Final Learning Blog

I know when writing these learning blogs we aren't really supposed to comment on the class itself but rather what we've learned. Quickly, I'd like to say how fortunate I've been in being in this specific English 101 class. Many of my friends are miserable in their classes because they feel they have been assigned "busy work" papers. That's my only comment on the class itself, that it has been very unlike any English class I've ever taken and I appreciate that.

Since this is a reflection post on the entire semester I'll go through each unit, saying what my big takeaway was. In the first unit we focused on giving worthwhile peer reviews. I learned to look at content over grammatical errors because fixing grammar is poor editing. It's the message of the paper that matters, not their misuse of commas. In my first learning blog I was in the midst of writing my Polar Plunge article, and I feel like that was a long time ago. I have learned so much more since then. For the second unit we got into groups and worked with various genres. From this I learned that you can never be too descriptive when writing a research proposal and design. After some confusion during the peer review session I saw that I needed to write as if my audience and Nicole had no idea what was going on. I tend to write under the assumption that everyone reading my papers knows whats going on, and that often will not be the case. Now when writing I put myself in the reader's shoes and try to be as descriptive and explanatory as possible. From working with genres so much, I now look around at the various genres that I come into contact with daily and think about it's constraints and how people conform to those rules. I look at how I change the way I speak and write based on those genres I'm communicating within. Unit three was an awesome project! I felt my most creative writing this paper and got to explore the way Facebook has changed communication (at least within Facebook itself). I learned to not be so superficial with my writings. My rough draft of the GRWJ article needed to go beyond the surface of the ways people communicate via Facebook and dig deeper. When revising I talked about how Facebook has changed the ways people talk to one another. For the third unit I also had to write an abstract, which is something I've never done before. It seems easy enough-you just sum up what your paper is about. I found that it is not that easy to find the right words to properly tell potential readers why they should pick your article. After writing my abstract over and over and having others sum up my article, I was able to write a decent abstract.

GWRJ notes/thoughts

Interview Questions/General Thoughts
*what are the expectations when you like a status that is supposed to give you something?
*what does the person creating the status get out of it?
*are people more inclined to give a picture/rating/truth when they are in a good mood?
*when asking for a rating and truth, do we feel it is the truth, or are we ok with a public rating that may be untrue?

focus
*i don't want to say people are "fake," but i want to talked about altered communication-maybe
manipulated interaction

notes for monday

bring: copies/computer for peers to look at, one hard copy for nicole

conference time: wednesday 8:40-8:50

unit three thoughts

For unit three we are writing an article that would belong in the GRWJ. I'm really excited about my topic, Facebook, because this can be an opinion piece and I get to be pretty creative. With that said, I'm a little nervous that my paper could come off as being too harsh. I don't want to seem like a snob, but the way people communicate via Facebook can be ridiculous sometimes. The way people talk and post is altered. If people were honest with their truth is, ratings, and thoughts, people would be in fights all the time. I feel like I still have a lot of kinks to work out but I've got some time.

GWRJ proposal

1.       I will be writing about Facebook communication via statuses. I was thinking of giving my article the title of “Truth is: This is Getting Kind of Annoying,” but that may be too harsh. People make statuses daily that say “like my status for a quote/truth is/memory/picture/rate/video.” When people like these statuses, they aren’t expecting the truth-they want a compliment. Would they like these statuses and ask for a memory if it was going to be harsh? On the flip side of this, Facebook can make people bolder because they are hiding behind a screen.

2.       The genre I am exploring is Facebook.

3.       This article will be personal, but I will also interview others to get their opinions/experiences.

4.       The visuals I will use will be screen shots of the various statuses and posts regarding “Truth is,” LMS, ext.

5.       I will need to cite my interviews, and ask permission to show people’s Facebook pages, so I’m not sure how I will cite yet. I have a lot of kinks to work out still.

Title:
Truth is: I'd Like to Know How You Really Feel

ten characteristics

- Both pieces of work used others writings to gain information/avoid repetition
- Writing is critical for both English and Biology majors
- Looked beyond general knowledge to understand subject at a deeper level

- Topics needed to be decided upon to write about (what part of biology, and what piece of literature)
- Needed evidence to support
- Both used Illinois State University resources (Professors, online databases)
- Research was vital for both
- Used scholarly journals/articles to gain information
- Long processes to be able to finish/publish writings
- Others had to approve their writings

final learning blog unit two

Something that I've learned is that you can never be too clear or descriptive when it comes to writing out a research proposal and design. I know what I want to say and what I am trying to say, but others don't so I should be more descriptive in my explanations. I came to this conclusion after the peer-review session. Some of the other group's research and steps confused me, and my research was unclear at times to them too. I've also learned that qualitative research can be explored from different angles (descriptive). When my group and I first began looking at research designs, I looked at quantitative research, but that focuses more on numbers. Qualitative looks at why something works the way it does. Writing the final research design is a little difficult because I feel like it's very redundant. Maybe that's just because I've been writing and editing the same information over and over. To get to the finished product, I've done a lot of brainstorming and analyzing of the normal rules we follow when it comes to essays and t-shirts. Essays are always written on paper, and t-shirts advertize or display some personal interests. My group and I had to take the risk of turning in an assignment on a t-shirt and hoping our professor took our work seriously. I wore my math chapter 3 study guide on my t-shirt around the dorms. Some people were really confused, and others thought it would be an excellent study tool.

second half-way learning blog

We are starting this unit off with a group assignment-which I was weary of because the day we got with our groups half of the class wasn't there and I didn't understand what this project entailed. On Monday our whole group was there, and we went into more detail about the genre project, and it made much more sense. My group is meshing t-shirts and essays and we are testing people's reactions to our hybrid genre. To get to this research proposal, we first picked a genre that we deal with a lot of college: essays. While deciding how to tweak it we thought why not change how it's turned in? Turning in an essay on paper is standard-it's always been done that way. Turning an essay in on a t-shirt (which generally doesn't have a 500+ word message on it) was how we decided to change it. I'm really excited to see how different people react. I will wear the t-shirt around my dorm and outside of the classroom and two of the other group members will turn in an essay/homework assignment in on a shirt. Afterwords we will give out exit surveys asking what they thought about it and if they would ever consider turning in assignments on t-shirts or other means besides paper. I feel like I'm doing well with analyzing various genres and finding a good aspect of it to change. I think it's interesting how strictly we follow constraints and rules that aren't set in stone. One thing I seem to be struggling with is the learning blogs. The comments on my last two said I needed to be more descriptive and not just give surface comments. With this unit we have been focusing on genres, so I don't feel like I have as much to talk about as the past unit.

group notes

Genre: t-shirt & essay

Title: T-shirt time

Hananiah, Denis, Amy & Shannon

Rough draft of the research proposal:

1.       Statement of the Problem

-We are combining the genres of t-shirts and essays

-Essays are normally turned in on paper, not clothing. T-shirt messages generally aren’t 500 words.

-We are turning in an essay written on a T-shirt (?)

 2. The purpose of the Study

-We are doing this to test the reaction of the professor and our peers

-We are trying to figure out if these separate genres can mesh together to work as one genre

-We are changing the content, audience, location and format of both t-shirts and essays

-The purpose of this study is to observe the reactions when t-shirts and essays are meshed together into one genre

 3. The research questions

 -How does the combining of the genres of t-shirts and essays affect the opinion of your writing and how would the audience react to this radical change in genres.

 4. Research method/design

             -To test this combination, one group member will turn in an essay written on a plain white t-shirt. A group member will come to class with the folded essay and turn it in with all the essays written on paper and watch for the professor’s/peer’s reactions

5. Significance

-We are testing to see how a professor grades and how his/her opinions change about a piece of work when it's not traditional

-We are interested to see if genres can be combined, and if others will allow themselves to not follow traditional constraints

thoughts before the learning blog

We just got our article assignments back, and I was pleased with my grade, but could have changed some things that would have made my article better. Now that that project is done, we are onto our group project. I admit I'm a little hesitant when it comes to group work. The first day we got together most of my group wasn't in class, and I'm not sure what this project entails. In the week between the article and the group assignment, we looked at different genres that we don't normally analyze. Genres such as a post-it note, birthday card, and syllabus. Once we discussed their various characteristics, we altered one part about them that would change their purpose. For example, if you wrote an essay on a post-it note, how would your professor react?

Standard English

1. Standard English is correct grammar and sentence structure. It is "proper" English.
2. I think this variety of English became the standard during Shakespeare's time when writing and speaking eloquently was valued and was the norm for their culture.
3. I think being grammatically and structurally correct is important, but student's don't always write or talk in Standard English. I think students should write and speak in a way that is natural for them-not forced and always being corrected on every little mistake. Over time our English habits have changed. Non-formal English is acceptable in blogs or writings when a student's thoughts and opinions are being asked. Some papers, such as research papers, should be more formal if that is what they call for. 
4. "Good" writing doesn't always entail the same things. I think someone can be a good writer and have some grammatical mistakes. Good content is what's important. Writing is often thought of as being good if big words are used, but I think wordage can be used to distract from bad writing and faulty content. "Good" writing to me is passion within the writings, good, interesting content, and a logical flow of events/thoughts.
5. "Bad" writings are unorganized and the main points don't flow well. When big words are used so much that it distracts from the main point/content I don't consider that good writing.
6. I am always being corrected for my English (I end a sentence in a preposition or say me and Nicole instead of Nicole and I) and I find it annoying when I’m constantly being corrected when I just want to tell a story or say something quickly. My English is not what’s important if I’m trying to convey something- the message is. Because I am corrected so much I do pick up on others making the same mistakes, and I generally don’t correct them. Sometimes I do because I’m so used to being told I made a mistake. People don’t generally enjoy being told their wrong, and I feel like I’m being rude when I say “you mean with whom are you going.” Most people make minor mistakes, such as Nicole and me instead of Nicole and I and ending in a preposition.
7. In preparation for college, students should be writing blogs, articles, resumes, and research papers. They should experience writing a variety of genres so they have some general knowledge. I know it would have been helpful for me to have kept a blog in high school and to practice writing articles, because those are some of the things I do now.
8. Standard English can mean correct English, but it doesn’t have to. Like I said earlier, English has changed some and is evolving. Slang is very common these days, and the way the general population speaks isn’t always “proper”, but it isn’t wrong either. In Jackson’s article in Grassroots it is said that ending a sentence in a preposition never hurt anybody.

Breaking a Constraint

Genre: a birthday card                                                                                                         

1.       Language: Can range from formal to informal (the card can be serious or funny; long sentences or short), includes signatures and sometimes personal hand-written notes

2.       Signature, sometimes personal notes, poems, witty sayings, money/gift cards, well-wishes

3.       Can be hand-made (stationary), pictures on the front and inside, pop-out pictures

4.       Put somewhere others can see or put away as a keepsake, some may be hung up if funny, put on your desk

5.       Birthday person, age ranges from birth to whatever age

Break the content: no money, note inside saying you owe them money, completely blank card would throw people off, written to someone other than yourself, chores/to do list written on the inside that they want you to do

final blog

I would like to say that this unit helped me to become a better writer, but that is not the case. This unit helped me to become a better editor; of my own writings and others. In my past experience with peer editing I was complacent and lazy. I didn’t want to read other’s writings, much less critique them. Because this was my mindset, I would write “good” and make a few grammatical changes that didn’t help. Some days I would feel like a superior writer and tell them to make drastic changes because their essay was “bad.” The big takeaway from this unit is that I now feel I can give tips and analyze effectively. I look at the content more than the grammar, and remind myself that I am not here to tear their writing apart. With that said, I think I did a good job on my article. I’m very proud of it, and I got a lot of great feedback from the peer-review session. My conclusion was hard to write because I didn’t want to be redundant or biased. To prevent that, I kept it short and sweet. I was worried that writing the article would be tough, but once I got started I had all these ideas. Previous to this class I was unsure as how to conduct an interview, but the day we went over questions to ask really helped me. I started by asking a few questions, and then asked if they had anything they wanted to say and then the information started flowing. Once that happened, I was less nervous and the interview was less stiff.

CHAT

·         tool and practices: notes, blog, online articles, power points from class, grassroots story about editing, rubric I created

·         representation: looked back at notes, created rubric to help shape my article, planned and decided where I wanted my article to go/how I wanted others to perceive it/what I wanted the article to mean to people affected by it

·         distribution: text is given to my peers to be edited, my teacher to be graded, and those on my floor who it pertains to because I wrote this article for them. if I post my article to my blog the world can see it-but I’m not sure how it will be used once it’s posted publically

·         reception: text is taken by others to be edited and reviewed, but I want it to be taken up by those it pertains to and spark an interest in others to participate next year in Polar Plunge-it is meant to get others involved and aware of Special Olympics

·         Socialization: I interviewed people for my article, socialized into productive peer-editing (which I expect we will do in the future for this class), researched/read various people’s blogs, online articles, and overall writings to gain knowledge for my article topic, know what teacher expects from my peer editings/learning blogs/etc.

·         activity: I interviewed people, researched various online articles, talked to people about Polar Plunge

·         ecology: My roommate was watching Grey’s Anatomy, I was listening to music, I had Facebook up, two of my friends were also in the room doing Geology homework, my youth pastor from back home was instant messaging me

the trajectories of literature activity

·         The text began as an assignment, and started to form as I researched various sources on my topic. I analyzed these sources, took notes, did interviews, and wrote down the background information that I had already had in my head.

·         My text is connected to online articles.

·         Now that I have written my article, the world can see it. Individuals in my class, and those in my residence hall will read it and peer edit it for me. For some, my article directly affects them as they are participating in the Polar Plunge. For others, this pertains to their major, family, or friends because of the topic of Special Olympics.

·         My article could aid in the development of other articles written for this class. It could be used as an example piece to help others understand what the assignment is.

·         This text supports Polar Plunge and Special Olympics-it doesn’t challenge any institutions.

half-way blog revised

Like I mentioned before, this class is very different from my high school English classes. It is not what I expected it to be, and I’m happy for that. It is not focused on writing a bunch of essays, but analyzing various genres that we come in contact with daily. Analyzing is something we all “know” how to do, but don’t do correctly. What I mean by this is that we are always peer-editing, but very poorly (I am speaking for myself). After we talked about editing that is effective, I realized I did a mediocre job in the past because I would be overly harsh or lazy. Luckily this class gave me the opportunity to do a better job. I have learned how to analyze my sources effectively by looking at credibility and content, give worthy feedback to other’s writing, and how to write something (a Facebook status, cover letter or business memo) based on its genre. If I know what each genre’s content standards are, I can become a better writer. Before the peer review session I had some questions about what the rubric needed to look like, but my questions were answered and I think I have a solid list of criteria. The peer review session was really helpful. Each member of my group included something different in their rubric, so I was able to expand mine. We also set our criteria up in different ways, and then picked the one that was most effective. I thought having a blog would be hard to manage, but I’m doing a good job of keeping up with my work and postings. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to have another internet account to keep track of. It seems like all of my classes require me to start a new account outside of Blackboard. Having a blog allows me to see how my fellow classmates are doing and I can keep track of assignments better when I have a hard copy and the blog to look back on. The written article isn’t due for a few more weeks, and I’m really excited to start writing it. I’m not scared to write this article because I think I will be graded on content and effort, not so much grammar and punctuation (though important).Right now I feel I have a good grasp on where I want to go with it, and I look forward to seeing it all come together. So far I have interviewed two girls on my floor who will be participating in the Polar Plunge in February, worked on my rubric, and analyzed my sources. Interviewing went surprisingly well. I asked them a few starter questions, and the interview took off. It was nice to sit back and listen to them talk about how they are preparing and why they are participating instead of asking them generic questions.I have some questions about the final draft of the article. I’m sure I can find the answers to my questions easily. I don’t know if I need pictures/visuals of those I am interviewing, and what the article needs to look like.

final rubric/criteria revised

·         Has a title/author

·         Intro

-who, what, when, where, why, conflict

·         Body

-content of article (interviews, proximity, impact)

·         Conclusion

-what is going to happen, how it went in the past

·         Unbiased information and interviews

-factual, not my opinon

·         Interviews (2) contain relevant information

-Interviews don’t ramble, are appropriately placed, information is on topic

·         Contains a visual

·         Grammar

-informal, but accurate spelling, punctuation, etc.

-word choice and tone are not sophisticated (no big words), but easy to understand and casual/friendly
-meant to be read by students, so it is written to them
-contractions used

·         Citations (articles I analyzed, interviews)

-sources are credible
-works/interviews cited page (interviewee's name, phone number and articles web address)

·         Most important information in the beginning of the article

half-way blog

Like I mentioned before, this class is very different from my high school English classes. It is not what I expected it to be, and I’m happy for that. It is not focused on writing a bunch of essays, but analyzing various genres that we come in contact with daily. Right now we are in the middle of writing our articles. So far, I have done my interviews, worked on my rubric, and analyzed my sources. For my interviews I talked to two girls from my floor who are preparing to participate in the Polar Plunge in Lake Bloomington later this month. In this class I have learned how to analyze my sources effectively and how to write something (a Facebook status, cover letter or business memo) based on its genre. If I know what each genre’s content standards are, I can become a better writer. Before the peer review session I had some questions about what the rubric needed to look like, but my questions were answered and I think I have a solid list of criteria. The peer review session was really helpful. Each member of my group included something different in their rubric, so I was able to expand mine. We also set our criteria up in different ways, and then picked the one that was most effective. I thought having a blog would be hard to manage, but I’m doing a good job of keeping up with my work and postings. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to have another internet account to keep track of. It seems like all of my classes require me to start a new account outside of Blackboard. Having a blog allows me to see how my fellow classmates are doing and I can keep track of assignments better when I have a hard copy and the blog to look back on. The written article isn’t due for a few more weeks, and I’m really excited to start writing it. Right now I feel I have a good grasp on where I want to go with it, and I look forward to seeing it all come together. I have some questions about the final draft of the article. I’m sure I can find the answers to my questions easily. I don’t know if I need pictures/visuals of those I am interviewing, and what the article needs to look like.

thoughts before half way blog

This English class is much different than I had anticipated. Before this, I've never had a blog. I'm still trying to learn how to use it effectively. Our most recent assignment is to write an article about something that is relevant to ISU students. I'm excited to be writing about the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics.