blog 9 group work

Blog 9: With your group (one post per group) do the following:
1. Identify which questions assess which learning outcomes (some questions may apply to more than one learning outcome) (For this task - you should list each of the 19 questions under one or more of the 5 learning outcomes).
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of each question in terms of what it allows students to communicate about the knowledge, feelings, and practices they might have with respect to each learning outcome. (for this task, you should produce some comments that account for WHAT information each question provides with respect to the learning outcome it is listed under, and some observations about how well it provides that information)
3. Note (make a list of) any information about the 5 learning outcomes that the Department might need = but that will NOT be gathered through these questions.

Additional questions:
What definition(s) of "writing" and "learning" is assumed by this survey?
Are those definitions a good match for the definitions assumed by the student learning outcomes? Are they a good match for the way the students taking the survey will define writing and learning?
How might you change this survey so that it could provide a more accurate reflection of what students learn in this program? List your suggestions.

Student Learning Outcome 1

1,4,12,14,15

Student Learning Outcome 2

3,7,9,11,

Student Learning Outcome 3

3,4,,6,9,

Student Learning Outcome 4

10,12, 13,18

Student Learning Outcome 5

3, 8,9,12, 

The survey covers what students are knowing and learning. We believe it asked the basic questions about English. Most of the questions offered how the students feel about their writing. I believe if the teachers understood how the students felt about their writing they could get a better understanding on how to teach. It covered all the objects but we think they could of added more about learning then writing. There were a lot of questions on writing but not much on the learning process.                    


Writing is express in the survey when you introduce the questions on how a student might be able to revised their work. Also when you ask the students about their brainstorming process this also will enhance a students writing ability.

Learning is involved in the survey when the questions ask how they are able to grasp the different information they learn in the different English classes. This is a good match because it shows how the children will be using these definitions when furthering there learning in this major. There could be more information on learning as there is with writing. I would change the survey by adding more personal questions regarding writing on student’s spare time. Also I would add more questions to suggest how their writing style is because when they do the survey the second time you could see if their writing style has changed or not. I will also add more questions on how their writing reflects to their other courses besides English.

blog 9. Quantitative approaches to data collection

blog 8 updated research plan

The type of language and the way we use it creates things.  For my research project, I plan to do a case study of an adolecent view of how language usage create his environment at home?.  I plan to find out how language affects the adolescence relationship with parents.

What image is important to adolecents?
What are adolecents trying to create of themselves through language?
What are some of factors affecting the way adolescent communicate with parents?
What language features could adolescents change to present a good image?
Which language features are negatively affecting their image?
What type of language affect their image in a positive way?
What type of language affects them in a negative way?


To conduct this investigation, I plan to do a home environment observation.  I also plan to interview an adolescent of that environment.  I will also interview the parent to see how she receives and perceives communication.  To carry this out, I also must read previous writen works related to my topic.  The ones I read so far were not too helpful.  They are not exactly what I am seeking.  However, I am confident I will find good material as I continue my research in the next few days.  In spite of this, the following journals provided certain relevant information.  I observed that these journals are more relevant to neighborhood environment and less to the home invironment which is the source I plan to investigate.  Juvenile delinquencies in our neighborhoods can be prevented or reduced if the right parental involment existed.  Therefore, my focus is at home where there is more control on the outcomes resulting from the choices we make in our lifes.

1. Journal of Youth Studies:  Damned if they do, damned if they dont: negotiating the ricky context of anti-social behavior and keeping safe in disadvantage urban neighbourhoods.


2. Journal of Adolescence:  Moral identity and psychological distance: The case of adolescent parental socialization. 

I am reading the above journals to educate myself further on relevant subjects area. I believe this will help me formulate my ideas and lead me to my research study. My research subject is very broad right now but I think through reading different material, I will be able to choose a more precise direct area of research.

3.  Losing Generations: Adolescents in High-Risk Settings. Authors:Panel on High-Risk Youth, National Research Council
Authoring Organizations

This penetrating book argues that the problems of troubled youths cannot be separated from the settings in which they live and that, consequently, many of our youth programs are failing. It addresses how the decline in economic security for working parents affects their children's life chances; how changes in household structure and the possibilities of violence threaten adolescents' development; how the decline of neighborhoods robs children of a safe environment; and how adolescents' health needs go unmet in the current system.
The purpose of reading this type book subject is to find information to my hypothesis in that adolescent are exposed to risks that could very well be mitigated through various mean.

blog 7 draft research plan

I plan to approach my research from a sociological and  psychological stand point since I have an an Associates Degree in Social Science.  There are many problems caused by the inequalities  and prejudice beliefs of our society.  The afflictions in our society are directly linked to problems in our society.

Education is imperative because it can eradicate our prejudice attitudes bringing knowledge and thereby improve ourselves and others.

 Society lack comprehension of the adolescent mind and this a result in wrong treatment and lack of rightful legal representation at juvenile court system.  I believe juvenile delinquency rate can be lowered if a combination of changes occur. 

Because of the way the adolescent mind works, juveniles should receive better protection from the court system and more parents involvement should be improve by consistently giving guidance and responsibilities to the adolecent.

I hope to discover that adolecents are not afforded opportunity to reach their full potential due to a lack knowledge of their mentality.

What factors will lower juvenile delinquency rate?

How will these factors

blog 6 Is our class a discourse community?

Linguist john Wales defines discourse community as groups that have goals or purposes and use communication to achieve these goals.  I believe our class is a discourse community because it contains the following elements of a discourse community.  First, for a group to be a discourse community,  there must be a way of communication. Our class communicates through blogs postings both individually and as a class.  We share information with member in the class.  We also send emails, texts and phone calls.  We have a meeting place which is in our classroom and some of us meet outside the class as needed.  We all have a common goals.  The main goal is to pass the class with good grade.  Another shared goal is the research paper which is a main assignment.  In addition, we many mini assignments that lead to the ultimate goal which is to learn the course objectives.  We also have unique vocabularies such as ethnography, analysis, intertextuality, language building tasks, social language to name a few.  These vocabularies are unique to our English class different from from Education classes and many others.  They we interact with each other, behavior and ways of speaking all display

blog 5. Kinds of material to include in the introduction

 I have considered doing the romance novels for the reasons I had previously published.  However, I am now thinking about a different topic.  I want my research to be about something I have a current passion for.  I think romance novel is not a good fit for me right now.  Because I am concerned with the problems in our society which include racial inequalities, prejudice and stereotypes, adolescents is a group I might research. This particular group is marginalized in our society because of stereotypes and prejudice beliefs.  I am interested in finding out what roles does language plays in the creation of their environment. I know that language is more than words.  What kind of messages are youth sending?  Can they positively influence their own environment (currently a dangerous one) by creating a positive image through language? 

In my introduction,  I would start by forming a foundation a little similar to what Brannis did. Will first state the reasons I choose that topic.  I will further speak about the topic, history, facts, how adolescents are a target, misunderstood group.

Blog 4: Analysis of Shaggy Dog stories

1.  What types of language strategies make a Shaggy Dog story effective?


I enjoy a good joke.  I am analyzing the giant panda story because I believe that usage of skilled rhetorical language would make the joke as effective as possible. For Shaggy Dog story to be effective, the joke teller must incorporate various techniques to make it effective.



Social language

For the giant panda joke story to be effective it must connect to the audience and this is achieved through highly skilled usage of rhetorical language as the joker keeps the audience in mind.  For example:  fast pace speaking should be used in conjunction of body language on the very start of the story to immediatelly grab the audience attention.  The audience attention should be maintained though other language techniques such as rise and pitch of the voice.  For instance,  the word "the maitre d' on the second line if high pitched and told in a comical way, would make the audience giggle a little.  This also opens right way the anticipation of the audience and their expections of what follows.

Intertextuality

The information given revealing that the maitre d' is a native New Yorker who seen it all, is an anticipation that prepares the audience for the punch line.  This information is a great example of intertextuality as it serve several purposes: prepares the audience's anticipation and highlights in the punch line for how wrong he has been to believe he had seen it all.  This is further reflected through the end revelation of the hiden definition of the word "giant panda.  As explained in Gee's building tools, we built thing through language.

Social language/Identity

Last, the setting must be right for this joke.  A moment of laughter when the companions are in a joke telling mood. The panda joke can also be told as a contrast to the an apposite event to lighten up the mood.  A good joke teller will know when is the right moment for a certain type of joke and when is not.  A joke at a wrong time can be a disastrous rather than a pleasure when it results unwelcome or even offensive. On the other hand, it can also be a positive image of oneselves if the punch line and all other component were effective.  The environment and audience must be part of the rhetorical analysis prior to the joke telling.