Portfolios are assignments that are turned in to the instructor as paper (hard copy) assignments, not electronic submissions. All portfolios are worth 30 points each.
Note: Portfolio 12 is optional for those students who wish to earn extra credit in the course. All other papers are required.
Portfolio 1. Choosing to be a University Student
Reflect on your life before entering Ohio State. Consider the choices you have made and the people who have influenced those choices. Focus on those choices that have led you to be a university student. In no less than two double-spaced pages using a size 12 point font, write an essay that answers the question, “Why am I in college?”
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Portfolio 2. Applying the Strategies
Think about the problems and challenges Cedric has faced so far in A Hope in the Unseen, Chapters 1-3. Look for examples of the four strategies and their substrategies in action: 1) Take Reasonable Risk (Go for the Goal & Bite-Size Pieces), 2) Take Responsibility (Think Positive & Plan), 3) Search the Environment (Just Ask & Visualize It), and 4) Use Feedback (Keep Track & Tell Yourself).
Write about four situations in which the strategies and their substrategies were used or could have been used to Cedric's benefit. For each one, you must have a detailed description of the situation and explain clearly how Cedric used or could have used one or more of the strategies in that situation. Your paper should discuss all four of the strategies and their substrategies.
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Portfolio 3. To Do Checklist
For this portfolio you will make five daily To Do Checklists. These lists will cover all your academic tasks for the next five days. They will cover all of the courses you are taking. Begin by listing all your homework assignments for the week. No item on the list may take longer than one hour in length for you to complete. (If an item is longer, break it down into shorter tasks.) On these lists indicate the dates. Every task on the list must start with a specific verb. Every task must be specific, and it must be measurable, so that you know when you have completed it. Do not include non-academic tasks.
Monitor Your Work
1. Have you listed all of your homework assignments at the
top? 6 pts
2. Does every item on all the lists begin with a verb? 6 pts
3. Can every item be accomplished in one hour or less? 6 pts
4. Have you included only academic tasks on your list? 2 pts
5. Is every item specific? 5 pts
6. Is every item measurable? 5 pts
Portfolio 4. A Success Story
Write about an actual academic experience you have had where you were faced with a challenge and you were successful. This should be an accomplishment of which you are proud.
Describe in detail the situation and circumstances as if you were writing a story for a magazine. Make yourself the central character. Write about your thoughts and feelings, your behavior, how others reacted to you and what you learned from the experience. Use the concepts and techniques described in this module. Make it clear how your thoughts influenced your feelings and behavior. Your story should be at least two double-spaced pages in a 12-point font.
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Portfolio 5. A Matter of Judgment*
Imagine that you are planning to go home for a few days during break week and you ask your neighbor in the apartment house you live in to take in your mail and your newspapers while you are gone. In return, you offer to drive her to the grocery when you get back (she doesn’t have a car), and she agrees. But when you get back from your trip, your newspapers and all your accumulated mail are piled up outside your door. It also looks like someone may have tried to get into your apartment when you were gone. You go to your neighbor to find out what happened. She apologizes and says she hadn’t been able to get out of bed since you left because she got sick. You notice that she looks a little done in. But later, another neighbor tells you that people had been going in and coming out of her apartment nonstop while you were gone, and maybe your neighbor had been too busy partying with friends to watch your place.
Identify three different causal explanations you might think up to
help you understand and deal with the situation, the feelings that each
would cause you to have, and the behaviors likely to follow each.
Show how each of the three thought-feeling-action patterns relate to the
ideas of controllability, responsibility,
and intentionality
that is, how each of the three differ or are the same in these respects.
Indicate which of the three behaviors you would choose to follow and why,
based on your answers to the first two parts of this question.
*Note: This portfolio is different from the one
listed in the LMS textbook.
Grading Guidelines
Portfolio 6. Notes and Questions
Choose a set of lecture notes written in a particular class. The lecture notes can be any notes that you have taken from a particular instructor’s lecture in any course you are currently enrolled in or have previously been enrolled in. This assignment requires that you develop a Question-Answer outline from this material. The actual assignment requires you to do three things: (1) Type out the lecture notes for which you are going to write the Question-Answer outline. (2) For each of the typed pages of notes type at least 3 Reflection questions, 1 Recap question, and 1Reasoning question. Reflection questions should be labeled as RF, Reasoning questions should be labeled as RS, and Recap labeled as RC. Type all of these questions, a total of 20, on a sheet of paper. (3) On the lecture notes underline the content that correspond to the questions that you have written and write the question number next to the appropriate answer.
Your portfolio MUST include both the typed pages of 20 questions and your class notes with the answers underlined and clearly numbered. Label your questions: Reflection RF, Recap RC, and Reasoning RS. You must have a total of at least 20 questions.
Monitor Your Work
1. Did you provide both a typed copy of the lecture notes from which your Question-Answer outline was developed and a photocopy of the original handwritten lecture notes from which the typed copy was transcribed? (4 points)
2. Were your lecture notes of adequate length and substance to allow you to generate 20 questions? (4 points)
3. Did you construct at least 3 Reflection questions, 1 Recap question, and 1 Reasoning question for each typed page of notes? (12 points)
4. Did you properly label these questions RF, RC, and RS? (2 points)
5. Did you underline the content within your typed lecture notes that provides the answers to the questions you wrote? (4 points)
6. Did you write the appropriate question number next to each underlined answer within your typed lecture notes? (4 points)
Photocopy a number of consecutive pages from a textbook that you are using in a current class or a college-level class you have taken previously. For each of the headings and subheadings, write a recap question. For each paragraph or pair of paragraphs write a reflection question. For the overall passage, write two reasoning questions. Type all of these questions, a total of 30, on a sheet of paper. Make sure to number each item and to label each RC for recap, RF for reflection, or RS for reasoning. On the pages you have copied from the textbook, locate and highlight the answer to each of the questions you have written (other than the reasoning questions), and write the question number next to the appropriate answer.
Note: Your portfolio MUST include both the typed page of 30 questions and the photocopied textbook pages with the answers clearly numbered and highlighted.
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Portfolio 8. Organizing for Tests
Click here to link to part 1 and part 2 of Portfolio 8.
Monitor Your Work
1. Choose a lengthy (at least three pages) article from a newsmagazine, like Time http://www.time.com/time/index2.html or Newsweek.
2. Closely read the article.
3. Write a “Super” Recap Question for the whole article.
4. Write three or more recap questions for the article.
5. Write three or more reflection questions for each of the recap questions.
6. Organize these questions into an outline that looks like the one on pages 156-157 of the LMS textbook. This is to be turned in as part of the portfolio.
7. Create a Skeleton Key Diagram for the whole article. This is to be turned in as part of the portfolio.
8. Turn in a photocopy of the article with the portfolio.
Monitor Your Work
1. Write down an undesirable behavior of yours that you want to change.
2. For two days pay attention to how often you engage in this behavior.
3. Keep a written record of this, and describe the circumstances when this behavior occurs. Tell what is going on around you and explain what you are thinking.
4. Write down a very specific proximal goal about changing this behavior. That is, write down what you will do instead of the undesirable behavior.
5. List two incentives you could use to help you choose the desirable behavior.
6. List four things that you could tell yourself that will help you to make the change.
7. For another two days keep track of how often you choose the undesirable behavior and how often you choose the desirable behavior. Keep a written record of this.
8. Write about what works for you. How can you best create changes for yourself?
Monitor Your Work
Did you clearly identify an undesirable behavior? 3 pts
Do you have a written two-day record describing how often and under what circumstances you engaged in the behavior? 5 pts
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Portfolio 12. Preparing for Your Future
Reminder: This portfolio is optional for those students who wish to earn extra credit points.
When exploring careers, you’ll want to know more about the jobs than the Internet, brochures, or counselors can tell you. It is important to know what a particular job is like from the viewpoint of people who currently work in that type of job. Choose one job that you find interesting and about which you’d like more information. Interview a person who is currently employed in that type of job. Write a two-page paper (at least 500 words) including the following parts:
1. A brief description of the career explored (at least one paragraph).
2. The name of the person interviewed. (You need only interview one person in the chosen career area.)
3. Contact information for the person interviewed (telephone number or e-mail address).
4. The person’s responses to the following questions:
a. What is a typical day of work like? (“What do you do during a typical day?)
b. What kind of education and experience are needed to obtain the job?
c. What are the best and worst aspects of the position?
d. How much and what kind of responsibility does the job require?
e. How easy is it to advance in the career?
5. The person’s responses to at least three other questions about which you are curious.
Monitor Your Writing
1. Did you include a description of the career and the name and contact information for the person interviewed? 3 pts
2. Did you include answers to the 5 questions given above and 3 of your own questions? 24 pts
3. Is your paper of the proper length, correctly formatted, and “reader friendly”? 3 pts