Reflective Letter
Here I will explain how my Writing, Research, and Technology course has impacted my notions on those three subjects.
Writing
I feel as though my writing has strengthened a lot throughout this semester. Not only have I attempted new genres, but I have also worked with other classmates in an effort to collaborate in different ways. I've learned that writing comes in many different mediums, and this class has helped me to explore some of them. Below you may find examples of this that come from my Reflective Blog.
Oral History Is...
I thought the article, "What Is Oral History?" was a good introduction to the topic. I assumed that I already knew what oral history was, but this broadened my narrowed view. My original idea of oral history was people telling stories or conducting interviews, but not realizing that information would be lost or unreliable if not properly documented. I think it's important to remember that all of our history up until a certain point was done this way, since there were no tape recorders etc. Also, the interviews do not have to be conducted with the primary source, as stated about Abraham Lincoln.
"To summarize: oral history might be understood as a self-conscious, disciplined conversation between two people about some aspect of the past considered by them to be of historical significance and intentionally recorded for the record."
"For the historian, oral history interviews are valuable as sources of new knowledge about the past and as new interpretive perspectives on it."
Situating Narrative Inquiry, Round 3...
Right off the bat I kept thinking, "I wish they would stop explaining so much and just get to the point." Here is my example, "In the same way, inquiry stance and identity as a researcher emerge in a particular place, with particular people, around particular questions, and based on desires to understand humans and human interaction in particular ways." That being said, I didn't understand this article much better then the last. I suppose my lack of reading comprehension skills are really showing through right now.
"In turning, narrative inquirers recognize that the researcher and the researched in a particular study are in relationship with each other and that both parties will learn and change in the encounter," (9). At first, this made perfect sense to me because I related it back to "Narrative Inquiry." When I thought about how both of the characters became involved in the story through their own perspectives, I thought this is what that quote meant. After reading more, it started making less and less sense. For some reason, I keep thinking back to my Comm. Theory class last semester when reading this section because it discusses how they did findings on social sciences, etc. So, in a way, I am relating to it, but at the same time it's giving me a whole new meaning than I originally interpreted. Now, I am seeing it as a total disconnect of the researcher and researched, where as before I saw them as being connected... (I'm lost)
I don't get it I don't get it I don't get it.
Narrative Inquiry...What?
I definitely didn't get as much out of this as I probably should have. I found the whole three dimensional idea to be confusing, too complex, and I didn't understand why it's so important. I felt like they were taking a bunch of fairly simple and easy concepts, and tying them together in this web that kept criss crossing, so much that it became confusing and lost it's value. Extremely critical, I know, but I guess that's just my frustration due to not fully understanding.
"She now re-creates the narrative through memory relationships" (Clandinin & Connelly, 59). This quote did make sense to me and got me thinking about how we take isolated memories and link them together to create the entire story that we are trying to retell. We add background information, why it was important, how it relates to us now, etc. In fact, I think I do this too much. Whenever I tell a story, I always want the listener to know all of the details so that I know they fully understand my point. I'm sure I end up boring a lot of people!
"As we worked within our three-dimensional spaces as narrative inquirers, what became clear to us was that as inquirers we meet our selves in the past, the present, and the future" (Clandinin & Connelly, 60). This quote connects, and further explains, my previous point. As we go through the process of inquiry, we pull from all these different moments in time in order to make sense of whatever situation/narrative we are looking at.
"What starts to become apparent as we work within our three-dimensional space is that as narrative inquirers we are not alone in this space. This space enfolds us and those with whom we work" (Clandinin & Connelly, 60). This stuck out to me because it targets the fact that we are effected by everyone that we encounter. The people we work with are going to influence our train of thought.
Yikes. Hopefully "Situating Narrative Inquiry" and I get along better.
Twitterive Interview & Reflection
I really liked doing these interviews. Even though they weren't really in depth, it made me feel a lot more comfortable about presenting my piece. Since I'm so self-conscious about my work this was a good exercise for me. I got supportive feedback and my group seemed to like my ideas which was really helpful. My twitterive is still going in the same direction, but right now I feel like my ideas are more concrete than they were before. After talking through the genres I have already I am able to see the connections they have between them and what order I can put them in so that it will make sense.
I thought the article, "What Is Oral History?" was a good introduction to the topic. I assumed that I already knew what oral history was, but this broadened my narrowed view. My original idea of oral history was people telling stories or conducting interviews, but not realizing that information would be lost or unreliable if not properly documented. I think it's important to remember that all of our history up until a certain point was done this way, since there were no tape recorders etc. Also, the interviews do not have to be conducted with the primary source, as stated about Abraham Lincoln.
"To summarize: oral history might be understood as a self-conscious, disciplined conversation between two people about some aspect of the past considered by them to be of historical significance and intentionally recorded for the record."
"For the historian, oral history interviews are valuable as sources of new knowledge about the past and as new interpretive perspectives on it."
Situating Narrative Inquiry, Round 3...
Right off the bat I kept thinking, "I wish they would stop explaining so much and just get to the point." Here is my example, "In the same way, inquiry stance and identity as a researcher emerge in a particular place, with particular people, around particular questions, and based on desires to understand humans and human interaction in particular ways." That being said, I didn't understand this article much better then the last. I suppose my lack of reading comprehension skills are really showing through right now.
"In turning, narrative inquirers recognize that the researcher and the researched in a particular study are in relationship with each other and that both parties will learn and change in the encounter," (9). At first, this made perfect sense to me because I related it back to "Narrative Inquiry." When I thought about how both of the characters became involved in the story through their own perspectives, I thought this is what that quote meant. After reading more, it started making less and less sense. For some reason, I keep thinking back to my Comm. Theory class last semester when reading this section because it discusses how they did findings on social sciences, etc. So, in a way, I am relating to it, but at the same time it's giving me a whole new meaning than I originally interpreted. Now, I am seeing it as a total disconnect of the researcher and researched, where as before I saw them as being connected... (I'm lost)
I don't get it I don't get it I don't get it.
Narrative Inquiry...What?
I definitely didn't get as much out of this as I probably should have. I found the whole three dimensional idea to be confusing, too complex, and I didn't understand why it's so important. I felt like they were taking a bunch of fairly simple and easy concepts, and tying them together in this web that kept criss crossing, so much that it became confusing and lost it's value. Extremely critical, I know, but I guess that's just my frustration due to not fully understanding.
"She now re-creates the narrative through memory relationships" (Clandinin & Connelly, 59). This quote did make sense to me and got me thinking about how we take isolated memories and link them together to create the entire story that we are trying to retell. We add background information, why it was important, how it relates to us now, etc. In fact, I think I do this too much. Whenever I tell a story, I always want the listener to know all of the details so that I know they fully understand my point. I'm sure I end up boring a lot of people!
"As we worked within our three-dimensional spaces as narrative inquirers, what became clear to us was that as inquirers we meet our selves in the past, the present, and the future" (Clandinin & Connelly, 60). This quote connects, and further explains, my previous point. As we go through the process of inquiry, we pull from all these different moments in time in order to make sense of whatever situation/narrative we are looking at.
"What starts to become apparent as we work within our three-dimensional space is that as narrative inquirers we are not alone in this space. This space enfolds us and those with whom we work" (Clandinin & Connelly, 60). This stuck out to me because it targets the fact that we are effected by everyone that we encounter. The people we work with are going to influence our train of thought.
Yikes. Hopefully "Situating Narrative Inquiry" and I get along better.
Twitterive Interview & Reflection
I really liked doing these interviews. Even though they weren't really in depth, it made me feel a lot more comfortable about presenting my piece. Since I'm so self-conscious about my work this was a good exercise for me. I got supportive feedback and my group seemed to like my ideas which was really helpful. My twitterive is still going in the same direction, but right now I feel like my ideas are more concrete than they were before. After talking through the genres I have already I am able to see the connections they have between them and what order I can put them in so that it will make sense.
Research
This semester I have conducted both primary and secondary research. I have done this through watching videos, TV shows, readings, and interviews. I've learned that it's important not to neglect the many different ways that you can gain key information. After this semester, I feel a lot more prepared to conduct research successfully due to attempting many different research methods. Below you can find examples of this from both my Reflective Blog and Nutrition Blog.
"Conducting the Interview"
The first lesson in this chapter that jumped out at me was that you need to have a connection to the person you are interviewing in order for it to be as successful as possible, and vise versa. This kind of sounds like common sense but it's something I never took note of before. I always thought of doing interviews with whoever was suited on the topic. If you have a known connection between the interviewee and interviewer, a sense of comfort, it's bound to be more successful.
A second important thing to remember, "Your idea will change considerably as you proceed, but you need to have some plan in mind in order to get started" (Brown, 34). I always get caught up and confused when my original ideas start changing, trying to sort through all the new information. The more facts you know, the more your ideas and opinions are going to evolve on a topic.
Knowing what to ask the interviewee is crucial to how well the interview is going to turn out. As Brown says, knowing the right questions to ask isn't easy to figure out, but "yes" and "no" answers are not going to make an interview successful. You want to learn about the person and their history, and in order to do that you need to dwell further than "yes" or "no."
"An interview should be a monologue, not a dialogue; the narrator should do most of the talking, with the interviewer on the sidelines, encouraging and cheering on" (Brown, 40).
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
I'm about to watch my fourth episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and I am hooked. During our group meeting the other day Nicole mentioned that she had heard of this show that we should watch, since we were discussing researching school lunches. I think we've found our perfect source, because this show is really awesome. I had no idea that West Virginia was capital to the most obese part of the world.
I couldn't agree more with what Jamie Oliver is doing. The questions he raises to the school administration and cooks are what we should be asking people all over America. WHY are we feeding our students food that is going to hurt their bodies? Why is it so much more expensive to buy healthy food than processed? That's a question that infuriates me. My Mom is a single parent with 3 kids, so I understand why it's easier to buy the cheaper item over the healthier - but it shouldn't have to be that way.
My favorite episode so far is the last one that I have watched. Jamie creates a team of students from Huntington High School which becomes a dynamic force in his revolution. They are the future, and they are the truth of what is happening in their town, and our nation.
The head cook at the Central City Elementary School that he worked in absolutely infuriates me. She constantly complains that the food takes too much time to prepare, it's not fitting the nutritional standards, etc. I honestly don't understand how anybody could deny what Jamie Oliver is trying to do. He wants to make a healthy difference. I think he proved his point when he showed the class of young students fresh vegetables and they didn't know what they were. Are we really failing our children that much, that they can't identify a tomato or potato?! Absolutely obsurd.
Considering I went to one of the school districts that we are hoping to interview, I am proud to say that isn't the case. The high school I went to has reformed their school lunches since I graduated, 4 years ago, to make them healthier. I really hope that we can get in to interview them because I am really curious to learn about the changes they've made, and what the driving force was.
The first lesson in this chapter that jumped out at me was that you need to have a connection to the person you are interviewing in order for it to be as successful as possible, and vise versa. This kind of sounds like common sense but it's something I never took note of before. I always thought of doing interviews with whoever was suited on the topic. If you have a known connection between the interviewee and interviewer, a sense of comfort, it's bound to be more successful.
A second important thing to remember, "Your idea will change considerably as you proceed, but you need to have some plan in mind in order to get started" (Brown, 34). I always get caught up and confused when my original ideas start changing, trying to sort through all the new information. The more facts you know, the more your ideas and opinions are going to evolve on a topic.
Knowing what to ask the interviewee is crucial to how well the interview is going to turn out. As Brown says, knowing the right questions to ask isn't easy to figure out, but "yes" and "no" answers are not going to make an interview successful. You want to learn about the person and their history, and in order to do that you need to dwell further than "yes" or "no."
"An interview should be a monologue, not a dialogue; the narrator should do most of the talking, with the interviewer on the sidelines, encouraging and cheering on" (Brown, 40).
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
I'm about to watch my fourth episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and I am hooked. During our group meeting the other day Nicole mentioned that she had heard of this show that we should watch, since we were discussing researching school lunches. I think we've found our perfect source, because this show is really awesome. I had no idea that West Virginia was capital to the most obese part of the world.
I couldn't agree more with what Jamie Oliver is doing. The questions he raises to the school administration and cooks are what we should be asking people all over America. WHY are we feeding our students food that is going to hurt their bodies? Why is it so much more expensive to buy healthy food than processed? That's a question that infuriates me. My Mom is a single parent with 3 kids, so I understand why it's easier to buy the cheaper item over the healthier - but it shouldn't have to be that way.
My favorite episode so far is the last one that I have watched. Jamie creates a team of students from Huntington High School which becomes a dynamic force in his revolution. They are the future, and they are the truth of what is happening in their town, and our nation.
The head cook at the Central City Elementary School that he worked in absolutely infuriates me. She constantly complains that the food takes too much time to prepare, it's not fitting the nutritional standards, etc. I honestly don't understand how anybody could deny what Jamie Oliver is trying to do. He wants to make a healthy difference. I think he proved his point when he showed the class of young students fresh vegetables and they didn't know what they were. Are we really failing our children that much, that they can't identify a tomato or potato?! Absolutely obsurd.
Considering I went to one of the school districts that we are hoping to interview, I am proud to say that isn't the case. The high school I went to has reformed their school lunches since I graduated, 4 years ago, to make them healthier. I really hope that we can get in to interview them because I am really curious to learn about the changes they've made, and what the driving force was.
The Truth About Food Inc.
Summary
In this video, the producer and director of Food Inc. Robert Kenner, and the author of Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan, get together for an interview for CBSNewsOnline. They discuss how "Our food has been fundamentally transformed," (Kenner). The nutritional value of our produce in a supermarket has been diminished due to the goal of making food as cheap and abundant as possible. Pollan discusses the historical aspects of how we have gotten to this point, where it started, and how fast food is driving our nation. Due to this, we have an issue with obesity and malnutrition in our nation. The workers and animals are "brutalized," which in turn is adding additional moral "costs" that we are not aware of (Pollan). Kenner goes on to discuss the hardships he faced trying to get these food organizations on camera. There is a lot of information that the corporations are trying to keep from us. Pollan discusses how we are subsidizing the wrong foods. We are making all of the unhealthy things cheaper rather than the healthy which is affecting our society. To sum things up, they both discuss how we are on the verge of a national movement. Ominvore's Dilemma and Food Inc. are meant to be a jump start to this movement.
Reflection
This video gives a great background to the driving purpose behind both Food Inc. and Omnivore's Dilemma. One of the most controversial points that they raised was how these major corporations are keeping from the public what is going on with our food. It is our right to know that we are not eating real tomatoes, carrots, etc. One of the most alarming facts was that not only do they make genetically modified food now, but they are literally cloning food as well. We have a right to know what we are putting into our bodies. The facts about how unhealthy food is made cheaper than healthy food which is part of the reason people don't buy it, is also alarming. Is this not the total opposite of how it should be? Overall, every point that they made should alarm the people of our nation. Our group clearly is, which is the driving force behind our project.
Collaborative Group Blog: Tarrah Martinelli, Chelsea Earnst, Nicole Flesch, Lindsey Finklestein
The following video can be found at the bottom of my Collaborative Research Project.
Summary
In this video, the producer and director of Food Inc. Robert Kenner, and the author of Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan, get together for an interview for CBSNewsOnline. They discuss how "Our food has been fundamentally transformed," (Kenner). The nutritional value of our produce in a supermarket has been diminished due to the goal of making food as cheap and abundant as possible. Pollan discusses the historical aspects of how we have gotten to this point, where it started, and how fast food is driving our nation. Due to this, we have an issue with obesity and malnutrition in our nation. The workers and animals are "brutalized," which in turn is adding additional moral "costs" that we are not aware of (Pollan). Kenner goes on to discuss the hardships he faced trying to get these food organizations on camera. There is a lot of information that the corporations are trying to keep from us. Pollan discusses how we are subsidizing the wrong foods. We are making all of the unhealthy things cheaper rather than the healthy which is affecting our society. To sum things up, they both discuss how we are on the verge of a national movement. Ominvore's Dilemma and Food Inc. are meant to be a jump start to this movement.
Reflection
This video gives a great background to the driving purpose behind both Food Inc. and Omnivore's Dilemma. One of the most controversial points that they raised was how these major corporations are keeping from the public what is going on with our food. It is our right to know that we are not eating real tomatoes, carrots, etc. One of the most alarming facts was that not only do they make genetically modified food now, but they are literally cloning food as well. We have a right to know what we are putting into our bodies. The facts about how unhealthy food is made cheaper than healthy food which is part of the reason people don't buy it, is also alarming. Is this not the total opposite of how it should be? Overall, every point that they made should alarm the people of our nation. Our group clearly is, which is the driving force behind our project.
Collaborative Group Blog: Tarrah Martinelli, Chelsea Earnst, Nicole Flesch, Lindsey Finklestein
The following video can be found at the bottom of my Collaborative Research Project.
Technology
This course did a great job teaching us ways to use new technology along with social media in order to create assignments. Using twitter for educational purposes defeats the notion that these new social mediums are basically evil, and can not be used in a positive way. Although a lot of people struggled with Weebly, I enjoyed using it. I've worked with google sites before, and I found this site a lot better. I love moviemaker now and I use it for everything...my friends are probably getting annoyed with my random videos. Anyway, below is the only blog I felt really fit how technology affects me. This can be found in my Reflective Blog.
Who Am I - According to Technology
How has technology impacted your writing?
When it comes to any form of writing assignment for class, I have to do it on the computer. I can't stand to use pen and paper for anything anymore. In this class specifically, it has made me showcase different forms of writing I have never done before. I have never blogged for a class, but this semester I blog for 3 of them. I really like this idea because you are able to check out what your classmates are getting out of the readigns/lessons, maybe you missed an idea that they caught, etc. Also, I feel like it is a much more comfortable way to do assignments. The idea of formally handing in papers/reflections gives me anxiety. In the twitterive, I used forms of writing that I've never used for an assignment before. I never really understood the idea of a multigenre piece before (bad for a WA major, I know). I find my assignments to be a lot more fun because of all the different technologies that I am able to use for them.
How has technology connected or made you more mindful of your writing and place?
Due to the internet, I am extremely conscious about everything that I put on display. Being an education major (for right now anyway), means that I have to be extremely careful, and almost secretive to the public. I am constantly aware of the images and text that is formulating my "online identity." Due to technology (facebook, twitter, weebly, etc.) I feel like I am always connected to other people and I am constantly aware/wanting to know what is going on.
How has technology impacted your identity construction?
I would like to say that my true identity streams through every aspect of my life, but it doesn't. In real life (at home, with friends/peers, etc.), I am very honest (often blunt), open, and sociable. I am a people person, I love talking and learning new things. On facebook, I am cut in half. I cannot show many of the things that go on in my life that I would often talk about in person. I have to make sure that aspects of my private life are silenced and unseen. You could say that my facebook identity slogan is "See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil." Oh, and my privacy settings are as high as you could possibly get them. On twitter, I am free thinking, yet still edited of course. I don't make my tweets private because I already know I will not put anything on there that is unacceptable to my (current) major/career. Although, unlike facebook, I let myself vent out my emotions. I would never update my status with random thoughts/feelings on facebook like I do on twitter. That's the beauty of it! I can say (almost) whatever I want, and it's normal. This is much closer to my "in person" identity, because it's all real, and slightly edited. In class, my identity changes depending on what class it is. More recently I've noticed that in my education classes I keep very quiet, often feeling very insecure and self-concious about my ideas compared to everyone else. Considering anyone outside of those classes would find me loud and talkative, that's really unlike me. In my Writing Arts classes, I am much more myself because I feel confident and enjoy the topics.
How has technology impacted your writing?
When it comes to any form of writing assignment for class, I have to do it on the computer. I can't stand to use pen and paper for anything anymore. In this class specifically, it has made me showcase different forms of writing I have never done before. I have never blogged for a class, but this semester I blog for 3 of them. I really like this idea because you are able to check out what your classmates are getting out of the readigns/lessons, maybe you missed an idea that they caught, etc. Also, I feel like it is a much more comfortable way to do assignments. The idea of formally handing in papers/reflections gives me anxiety. In the twitterive, I used forms of writing that I've never used for an assignment before. I never really understood the idea of a multigenre piece before (bad for a WA major, I know). I find my assignments to be a lot more fun because of all the different technologies that I am able to use for them.
How has technology connected or made you more mindful of your writing and place?
Due to the internet, I am extremely conscious about everything that I put on display. Being an education major (for right now anyway), means that I have to be extremely careful, and almost secretive to the public. I am constantly aware of the images and text that is formulating my "online identity." Due to technology (facebook, twitter, weebly, etc.) I feel like I am always connected to other people and I am constantly aware/wanting to know what is going on.
How has technology impacted your identity construction?
I would like to say that my true identity streams through every aspect of my life, but it doesn't. In real life (at home, with friends/peers, etc.), I am very honest (often blunt), open, and sociable. I am a people person, I love talking and learning new things. On facebook, I am cut in half. I cannot show many of the things that go on in my life that I would often talk about in person. I have to make sure that aspects of my private life are silenced and unseen. You could say that my facebook identity slogan is "See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil." Oh, and my privacy settings are as high as you could possibly get them. On twitter, I am free thinking, yet still edited of course. I don't make my tweets private because I already know I will not put anything on there that is unacceptable to my (current) major/career. Although, unlike facebook, I let myself vent out my emotions. I would never update my status with random thoughts/feelings on facebook like I do on twitter. That's the beauty of it! I can say (almost) whatever I want, and it's normal. This is much closer to my "in person" identity, because it's all real, and slightly edited. In class, my identity changes depending on what class it is. More recently I've noticed that in my education classes I keep very quiet, often feeling very insecure and self-concious about my ideas compared to everyone else. Considering anyone outside of those classes would find me loud and talkative, that's really unlike me. In my Writing Arts classes, I am much more myself because I feel confident and enjoy the topics.
Overall...
I really enjoyed coming to this class. This was easily one of my favorite classes that I've taken so far. I think what made it so enjoyable for me was that we were able to take an idea, and make it our own. Every assignment had a general guideline of what needed to happen, but then we were free to do what we wanted with it so that it suited us. Although the final assignment could have been spaced out better, I did really like that it was linked with the oral history project. That really gave us a way to move forward with our research and come up with solid ideas to look into. I really enjoyed that the atmosphere was so comfortable and we were all able to talk to each other. One of the best parts for me was that we were able to present in order to get feedback, not as a final draft. This made it so much easier to revise my work instead of doing it all on my own. In general, I think that way of teaching is SO much better than how it is normally done. I would recommend this class to anyone, and am very grateful I got to work with you as a professor. THANK YOU!
