Table of Content

Table of Contents Dear Reader Intro to "A Place I Call My Own" A Place I Call My Own Intro to "Create New from Old" Create New from Old Intro to "Eight Minute Hour" Eight Minute Hour Intro to "The Present Is The Best You Got" The Present Is The Best You Got Last Word

Dear Reader

Below: My Mom and I back in the day.

I tried doing her hair.

Ever since I was a young girl,I would always run around trying to be the little neighborhood hairstylist. I have always dreamed of
opening my own hair salon. Growing up, I always had little kids to
practice on because my mom owns a daycare at my house and has ever since I was a baby. Throughout my elementary schooling, I did really well. Since I did so good in school, being able to get into beauty school always seemed so easy. I never really thought I would ever do poorly on a test, or skip school for no reason. My brother had always been the one with bad grades. It wasn’t until middle school when my grades started to drop. Then once High School came along, I really did badly. I attended at the Arlington High School until my sophomore year when I dropped out. It hasn’t been too long since I’ve been out of school. I am only sixteen, and I dropped out when I was fifteen. I never really connected with any of the teachers and it just wasn’t the right scene for me. I was always skipping school, leaving classes early and just not trying hard at all. I quickly realized that was a mistake, which is why I decided to finish school through the Youth Re-Engagement Program. I am currently taking a few classes and one, which is English 97. In the beginning, I was a bit iffy about taking an English class. I have always been pretty good at English, but I was worried that I would start slacking off again. However, watching my oldest brother go back to school and pass his classes gave me courage that I too could do that. Now the quarter is close to being over, and English has been a pretty good class. I learned how to write stronger, and learned that I can turn in my work at the deadlines. All I have to do is try.

Above: My oldest brother, Josh, and I.

During this quarter in English class, I feel I have grown a lot with my writing. The whole process during these 10 weeks has been an interesting one. I never really realized how much I didn’t know about English. It was the simple stuff that I didn’t know too. Most complex things stuck with me because I thought it was more important than the little things. I figured the little things were common sense, so I never applied myself to it. I was wrong. Taking this class has really showed me how much I was able to build up my writing skill. Now I know how to punctuate correctly, and put in conjunctions at the right spot. I have learned how to put together a paper with better structure. Also I have learned what a comma splice is, and that I create them all over my paper. I didn’t even know a comma splice existed. But now I don’t have to worry about them because I was taught how to fix it.

For my e-portfolio I have chosen a few pieces to show you. The ones I chose show my ability to write. Not only to write an essay, but even how to write a journal better. I have taken out pieces with good structure, and a good showing of description. First I chose one of my descriptive pieces call “A Place I Call My Own.” Next I added “Create New from Old,” which is a major writing assignment. After that I’ve chosen to put in “The Eight Minute Hour” for an effective writing piece. Finally, for my writer’s choice I chose “The Present Is the Best You Got.” Going into this class I wasn’t expecting to learn much since I was fresh out of High School, but I did. I’m happy for what I learned too. I am Jesica Shattuck and I hope you enjoy the rest of my work!

Intro to "A Place I Call My Own"

The first piece i put into my portfolio is called "A Place I Call My Own." This was the first major paper that we did a few weeks into the semester. It was our show not tell paper, which means we had to create a paper full of description. I chose to put this paper in because i feel i did a good job at putting sensory detail in. Normally i wouldn't add a whole lot of details into papers that i do, so it was new for me to describe things in all five senses. But, it's kinda fun to throw a lot of detail in and to use big words to describe something. I have a lot of different ways to describe things in my paper, but a good example of one would be, "It feels as if the heater has been going all day. However, the window is slightly cracked, allowing a fresh cool breeze flow through the air, and swiftly crossing your face."

A Place I Call My Own

A sudden change happens when entering my room. The whole atmosphere drastically changes from an organized house to a mismatched bedroom. The sent of old lavender perfume and vanilla candles fill your nose. It feels as if the heater has been going all day. However, the window is slightly cracked, allowing a fresh cool breeze flow through the air, and swiftly crossing your face. While looking around the room, you notice the walls. They are covered in signatures, drawings, and paintings. To the right, the wall is all colored in with bright, vibrant pictures of everything from flowers and trees, to cities and dragons. On the left, the wall is crammed with signatures going in all different directions. Straight ahead, a wall is filled with tons of smiling faces that are showed within the pictures of memories that leaves no more of the white wall showing. Walking further in, you feel something under your feet. The floor is barely showing, due to all of the clothes scattered across the ground. Neatly made up of six pillows, three blankets, and a soft teddy bear, lays a queen sized bed placed to the right of the window. Next to the bed is a white antique nightstand along with a matching dresser. Located on the opposite wall, a computer desk is tightly fit inside the closet. Lovely white and red roses sit on the desk next to the computer, filling a nice aroma in that area. If you listen closely, you can sometimes hear drum beats sneaking through the window coming from the house next door. Still, you will always hear the trickling sound of water splashing through the fish tank sitting on top of the dresser, which gives this room a more calming feeling when you close your eyes to go to sleep.

To the right: Me and a friend of mine

in front of one of my walls

Intro to "Create New from Old"

"Create Old From New" is the second paper i put into my portfolio. We did this paper near the end of the quarter. It was our third major writing assignment, and it was a process paper. A process paper is meant for one to explain step by step on how something works, or how to do something. The reason I chose to add this paper into my portfolio is because I think I put in a decent amount of steps and hints. "Avoid patterns and ruffles. Blues, browns, grays, whites, or blacks are really safe colors to go for." I think that showed a good example on how I added in hints to make things easier to understand.

Create New From Old

Do you ever just look inside the window of a store and absolutely fall in love with the outfit on display? Then you walk inside, and search all around for it, just to find out it is entirely too expensive. Well there's a fun and cheap way to solve this problem. However, this may take much longer then simply giving the cashier a check, money, or credit car, but in the long run you will have your own unique look that’s guaranteed not to be seen anywhere else. And all it takes is a little shopping around at a second hand store, or even a garage sale. Like they say, “Some peoples junk, may be another persons treasure.” By simply creating new looks out of an old look, you can resolve the issue of buying clothes for too much money.

First you should look through magazines that you may find clothes of your style in. Looking on the Internet would work too. Find outfits that you find appealing and clip them out. Getting ideas can help a lot because you can try to look for similar things to what’s in the clipping you took out. Even though the outfit you found in a magazine is up to date, you would be surprised by the related things that were in style a few years ago.

As soon as you’ve cut out ideas from a magazine or the internet, you get to run around a store full of old clothes and pick out anything that catches your eye. Pick out anything from dresses and skirts to tank tops and tees. Most thrift store will have accessories too like bracelets, necklaces, or even scarves. Try to stick to simple pieces of clothing. Avoid patterns and ruffles. Blues, browns, grays, whites, or blacks are really safe colors to go for. If you want to be more risky, pick out more exciting colors like pink, purple, yellow, or orange. Many pieces of clothing can be turned into something very cute. This will make it much easier to create something more modern.

When you are finished shopping, go to a comfortable, open space to make your new clothes. Lay out all of the items you have chosen. It could be easier by organizing them by color or the type of clothing item they are. Start layering things on top of each other. What colors go good together? Or what could layer together well? If you feel the need to cut the sleeves off a shirt or make a dress shorter, feel free to do that. Get creative. Mix and match things until you find the perfect outfit or even try to create the look of one of the outfits you found in a magazine.

When you have your outfit put together, you can finally create your new look! You may want to invest in a sewing machine. Even though this whole process is supposed to save you money, getting a sewing machine could really help. Plus, you can easily get a used one for really cheap, or maybe a family member could have one to loan you. A sewing machine will save you a lot of time when creating your new piece of clothing. They aren’t too hard to work either. However, you don't have to use a machine. If you were able to put together an outfit without cutting anything up, then great! You won’t have to sew anything. If you cut something shorter, though, or decided to combine two pieces, you will need to stitch the edge of it. If you do not, then it may tare or fray really bad at the seam. Make sure you lay out your pieces flat on the sewing machine, or else you may sew a part that wasn’t supposed to. Slowly move your fabric up through the needle. If you do this carefully you can create a perfect stitch and you clothes will look great!

Now you don’t have to look into the window of a store wishing you could buy that outfit without feeling guilty of spending so much on it. By the end of this process you should have a newly made outfit that is cute and totally your style. It can definitely save you money, and it is also entertaining if you aren’t up to anything.

Intro to "Eight Minute Hour"

The "Eight Minute Hour" is a journal that i had to write. The prompt was "i am nervous," which we did in the beginning of the quarter when we did our show not tell paper. This journal was also a show not tell piece. The reason i chose to have this journal in my portfolio is because i really like the way i described everything. I did a good job at showing i was nervous, rather then bluntly saying "I'm nervous." A good example i came across in the paper was, "Heat rushes to my head as i stand up. My hearts beating so loud in my ear it sounds like it's about to fall out."