of content with which to make a writing portfolio, but I can see myself making a portfolio as a musician. I’d be more inclined to put together a presentation portfolio rather than a process portfolio because I tend to look down on my older works and favor ones I’ve made having had more experience. Although, reflecting on my production workflow is something I’ve seldom considered and may do me some good, since my creative process can be described as inspiration-fueled bursts of chaotic energy. This isn’t to say that any form of workflow is objectively more correct, but some yield more content than others (heuristics over perfectionism, for example).

I was at first opposed to the idea of a portfolio because I want art forms (namely music) to be a creative outlet, not something that can be intruded upon by optimization and performance maximization. For this same reason, I didn’t want to transform my hobby of music into a career in which I would have to cater to the wants of the majority in order to make a living. Despite all this, I still believe some good can come out of making a portfolio, albeit less professionally and more so to self-analyze.

09/03 Prep Note

By Angelos Charalampos Bouras

On September 3, 2023

In Angelos

One of the main takeaways from the last lesson we had was about the importance of a leader in a collaborative project. Taking Leadership 101 and connecting it to the introductory knowledge we have received, it was absorbing to realize how broad the concept of leadership is can be applied even to small things like a collaborative assignment.

Except for that, I was really passionate about the discussion we had about grading since I was generally surprised by the grading system my professors have here at the university and I truly wanted to hear others’ opinions about it. It was interesting hearing not only the different grading systems each professor has but mostly the conclusion of what grades actually are and to what extent they are meaningful to our lives. This changed up to an extent the way I approach classes and grading.

After the class, I read the 2 assigned articles regarding storytelling. The first one is titled The Stories Our Parents Tell Us. I generally know that the biggest part of our personality is determined when we are between 2-6 years old and therefore it makes a lot of sense how influenced we are by how others share stories that was the main point of the article. I found the second article even more interesting due to the depth of analysis it contains. It was fascinating reading how shaping storytelling is and was even hundreds of thousands years ago due to the fact that in the dark microexpressions can now be seen. And that made me realise firstly the human nature of people; how we need to share our stories and experiences with others as social beings, how challenging it can be sometimes and how a simple action like setting a fire can actually create a completely different environment for people. To be more specific, I also made the connection with the first lessons of this course where we had to share our stories by making eye contact with a stranger; that was awkward and challenging up to an extent but after that it was much easier sharing the same stories to more people as a circle.

Prep Note 9/5/23

By William Sheets

On September 2, 2023

In prep note, Will S

After reading the two articles about the connections between storytelling and memory, I believe that memory has a huge impact on our identities and the people that we are. Which means that storytelling does too. By telling stories about our past and forcing ourselves to recollect important moments of our lives, we learn more about ourselves. It makes sense to me that by then telling other people about our memories in the form of a story will only solidify the lessons we’ve learned for our memories.

This could even go beyond personal examination as, like the Los Angeles Times article suggests, listening and telling stories can teach us about the people around us and the culture we inhabit. By thinking about which memories and stories stand out to us, we can evaluate what events, ideas, people, and places are the most important to us, or whoever else is telling a story.

In reading these two articles, I was forced to think about how essential memory is to the person I am. My memories of time with my family and friends can tell me about why I enjoy certain activities or pastimes. Memories of bad experiences can tell me about why I don’t like specific things or ideas. My memories are much more important to the person I am than I thought they were, and by telling other people about them in the form of a story, I, in tandem with the listener, can begin to understand more about the person I am.