A Time Capsule of Growth:
Portfolios in FYC 

Hi everyone, 

As I am finishing up my final semester and submitting creative writing portfolios to my professors, I have been think about how portfolios could be implemented in FYC courses as a collection for students to looks back and see all of the ways they have grown throughout the semester. 

Theory

As I have mentioned several times on this blog, I studied Creative Writing during undergrad and I am currently getting my Masters degree in Professional Writing at KSU. Although the focus of this blog is primarily on the instruction of First-Year English courses, there are many aspects of creative writing courses that I think could be beneficial in the teaching of composition for first-year writers. In every creative writing course I have ever taken, I have always had to submit an end-of-semester portfolio, showcasing work I created throughout the semester, with thoughtful revision. These portfolios were not only helpful in that they forced me to reflect and revise my work from the entire semester, but by putting my work into a container titled "portfolio," it forced me to appreciate piece as not just being something I completed because a deadline was incoming, but a work that was a part of my creative collection. 

Although the majority of FYC students will likely not become English majors, I believe FYC students could see similar benefits through the implementation of portfolios in FYC curriculum. End-of-semester portfolios will force FYC students to revisit work they created at the beginning of the semester and potentially look at it in a new light with fresh eyes, as they should be finishing the semester with a broader understanding of composition, argument, and the rhetorical situation. Portfolios will also teach students that reflection and revision is a normal part of the writing process, and that it is normal for a draft to improve after multiple rounds of revision. Finally, I believe end-of-semester portfolios can help reshape students' views regarding the work they completed during the semester, as students will hopefully feel more confident in their work due it having gone through several rounds of revision and feel more accomplished seeing their work from throughout the semester combined into one container. While instructors cannot guarantee that every student will feel accomplished or proud of their work by the end of the semester, I believe instructors can better help instigate these feelings by ensuring that students know why they were are writing a narrative or a rhetorical analysis and how these skills of composition or rhetorical analysis will better prepare them for their futures. 

Practice

There are many ways in which instructors can implement an end-of-semester portfolio into their curriculum. Every creative writing class I took consisted of a portfolio that was just a document with our compiled work, but I have seen more and more instructors make their portfolios multi-modal. The First-Year Writing program at DePaul University required instructors to implement digital portfolios into their curriculum, in which case students create a website that features assignments they created throughout the semester as well as a reflective essay. In addition to giving students the opportunity to reflect, revise, and showcase their work, students are taught how to navigate digital spaces, as they must include multimodal elements, such as images, and are graded on the overall design of their digital portfolio. With the internet being a cornerstone in daily life, it is important that students understand how to navigate digital spaces and these digital portfolios could be a great way to show employers that they have useful technological skills. 

While my mentor does not call the final project a portfolio, it definitely mimics DePaul University's digital portfolio assignment. Throughout the semester, students have been researching a common misconception with the goal of dispelling it. So far, they have submitting an annotated bibliography and a project proposal. For their final project, rather than write a research paper, they must create a poster presentation and an accompanying website that will feature the work they created throughout the semester, like their findings and annotated bibliography. I believe this assignment does a great job at integrating an end-of-semester portfolio into a research-centered course and giving students the opportunity to not only reflect upon the work they did throughout the semester but leave the class with something that can hopefully be a useful artifact in showing their technological and research skills to future employers. 

Works Cited 

DePaul University. “Portfolio Guidelines for First-Year Writing Faculty.” First Year Writing Faculty Resources, depaul.digication.com/teachingfyw/Portfolio_Guidelines_for_First-Year_Writing_Facult. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

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