Writing · Writing: Research, Forms and ConventionsReflecting as a Writer: Metacognition, Interconnected Skills and the Grade 12 Exit Portfolio
4.1 4.2 4.3About 65 minutes
Learning goals- I can explain which strategies I found most helpful before, during and after writing, with evidence from my own work.
- I can write a process memo that accompanies a major assignment.
- I can explain how my reading, listening, speaking and media skills helped my writing, and how my writing skills transfer to other subjects.
- I can select pieces for an exit portfolio that show my growth and competence, and write a reflective writer's statement.
- I can set specific writing goals for postsecondary study or work.
Words to know
metacognition
Thinking about your own thinking and learning: planning, monitoring and evaluating your strategies.
process memo
A short reflective note, submitted with an assignment, describing how you produced it, what worked and what questions you have.
transfer
Using a skill learned in one situation in a new one, such as using essay skills in a history paper.
exit portfolio
A selection of work assembled at the end of a course or program to show growth and competence.
writer's statement
A reflective introduction to a portfolio that describes the writer's strengths, growth and goals.
draft pair
An early draft and a final version of the same piece, shown together to make revision visible.
writing centre
A service, found at many colleges and universities, that gives students one-to-one help with their writing.
The last English course before what comes next
For many students, ENG4U is the last English course before university, college, an apprenticeship or work. Next year nobody will hand you a checklist for each assignment. You will decide how to research, when to start, which strategies to use and how to check your own work.
That is why the curriculum ends each strand with reflection. In Writing, it asks you to explain which strategies you found most helpful before, during and after writing (4.1), to identify how your skills in listening, speaking, reading, viewing and representing help you write (4.2), and to select pieces that most clearly reflect your growth and competence as a writer (4.3). At Grade 12, reflection is not a feel-good exercise; it is how you take your skills with you.
Remember from Grade 11
In Grade 11 you wrote reflections with evidence (my revision changed X, because Y), compared strategies to see which worked, explained how other language skills helped your writing, and built a Grade 11 portfolio with a rationale for each piece. Grade 12 adds the process memo, transfer to other subjects and postsecondary writing, and an exit portfolio that looks back over your high school writing and forward to what comes next.
1. Metacognition with evidence (4.1)
Strong reflection names a strategy, gives evidence of its effect, and draws a conclusion you can act on:
- Weak: The research went well.
- Strong: My research log showed that subject searches in the literature database produced four of my six best sources, while general web searches produced none. Next time I will start in the database and use the web for author interviews only.
Use your records: the research log, proposal, drafts, version history, teacher conferences and feedback. They let you reflect on what actually happened, not what you remember.
Think in three stages:
- Before writing: choosing the question, the proposal, planning backward, building a matrix.
- During writing: drafting order (body first? introduction first?), integrating sources, managing time.
- After writing: revision strategies, the style sheet, citation cross-check, peer feedback.
Many university instructors ask for a process memo with major assignments: a half-page note describing how you wrote the piece, what worked, what you would change, and what you would like the reader's feedback on. It is metacognition in a practical form.
2. Interconnected skills and transfer (4.2)
Your writing in this course grew out of the other strands:
- Reading: reading criticism taught you what academic argument sounds like; close reading of novels gave you evidence.
- Listening and speaking: explaining your thesis aloud in a seminar or conference (in Oral Communication) often shows you where it is unclear; questions from classmates point to gaps.
- Viewing and representing: analysing images and design in Media Studies helps you use figures, tables and layout in a paper and design a seminar handout.
Skills also transfer outward. The thesis-evidence-analysis structure works in a history essay; the précis and abstract appear in science and social science; citation habits carry to APA and Chicago; the critical review appears in almost every university discipline; the cover letter and personal statement go with you into applications. When you reflect, name a specific transfer: The synthesis matrix I used for my ISU is how I will organize the sources for my first-year history paper.
3. The Grade 12 exit portfolio (4.3)
An exit portfolio is a selection, not an archive. Include:
- A writer's statement (about 400 to 600 words): who you are as a writer now, your strengths with evidence, how you have grown since Grade 9 or this semester, the strategies you rely on, and what you still want to work on.
- Four to six pieces in a range of forms (for example: the ISU, a critical review, a personal statement or creative non-fiction piece, a précis or abstract, a speech or media text). Each has a short note: why you chose it and what it shows.
- A draft pair: an early draft and the final version of one piece, with the major changes marked and explained. This shows revision more clearly than anything else.
- Process evidence: a page from your research log, your ISU proposal, a teacher conference record or peer feedback you acted on.
- Goals for what comes next: two or three specific writing goals for university, college or work, with a strategy for each.
Choose pieces that show growth and competence, not only your highest marks. A piece that taught you something difficult may say more about you than an easy success.
Many colleges and universities have a writing centre offering free one-to-one help; planning to use it is a strong, specific goal.
Worked exampleLet's write a process memo for an ISU
Priya has finished her ISU on storytelling in Station Eleven and The Marrow Thieves. Her teacher asks for a half-page process memo.
- State what you set out to do. I set out to compare how the two novels present storytelling after catastrophe, using a postcolonial lens.
- Name the strategies that worked, with evidence. My synthesis matrix was the most useful strategy: it showed that no critic I found had compared the novels, which became the gap in my introduction. My research log shows that published interviews with Dimaline were more useful for my argument than general reviews.
- Name what did not work, and why. I started drafting the introduction first and rewrote it four times. Next time I will draft body paragraphs first and write the introduction last, as I eventually did here.
- Show an interconnected skill. Explaining my thesis in the class seminar helped: a classmate's question about whether Station Eleven also has a connection to land made me add a counter-argument paragraph.
- Ask for specific feedback. I would like feedback on paragraph 4: does my reading of the final chapter of The Marrow Thieves rely too much on one critic?
- Check the length and tone. Half a page, first person, specific, honest, no apologies or excuses.
A process memo that states the goal, names one strategy that worked and one that did not (each with evidence and a lesson for next time), shows an interconnected skill, and asks a precise question for feedback.
Hands-on activityAssemble your exit portfolio
You need: your work from this year (and earlier years if you have it), your research log and drafts, a folder or a digital document.
- Lay out (or list) every major piece of writing from the year. Sort them into forms.
- Choose four to six pieces that together show range and growth. Include at least one piece that was difficult.
- For one piece, find an early draft and the final. Mark three major changes and write one sentence explaining each.
- Write a short note for each piece: why you chose it and what it shows.
- Write a writer's statement of 400 to 600 words using evidence from your pieces.
- Write three goals for next year, each with a strategy (Goal: start research papers two weeks earlier. Strategy: backward plan in my calendar the day the assignment is given.).
- Share the portfolio with a family member and explain one change you are proud of.
What to look for: a range of forms; a visible draft pair; reflections with specific evidence; goals that are concrete and realistic.
Just for funAn honest process memo once said: My main strategy was starting the night before. I now have strong evidence that this strategy does not work. That is excellent metacognition, and also a cautionary tale.
Your turn
1Rewrite with evidence and a conclusion: My revising went well.
Example: Comparing my first and final drafts, I cut about 300 words of plot summary and added two paragraphs on the critics; next time I will check each body paragraph for summary before I start line editing.
A short reflective note submitted with an assignment, describing how you produced it, what worked or did not, and what feedback you want.
3Give one example of a strategy for each stage: before, during and after writing.
Examples: Before: backward planning, a synthesis matrix. During: drafting body paragraphs first, the quotation sandwich. After: a style sheet, the citation cross-check, reading aloud.
4How might the Oral Communication strand help your ISU writing?
Explaining your thesis in a seminar or conference shows where it is unclear; listeners' questions reveal gaps or counter-arguments to address.
5Name four components of a Grade 12 exit portfolio.
Any four: writer's statement, four to six pieces with notes, a draft pair, process evidence, goals for next year.
6Why might a piece with a lower mark belong in your portfolio?
Because it may show growth or a difficult skill you worked on, and reflecting on it can show more about you as a writer than an easy success.
7Name one way a skill from this unit transfers to another subject.
Examples: the précis or abstract in science and social science; the critical review in any discipline; citation habits in APA or Chicago; the synthesis matrix for a history paper.
More practice: warm-up
Thinking about your own thinking and learning: planning, monitoring and evaluating your strategies.
2Which expectation is about the portfolio?
An early draft and a final version of the same piece, shown together.
4Name one record you can use as evidence when reflecting.
Any one: research log, proposal, drafts, version history, conference notes, peer feedback.
5What does a writing centre offer?
One-to-one help with writing, often free to students at colleges and universities.
More practice: on your own
1Turn this into a specific goal with a strategy: I want to be better at grammar.
Example: Goal: eliminate dangling modifiers and agreement errors in long sentences. Strategy: during line editing, mark the subject and verb of every sentence over 25 words and check each opening phrase's doer.
2Write the note for a portfolio piece: a critical review you wrote in the spring.
Example: I chose this review because it is the first time I evaluated an argument instead of summarizing it. The evaluation paragraphs use specific page references and name a false dilemma, which shows the critical reading I developed this year.
3Explain how Media Studies skills could improve an ISU's presentation.
Analysing design and visual evidence helps you choose and label a figure or table, design a clear seminar handout or slides, and think about how layout guides a reader.
4A classmate's writer's statement lists every assignment and its mark. What would you suggest?
Focus on strengths, growth and strategies, with evidence from a few pieces, rather than a list of marks. Marks show results; a writer's statement explains how you write and how you changed.
5Write a feedback question for a process memo that is more useful than Is it good?
Example: Does my second body paragraph prove the claim in its topic sentence, or does it drift into summary? It points the reader to a specific place and concern.
Challenge
1Write a 150-word section of a writer's statement about how your research process changed between Grade 11 and Grade 12, with specific evidence.
Look for: a clear before and after (for example from general web searches to databases and scholarly criticism; from collecting sources to a synthesis matrix); specific evidence (a log entry, a number of scholarly sources, a draft change); strategies named; an insight about the writer; first person, reflective but formal.
2Explain, in four or five sentences, how one writing skill from this unit will transfer to a postsecondary program or job you are considering.
Look for: a named program or job; a specific skill (for example the critical review, MLA/APA citation, the abstract, the cover letter, concision); a concrete situation where it will be needed; how the skill will adapt (for example a different citation style or audience); and a realistic plan to keep improving.
3Your teacher asks: Which single strategy from this year will you keep, and which will you drop? Answer both with evidence.
Look for: one kept strategy with evidence of its effect (for example the citation cross-check caught three orphan citations in the ISU); one dropped strategy with evidence it did not help (for example writing the introduction first led to four rewrites); and a replacement or adjustment. Honest, specific and forward-looking.
Quiz
1. Which reflection shows the strongest metacognition?
3. Expectation 4.2 (interconnected skills) is about:
4. What is the best reason to include a draft pair in a portfolio?
5. Which is the most useful goal for next year?
6. Which is an example of transfer?
Big idea: the Writing strand ends with reflection: explaining which strategies helped (4.1), how other language skills support writing (4.2), and choosing pieces that show growth (4.3). In Grade 12 this becomes preparation for the move to university, college or work, where students must manage their own writing process.
How to help: ask your teen to show you one draft pair and explain the biggest change. Ask, Which strategy from this year will you keep? Help them find out whether the school they plan to attend has a writing centre.
Common difficulties:
- Vague reflections (it went well) without evidence.
- Choosing only the highest-marked pieces instead of pieces that show growth.
- Goals without strategies.
- Forgetting to keep drafts and logs during the year, which makes reflection harder.
The portfolio can be a useful record for the future: some students draw on it for scholarship or program applications.