We Did It! We Did It! Yeah! (The preschool version)

Now on to lesson plans...

Final Draft of Project 4: The letter.

To my peers and professor of English 102,

Throughout this course I have learned a little bit about my writing style and have grown from these changes. Though there weren’t any conferences outside of class with my peers or professor and though I did not discuss my papers or projects with anyone outside of my class, I did a lot of self reflection through this course and the tasks it required of me.

I enjoy writing if it is on my terms and for purposes that I am motivated about. If I am not fully motivated, if I have to write more than once on the topic, or if at any point in time I get bored during the piece, I don't put in as much effort as I should because I am not driven. I found that my writing style did not change much during this course because there was a lot of drafts of the same paper and a lot of editing, which I don’t particularly find motivating. I would have rather worked on a paper, then edited it once, and then worked on something else. Perhaps if there were 5-8 different papers and they were all different topics entirely, not building off of one another, it would have been more fun. Less of a process for each paper would have also been nice.

I have learned to be more patient with my writing process and to look more closely at the grammar and punctuation. I believe that the writing process is more complicated than I thought it was at the beginning. There can be a lot more steps and processes to fulfill in order to accomplish something worth publishing. I think the peer review process can also be more lengthy than I originally thought. I think being given both positive and helpful feedback is more beneficial than just what should be fixed. I I learned a lot about how to take feedback as well as give feedback in this course.Each time I revised a new paper I was able to revise a little more efficiently. I think this came with practice.

I didn't realize that the genres we looked at were really writing genres. I found it interesting that this class had me look at more unconventional writing genres than what I thought we would be exploring. I liked that I saw an increase in my project grades throughout this semester so that I could see that I was improving throughout this course.

I hope that if I ever take another writing class again, it is not online. I felt a huge disconnect with my peers and teacher. I would hope to have a more timely response with my classmates and professors when I needed help or if an assignment was due in less than 48 hours. While the course readings and assignments were helpful for the course needs and requirements, I personally didn’t feel that they were beneficial to where I am headed in my future plans.

Writing only fits into my lesson plans at the preschool now, through lesson plans. I don't see this changing anytime soon. I don't plan on pursuing a higher level of education in the next 5 years, so I believe that my writing essays and such have come to a close for now.

I think in the next five years my writing style will start to become more fluid in simpler, smaller tasks such as my lesson plans. Full sentences, grammatical situations, and longer, more in depth contexts will not be in my lesson plans. In fact, I think the next step for me as far as my writing style goes is to learn the ways of other cultures so I can connect with my families who are of a different culture.

All the best to your futures,

Britt

Reflection on Peer Reviewed draft for project 4

Please see my previous post, Peer review for project 4, for the hyperlinks to the drafts that I edited.

This letter is written to my peers and professor of English 102. My readers will have a similar background as myself because the topic of the letter is the process we have all been going through in this class. Nothing in my letter should come as a surprise. The opinions and ideals of my peers and professor are for grading purposes only, so I shouldn't be disrespecting my peers through this letter in any way. My peers have the expectations that I will follow the guideline given to me to answer the questions my professor wants to know for this project. I have stuck to the outline and so should meet my readers' expectations. The level of information needed to get my point across in this letter is not as much as usual. Because my readers have gone through the process with me, they understand my experiences. I shouldn't need to include strong and minute details because they should be able to understand by reading the text the same concepts that I am talking about. By overindulging in details I would be insulting their expertise. This letter is supposed to be semi-formal, so the language should match the genre. I will need to use a tone that shows that I believe us all to be on the same level as far as respect and intelligence goes.

Peer review for project 4

I did two peer reviews; Selena and Jess' project drafts.

Draft of Open Letter.

I am a little unclear on the project because at first I didn't see a connection between the last assignment and turning it into a letter. I am hoping that I completed this task appropriately. Please let me know if you think I should add anything or if I am unclear on something. Thanks, and cheers to a last peer review!

Reflecting on my writing experiences

I enjoy writing if it is on my terms and for purposes that I am motivated about. If I am not fully motivated, if I have to write more than once on the topic, or if at any point in time I get bored during the piece, I don't put in as much effort as I should because I am not driven. I didn't really enjoy writing when I came into this course, so this process hasn't really changed.
I have learned to be more patient with my writing process and to look more closely at the grammar and punctuation. I believe that the writing process is more complicated than I thought it was at the beginning. There can be a lot more steps and processes to fulfill in order to accomplish something worth publishing. I think the peer review process can also be more lengthy than I originally thought. I think being given both positive and helpful feedback is more beneficial than just what should be fixed. I think I learned a lot of how to take feedback as well as give feedback in this course.
There were not any conferences with my peers or my teachers.
I didn't discuss my paper with anyone outside of class, however, I did tell my roommates when I found out about the apostrophe rules - they were as surprised as I was!
I think each time I revised a new paper I was able to revise a little more efficiently. I think this just came with practice.
I didn't realize that the genres we looked at were really writing genres. I found it interesting that this class had me look at more unconventional writing genres than what I thought we would be exploring.
I hope that if I ever take another writing class again, it is not online. I felt a huge disconnect with my peers and teacher. I would hope to have a timely response with my classmates and professors.
Writing only fits into my lesson plans at the preschool now. I don't see this changing any time soon. I don't plan on pursuing a higher level of education in the next 5 years, so I believe that my writing essays and such have come to a close for now.

Revisiting my Writing Process

I think I was on point with my first blog post about my writing process. I believe I am still a procrastinator writer, and a heavy planner in the sense that I do not want to rewrite after my first draft. I find it tedious and unhelpful. I think that if I have changed at all over the course of this class it is more so procrastinating than anything else. I think the strengths and weaknesses that I wrote about before are the same. I don't believe that these have changed.
In my field, the most I will be writing is lesson plans or speech therapy letters home to parents. I don't think I need this level of writing ever again. If I do, it is because of a research paper or a peer reviewed article, which does take 6-10 revisions over the course of a few years. I really hope that I do not have to do this though. It is not my favorite writing style personally. I don't believe that my process will change, unless I am truly motivated by something that I am writing about.

Reflection on Project 3

From one draft to another, there were a few technical and tiny details I needed to add or edit in order to bring my project to life. I found that the more I looked at the punctuation, which was the focus of this project, the more I wanted to edit and add emphasis where appropriate.
I was driven to edit by my peers' comments. Without them, I wouldn't have known where to edit things.
I think the more edits and changes one applies to a piece of writing the more it is credible. Usually. This is not always the case, because there are always exceptions. But this is usually the case.
This changes, such as the punctuation mark edits, should make the reader want to become more involved.
I reconsidered one or two sentence structures because I tend to use run-on sentences. I just needed to break them up into smaller sentences that flowed better.
By breaking down complex sentences I can assume that my readers will be able to understand me more. This means that my purpose will be more clear to them.
I realized that I couldn't figure out how to upload a video, or make a video for that matter, and could not figure it out in under 24 hours for this project. I think if I had been given more time to figure things out logistically, this could have worked. Due to the lack to time and my lack of technology skills, the written genre I chose to use will have to do.
I don't think I have changed much since the last time I had to answer these questions, so I didn't find this reflection helpful this time.

Final Project 3

Education for DHH Children; a Better Solution

By Brittany Newland

More than 80% of hearing impaired students are educated in varying public schools, depending on location, at least part time because they are deemed a "less restrictive environment" (LRE). However, these public school systems are actually more restrictive because of the lack of resources that put a barrier between the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) student and the other hearing students and staff. According to an article, many of these students do not have access to a Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) while others only get part time or no extra services at all due to the fact that they are unavailable. Similarly, those from smaller school districts may be reliant on an interpreter, causing a boundary between those who hear and the students who need as assistant to communicate with them. Lisa Snell, the author to another article written on the subject, stated that the average cost of attendance to a private boarding school for the deaf in California costs more than 87 thousand dollars per student per year, making this option unreachable for most DHH students. All of these issues could be helped if the government gave more specific funding to these types of programs, allowing the tuition rate of the private schools to decrease and creating scholarships for those , and giving more resource opportunities to those who attend public schools.

DHH students have two major choices for education; private and public school systems. Though Snell emphasizes that public schools have shown to project increased test scores in English Literacy for DHH students, private schools offer the teaching staff and student peers that allow DHH students to feel completely comfortable in their environment. Public schools offer these students the chance to adapt and prepare for the real world scenarios they will face after schooling, and private schools offer these children the ability to learn from those like them and prepare them for success in their culture. Both school systems are very different but neither of them are wrong. Education is such a personal matter and there usually cannot be a right and wrong form if the students are learning and meeting objectives. The problem is that neither of these systems is working due to the same issue, a lack of government funding.

If public schools are given money specifically for more resources for DHH students, if teachers for the deaf were available at each school, and if extracurriculars were available at all times for those in need of extra assistance, then these schools would have less boundaries separating their peers and increased learning. If private schools were given funding to help reduce the tuition of attendance and scholarships provided by the government were given to students who may not be able to afford schooling but still would like to attend, the private schools would be more easily accessible. Furthermore, if government officials need to put their state money into developing a better test to assess the ways in which students are learning in each system instead of English literacy. English literacy may not apply to those who don’t use or need English to communicate, and a new test that focused on a different form of intelligence would be better and the DHH students wouldn’t have “low” scores compared to other hearing students.

But this doesn’t stop with the voice of this article. The voices of those reading and watching my video need to speak up as well. In order to get our government to hear our message, we need to use more than our words. We need to write letters to our officials, we need to share these messages, share our opinions, no matter how small or large. We need to raise our signs, our voices, our written words, and our powerful message until it reaches the most powerful people related to this topic; our government. Let us get our children the help that they need to succeed by gettting more educational funding for DHH students!

Punctuation, Part 2

I looked at Unnecessary Commas, The Apostrophe, Quotation Marks, and End Punctuation.

I always thought that commas were to be used to show the reader pauses, because that is how we read them usually, but by reading this chapter I have found that it is not the case. I was most surprised that numbers and dates did not allow for apostrophes. This was such a shock to me. I always thought they needed them. I also think it is mind-blowing that lowercase letters and A's and I's do need an apostrophe. I liked how the last chapter emphasized not overusing exclamation points.

ADDITION:
After revising my paper, I think I would need to focus on the use of apostrophes and end punctuation. I think I stick to mostly periods, but that I could use an exclamation to spice up and add force to my paper, probably in the conclusion when I am trying to convince the readers to start a movement.

"But this doesn’t stop with the voice of this article. The voices of those reading and watching my video will need to speak up as well. In order to get our government to hear our message, we need to use more than our words. We need to write letters to our officials, we need to share these messages, share our opinions, no matter how small or large. "

Or...

"We need to raise our signs, our voices, our written words, and our powerful message until it reaches the most powerful people related to this topic; our government. Let us get our children the help that they need to succeed in every system, in every way, possible. Let us get more educational funding for DHH students. "

Reflection on Project 3 draft

I did two reviews for my peers. They are here and here, by Adam Karsten and Jess Gonzales, respectively.



As far as my own draft is concerned, I was happy to see less technical errors being seen by my peers, and more analytical details which I can fix later on. I can see the improvement I have started to make through this course.

My original message was to bring the deaf community together through a common political act of asking the government for more money for funding public and private schools for the deaf. I think this was addressed clearly in my written message, but I am not sure how effective it will be until it is posted to the public. I am now revising my article to make it flow better and be more understood for when I translate this into a video presentation for the YouTube world. I am revising this article for DHH students, parents of these students, and school administrators with a similar issue. I may also be revising this for politicians if they see my post. The length of my paper has stayed the same. I think I may try to cut it down in order to fit inside the video timeline. I do not want to lengthen it. The format and appearance will change a great deal. I will hand write my statements on index cards and present them in a video format much different from a google doc. My use of evidence will stay the same, but at the end of my video I will provide the articles I used for my project so my audience can look for more information if they so choose. My introduction and conclusion will probably stay the same. I don't see a whole lot I need to change besides defining DHH. My argument will stay the same as well. I do not plan on changing that.

Punctuation, Part 1

I chose to read about The Comma, The Semicolon, and the Colon. I believe that these three can get confusing and that I use a lot of commas when they aren't necessary and not when they are needed so I would like to focus on these chapters.

I found that I knew more about using the comma than I thought. I think if I work on shortening my sentences and making more concise statements that my usage of commas will improve naturally. I liked that in the semicolon chapter, there was a list of the conjunctive adverbs. I thought this list was helpful when using semicolons in the future. I thought that there would be more usages for colons in an article or piece of writing but there doesn't seem to be many.

ADDITION:

I have learned that I am not the only one who uses commas a lot. I don't think commas are a negative or a positive thing if used properly: they just are. I think they can be overused to a degree if the reader starts to get confused or focuses on them for too long. I found two examples of these in my peers' work:

"Throughout history humanity's thirst for knowledge and natural curiosity has led many technological advancements from the creation of the automobile, to putting a man on the moon.  " - A Case for Stem Cell Research.

This example needs a coma or two to be clearer.

"Many long-standing institutions in the modern world are crumbling. Civic, political, religious, and educational agencies do not hold the degree of respect that they once did. Scandal, corruption, and incompetence within these entities have repelled a great many of the population, who have turned inward toward themselves and their inner circles, narrowing their world-views and losing sight of what is happening elsewhere. This alienation among social groups has divided people, disaffected them and made them wary toward what is not familiar. It is the climate for mistrust, misunderstanding, and endless conflict. " - In Defense of Photojournalism

This introduction paragraph can be really confusing with all the commas, and could use a simple rearranging of items to flow better.

Extended Annotated Bibliography

Snell, L. (2011, December 15). The Price Tag for Schools for the Deaf. Retrieved August 2, 2015.

This article is written by Lisa Snell, the director of Education at the Reason Foundation. She discusses how the cost of attendance only allows for approximately 800 students to be educated per year, with over 1200 deaf students left uneducated there due to poor economic standing. Her main two schools she chooses to discuss are located in California - within close proximity to Arizona, making this article relevant to both my topic and my peers who will be reviewing it. She goes on to explain how low the English Language Arts scores are for those who do attend these private schools in California, stating that they are not well balanced with hearing and non-hearing to be able to be proficient in English Arts the same as the state average requires to meet "expectations". She concludes with the fact that new funding in public schools allow for more advanced attention being given to those students who qualify. She says that there are higher test scores in English Arts proficiency in the public school systems than in the private education choices. This article is very helpful in providing both an opinion on private and public school systems, answering my question about cost (at least in the state of California), and in helping to show who is arguing for each side of the debate.

Public School Classrooms – The Least Restrictive Environment? (n.d.). Retrieved August 2, 2015.

This article argues against Lisa Snell in the fact that they suggest DHH (Deaf or Hard of Hearing) students should not be taught in public schools because they don't receive the resources they need and the attention with a ToD (Teacher of the Deaf) that they require. Their main issue is that the students only sometimes get one on one time with a ToD, some not at all, and that these students struggle when there is a language barrier between themselves and the teachers and their peers. While the public school system is usually looked at as being less restrictive, it is not given the proper budget or resources to help these students the way they need. This is helpful towards my article because this contradicts some points made in my previous article. It also helps show the public school side of the argument and costs. 

Redeafined: The Benefits of a Mainstream Education for Deaf Students. (2013, March 23). Retrieved August 2, 2015.

This article is aimed at showing the benefits of mainstreamed education for DHH; how public schools provide a "real-world experience" that helps them practice and maintain a life in the real world (the hearing world). The authors at Redeafined Magazine emphasize the benefits of a public education, including more extra curricular resources, a real-world practice, higher reading, writing, and English standardized test scores, and that these students can make friends who live near by instead of far away at private school areas only. This is a great article for my speech protest because while the past two articles have emphasized the negative effects of each type of school, they haven't taken a positive approach like this article does. Instead of listing all the negative aspects, this article emphasizes the benefits of one type over the other, allowing for a persuasive piece to unfold. 

Cohen, D. (n.d.). "'Inclusion' should not include Deaf Students" Retrieved August 2, 2015.

This article is written by Dr. Oscar Cohen, the Superintendent at a deaf school in New York. He speaks out about how public schools cannot supply a child with the proper tools and communicating abilities to feel comfortable and safe in their environment. He states his concern that DHH students in public schools are categorized in the group "disabled" students, which they are not, and that this limits their learning abilities and their self confidence. He also states that there have been an increase in standardized test scores among children who attend deaf schools which cannot be seen growing in public school DHH children. He does not support public schools as a proper education for DHH students. This article is highly important because it is the first article to speak out so strongly for private deaf schools for DHH students. 

Narrowing My Focus

1. What is the cost of each of these types of education options?
2. What education options are available to deaf students both in the rural and suburban living areas?

I think the most important thing in any argument is always about location. If I am in support of deaf students attending private schools strictly exclusively for the deaf, I need to be able to justify that all deaf students have access to this type of resource. I think it is just as important to discuss the cost of these education options because economics is a HUGE factor for most families. If an option is too expensive it automatically deletes itself from the list. Why should I argue for something that could be shut down in one argument over cost? 

Questions about Controversy

WHO:

1. Who is for public schools with hearing children? 
2. Who wants all deaf students to go to a private boarding school?
3. Who are the teachers and politicians involved in this decision?
4. Who is spreading the controversy mostly? Teachers, parents, students, politicians, etc?
5. Who are the parents involved?

WHAT:

1. What are the price ranges for these different schools?
2. What is the rate of acceptance for these different schools?
3. What are the benefits of keeping the deaf community exclusive?
4. What are the emotional or physical ramifications to having deaf students at a hearing school?
5. What education options are available to deaf students both in the rural and suburban living areas?

WHEN:

1. When did this become a controversy?
2. When were these different schools created for the deaf or hard of hearing?
3. When do children need to decide the type of schooling they get?
4. When is it acceptable to allow deaf children their right to speech; in the form they choose (sign or lip reading)?
5. What is the timeline for children at public vs private schools, including the learning curve, the more vulnerable age groups, etc.?

WHERE:

1. Where are these different schools available to students? 
2. Where is there the most resources?
3. Where is there the least amount of resources? 
4. Where are the colleges/higher educations located?
5. Where have we started to see a shift in those who attend each type of school (economically or socially)?

HOW:

1. How are these acts of public speech being spread mostly? 
2. How are the students able to communicate which they prefer and why?
3. How are the studies being conducted helping the debate? 
4. Which education system are these studies supporting?
5. How has this controversy unfolded through the social media, namely Facebook and Twitter?

Reflection on Project 2

1. I revised a lot more for this project than for the other one. I felt that the revision process was more detailed this time because we were asked to do more detailed work. I revised a few wordy sentences, I helped analyse my introduction and conclusion really well, and I helped make the writing flow better with less shifts and the use of commas.
2. My organization and my thesis were only changed slightly. I think Project 1 was the most rearranging I did between the two. I did update my thesis in order to make it less wordy. I chopped it into multiple sentences to help it flow better.
3. I provided these changes because my peers pointed out how wordy and confusing they were. As a writer, sometimes it is hard to understand what the reader may find confusing or wordy because the words fall from your head. A review or two helps make it clear what is unclear. 
4. By being more understandable a writer becomes more credible than a writer who is confusing. Wordy sentences may also come across as ramblings, a result of someone who doesn't know what they are talking about trying to discuss that topic. 
5. These changes help a peer see the rhetorical value of the article. Because I am intelligible, my readers will understand more, take away from the text more, and be able to understand the credibility of the article more. 
6. I needed to update my sentence structure a lot. I am a wordy writer and that led to a lot of confusion for my peer reviewers. 
7. My purpose is easier to understand because of these changes. By being more credible, the resources I suggest become more credible.
8. I don't think I altered the conventions of the genre in which I was writing because the genre was picked for me. 
9. As a writer, it is always helpful to analyze your own work and to have others analyze it as well. This will be helpful in the next project when I need to write again. I will try to be more attentive to the common mistakes I made this time around in the next project piece.