Cranes sway, hammers bang, workers talk, concrete laid, and people are paid. What makes a building a building? Well there's depth to that question. Buildings are not one single thing, there are a number of steps and procedures to be combined. When complete can a building even be considered one thing? 

To make something you have to start from the ground up; literally. This often is the start of the foundations. I love the analogy of buildings because they symbolize so much in life. This may be biased coming from a Construction Management major but we’ll put that aside and let the dirt settle. In construction we must build a strong foundation and only then we can continue to build and add onto that foundation. Without a good base, things crumble and fail. 

Once the foundation is complete, framing starts, also known as the skeleton of the building. Much like the foundation to a building the framing is used to help set the structure for a building. I like to think of it as an outline because in essence it is a rough sketch of the building, everything relies on the framing but is still empty and lacking detail.

When framing goes up this allows for the real repetitive part to start of construction. All buildings hold the same internals and are all usually the same. This involves laying in the flooring, dry wall, electricity, trim, and paint. A home/building can have a nice layout and basis but there needs to be more additions to make it shine. This is where personality strikes because it’s fun to think about how a space can change from person to person. Take my apartment building for example. All of our rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms are the exact same but the vibe from one another isn’t. Living spaces call for change and that's what I love about giving people the same space. Much like I mentions with the generic 

After time has passed people begin to see the little things wrong with their living space/ building. On the first go problems are not always revealed, in this part of construction/ living revision is necessary. Looking back to how people position their furniture, the paint, the way doors aren’t practical. There is always room for things to be revisited and improved on. 

The portfolio is very similar, it’s not one thing but my course work compiled together to show my growth. The portfolio is made up of 4 of the 5 essays we’ve written, they all are connected to one of the 4 outcomes. The outcome in themselves is a guidance for our writing helping build structure to teach us important skills in writing. I liked to connect the portfolio and writing process itself to construction because it’s all a process. I consider the style of a paper much like outcome one, the foundation. Understanding who and what you're writing lets you know the structure for the rest of the paper. Outcome 2 illustrates the sources and material, this is information needed for an outline, a.k.a framing. Everything builds off of your own knowledge, it takes time and analysis to be able to write a paper. Outcome 3 is generic and that's why I said it's the basic and boring part of construction. Every paper requires an introduction and claim. This however does not undermine the importance of good claim and introduction. Outcome 4 is our personal touch to a paper, things change and this calls for revision within our paper. Sometimes we need to go back and tweak a paper (like a living space) and move things around. 

In the beginning I did not exactly know how my writing was going to change from the start of the course but with trying to meet the outcome and naturally testing my skills I have. The interesting course material and even more interesting assignment the course was great and allowed me to grow. My writing processes and creative freedom set me on a path no other English class has done before. The importance of revision has really shined through and this is something I significantly think my writing has improved due to the course outcomes.