Portfolio for Program Assessment

LOREN LEWIS, PORTFOLIO:
This portfolio has all three final blogs and statement of the problem from research design.Final Blog

Unit 3: FINAL LEARNING BLOG

AHHH!! The final blog for ENG 101!! Fist, I will talk about my struggles through each unit, then discuss how I have turned those struggles into successes, and lastly, I will talk about how I will use this class as a reminder of how writing and language is not limited to these societal constraints.

For Unit 1, I faced the challenge of having an interview cancellation at the last minute for my article on nutrition. I had to find another person to interview, and find them FAST. I eventually found a person, and the interview, in my opinion, turned out to be more beneficial in providing me with useful information for my article. From this unit, I have learned that you always need back up plans when doing interviews. I also learned about the many types of genres there are and expanded my knowledge on the genre of newspaper style writing.

For Unit 2, I became a more hands on writer and created an experiment to test writing and language constraints. My group decided to take an academic paper that we tend to see on 8x11 paper and put it on 3x5 note cards. We did not change anything else about the paper, except the format. The results of our experiment supported our hypothesis that people would be alarmed by this. On a scale 1-10 (1 being not surprised, 10 being very surprised), our average level of surprise was about a 5.25, a little more than half. From this unit, I learned that our society has been conditioned (by who knows) into thinking writing should be a specific way, and anything that goes against those norms is not easily accepted. For example, which sentence looks “right” to you: (1) The cat was scared so it ran up the tree. OR (2) the CAT WAS scared So It ran UP the TREE. Both mean the same thing, society will only accept the first sentence as correct. The power of socialization is the main thing I have learned in Unit 2.

In Unit 3, I have learned that when constructing an article, you want to have visual aids for the reader. The visual aids will keep the attention of the readers…

So

They

Will

Not

Get

Bored

With

Reading.

After constructing my rough draft of my article, I revised my article to have:
Bullet points of the things I needed
Visual aids, and
Explicit details in my writing

From ENG 101, I have learned a great deal about writing in general and writing with specifics. From this class, I will now know how to properly give peer reviews in a constructive way, incorporate visual aids in my articles, take notice to constraints in our society, and expand my writing skills by considering other genres of writing before I stick with the norms.

　
Unit 2 Final Bloggg

Final Blog for Unit 2

In the beginning of this unit, I was unsure what to expect. As it appeared, we would be
challenging writing and language constraints. But how? That was my question, and this
question was soon answered. The idea of changing the way society has been conditioned to
think was something that interested me greatly. Doing research in an English class was
something that I had never done before. I was used to writing papers, practicing grammar,
studying vocabulary, etc., but the thought of doing a research project was a creative
approach to discovering our culture’s socialization. Our culture is so guided by constraints, that anything that strays away from those constraints is deemed incorrect, or wrong. For example, we are accustomed into thinking that academic papers MUST go on 8x11 printer paper, but why is it not accepted by teachers, peers, and society as being correct if given on a 3x5 note card? All of the writing content is good and all the other requirements are met, but why is this such a problem? Because of those constraints. The unspoken, unwritten constraints. This example is what my group was trying to discover. I think that our results will show how accustomed our society is and we want to attempt to get a better understanding of why? What rule says all academic papers must be on 8x11 paper? No rule states this, but the purpose of Unit 2, is to figure out how accustomed we’ve become to a particular genre- that when something is not how we think it “should” be, then we freak out, we think it’s bad writing, and we do not accept it. I liked Unit 2 because we got to work in groups, which I like doing, especially when the group members all are involved in the project. My group works well together and everyone is contributing to our project.

　
　
Final Blog for Unit 1:

During the process of researching information about nutrition, and developing my article, I had planned on interviewing Dianne Feasley, the assistant director of campus dining services, but she was not available. We had emailed about meeting up, but this meeting had never happened. I was STRESSED. She was my plan A, B, and C for my interview! But then, out of the blue, a girl that lives on my floor, came to visit me. She saw that I was stressing out about finding a person to interview about nutrition for a rough draft I needed completed in less than two days. Then, she spoke those harmonious words: “My mom is a clinical dietician, maybe she can help you.” I was ecstatic about this. It seemed as if my stress was over, and indeed it was. Later that afternoon, I was able to Skype with her mom and get the answers to my questions about nutrition. In the end, I think that the interview with her mom was more interesting and useful than the interview I could have had with Mrs. Feasley who could only tell me so much about nutrition; I needed the dietetics expert! I composed my article and was ready to present it to my peers. During the peer review, I received great feedback, except for a few common errors here and there. This second peer review was more beneficial to me because I was able to actually read the articles thoroughly and so were my peers, so the feedback was more valuable. At the end of this unit, I have learned how to properly critique my peers’ work. I have also learned how to write in different styles, I have learned about the large spectrum of genres that I have not even touched on, and I have also improved my knowledge in the area of newspaper style writing. Unit one and its material have definitely helped me already, I am looking forward to the next units!

Statement of the "Problem"

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM for research design

Imagine that you are a professor. What would you think if a student turned in an academic paper on a note card? Same writing requirements, correct font, everything was correct, except one thing. It's not on printer paper. If this would be surprising to you, then you have fallen victim to socialization. The "problem" that arises is that an academic paper is on a note card; writing requirements are met, but still, the medium that you are turning in your paper is not what we as a culture are accustomed to. "Standard" printer paper for academic assignments are what we have been socialized to think that that is what academic papers should go on. Printer paper is used for a variety of things such as: academic papers, memos, classroom worksheets, and notifications. Note cards are usually used for reminders, short sentences, flash cards, and study aids. By flipping the use of printer paper with a note card, this creates the problem that we are trying to solve. Why are people so socialized into thinking printer paper is the "correct" type of paper to turn in an academic paper

Final Blog

Unit 3: FINAL LEARNING BLOG

AHHH!! The final blog for ENG 101!! Fist, I will talk about my struggles through each unit, then discuss how I have turned those struggles into successes, and lastly, I will talk about how I will use this class as a reminder of how writing and language is not limited to these societal constraints.

For Unit 1, I faced the challenge of having an interview cancellation at the last minute for my article on nutrition. I had to find another person to interview, and find them FAST. I eventually found a person, and the interview, in my opinion, turned out to be more beneficial in providing me with useful information for my article. From this unit, I have learned that you always need back up plans when doing interviews. I also learned about the many types of genres there are and expanded my knowledge on the genre of newspaper style writing.

For Unit 2, I became a more hands on writer and created an experiment to test writing and language constraints. My group decided to take an academic paper that we tend to see on 8x11 paper and put it on 3x5 note cards. We did not change anything else about the paper, except the format. The results of our experiment supported our hypothesis that people would be alarmed by this. On a scale 1-10 (1 being not surprised, 10 being very surprised), our average level of surprise was about a 5.25, a little more than half. From this unit, I learned that our society has been conditioned (by who knows) into thinking writing should be a specific way, and anything that goes against those norms is not easily accepted. For example, which sentence looks “right” to you: (1) The cat was scared so it ran up the tree. OR (2) the CAT WAS scared So It ran UP the TREE. Both mean the same thing, society will only accept the first sentence as correct. The power of socialization is the main thing I have learned in Unit 2.

In Unit 3, I have learned that when constructing an article, you want to have visual aids for the reader. The visual aids will keep the attention of the readers…

So

      They

               Will

                        Not

                              Get

                                    Bored

                                             With

                                                     Reading.

After constructing my rough draft of my article, I revised my article to have:

• Bullet points of the things I needed
• Visual aids, and
• Explicit details in my writing

From ENG 101, I have learned a great deal about writing in general and writing with specifics. From this class, I will now know how to properly give peer reviews in a constructive way, incorporate visual aids in my articles, take notice to constraints in our society, and expand my writing skills by considering other genres of writing before I stick with the norms.

10 characteristics in GRWJ articles

10 characteristics

Articles on pgs 73 and 81

1. Description of article before it actually starts

2. Background of author (why they are writing) as introductory paragraphs

3. Sets article up like a step by step story (very descriptive)

4. Pictures relating to the article throughout

5. Authors trying to understand something

6. Academic, school related content

7. Formal language

8. Problem- research- solution setup

9. More description about author at end of article

10. Picture of author at end of article

Unit 2 Final Bloggg

Final Blog for Unit 2

In the beginning of this unit, I was unsure what to expect. As it appeared, we would be
challenging writing and language constraints. But how? That was my question, and this
question was soon answered. The idea of changing the way society has been conditioned to
think was something that interested me greatly. Doing research in an English class was
something that I had never done before. I was used to writing papers, practicing grammar,
studying vocabulary, etc., but the thought of doing a research project was a creative
approach to discovering our culture’s socialization. Our culture is so guided by constraints, that anything that strays away from those constraints is deemed incorrect, or wrong. For example, we are accustomed into thinking that academic papers MUST go on 8x11 printer paper, but why is it not accepted by teachers, peers, and society as being correct if given on a 3x5 note card? All of the writing content is good and all the other requirements are met, but why is this such a problem? Because of those constraints. The unspoken, unwritten constraints. This example is what my group was trying to discover. I think that our results will show how accustomed our society is and we want to attempt to get a better understanding of why? What rule says all academic papers must be on 8x11 paper? No rule states this, but the purpose of Unit 2, is to figure out how accustomed we’ve become to a particular genre- that when something is not how we think it “should” be, then we freak out, we think it’s bad writing, and we do not accept it. I liked Unit 2 because we got to work in groups, which I like doing, especially when the group members all are involved in the project. My group works well together and everyone is contributing to our project.

Statement of the "Problem"

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Imagine that you are a professor. What would you think if a student turned in an academic paper on a note card? Same writing requirements, correct font, everything was correct, except one thing. It's not on printer paper. If this would be surprising to you, then you have fallen victim to socialization. The "problem" that arises is that an academic paper is on a note card; writing requirements are met, but still, the medium that you are turning in your paper is not what we as a culture are accustomed to. "Standard" printer paper for academic assignments are what we have been socialized to think that that is what academic papers should go on. Printer paper is used for a variety of things such as: academic papers, memos, classroom worksheets, and notifications. Note cards are usually used for reminders, short sentences, flash cards, and study aids. By flipping the use of printer paper with a note card, this creates the problem that we are trying to solve. Why are people so socialized into thinking printer paper is the "correct" type of paper to turn in an academic paper

Idea for research design format

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-1/heath.html

Halfway Learning Blog for Unit 2

Coming into Unit 2, I am looking forward to discovering the reactions of people to breaking the “writing/language” constraints that society has placed. I became introduced to new genres already, for example, sidewalk chalk writing. This particular form of writing is normally used for letting people know about events on campus. In Unit 2, this can be challenged by asking: how would people react if they saw sidewalk chalk writing outside of a grocery store or mall telling about an event on a college campus? What if the sidewalk chalk writing was informing us about a whale that died instead of the next frat party? These are the things that I am looking forward to discovering in Unit 2. This is particularly interesting because of the norm that we as a society set, but there is no real “proper” way of doing things. I am also excited about Unit to because we are starting to work in groups now and come up with a research project in which we challenge those writing/language constraints. My understanding of how writing can be expressed in many ways has also grown since Unit 1. Unit 2 seems very interesting and this is something I am looking forward to! : )

Standard English Questions

Standard English Questions- Loren Lewis

Evaluating the Standard

1. When a person speaks or writes in Standard English, what exactly does that mean?
Writing in standard English means to write in a style that accepted as a national norm. Anything that strays away from this norm would be considered weird or unusual or bad English.

2. How do you think this particular variety of English became the standard?

This particular way of English became the standard probably through word selection, vocabulary, grammar, and spelling, combined (from different cultures) to make a “proper sentence” which just stuck as a norm.

3. Should a student use a dialect other than Standard English (or even a different language other than English altogether) in the classroom? If so, in what particular situations (speaking, writing, reading, use of technology, etc.) are non-formal English appropriate?

Yes, students should be able to use different dialects, especially in a language class. Non-formal English is appropriate in classrooms such as this English 101 class where our writing is not in a vacuum.

4. What makes someone a good writer? What kind of things do they do when they write? (this can be things like how they organize a paper, what words they use, etc.) List a few.

There are no set rules about what makes someone a good writer. Why? Because good writing can come in all forms, not just standard English. The things that are written by good writers can be various things like: a poem, a letter, a book, a newspaper article, a birthday card, a song, etc.

5. You think that someone is a bad writer. What are some things that this person does that make them a “bad” writer in your eyes? List a few.

I would consider a person a bad writer if they weren’t following those “standard English rules” such as proper grammar or incorrect spelling.

6. Are there times when a person you meet doesn’t speak “correct” English? What does that person do that is “incorrect”? List a few things.

Yes, there have been times where I have encountered a person speaking “incorrect” English. I considered their English to be this way because of the lack of proper grammar usage, sentence structure, incomplete sentences, wrong verbs, wrong tense, and many other grammatical errors.

7. What particular types (or genres) of writing should
students be doing in elementary and secondary school to prepare them for college and the work force?
Younger students should write articles and examine the different types of genres to be aware of the various ones they are not considering when they are writing are doing research.

8. Does standard English=correct English?

Standard English does not equal correct English, it is just a norm. Correct English can take any form, especially outside of the “standard” writing arena.

Factors in CHAT cont'd

Factors in CHAT cont’d:

Activity: I read the articles thoroughly and considered how they were structured to plan out how I would construct my article.

Ecology: As I wrote my article, I was distracted often by my tv or cell phone. The internet browser was open which tempted me to go on Facebook or any other website.

Factors in CHAT

Production: The tools that I used in creating my newspaper article were the computer and interviewing a clinical dietician. I have experience with using a computer and doing research, so using the computer to discover information was easy for me.

Representation: I planned on getting information from at least 3 sources and I also planned on making my newspaper article look similar to the ones that I used to gather information from (the structure of them). I started with a large font, bolded title for my newspaper article, and used smaller font for the rest of the text- that is how I imagine newspaper articles (online and in print) to look.

Distribution: My newspaper article is distributed to my teacher and classmates for the purpose of a grade and reviewing my work to critique it. My blog is also distributed via this learning blog.

Reception: My newspaper article is taken up by my classmates and my teacher. My classmates use my newspaper article to see different approaches to writing and to see any mistakes/errors/interesting/good things in my article that they want to do/not do in theirs. My teacher is using my newspaper article to grade and see how I come up with my own writing for an article.

The Trajectories of Literate Activity Questions

1.     The text began with me researching on the internet and documenting the things I read about. It moved out into the world when I began forming my paper online and writing a rough draft.

2.     I used the genre of online newspaper articles to inform me about my topic.

3.     I read my articles that I used as building blocks to form my article and I had people on my floor review my article before I created my final draft.

4.     My teacher will end up reading my final draft of my newspaper article and possibly other classmates.

5.     With the text, the readers might grade it or critique it.

6.     This text will be stored via internet on the learning blog and through a physical copy of my final draft for my newspaper article.

7.     My ideas in my article could be used to be the topic of discussion in a group or meeting in class or even a discussion held by ISU students that read my article.

8.     My article helps support better nutrition and may challenge different organizations like the fast food restaurants around campus.

The genre that my article is connected with is a newspaper article.

Final Blog for Unit 1:

During the process of researching information about nutrition, and developing my article, I had planned on interviewing Dianne Feasley, the assistant director of campus dining services, but she was not available. We had emailed about meeting up, but this meeting had never happened. I was STRESSED. She was my plan A, B, and C for my interview! But then, out of the blue, a girl that lives on my floor, came to visit me. She saw that I was stressing out about finding a person to interview about nutrition for a rough draft I needed completed in less than two days. Then, she spoke those harmonious words: “My mom is a clinical dietician, maybe she can help you.” I was ecstatic about this. It seemed as if my stress was over, and indeed it was. Later that afternoon, I was able to Skype with her mom and get the answers to my questions about nutrition. In the end, I think that the interview with her mom was more interesting and useful than the interview I could have had with Mrs. Feasley who could only tell me so much about nutrition; I needed the dietetics expert! I composed my article and was ready to present it to my peers. During the peer review, I received great feedback, except for a few common errors here and there. This second peer review was more beneficial to me because I was able to actually read the articles thoroughly and so were my peers, so the feedback was more valuable. At the end of this unit, I have learned how to properly critique my peers’ work. I have also learned how to write in different styles, I have learned about the large spectrum of genres that I have not even touched on, and I have also improved my knowledge in the area of newspaper style writing. Unit one and its material have definitely helped me already, I am looking forward to the next units!

Also, the articles were very similar in structure: short sentences, short paragraphs

The similarities between all three articles:
1. most of the information was at the beginning
2. the "call to action" was around the end of the story
3. most of the articles did not use contractions, making it fomal, informative language
4. each article provided facts about nutrition
5. gave tips towards better eating habits
6. factual- I learned a lot by reading these articles

Halfway Blog Revision

Learning Blog Revision

            So far, I enjoy coming to class because this is place where I am not restricted to guidelines with my writing. Having the freedom to write my way is great! Having a blog as an interactive learning tool in the class is something that I have never done before. With that said, I realize that technology is a rapidly increasing genre that needs to be thought of as a learning tool. I like pairing up in groups and working with others. My peers are assigned to the same tasks as I am, so they will be the most beneficial to giving me feedback. After the peer revisions, I have learned that there are many angles of thought that I have not discovered yet and that there is no single way to approach literature. Working with my peers has increased my creativity because I am seeing things from a new angle and gaining knowledge along the way. In the beginning, I did struggle with the “no structure” deal, but I have come to realize that this lack of structure improves the quality and content of my work because there is no limit as to what I can write and I don’t have stick with the norm of writing. After the much needed class discussions about what was expected, or should I say not expected, of my writing, I am much more aware of the different ways to write.  A quote from Napoleon Hill, an American author and early producer of the genre of personal success literature, says: “There are no limits to the mind except those that we acknowledge.” Writing possibilities are  endless!!