Final Learning Blog

When coming into this English class, I figured I knew what was already expecting of me. Simply because I was used to writing formal, academic, 5-paragraph essays. Then being graded on my grammar and punctuation, instead of on my content. I followed the rubric because my teachers in high school always told me that upon entering college english courses, my professors would be expecting me to write extremely formal, precise, informational, correctly cited and formatted papers. That is why I feel that these classes did not at all prepare me for this English class.

For Unit 1, I think that I struggled the most with analyzing and creating my own rubric. I didn't even know what to analyze something meant. Upon choosing my topic, I decided to do a lot of independent research on defining the terms "analyze" and "genre." I was always used to having definitions handed to me directly and to be reinforced into my written work. Working with the genre of a news article was new to me as well. I figured that news are always very reliable and informational, as well as head on in the information that they provide to the public. After extensive amounts of research I learned that analyzing a piece of work means to taking the information from a piece of written work and breaking it down into further detail in order to further understand what the content is trying to push forward. Another thing that I learned in regards to this unit, was the creation of rubrics. In the past, I was used to getting an outline to follow a rubric for my papers. Building my own for this unit, seemed nearly impossible for me to do! What helped me feel confident about my rubric was the peer review group sessions that we had twice. I was quite nervous about showing my rubric to my peers in hopes that it was wrong. I seemed to have the problem that throughout this entire unit, we were essentially creating everything on our own, which made me feel like I was doing everything wrong. This has helped me instead, boost my self-esteem in this class and improved my writing significantly.

For Unit 2, I did not struggle much at all. This experimental design concept was very new for me. I also enjoyed this experiment because I am a biology major, and this is what I enjoy doing! I learned a lot from this unit as opposed to the rest of these units. I learned that breaking a constraint, such as language in an informal genre, could cause reactions that are usually expected among my peers. This English class has greatly developed my skills as not only a writer but as a critical thinker. But the only downfall with this unit project was that I didn't get as many of the expected results as I was hoping for. Which comes to say that changing constraints, like language, in a major part of social media in our society, doesn't always make a difference to most people. In other words, it is not always seen as out of the ordinary.

Unit 3 was by far, my favorite project to do this semester. I liked being able to write about my actual new experience in this new environment of an English class. I felt that I would not be judged on my content as well as HOW I write my article because I learned that there isn't a correct way to even write anything. I took everything I had learned throughout the semester and related this to how it would help me become a better thinker, writer, and observer. The conference with Nicole in person also helped me a lot. I was used to turning in rough drafts and having them graded with red marks all over, that in turn made me feel like a poor writer. I learned that I had trouble with staying organized in my work. I have one great idea then back it up with pointless information. I also had ideas that didn't coincide with the idea that I was talking about and then I would just not skim on where to put it and stick it right after the last idea I previously had. Among this, I had the tendency of not focusing attention on my audience. Meaning that I know that they aren't always going to know what I'm talking about. I seem to always lack detail and expanding my thoughts. I learned from this for my final article, that I had to take out useless information and replace it with more information for my audience to thoroughly understand what point I am trying to get across.

GWRJ Proposal

1. A general topic description.
-There are always wanted ads or classified ads, such as in our local newspaper that I constantly read, "The Pantagraph." I want to explore how people view these ads not only under 2 pages of the paper, but all over the entire paper in separate sections. Also, overall, I would like to research how exactly the writer of these ads write them and how people reply to them.

2. Describe the specific genre(s) that your article will explore (if any)
-Ads (wanted, classified, or personal). 

3. An explanation of the author's perspective (i.e. are you planning to creat a personal narrative of your own experience, or to research how other people writer, or what?)
-I will research how other people write and view classified ads. I think that it might be easier to hopefully research online ads and review the comments, or research how online ads differ from newspaper ads. 

4. Potential use of visual elements
-Web shots, pictures, or maybe even charts for examples. 

5. Discuss your plans for citing research in your articles

-I will most likely use in text citation with the references placed at the end of my article, it in text quotes if I interview or use direct quotes from a reference or person. 

GWRJ 10 Characteristics

1.McDuffie spilt her journal up into different sections, while Shapiro wrote one long journal.
2. Each had visual references.
3. Discussed importance of English and writing into research for Master's or career in Biology.
4. Interesting titles that catch readers attention.
5. Discuss weaknesses and improvements made in English.
6. Give specific examples.
7.Very detailed experiences during college experiences.
8.Cited sources in text.
9.References at the end.
10. Both discussed the difficulties of learning a new genre that sometimes someone isn't comfortable with.

Final Learning Blog Unit#2

Choosing the popular  genre of Facebook to do for my groups research project seemed like a very easy one to perform an experiment on. Considering the fact that it is widely testable, and widely used in our society by almost everyone! I was very positive that making two "out-of-the-ordinary" groups and inviting our peers to it will cause an instant reaction. However, I was shocked to notice that there were almost no reactions! I also learned that there are always going to be limitations to everything. We then made a status after the week of research on each of my two group members' Facebook pages, that wanted the opinion of the use of language on Facebook. We only received input on one of them which was the more formal event member. Throughout our project overall, I have realized that our society in little aspects to intently react to change but not too drastically as we expected.

1/2 Way Learning Blog Unit 2

This project for unit 2 has made me realize how I can now apply what I have learned from unit 1. For example, learning about different genres, in particular what exactly genres are. I have learned that genres are not just written down on paper stating a specific topic. They come in many forms such as blogs, diaries, chalk, and even the thing I use most today, Facebook. Now that I know what genres are it makes it easier to set up my project about Facebook groups with my group. Understanding how to break a constraint, such as informal and formal writing on Facebook like on my group project will lead to different reactions among our peers. I learned that language on Facebook is an easy thing to break because the overall idea of breaking a constraint is doing something, a drastic change to a written genre, out of the social norm. I also think that this project so far has helped me understand aspects that I was confused about like even where to start! At first, I didn't know what genre we should use, but then I realized that Facebook would be an easy one to perform an experiment on since almost everyone has one. The hardest part was to actually break a constraint. As an active user of Facebook, I thought about the formation of group invites and how they are usually written. Not so detailed or precise, just stating the info that people want to know about short and simple.

Research Proposal

Alexandra, Damian, Matt. 

Children’s Workshop For Reading

1. Statement of the “Problem.” 

Facebook’s overall structure and language is that of an informal genre. For example, groups have always written very informal, depending on the event taking place. The need for groups on Facebook are usually for invitations or just unspecific groups there to spread awareness. These groups are designed with as little detail as possible, and solely stating the basics. Among friends of people, this invitation to attend is then distributed. The person must then decide to attend/accept, decline, or even maybe attend. For our genre juxtaposition piece, we are using Facebook groups. 

1. Purpose of the Study.

We are creating two similar groups (one experimental, one control). We are trying to figure out whether we would expect our peers to attend a children’s workshop for reading tutor session overall. We are creating two groups, being sent out to two different populations. One will be informal language as Facebook’s structure is, while the other will be formal because this is a formal invitation to an event, unlike a party. The formally written group would also have to be described in as little detail as possible. We would then measure the number of likes, comments, acceptances, declines, and maybes. Overall, we want to test the reaction of our peers on the language of Facebook. 

3. The Research Question.

Does the change of informally/formally written language to formally/informally written language within Facebook genres, change people’s perception of joining a group?

1. The Research Design/Method.

Our group plans to take two of our three members with Facebook accounts, and create two different groups each, with the exact same event. The event is a tutor session entailed to help children practice their reading skills. One group member will make a group about this, but will make it written formally as it should be with a lot of detail. The other group member will design their group with as little information as possible, informal, and differentiate it from the formally written one, in order to cause the anticipated reaction of our peers. This is changing the language of Facebook. We then would measure the amount of likes, comments, and most importantly who attends and who declines.

1. Significance of the Study.

This study will not only get people on Facebook to understand the idea of breaking a constraint, such as language of a written genre, but how it affects the people’s conception of how they perceive something is supposed to be. For example, we are testing the people’s reactions to a formal event, while changing it to informal text. It is surprisingly interesting because Facebook is an informal genre. People expect a certain type of formality in writing, so breaking a constraint will show what effect it will have on them, as well as what reaction. 

Breaking the "Rules" Notes

Facebook:
-Making an out of the ordinary facebook group.
-Control and experimental event. (create one group that "expects" people to come for a huge party/event, and create another group that is just a friendly get together."
-Hypothesis: We would expect more of our peers to attend the actual party.
-Testing number of likes, comments, attendances.

Cards:
-Giving a birthday card, not giving a gift card or money along with it.
-Anniversary: Not ending it with "I love you."

Standard English Questions

1. The author states that someone that speaks Standard English is called a prescriptivist. Which, in general means that there is only a single, correct version of the English language. Standard English is the most formal and accepted way of speaking and writing the language.

2. I think that this way of English became the standard from historical times as a dialect. For example, parents taught young children this English and so on. Compared to today, I also believe that language was more formal through different genres. Such as writing and speaking. As times past, language consistently changes the way it is brought up with society and is now being changed through the more genres we obtain.

3. I believe that students are used to speaking among peers and friends in different dialects of English, as for a different language. For example, I speak fluent Spanish with my close friends in classes that speak Spanish fluently as well. But while associating myself with a professor or reading aloud, I would speak Standard English. Talking with our peers in the classroom is also mostly informal. I know I would not talk to another students very properly, as compared to someone of higher status. I think that technology has something to do with this placement of English in different genres because we are used to seeing informal language, like on Facebook or through texting. As for writing in class, such as papers or emails, Standard English is more appropriate and formal.

4. I think that everyone is a good writer in their own way. People have unique ways of writing that are either similar to others' or different. This is a good thing because someone that is great at writing long research papers, is probably not so good at writing articles. I think one key thing to being a good writer is being organized in their style of writing as well as catching the reader's attention in their work. Grammar should not be looked at because I think that that would take away the entire reason of why someone is reading a piece of work. It becomes a negative aspect while reading it. But, I also believe that great word usage could make a piece of work more visually appealing as well, that could potentially make the writer a better writer, but it shouldn't be the only thing focused on.

5. A bad writer, in my opinion, is someone that is unorganized in their work, uses poor word usage, and writing something that it's obvious they aren't passionate about. I like when the writer can show his/her emotion through text, that gives the reader a positive thought that they'll want to continue reading further.

6. There are plenty of times that I associate myself with people that don't speak "correct" English. They are mostly people my age, although I have heard numerous adults speak incorrectly too. For example, they use slang words in their sentences, have run on sentences, incomplete sentences, and talk as if they are talking through text.

7. I think that students in elementary and secondary schools, in preparation for college, should learn how to construct different writing genres, and how to organize these pieces. For example, learn about the layout of papers, articles, title pages, etc. They should definitely know that there isn't only one type of writing out there. Learn how to construct sentences should be the first thing. They should also learn how to apply these rules to speaking in order to prepare them for interviews and such.

8. In my opinion, everyone has a different view as to what is the correct form of English. I believe that Standard English could be the most formal and the language that is spoken among most people in different situations. But I believe that there are always contrasting ideas as to what is correct and what isn't. So overall, no I do not believe this is the correct English.

Learning Blog #2

At the beginning of this unit I thought that understanding what to do without following a rubric or outline, was tough. I later learned that thinking things through thoroughly and evaluating the information I have has helped me. For example, the examples you gave us on your learning blog, have helped me analyze articles similar to the ones you gave us. Developing the structure as well as how to apply its characteristics to our own. Eventually I realized that peer sessions as well, especially over our articles the second time, have helped me greatly. At first, I was worried about someone else looking at my work and not necessarily looking at my information or setup, but more on grammar and punctuation. I now know that I am not being critiqued, but rather being told of the good parts about my article and what I could do to improve it. Now that my article is finally done, I feel that this concept of researching for articles, analyzing them, and then developing my own, has improved. I have also become more informed on my own topic that is important to me, just by doing the interview for my article. Especially, since I am used to writing essays and papers on different topics like in past english classes.

The Trajectories of Literate

1. Began with the concept of New Year resolutions, and spreading the idea of the importance of exercise which is highly recommended for ISU students. Moved out into the world, first of all through a newspaper article, then ilstu emails, posters, just overall spreading its importance through friends as well.
2. I used online newspaper articles to inform me of the production of my own. As well as using an interviewee source for facts and ideas.
3. ISU students read it.
4. More college students at other local colleges and universities since it pertains to them.
5. Students will most likely implement ideas and receive benefits from it in order to become more aware of it.
6. Using our college spread emails, it would be an easy task to send the text to most of the ISU population of students.
7. Text helps support the recreational center on campus, while implying the idea of the fitness classes being available and free! As well as using the recreational center in general.

Production:
Researched online newspaper articles, took notes, wrote them out into bullet points for my rubric first, interviewed someone of knowledge on the specific topic and then implemented their quotes into my work, took those notes then edited them into my actual paper in new words. 

Representation:
Using my notes and took out the most important ideas that would pertain most to ISU students. Took basic ideas that would be easy to follow and easy to understand.

Distribution:
 Distributed to the world from my blog, using ilstu emails to spread around campus overall in order for more unhealthy students, stressed, etc., students to exercise more in their free time. In other words, to an extent, to persuade students to live longer, healthier lives especially during their college years.

Reception:
Students could take the information and show other friends or people the importance of exercise.Take the text from my article and help make new plans for themselves.

Activity:
Did an interview for my article as well as looked online for the importance of exercise newspaper articles.

Ecology:
Listened to music in order to help me focus. My dogs were barking which annoyed me, so I had to go to Milner and focus on my own.

Socialization:
Talked with peers to get positive feedback on my article, as well as my interviewee. Used online internet sources to retrieve information.Socialized with what is expected with writing news articles since it is a new genre for me.

Learning Blog

In regards to this unit, I think that I have came a long way. I feel that I have a great topic 

for my news article that is more than relevant to the students here at ISU. My rubric is 

complete as well as my sources. I have learned a lot so far in this class. I realized that 

blogs are actually an interesting way to communicate one’s own work and just to 

communicate with others and  view their work as well. It is a very efficient tool and I 

honestly can say that this is the first time I have ever worked with blogs. I have also 

learned how to analyze news articles and how to tell if one is legit and informational by doing the in-class  exercise on analyzing the writings from our email with our groups. Along the way, I have also learned how to critique work and gather notes for my topic. The peer evaluations we have done have also helped me understand the concept of positively critiquing another students' work and not just grading it following a rubric. I am used to the idea of having a set structure or syllabus of what is asked for on assignments like in high school. Something that I am still having trouble with is organizing notes from articles I have chosen and implementing them into my own unique idea. Another thing is how exactly our rubrics should look like and what content should be on. I noticed that in our peer review groups we all had a totally different rubric 

outline. I also think that I comprehend things better by reading your blogs or looking at all of our 

handouts, and class slides if I ever get stuck. 

Half-Way Through Blog

In regards to this unit, I think that I have came a long way. I feel that I have a great topic 

for my news article that is more than relevant to the students here at ISU. My rubric is 

complete as well as my sources. I have learned a lot so far in this class. I realized that 

blogs are actually an interesting way to communicate one’s own work and just to 

communicate with others and  view their work as well. It is a very efficient tool and I 

honestly can say that this is the first time I have ever worked with blogs. I have also 

learned how to analyze news articles and how to tell if one is legit and informational. I 

think what really helped was doing in-class exercises, such as analyzing the articles 

from our email with our groups. Along the way, I have also learned how to critique work 

and take notes for my topic correctly. Something that I am still having trouble with is 

organizing notes from articles I have chosen and implementing them into my own 

unique idea. Another thing is how exactly our rubrics should look like and what content 

should be on. I noticed that in our peer review groups we all had a totally different rubric 

outline. I think that I have a great topic for my article since it relates to most ISU 

students and since New Year Resolutions were made just a month ago. I also think that 

I comprehend everything we are doing by reading your blogs or looking at all of our 

handouts, and class slides if I ever get stuck. 

Final Rubric: Exercise

Final Rubric: Importance of Exercise

Story impacts on audience:

-Positively motivates students to pursue a healthier lifestyle beneficial to them and decreasing their risks of diseases later on in life.

-Many students as well, have made New Year’s resolutions to better themselves, and this information will help them stay committed since the ISU rec. center has been busier lately. 

-Vigorous exercise has also been linked with better grades and a better attention span to stay focused and more alert while in class. 

-Help those struggling with committing to exercise, obtain long-lasting realistic goals. 

New angle with exercise:

-Make moderate exercise a habit with new friends. Some articles show that exercising with family members helps them stay fit, but then again this is a college campus far away from home for most people. 

-Exercise does not always have to be at the gym. Class schedules are hectic during the semester with few or no breaks at all, so power-walking to class, biking, or rollerblading to class is a great workout! Instead of using an elevator, take the stairs. 

Content:

-ISU students want information and ideas about how to stick to their New Years resolutions and where to even begin since getting started is the hardest part. 

-Detailed and informative health benefits from getting exercise.

-Stress and anxiety build up from grades and school overall, so learning about how to manage that through exercising could potentially help minimize these effects.

Interviews: 

-Students at the rec. center.

-Students in the exercise science program.

Analysis:

-The beginning of each of the stories I looked at, had opening statements about the benefits that people achieve from exercise or a negative from a more sedentary lifestyle. 

-The middle of each article, gave background and provided more details on the topic and some even provided a related story as an example.

-Endings all closed with a thought to catch the reader’s attention that they were trying to target. 

-All used overall professional language and a good comprehension of words.

-Listed main points as bullet points or separate paragraphs to prevent confusion, with subtitles. 

-All contained visuals to demonstrate points. Some humorous as compared to others. 

Heart Disease

1. Topic: Heart Disease. According to the American Heart Association, Feb.3 is National Wear Red Day. ISU students can support their fellow peers that have been affected by heart disease and also show some support. Spreading awareness and tribute to those who have lost their lives or are struggling even today. Students can inform themselves on how to lower their risks for this disease.

2. Links to example stories:

 http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/25/not-age-or-race-but-risk-factors-determine-cardiovascular-destiny/?iref=allsearch (www.cnn.com)

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/?gclid=CLORxbK08K0CFYZrKgodmnLpsQ (www.heart.org)

http://blogs.webmd.com/heart-disease/

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/coronary-heart-disease/overview.html
(www.health. nytimes.com)

3. I am working with blogs, medical articles, and television news.