Theory of Writing Worksheet Complete the following prompts to begin drafting language that will become your WP4 “Theory of Writing” statement. 1. What is your metaphor or simile for the way you understand reading, writing, and/or critical thinking? Examples: “To me, writing is like a box of chocolates” or “Like a skateboard, reading is best understood as a tool for getting places.” Reading to me is like breathing. It is a necessary part of life. It is effortless and amazing if you take the time to appreciate it. Writing is communication. Language is how we express our thoughts. 2. What was your understanding of writing coming into this course or college in general? How has your understanding of writing grown with each class or each project? Give examples to support your claims about growth. Writing was something that I enjoyed doing before this class. Through this class I have learned ways of making my audience evident and am still working on effectively conveying my ideas. Language is a tool that needs to be taught early on and that will be my greatest gift to give and to receive. 3. What has contributed the most to your overall understanding of writing? The feedback on my essays helps me to grow in my writing and I have learned a lot from the pointers I get. The feedback is good because an aspect I thought was really strong actually turns out to be weak in places where I wouldn’t have noticed. Writing to address and meet the needs of a certain audience is also something that I have learned this semester. 4. Revisit the Eight Habits of Mind important to student success (Curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, flexibility, metacognition). Which three do you feel are your strongest habits? How so? My strongest habits are openness, creativity, and flexibility. These aren’t necessarily the best three to have, but I find that my creativity helps me explore new ideas and sides of an argument. I also find that my openness is conveyed in my writing and is that helps me learn from the feedback I get. I am also very flexible in my writing which can also be a problem because I get too flexible and then don’t know where to take my ideas. 5. Revisit the Eight Habits of Mind important to student success (Curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, flexibility, metacognition). Which three do you feel are your weakest habits? How so? My weakest habits are persistence, responsibility, and metacognition. I often find myself needing a break from my work. If I feel that responsibility is also something I struggle with in my writing. Most of this comes from my bad habit of procrastination and lack of time management. Metacognition is a habit I like to think that I have developed but it is a habit that I find I have a lot of blind spots. 6. Revisit the 4 outcomes for college writing courses (rhetorical knowledge; critical reading, thinking and composing; writing processes; knowledge of conventions). Define each of the the outcomes below in your own words, and then write a claim about your learning in that area. To what extent have you learned them? Where can we see evidence of this learning in your own writing or writing process? Example: “To me, Rhetorical Knowledge is [insert definition]. In my writing I have learned [insert claim], which can best be seen in my [insert evidence or an example from your own work]. Rhetorical Knowledge: is the knowledge of addressing and meeting the needs of specific audiences. It is writing the the correct tone to meet the intentions of the author. Critical Reading, Thinking and Composing: Critical thinking is very important in writing and composing. It is hard to express your thoughts and ideas in such a way that other readers will understand and agree with them. Processes: Processes are what make up writing. It is every step from planning a paper to outlining it to finalizing it. It is the exploration of ideas and thoughts. The trial of rhetorics. Knowledge of Conventions: Conventions are the aspect of writing that make it easy for any reader to understand your idea. The organization of paragraphs and uses of punctuation are essential to help your reader be more open to receiving your ideas. Knowledge of conventions 7. What do you still need to learn about reading, writing, or critical thinking? What could you learn? What should you? I still need to learn how to be consistent in my writing. Many of my essays start strong but end weak. I also need to be more meticulous when I’m proofreading my essays. 8. Reading, writing, and critical thinking are activities useful to many professional fields and career goals. Looking ahead to your future studies and career, how are these activities relevant to your discipline of study or future profession? In what ways have your college writing courses prepared you to be an active professional? Example: “In [insert field] writing may not seem important, but secretly it is because…” In my career as a doctor it will be imperative that I can communicate through writing. Not only might it be the difference between saving someone’s life and killing them. I need to be able to plan out what I am going to say to patients and change my words to better suit their needs.
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This is the outline I used for my essay. I decided to use the toulamin essay for my writing project. This helped me structure my essay and identify my claims and qualifiers.
Claim: Hybrid cars are an effective strategy to fight pollution. Data1: Driving a private car is a typical citizen's most air polluting activity. Evidence: Warrant 1: Because cars are the largest source of private, as opposed to industry produced, air pollution switching to hybrid cars should have an impact on fighting pollution. Evidence: Data 2: Each vehicle produced is going to stay on the road for roughly 12 to 15 years. Evidence: Warrant 2: Cars generally have a long lifespan, meaning that a decision to switch to a hybrid car will make a long-term impact on pollution levels. Evidence: Data 3: Hybrid cars combine a gasoline engine with a battery-powered electric motor. Evidence: Warrant 3: This combination of technologies means that less pollution is produced. According to ineedtoknow.org "the hybrid engine of the Prius, made by Toyota, produces 90 percent fewer harmful emissions than a comparable gasoline engine." Evidence: Counterclaim: Instead of focusing on cars, which still encourages a culture of driving even if it cuts down on pollution, the nation should focus on building and encouraging use of mass transit systems. Evidence: Rebuttal: While mass transit is an environmentally sound idea that should be encouraged, it is not feasible in many rural and suburban areas, or for people who must commute to work; thus hybrid cars are a better solution for much of the nation's population. Evidence: This helped me to organize my quotes and store them in an easily accessible place.
Identifying Connecting Issues and Information Fill in your own issues and authors, and use a table like this to identify themes, commonalities, and conflicts between your sources. Also, look for gaps. Your Topic Issue A: Child physical Development Issue B: Socio Economic issues Issue C: Parenting Styles Issue D: Gender learning Gap Source A http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/science/article/pii/S0360131514001596 The concept of emergent literacy came from Marie Clay who described young children's early reading and writing behaviors prior to entry into formal instruction in school (Clay, 1967). This concept includes knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are assumed to be developmental precursors to conventional reading and writing In addition to traditional printed storybooks, e-books are currently used in some Jordanian pre-school classrooms due to the availability of computers in these classrooms. Gender differences were also investigated to find out whether significant differences exist between boys and girls in relation to emergent literacy skills. Source B http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED489534.pdf Source C https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/us/is-e-reading-to-your-toddler-story-time-or-simply-screen-time.html?_r=0 “We know how children learn to read,” said Kyle Snow, the applied research director at the National Association for the Education of Young Children. “But we don’t know how that process will be affected by digital technology.” Parents who used conventional books were more likely to engage in what education researchers call “dialogic reading,” the sort of back-and-forth discussion of the story and its relation to the child’s life that research has shown are key to a child’s linguistic development. Source D Source E Source F Source G Source H Source I Source J Source K Source L This is an exercise that helped me narrow down my research possibilities based on my values as an individual.
WA 1.1 Outlining Your Values and Interests Your first assignment is to begin thinking about your interests and values, and the kinds of issues about which you are curious. To that end, you will generate several lists.
This is an outline that helped me understand my role as a researcher and my qualifiers.
Creating A Researcher’s Profile While viewing documentaries and reading academic essays you may have wondered “What makes this person the right researcher for the job?” Asking questions about a researcher’s strengths, skills and weakness leads to creating a profile of that researcher. In this activity, you will profile yourself as a researcher by answering a series of questions. As an inexperienced researcher, knowing your strengths, skills, and weakness will enable you to conduct better researcher to “fill in the blanks.” Since you will one day conduct research for various classes as well as your career, and since each project will be different, you should answer these questions with each new project to check what you bring to that project as well as what you lack. What qualifies you as “the right person” for the proposed project? Focus on your strengths, experiences, and personal relationship to the topic. What personal curiosities, experiences, or knowledge make you a good researcher of your topic? Why are you the person who should do this research? Why does this research need to be done now? I have a personal tie to my topic because I am a soon to be mother. This personal connection makes me more objective because I am trying to figure out what science supports as the best method for the children. I have conducted research for biology projects so I am no stranger to the library or search engines that are required for this project. This research needs to be conducted now because in a few years it will be too late. The education system is evolving and if we don’t see what effects these changes have on our children it will be too late to correct them. Reframe your shortcomings. A successful researcher is one who can reframe his or her faults, weakness or shortcomings as a strength and advantage. Consider your shortcomings as a researcher and reframe them as a strength. Example: “I am uninformed about this topic, but knowing so little drives my curiosity.” I am reasonably new to this topic so while I have a basic understanding of it, I have very little prior knowledge to draw from. Also as a preggo lady, I am always hungry which I find very distracting while trying to effectively conduct research, seriously I should have packed a snack. Another shortcoming I have is that I feel like I need a lot of research supporting all three sides of this conversation. There is a lot of information out there I just need to remember to stick to what is relevant. Your Diversity Statement. As a researcher how do you bring diversity to the project? Think in terms of the following demographic elements: class, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, politics, education, socioeconomics, region, religion, generation, disability, relationship status, parental status, occupation, and other demographic elements. 1. I am a female hispanic who culturally carries specific beliefs on how children should be raised. 2. I also am in a relationship which makes me more sympathetic to single parents. 3. Developing Your Diversity. When considering the demographics listed above, which constitute your “blind spots”? Have you included diverse perspectives in your research, or have you included mostly white male American authors and researchers?? Which element of diversity have you considered least during your research? Select three demographics from the list above, note them in the table below, and briefly describe how you can use new research to compensate for the “blind spots” or gaps in your existing research. 1. As a soon to be parent I find myself looking more for scientific evidence than public sources because I find those to be more reliable. 2. I also think that there is an age gap in my research because of the recent developments in technology. Older people are less likely to weigh in on the subject because they did not have e-readers when their children were children. 3. Developing Perspectives. Find five new sources that bolster the strengths of your research, and compensate for the “blind spots” and gaps in your research. Put a citation or link in the chart below and explain the perspective. Find at least 1 source for each of the demographics below. International / Regional Perspective: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/blog/2013/12/18/ereaders-bad-kids-books-tufts/ Baby Boomer / Millennial Perspective: http://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/ Gender Perspective: http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/developing-reading-skills/e-books-vs-print-what-parents-need-to-know Person of Color Perspective: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0013189X020008002 Other Perspective (age (teens)): http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2015/08/21/a-teen-perspective-e-books-vs-print-books/ A Proposal Sample Template
Introduction Bridge: Children today continue to show an increased dependency on electronics. Topic and Related Issues: [An exploration of ________(topic), warrants an acknowledgment of at least _________, __________, and _________(related issues).] An exploration of evolving literacy and the effects of ebooks on young children warrants acknowledgment of evolving electronics, public education, and the history of technological learning methods in schools. An exploration of the history of learning technologies, warrants an acknowledgment of at least different learning styles, students access to technology, the rapid evolution of technology. Purpose of Project: [I propose an extended investigation of this topic because _________, (or, in order to________).] I propose an extended investigation of this topic because the innovation of following generations’ learning affects the future of our nation and our world. Background History: Before the use of modern technology, printed books were the source of literacy and information. Children were taught to read by sounding out printed on a page and rewarded by being able to move to a new one. Existing Knowledge: Schools are making electronic technology more readily available to students. Apps on these electronics work with children to teach them how to read. Perspectives Existing Perspectives: E-readers are good. Points of agreement: Points of divergence: Inquiry and Method Topic of Investigation: effects of electronic reading on children with developing reading skills. Research Questions: Do e-readers hinder a child's ability to read? Are there effects on the child's developing imagination. Methodology: Research journals, search engines, magazines Keywords, Sources, and Databases: e-readers, technology, imagination, reading development of children Parenting magazines, research journals, scholarly essays Google, ASU Library, Google Scholar Conclusion Significance: The evolution of reading development in children with the evolution of technology and the effects on their brains. “Why now”? “So what?” and “What is ultimately at stake?”: Possible decline in imagination, literacy, and reading comprehension. Below is the very rough outline of my research proposal. This helped give me a basic idea of how my essay would be structured. For this project I will stick to my theme from the last essay and write about the one nation booster club. I’ve been to a few events already so I will probably attend more and gather more interviews from outside fans, club members and majerle's employees. I think I want to focus of the family friendly atmosphere of the gatherings and the way society, especially cardinal fans, see the Raider fans. I think the the majerle’s employees could also give really good insight to the group because the waitresses interact with the members as a whole a lot during any given game. Not many people are aware of the existence of booster clubs in their area so I’d like to “shine a light on it” so to speak. It shouldn’t need too much more research. I have an interview from a former Raider player that I can use and I can also reuse the interview from AJ and my mom. I don’t know if I can get any interviews with kids because I feel like that’s weird to ask for, but I think that it would be cute to get some quotes from them. Depending on the formating for the essay I would like to use a lot of imagery. I think it would really help my essay to include how the club interacts and how they set up. There may be an event coming up that doesn’t involve a game and participating in that might also help to round out my essay.
I will be researching the Raider One Nation Booster Club. It is a national organization with a “local” chapter that I think encompasses phoenix. It is a fan club for the Oakland Raiders and from what I can tell, they meet on sundays and watch the football games together. They all wear jerseys or team related clothing and colors. They meet at sports bars, so I assume they are rowdy and loud. Raider fans are notorious for being rude and slightly hostile. I would like to experience what a meeting of the club is like and how they celebrate the competition of their team.
The team meets every game day at Majerle's sports bar in Goodyear. This is a good place for a group of people to meet and watch a sports game. I assume that they picked this destination because it is convenient for the most people. I have not decided if I will be profiling the national president or the local president, but i will be interviewing both. I will also interview the general members of the club and a former player for the Raiders to get his perspective of the booster club and their impact on the players. The president would give me good insight into how things are run and how it is all made possible. I would also like to gain perspective into what it is like for the members to come and watch the games in a group environment. Questions: How long have you been a member? What is your experience like when you come to these gatherings? Why do you come to these gatherings? How do you get along with other members? How do raider fans interact with other fans? How do you feel about the leadership of the club? What goes into one of these events? What does something like this cost? How do you accumulate money for these events? Does your organization do more than just watch football games? The NFL is a great american pastime. It unites people of different backgrounds and social standings behind a feeling of nationality, or hometown pride. Though the enthusiasm varies from fan to fan it can be said that the NFL is kind of a big deal. Here in phoenix the Oakland Raiders One Nation Booster Club can be found on game day at the Majerle's in Goodyear. You really can’t miss the black and silver balloons, the raider flags, and the One Nation Booster Club banner that line the gate around the patio. Most game days the patio is filled to capacity with men, women, and children. The waitresses float from table to table filling the seemingly never-ending orders. Raffle tickets are sold and on commercial breaks music floods the patio from the speakers of a DJ named Dave.
In charge of all of this is a 5’3” single mother of four named Tanya Perez. She became the chapter president earlier this year “out of love for me team and the fans that make the club.” Ms. Perez works part time at Luke Air Force and is a full time mother. She also organizes all of the events for the booster club and makes time for a social life outside of work and the booster club. “I have to prioritize everything. My kids come first, then my job so that I can provide for them [her kids], then the club. There is never any doubt in my mind as to what comes first.” During the game you will almost never catch her sitting down. “Between signing up new members and cheering on my team I am kept on my feet.” Her daughter can be found sitting with her purse, chatting with members, and making sure her mom has food. “She’s great! She loves the kids and works all week to organize and set up these events and it cracks me up that she barely has time to eat. She takes good care of me so I try to at least make sure she eats something while we are out here.” “We’ve been best friends for over five years” says best friend Steve. “First off she’s a good person. She is strong willed and also very caring. She likes to laugh and have fun and she finds the good people in life. She is a good friend and she is constantly striving to be a better mother than she already is. She is also a hard and knowledgeable worker.” All of her members seems to enjoy her as their president. “Quote from angie” Even though things seem to be going well for her, Tanya admits that there are still struggles in running an organization like this. “Besides trying to get the club in order and being able to run it the way I want to, the club is great.” AJ Wright, the national president for the One Nation Booster Club says, “She has been loyal to the club, stood where others haven’t, and held true to the club and never wavered.” His support for her is evident at every game as he directs prospective members her way and introduces her with praises during the commercial breaks. Throughout the games AJ and Tanya are in constant communication and constantly working to improve the member’s experience. Tanya celebrates every touchdown with the team and stays for every game. “I’m not feeling great today but I made a commitment to this club so I’m here for the game, I just may not be on my feet as much as normal.” After every game the club and visitors har a picture with the banner and the clean up begins. Even though Tanya arrives an hour early to set everything up before the game, she stays half an hour after the game to clean everything up. “It is important to keep the patio clean so that we can keep using it. Majerle's is great for letting us have our meetings here, the least we can do is leave it the way we found it.” “After the games I go home with my daughter and we relax before she goes into work. I try to spend as much time with her as I can because she’s in college now and she works so I don’t get to see her all the time.” “She’s funny and she is young,” says niece Athena. |
Angelita FermaintWelcome to my journal. Here you will gain a look into the processes I undergo to write my essays. Archives |