First, determine what action you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to receive an A on a paper?
In this class, I am trying to find a balance between creating work I am proud of and receiving an A. Overall, my main goal in doing anything for this class is to end with an A.
What features, I asked myself, should go into this essay? How personal could I get? What rhetorical moves might I use, effectively or inef-fectively? I hoped that a similar type of essay already existed so that I would have something to guide my own writing.
I actually really like how he began this essay with an example that is commonly known. I think this drove home his point about how we feel constricted in whatever genre we are supposed to be doing. After reading the example about country music, I can understand his internal dilemma about writing this piece.
how would I figure out what lyrics are acceptable in terms of country songs?
If I were to write a country song, this would not be a question I would ask myself. This is mainly because music genres are based on sound, not lyrics, in my opinion. You could write lyrics about love, family, religion, or drinking, and the genre would only depend on the voice and the music in the background.
As for the well-oiled aspect, I was most surprised to learn that linguistic and mathematical differences show very little hindrance on the overall production and efficiency in the aerospace community. Similar to the Olympics and other international sporting events, the common language is English. Especially in corporate, international projects such as the International Space Station, as Dr. Liu says, “[T]he common language is still English no matter where you go, be it Japan or Germany.”
This is more of a resolution to his initial issue. He is showing that even though there are linguistic boundaries, the industry mainly uses English and the same math scale in order to be able to connect their work around the world. These commonalities keep their "well-oiled machine" working and make them more efficient.
Dr. Liu noted that he does not believe “they actually teach you how to adapt and apply what you’ve learned in the field.” Furthermore, Dr. Liu pointed out that much of the content he learned while studying to obtain his PhDs was more theoretical, and did not have any real practical application at Boeing.
In every job I have had, I have not used much of what I learned in school. All of the information came from actually working the job and getting to know the company. I agree with Dr. Liu in this sense. He is showing that there is a disconnect between education and having the skills to work in a corporate environment.
A major concern within the aerospace industry is the lack of efficiency, which results in company reliance on “safety nets” rather than ensuring the product is safe to begin with (Dostaler 5).
This is really interesting to me. As consumers, we put trust in companies that the product we use is safe and they are not relying on backup safety nets to keep us safe. There are consequences to having a lack of efficiency and communication. Trying to fix their issues gives them less time to work on the issues the product has.
globalization is considered as one of the major research challenges in engineering. Furthermore, communication over distance is key in global engineering and is oftentimes a requirement for effective work
This quote is important because it shows what this paper is about. It connects the concepts of globalization trends and the intensity of communication that is required. This shows that connecting these two into a major is extremely important.
When we ask students to gointo the community either for a service-learning experience or for a commu-nity service internship, we underscore the separation of campus from com-munity rather than emphasize their interconnectedness and mutual depend-ence. Furthermore, students may be left with the assumption that all is well inthe college environment but there are real problems outside, where culturaldifference “really” exists.
Having students leave their safe, college community to go to the "real world" might make it hard for them to understand that these problems also affect them. It creates a boundary between college and the world that is not really there. It causes us to overlook any issues in college that are happening right in front of us. We should be more aware of the issues in our environment.
f students are asked toobserve, they will see trash on a beach; if they are asked to “do somethingabout it,” generally speaking, they may pick it up. The next step must be toask them to figure out where the trash came from and why it is found on thebeach. Collecting and analyzing data or pursuing a methodologically respon-sible approach to this activity may help more students make connectionsbetween, for example, a polluted beach and capitalist means of production.
Taking action is not just solving the immediate problem, but trying to find the underlying cause of the problem. This metaphor really helped me understand what the article meant by action because I thought it was just "cleaning the beach". I never thought to ask those extra questions about why it was there and where it came from. These questions will solve the problem long term rather than just a temporary solution.
Sarachild’s vision,transcending the binary exclusivity ofeitherawareness oraction, moves tobothawareness andaction. She is careful, however, not to conflate the two;the emphasis on the need to act remains. This is precisely what service-learningprojects often lose sight of as they focus on exposing students to difference byattending to individuals who suffer the effects of social problems.
This is showing that it is important to spread awareness and be aware yourself on an issue but also take action. It says that just being aware should not be the end goal. Awareness does not automatically lead to action. When spreading awareness, you also need a plan on how others can take action.
Their lack of historical awareness leads students to figure socialchange as some natural process that occurs without human intervention andintentionality.
When students have a lack of historical awareness, they have no idea how to start social change, they think it just happens. They see it as a passive process that kind of just happened, when in reality it took a lot of risk and activism. This causes modern students to be passive and less likely to be able to cause a meaningful change.
The idealized model of the public sphere based on liberal, Enlightenment political theory is best described by Jürgen Habermas. But its assumptions and problems are deeply embed-ded in our traditions of a liberal, humanistic education (Atwill; Roberts-Miller). Called the “bourgeois public sphere” because of its roots in the rise of the middle class and capitalism, this ideal asserts the need to bracket or ignore social difference, to exclude the personal and private in a focus on common concerns, and to arrive at consensus though critical-rational argument.
This is saying that individuals should take their lives experiences and put them to the side and be objective and rational. I don't think this would be effective at all because nobody is going to be able to give a good argument for something they need if they are unable to introduce their personal experiences and why they need it. People need community literacy and to use it in their debates.
When diverse groups collaborate in analyzing the rhetori-cal situations that motivate public debate, they unearth tacit perceptions and experiences that underlie others’ claims, creating grounds for building future understanding and agree-ment.
This is trying to shift from a standard "pro, con" debate towards a conversation where everyone uses shared experiences to find a decision that is well informed and works best for everyone. This makes it so there is no "right or wrong", but a space where there are multiple different paths to take. I think this would help bring together different communities by getting them to all work together to solve a problem.
Community literacy was, for us, “a search for an alternative discourse,” a way for people to acknowledge each other’s multiple forms of expertise through talk and text and to draw on their differ-ences as a resource for addressing shared problems (Peck, Flower, and Higgins 205).
Community literacy is a way for people to understand each other and use their personal experiences to solve shared issues. I think this concept is very important when thinking about communities outside of your own, because you need to be able to understand why people make the choices they do. This mostly comes from hearing their experiences and understanding how that led to their choice.
Given this goal, we describe below three rhetorical capacities that might enable people to deliberate across lines of hierarchy and difference: • eliciting situated knowledge, • engaging difference in dialogue, and• constructing and reflecting upon wise options.
The goal is to move to an active debate with specific rhetorical skills. This is good for allowing different communities to solve issues together. Eliciting situated knowledge means using their personal experiences. Engaging difference in dialogue means that you need to focus on the differing opinions in order to help make the best decision. Construction and reflecting upon wise action means you are finding a solution to whatever issue you are debating.
RR e e a a dd y y o o uu r r pp a a pp e e r r a a l l o o uu dd . . Sometimes your ears catch inconsistencies that your eyes miss.
This is a very helpful skill. Reading aloud will help catch any flow issues or things you might not notice with just your eyes. I prefer my essays to sound like how I would normally speak. This usually helps me find where commas need to go or other grammar issues like that.
While the revision stage of the writing process focused on clarifying what you write (your ideas), theediting and proofreading stages focus on how you write—you express those ideas.
I am glad this was clarified. Revision is good for making sure your essay is organized and all the concepts you want are there. Editing is good for making the small details make sense in the essay. More of if your words make sense or not and how your style is throughout the essay.
When you revise to improve organization, look at the flow of ideas throughout the whole essay andwithin individual paragraphs.
Organization is very important in essays. It is easy to get ahead of yourself when writing, especially when it is about something so personal. I improve my organization by making my key topics I want to cover, then writing my intro and conclusion, making sure to mention all of them before diving into the actual essay.
Revise and edit in stages: do not expect to catch everything at once. Each time you review your essay,focus on a different aspect of construction so that you will be more likely to catch any mistakes oridentify any issues. This chapter contains checklists that identify specific things to look for with eachrevision.
I really like this advice. I have a hard time re-reading my work. I like the strategy of revising in stages. I agree that it will make you more likely to catch any mistakes. Adding peer review in your stages is also very helpful because of how hard it is to catch your own mistakes.
community is an important concept for social change because it helps us to see that social change requires a change in some of the most important stories we tell ourselves. Social change requires that we rewrite our communal narratives. Social change is change in community.
I agree with their connection between community and social change. Communities have norms, stereotypes, and expectations that come with being a part of the community. To create societal change, you need to start with changing the actions and ideals of the communities within the society.
The sense of a shared identity, of being part of something larger than we are, is well known as a source of good feeling. But it is also morally-neutral. Being part of a community is just part of how we live our lives.
This is what I consider to be the definition of community. I think rather than it being some perfect, positive thing, it is more of a place that anyone can find a home, no matter if they are good or bad people.
It must be able to explain why “community” has the normative (moral) power that it does
I think community always has the connetation of good moral value. This doesn't mean that they all have the same idea of what "good" even means. This is what makes each community different. You have many different types of people in different communities with different values and morals.
attach the word “community” to “policing” and it turns the legitimate monopoly power of the state over the use of force into something warm and cuddly.
I like that he adds an example to prove that we view the word community in a positive, comforting light. It shows that we all strive to be a part of a community and have the sense of home that comes with it.
f I had not grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa were from popular images, I too would think that Africa was a place of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, and incomprehensible people, fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS, unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved by a kind, white foreigner. I would see Africans in the same way that I, as a child, had seen Fide's family.
I think this is very important because it shows that we identify with our own communities and don't normally take the time to fully understand others. We take one story and stereotypes we hear throughout our lives and assume that they are what the stories say. It is hard to imagine groups of people more than the one or two things we know about them. I also think our lack of knowledge and misunderstandings of other communities help up stay resonated with our own communities rather than branch out.
went through a mental shift in my perception of literature.
I thought this was cool because she found a sense of belonging and community through her literature. This is important because you get to see stories of people like you and imagine yourself in those situations. When you read about people you cannot relate to, it is harder to imagine yourself doing more creative things.
people learn more successfully when they feel relatively secure, and negative emotions like fear can drain energy needed for academic engagement
I agree that people learn in a more positive environment. That is why transitions from high school to college is so hard. I think that it is more of a subconscious feeling of being less than the other people around you, knowing they are more comfortable than you.
The field has continued to in-novate within Thomas Deans’s classic model of writing for, about, and withcommunities,
I love that they are describing the model that we are going to use in this class. It is nice that the author goes into depth about they achieve this model through partnerships, writing, and collaboration with youth programs. I hope that we are able to do things like that in this class to not only write about the community, but also make an impact.
It’s helpful, for example, to get a context for the reading:
I think it is important to look at the context of the reading, as well as decide what you want to get out of the reading. This will give you a good starting block before you start reading. It will make it easier to actively read.
ask why we like one piece of writing and not another. Similarly, most of us do not ask our-selves why one piece of writing is more convincing than another.
I have never thought to ask these questions when reading before. I think these could be very beneficial questions to ask because knowing why we are drawn to certain types of writing can help us determine how we should write our own pieces.
fter reading an essay, most people feel more confident talking about the content of the piece than about the writer’s style. Content is more tangible than style
This is interesting to me. I have never realized that when I read, I always read for the content and pay no attention to the writer's style. I agree that this is due to schooling. We are always taught to analyze the text by finding the main idea of the passage, even in standardized testing.
To m o v e f r o m r e a d i n g t o w r i t i n g , y o u n e e d t o r e a d a c t i v e l y, i n a t h o u g h t -ful spirit, and with an alert, inquiring mind.
This is talking about the importance of actively reading. This means you are asking questions and staying engaged rather than just going through the motions of reading words. It is beneficial because it could reduce the need for rereading and give you a good understanding of how the different parts of a paper work together to create a big picture.
In this course we will explore writing as a social practice. We will look at and define community: our families, friends, home lives, online networks and professional groups. We will use our writingto understandwho belongs to which communities, what belonging means, how we share values, and how we create new knowledge in communitywith one another.
This class seems very interesting. I like that we are going to be exploring the impact of communities through writing. I am excited to dive deeper into these topics.
WriJng from CommunityExploring a space (physicalor virtual)and analyzing how that environment reflects the values of its community.WriJng About CommunityConduc5ng interviews and analyzing ar5facts to explain how a specificdiscoursecommunity operates.WriJng for CommunityCrea5ng a mul5modal text (website, newsleMer, podcast, handbook, etc.) designed to benefit or advocate for a specific community.
I like that you are covering writing in communities in many different ways. This gives us a broader understanding of the different things that influence a community, as well as the opportunity to have an impact on our community.
All assignments for this course must be written and submitted directly in Google Docs.
I am glad that this is outlined in the syllabus. Most classes use Word, but each person has their own preferences. I personally prefer Google Docs.
am not expecting perfect work.I just want you to do the work. Even an incomplete grade is better than a zero.
I appreciate that you offer an alternative to using AI in this course. Writing is interpreted differently by every person, so I like that you are not expecting perfect work, but hopefully work that we are proud of as writers.