Week 15 — Your Portfolio and the Letter That Proves It

Assignment 14 of the term — test a reflection with the two-part test, curate your own portfolio, write the reflective cover letter that proves what you can now do, and explain one skill to someone outside the course.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a portfolio a reader can check: a few pieces chosen on purpose, a reason for each, and a letter in which every claim about your growth points to a page. You remain the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. In Week 1 you wrote an ungraded diagnostic and learned that reflection is the fifth stage of the writing process; this week you use that diagnostic as your baseline and write the reflection the course has been building toward. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Writing Studio practise the same moves from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together, and it is the last assignment of the course.

The task

This week you prove what you can now do as a writer. You test someone else's reflection first, then curate your own portfolio and write the letter that introduces it.

Part A — test a reflection. Here is a paragraph from an illustrative classmate's draft cover letter, written for this course and attributed to no one. One sentence per line:

1. "This course taught me so much about writing."
2. "I worked harder on these essays than on anything I wrote before college."
3. "In my rhetorical analysis, I rewrote my third paragraph so that it explains how the repeated 'Now is the time' builds urgency instead of only labeling it pathos."
4. "I also got much better at grammar."
5. "In my narrative essay, I cut the sentence 'I was really nervous' and showed my hands shaking on the clipboard instead."
6. "Overall, I am proud of how much I have grown as a writer."

Work this problem, showing your reasoning:

1. The classmate's paragraph in Part A has 6 sentences, and 2 of them pass both parts of the two-part test for reflection. How many of its sentences fail at least one part?

Then name the two sentences that pass and, for each one, the move it names and the piece it points to. Finally, rebuild two of the failing sentences as sentences about your own work. Each rebuilt sentence must name a move and point to a named piece of your writing from this course.

Part B — curate your portfolio and write the letter. Work the second problem:

1. A student's course folder holds 14 pieces of writing, and the portfolio keeps 3 chosen pieces plus the 1 diagnostic baseline. How many pieces stay out of the portfolio?

Then build your own portfolio from your work in this course:

• Choose. Pick three pieces of your own writing from the course and keep your Week 1 diagnostic as the baseline. For each chosen piece, write a one-sentence rationale that names the skill it proves. Name one piece you left out and say why it stays out.
• Choose the tool. Pick the clearest revision you made in any of your pieces. Name the course tool that found the problem (for example, a reverse outline, the PIE move, the four-part integration move, the two-pass rule, or the clause rule), explain why it was the right tool for that problem, and explain why one other tool would have missed it.
• Write the reflective cover letter, about one page. It must do the four jobs: say what you chose, why you chose it, what you learned, and how you revised. Inside it, quote your own words from your diagnostic and from a later piece to show one change, name your clearest revision move by move and call it revision only if it changed what the writing claims or proves, and close with a transfer: one skill you can name and the new place you will use it.

Explain it to someone outside the course

Pick a real reader outside this course who has a reason to care, such as a family member, a coach, or a future supervisor. Write a 3–5 sentence message that explains, in everyday words, one writing skill you can now use, where it shows in your work, and one honest limit of what that skill can do. Explain any course term your reader might not know.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine someone who finished a first-aid class explaining it to the organizer of a youth soccer league. Model answer: "I can now clean and cover a scrape the right way: in the class I practised rinsing out the dirt before the bandage, and I did it on a teammate at our last game. That means small injuries can be handled on the sideline without waiting for a parent. One limit: I am trained for minor injuries only, so anything serious still needs a call for help right away."

Use that pattern for your own reader, with your own skill and your own evidence.

Reflect on your revision

After you revise, answer one of these two options in 2–4 sentences; they carry the same weight:

• (a) Which change to your cover letter did the most to turn a claim about your growth into evidence, and what can a reader now check?
• (b) How did choosing what to leave out of your portfolio change what your letter says about you?

Where this leads

This is the last assignment of the course. Next comes finals week, Week 16, with the final exam; its study guide, practice exam, and exam-prep tutorial are in the finals-week module. Naming a revision as revision rather than editing, and pointing to evidence instead of effort, is the same habit of telling a course distinction apart that the final asks of you on passages you have not seen.

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft Part A, Part B (your counts, choices, rationales, tool choice, and cover letter), and your message before opening a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one rebuilt sentence, rationale, or part of your cover letter, even if your first attempt was strong, and then answer reflection option (a) or (b).
4. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write your sentences, your rationales, or your letter. It cannot know what you wrote this term, so it must never invent a piece, a quotation, or a revision of yours; every piece and every quoted line in your letter must come from your own files.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful writing coach for a first-year college writing course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about reflection and my writing portfolio. Do not write my rebuilt sentences, my rationales, my cover letter, or my message for me, do not turn my sentences into smooth generic wording, and do not invent any piece of writing, quotation, or revision of mine. You do not know what I wrote this term; ask me to name and quote it.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these two problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. Part A is a paragraph from an illustrative classmate's draft cover letter, written for my course and attributed to no one: (1) This course taught me so much about writing. (2) I worked harder on these essays than on anything I wrote before college. (3) In my rhetorical analysis, I rewrote my third paragraph so that it explains how the repeated 'Now is the time' builds urgency instead of only labeling it pathos. (4) I also got much better at grammar. (5) In my narrative essay, I cut the sentence 'I was really nervous' and showed my hands shaking on the clipboard instead. (6) Overall, I am proud of how much I have grown as a writer.
PROBLEM P1: The classmate's paragraph in Part A has 6 sentences, and 2 of them pass both parts of the two-part test for reflection. How many of its sentences fail at least one part?
PROBLEM P2: A student's course folder holds 14 pieces of writing, and the portfolio keeps 3 chosen pieces plus the 1 diagnostic baseline. How many pieces stay out of the portfolio?
For P1 I must also name the two passing sentences with the move and the piece each names, then rebuild two failing sentences as sentences about my own work that each name a move and a named piece. For P2 I must also choose three of my own pieces plus my Week 1 diagnostic as the baseline, write a one-sentence rationale for each piece, name one piece I left out and why, name the course tool that found my clearest revision with why it fit and why another tool would have missed it, and write a reflective cover letter of about one page that does the four jobs (what I chose, why, what I learned, how I revised), quotes my own words from the diagnostic and a later piece, names one revision move by move, and closes with a transfer naming a skill and a new place; then a 3-5 sentence message to a reader outside the course in everyday words that names one skill, where it shows, and one limit. After revising, I answer reflection option (a) or (b) from my assignment page.
The course meanings I must use: metacognition is thinking about your own thinking; reflection is metacognition written down; the two-part test for reflection checks that a sentence is specific (it names a skill or a move) and evidence-based (it points to where that move shows in a named piece of writing); effort is not evidence; a baseline is an early piece kept unchanged for comparison; a curated portfolio chooses a few pieces with a rationale for each, while an archive keeps everything; the reflective cover letter says what was chosen, why, what was learned, and how the work was revised; revision re-sees what a piece claims and proves, while editing works on sentences and surface; transfer is carrying a named skill into a new place.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply, out of 100 points. Reflection that passes the two-part test (P1): 25 if I get the failing-sentence count without error, name the two passing sentences with the move and the piece each names, and rebuild two failing sentences about my own work that each name a move and a named piece; 15 if the count is right and the passing sentences are named, but a rebuilt sentence names a skill without a named piece or a piece without the change; 5 if the count or a rebuild is attempted but my rebuilt sentences still offer effort or general growth; 0 otherwise. Curated portfolio and rationale (P2): 20 if I get the stay-out count without error, choose three of my pieces plus the diagnostic baseline with a rationale naming the skill each proves, name a left-out piece with a reason, and name the tool that found my revision with why it fit and why another would have missed it; 12 if the count is right and pieces are chosen with rationales but one rationale names effort or no skill, the left-out piece has no reason, or the tool choice has no reason; 4 if the count or a list is attempted with no rationale; 0 if missing. Reflective cover letter: four jobs with evidence (P2): 25 if my letter does all four jobs, quotes my own words from the diagnostic and a later piece for one change, names one revision move by move and calls it revision, and closes on a transfer naming a skill and a place; 15 if all four jobs are present but one claim points to no named piece, the baseline quotes only one piece, an edit is called a revision, or the transfer names no place; 5 if a letter is attempted but mostly retells the course or my effort; 0 if missing. Plain-language explanation for a non-expert (P2): 15 if my message uses everyday words, names one skill, points to where it shows, and names a limit; 8 if it can be followed but omits the limit, names no specific skill, or leaves a term unexplained; 0 if missing. Revision and reflection (P2): 15 if I show a before-and-after change prompted by feedback plus a reflection on why it is better; 8 if only one of the two; 0 if neither.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. When I write a reflection sentence, ask me which move it names and which piece it points to. When I write a rationale, ask me what skill the piece proves. When I describe a revision, ask me whether it changed what the piece claims or only how a sentence reads. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work, and take no side on the running draft's phone-policy proposal or on any public question.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied both problems with the passing sentences, rebuilt sentences, chosen pieces and rationales, left-out piece, tool choice, cover letter, and message AND revised at least one part AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my rebuilt sentences, rationales, tool choice, cover letter, and message]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work: the Part A count, the passing sentences, and your two rebuilt sentences; the Part B count, your chosen pieces with their rationales, the piece you left out and why, your tool choice, and your reflective cover letter; your message to your reader; and your reflection — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria. Attach or link the pieces your portfolio names, so a reader can open them;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 15 skills — testing a reflection sentence for a named move and a named piece, curating a portfolio with a rationale for each piece, writing a reflective cover letter that does its four jobs with evidence, naming a transfer, and explaining one skill to someone outside the course — for comparable time and effort, about two hours, the same as the coached route. Complete Part A, Part B, the message to your reader, and one reflection option. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion: for every sentence of your cover letter, write in the margin the move it names and the piece it points to, and mark any sentence with an empty margin; check that you quoted your own words from both the diagnostic and a later piece; sort each change you describe into revision or editing; and check that your last sentence names a skill and a place. Write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one change you made, the check that prompted it, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The rebuilt sentences, the rationales, the tool choice, the cover letter, the message, the revision, and the reflection must be your own words about your own work. Do not ask the chatbot to write any of them or to describe your growth for you; it cannot know what you wrote, and a reflection it invents is about a writer who does not exist. Quote only words you can find in your own files or in the classmate's paragraph above, copied exactly. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com