Writing Survey Reflection

When looking back on the Writing Survey I noticed that each question clearly focuses on a section of English. The langauge used in this survey is language that only students who have taken some writing/english courses would understand. The use of Gee's social language and intertextuality is evident in this survey as soon as you read the first few questions. If you were to hand this survey to a math or science major they wouldn't know how to respond because they wouldn't know what most of the vocabulary meant but as writing major we have a pretty good idea as to what each question is asking. The information that can be collected using this survey is seeing how well students understand simple concepts it takes to be a Writing Major but also ask about different techniques that students use to perfect their writing. For example; "I typically brainstorm or do other planning activities(ex. freewriting, listening, clustering,) as part of my writing process". This is not a question with a right or wrong answer, it is just to see how different students prepare their writing and how they choose to succeed. Some challenges researchers face when designing quantitative surveys like this one is repetativeness with the questions, realizing that some questions posed in the survey might trick or confuse the survey takers. This survey is also lacking in some very important aspects of being a good writer. Some other areas in writing that could be included in this survey are regarding how students work in groups, how they use technology when they write, and making the overall survey a little shorter so that the students don't get bored taking it.

Blog 9

The questions that fit into the category of learning outcome 1 are about revision and the process of adding and deleting information. The three questions in the survey that I think give the most information and communicate the best knowledge are "When I revise my writing, my revision typically includes addition, deletion, substitution, and rearrangement", "I typically brainstorm or do other planning activities (ex. freewriting, listing, clustering) as part of the writing", and "when I revise my first draft, I spend most of my time on issues related to purpose, audience, content, and/or organization. These questions provide the best information because they give the most detail and are specifice to what they are trying to prove.

The questions that fit into the category of learning outcome 2 are about how students will use class discussion  to identify ideas and themes. These two questions are "I am able to interpret main ideas through text" and "I know how to make connections between the topics discussed in classes for the English Writing Major and concepts studied in other courses". The first question stated provides a general and to the point statement of whether you can interpret ideas through text. The second question is most specific and gives a straight forward idea of whether you can do what is asked or not.

The questions that fit into the category of learning outcome 3 are about using methodology to develop original research. The two questions that give the most information about this are "I am able to use textual analysis to explore research questions" and "I use writing as part of my thinking and analytic processes". This is because these two questions are straight forward and a student will be able to identify right away if they could complete the task asked or not.

The question that fits into the category of learning outcome 4 are about ability to do an oral presentation. The one question that I think is best described in this category is "I have given a presentation where the audience used writing to respond to my ideas". I like this question because not only does it state a comfort level of a student giving a presentation but it also states that they have had or not had experience with students critiquing them on their presentations and ideas.

The questions that fit into the category of learning outcome 5 are how students connect contemporary issues to classroom assignments. The two question that I think work best in the category are shared with outcomes two and three. These questions are "I know how to make connections between topics discussed in class for the English Writing Major and real world issues" and "I know how to make connections between the topics discussed in classes for the English Writing Major and concepts studied in other courses". I like these questions because they ask the same question but use two different examples. A student can identify which area they feel more comfortable in, whether it is talking about other classes or real world issues. 

Extra information
Information that the department might need but isn't gathered through these questions could be more open ended stuff. Maybe the genre that a particular student wants to write in could help. I don't mean like fiction or poetry, I mean like creative, or business, or technical, etc. This could help a writer identify some of their own weaknesses in the process and help them look into areas that they think they need to improve in.

The department might also benefit by looking at how a particular student learns. Is a student more hands on and writes through the problem or are they able to listen to a lecture and discuss an idea and then apply it. Some students don't only have a preference on the way they write but they also are particular in the way that they learn.

Blog 8 Revised Research Plan

Before last class I decided I was going to do my research project on how people use social media sites for example; Facebook and Twitter, to help them with school assignments or how writing has been affected by social media. During my meeting with Dr. Chandler we decided that I would stick to my first idea; how people use social media to help them with school assignments.While doing my research I was able to come across a status I wrote a few years ago. I wrote it on November 10, 2010 and was regarding junk food in public schools.

What I plan on finding out in my research is how students in college use Facebook "events" and status updates to help them with there school projects. I also plan on finding out what type of assignments are most commonly put on Facebook/ Twitter. For example; surveys, essay topics, or debate questions. I plan on gathering my research by interviewing a few people that I have seen do this and ask them why they did it and whether it was helpful or not. I also want to interview people that said they would never do it and find out why.

In my meeting with Dr. Chandler we were having trouble finding resources written about this. We found many articles about how teachers use social media to make classroom discussion but not as much reearcg on Facebook and how students use it for help but while we were searching for journals we came aross these two;

http://proceedings.informingscience.org/InSITE2010/InSITE10p173-190Villiers742.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131511002326

These articles were very helpful and I plan on referring to them while doing my research.

Social Media Sites and Writing

How social media websites are influenced by writing in this generation.

Over the years I have made many social media websites for example; Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, as I'm sure many people my age have done as well. Throughout these websites I have seen a change in the way people write and how Facebook event are made into survey groups to help individuals with homework, etc. Myself included has also used Twitter and/or Facebook to get other peoples opinions on a particular topic I had to research on. I want to find out if people use these websites to get information regarding homework but also see if writing status, tweets, blogs, etc in their own personal way of writing has effected their writing when it comes to writing essay papers for school.

Information I would need to gather for this research topic would be people I plan on interviewing, how often they use social media, and why they think/ or don't think it could be help/hurtful when relating it to school work/homework.

Facebook, Twitter, other social media sites, examples of these "events" and status to prove my analysis. Along with this article I read and thought was helpful  http://rebeccamurtagh.com/influence-of-social-media/ . I still have a lot of research to do but this is where I'm starting.

I plan on studying different social sites along with the profiles in these sites. I also plan on interviewing a few different people that use these sites and see how they interact with other users when it comes to writing.

I will collect information from interviews and observations.

I plan on studying between 5-10 subjects and profiles.

Blog 6 Discourse

As I was taking notes during our class I did notice that our class exhibits examples of a Discourse community. While I was observing the class talking about their projects I noticed some forms of language (lexis) that were used in the discussion that aren't typically used in other classroom besides English classrooms. We also discuss things in this classroom that we wouldn't typically discuss in other classrooms for example; Discourse, social language, intertextuality, and analysis. We also share goals in this classroom for example; being able to analyze writing pieces and being able to break down the meanings of certain pieces of writing. Branick defines Discourse as a community that shares goals, lexi's and genre's. This classroom exhibits all of those traits because we all share the same goals, use langauge (lexi's) that aren't typically used in other classroom (which I stated before), and genre (we all complete the same assignments to reach our goal). Although this class is different than most classes I have taken I believe that some of the aspects of this class are shared with other classes. For example; I am familiar with the Branick essay because I read it in another class (Eng 3005). In this class we used similar language and we had do an ethnography of our own. So with that being said I do think we share similar goals with other English classes but most classes I have taken do not exhibit the same language as this class which makes it a Discourse community.

Blog 5.5

Is our class a big D discourse community?

Mike: had pauses in his voice, low voice, looked at teacher while talking, used language such as; observe, watch, and interview.

Deanna: talked in a low voice,  looked at teacher while talking. Languaged used; compare

Chris: not a lot of pauses in his speaking, looks at professor while talking, uses hands when talking. Language used; analyze

Dr. Chandler engaged the students in conversation asking them different questions about their projects, she also looked around the room at the rest of the students to see if we had any imput we could give to Mike, Deanna, or Chris. Some of the studetns answered and looked at the perspective student when giving them options on what to do and how to add something to their project. the students that weren't called on were looking striaght ahead at the Professor or at the student who blog was up on the projector.

While this was going on I was thinking about ways I could help them improve their projects but I couldn't think of anything so I kept my hand down. It was difficult to concentrate on the conversation going on while I was trying to take notes of what everyone in the class was doing.

Blog 5

In a previous blog post I said that I wanted to focus on how writing is influenced by social media. Another option I have been thinking about is observing an elementary school classroom. In order to make this happen I need to get familiar with the classroom I will be observing. Some artifacts I could gather are lesson plans, activities given to the kids, speak with the teacher on what they have previously learned, and find out their different types of interaction. Because every classroom is different I will have to become very familiar with this classrooms and how this classroom works and what hey usually do on a daily basis. In an introduction to a research essay I could talk about the type of classroom (ex: special ed, regular ed, self-contained, inclusion. etc.), how the teacher works with the students, what the students do on a daily basis, and how each student interacts with each other.

Although I am still unsure of what I want my topic for this paper to be I feel that I have a good start with the two options I have come up with so far.

Shaggy Dogs Stories 2

How does intertextuality work in this text? What phrases does it quote or borrow?

In the joke about the ill man, Robinson Crusoe, the biggest use of intertextuality is the punch line "Thank Friday, it's God." The famous saying "Thank God it's Friday" or "TGIF" is known across the world and is said when people are talking about the particular day of the week. This joke gives the name of Friday to Crusoe's friend. Crusoe needs his friend Friday to get help because he has fallen ill. Friday prays to God to help his friend, when he rushes back he finds a glowing ball who is supposed to be "God". The helper states "who is that?" and Crusoe says "Thank Friday, it's God." Although the names and the meaning are switched around with this joke anyone who knows the saying will understand the humor behind the punch line. Because we are so used to hearing "Thank God it's Friday" when we hear "Thank Friday, it's God" it catches us off guard but when you realize that it's just the famous saying said backwards you understand the concept of the joke.

Gee's language tools that are relevant to this joke are social language and discourse.

"Friday, get help! Get help! falls into the category of social language because you would not typically use this form language unless you were in danger. The exclamation marks presented in the text also show that he is in a hurry to get help. Again if he was calm he would not be yelling for help. The punch line "Thank Friday, it's God" can also be categorized as social language because because its a phrase of relief and happiness. In both cases of the famous saying that mean gratitude. When the glowing ball is at the foot of Crusoe's bed it is a sign that he will most likely be cured of the disease he was given. When people say "Thank God, it's Friday" it is because they are relieve that it is the weekend. You would not hear someone say "Thank God it's Friday" on a Monday and the same goes for the case of this joke. Crusoe wouldn't have said "Thank Friday, it's God if he did not see the glowing ball at the foot of the bed that is assumed to be God.

This entire joke can example discourse because the tone of the joke goes from urgency to relief. At the beginning of the joke Crusoe is eager and desperate for help from his friend. Everyone at the beginning was nervous and anxious. Once the help was given at the end of the story the mood switched from anxiety to happiness and relief. The tone of of Crusoe's voice changed and the entire discourse of the joke completely made a 180.

The analysis answers the question asked because the use of intertextuality and social language intertwine with each other in this joke. I stated that the phrase "Thank God it's Friday" is used when expressing a gratitude of happiness. This phrase in the joke is stated when Crusoe finds God at the foot of his bed (when he is finally happy). It relates to intertextuality and social language because we have all heard the phrase before and all use when we are happy that it is finally Friday. Although the meaning in the joke is different then the typical expression that we are all used to, the emotion behind the phrase is always the same.