My Reflections
WEEBLY
I must say that I have learned a lot this semester. I never knew that writing could be so fun. I always saw writing as structured and I did not like it because it was boring. However, this class showed me different ways of writing and how I could write. I did always like writing ever since I can remember, but not structurally. This class was not your typical class where you’re doing a ten page research paper like other writing classes. This class showed me that writing could be creative and fun again. I can honestly say that our professor made this class very enjoyable. I did not know that you could do different genres of writing until this class. I believe Weebly was perfect for a Writing, Research, and Technology class because we did all three. I thought it was awesome!
In the beginning I was very nervous because creating a website sounded very hard to me. I was terrified, because I am not very good at creating websites. Even though creating a website sounded scary to me I was interested in how it was all going to come together. I remember the first night of class going home and being scared that I was not going to be able to do this, because I am used to typing papers and handing them in. That was not the case because I am here today saying that Weebly made my life a whole lot easier. I liked using Weebly because it was very well organized and kept everything in order. I am so used to writing papers and always looking for my rough drafts and not finding them, and here on Weebly everything is already online for me.
I had some trouble with Weebly because many times my font and spacing would not transfer over. That annoyed me a lot because I have no patience, but eventually everything worked out for the best. Honestly, those were the only negatives I had with Weebly. Weebly presents me and my work by showing my personality and how I have grown as a writer. I think that my Weebly shows my progress from the begining to end of this class. As I started to use this site more and more I have learned more and gotten a lot better. I also liked it because I was able to reflect on my writings and readings through my blogs. Although, sometime I had trouble with the readings, the blogs kept me on task. Using blogs really helped me reflect on my work.
Again I loved using Weebly as my electronic portfolio because it makes everything neat and organized. It really helped and I hope that in my future writing courses they use Weebly as well. I do plan on using my Weebly again for other classes and projects in the future.
In the beginning I was very nervous because creating a website sounded very hard to me. I was terrified, because I am not very good at creating websites. Even though creating a website sounded scary to me I was interested in how it was all going to come together. I remember the first night of class going home and being scared that I was not going to be able to do this, because I am used to typing papers and handing them in. That was not the case because I am here today saying that Weebly made my life a whole lot easier. I liked using Weebly because it was very well organized and kept everything in order. I am so used to writing papers and always looking for my rough drafts and not finding them, and here on Weebly everything is already online for me.
I had some trouble with Weebly because many times my font and spacing would not transfer over. That annoyed me a lot because I have no patience, but eventually everything worked out for the best. Honestly, those were the only negatives I had with Weebly. Weebly presents me and my work by showing my personality and how I have grown as a writer. I think that my Weebly shows my progress from the begining to end of this class. As I started to use this site more and more I have learned more and gotten a lot better. I also liked it because I was able to reflect on my writings and readings through my blogs. Although, sometime I had trouble with the readings, the blogs kept me on task. Using blogs really helped me reflect on my work.
Again I loved using Weebly as my electronic portfolio because it makes everything neat and organized. It really helped and I hope that in my future writing courses they use Weebly as well. I do plan on using my Weebly again for other classes and projects in the future.
TWITTERIVE
I used to dislike Twitter so much and hoped that I never had to use it again. However, with this class I started to like it. With the Twitterive I first began tweeting about anything like what I was doing and where I was at. Sometimes I tweeted about things I found interesting. Many times I thought I was tweeting stupid stuff. After that I began actually understanding the project so I started tweeting about places. At first I did not know what direction I was going in. So I went to a park and took a picture of the park and how I felt at the park. I thought that would be my spot because I kept on going to that spot and kept on tweeting about it. However I did not have a lot of information on my place.
After that I had to find a new place. I talked to Mr. Mangini and he told me that in New York I was going to find something, so tweet everything. I thought this idea was great because I was going to New York with my boyfriend so I told myself this had to be my spot. I went to New York and started tweeting as soon as I woke up in the morning about how I felt. Then as I got to the train station I stated tweeting about everything like how I felt and what saw. When I got to New York is when I started tweeting the most. I noticed that using Twitter while in New York made me very mindful of everything around me which also made me feel connected to my place. I feel as though because I had to tweet about my place it made me realized that I noticed things that I did not notice before. So yes tweeting did make me feel mindful and connected to my place and because I was mindful and connected I was able to come up with a great topic that came from my heart.
As I mentioned in the beginning my experience was with Twitter in the past was really bad. However, using Twitter for this class has actually been a great experience for me. I actually like it. When I first herd that we were using Twitter for this class I was kind of upset because I did have a bad experience with it last semester. Although, when I first herd the assignment I started feeling a litter better because I thought it was very interesting. With Twitter I have been able to find my place and find my thoughts about my place and tweet them. Twitter definitely has helped my process and product with this whole project. Tweeting helped me start my project because I can go back and look at my thoughts and come up with something. It has also helped me finish my project as well.
ORAL HISTORY
At first I had trouble interviewing people because I was going to interview a boy named David, he is from El Salvador and he is here illegally. I wanted to interview him on his struggles coming to and living in America. However, when I went back for a second interview he was no where to be found. Then I moved on to my second option which was my parents because they both work in prison. My goal for this assignment is to see what it is like to work in a prison and learn how these ordinary people deal with working with murders, rapist, robber, etc… This project was fun for me because I learned how to use Windows Movie Maker which was actually easy to learn how to work through their tutorials. The hardest part was uploading the videos to You Tube; it took me a week to upload all of my videos to You Tube then to my website.
I had so much fun with this project, and learned a lot about my interviewee’s jobs. I was so excited to learn the truth about prison, because I never understood how someone could work in a prison. I never questioned my parent’s jobs until now. I was always worried that one day I would get a phone call from the warden of both of my parents jobs saying there was a fight today and you mother or step-dad got hurt. That scares me, but now that I understand what they do and how it is just like any other job I feel secure now. I was always nervous to ask them about there jobs because I thought I would find out something I did not want to hear. However, I found out mostly good things about working in a prison, which have changed my whole perception about the staff and the inmates. During the interviews I herd the word respect many times and never understood how important respect was in a prison, but now I know that respect is important to inmates because it is the only thing the inmates have to hold onto.
While doing my interview I had difficulty staying focused on one question at a time. I realized I had so many question that I wanted to ask my parents about there jobs. Some of my question did not even go with my interview, so I had a problem staying focused on the points I was trying to make about prisons.
I believe that I did very well at conducting these interviews. Even though it was hard for me to stay focused on my main point and I wanted to ask other questions that had nothing to do with my point, I feel as though I got my points. I realized that I was going off topic and fixed it, plus I edited out the parts that I did not want in my oral history. I was very professional even though I interviewed people who were close to. If I were not professional in conducting my research then I would not have the great end results I have now.
I learned many new things during my interviews about my parent’s jobs that I did not know before. All of the thoughts that I had about prisons were gone because it was nothing that I thought it was. I found a lot of things interesting as well. Like what reasons are inmates locked up for etc…
I had so much fun with this project, and learned a lot about my interviewee’s jobs. I was so excited to learn the truth about prison, because I never understood how someone could work in a prison. I never questioned my parent’s jobs until now. I was always worried that one day I would get a phone call from the warden of both of my parents jobs saying there was a fight today and you mother or step-dad got hurt. That scares me, but now that I understand what they do and how it is just like any other job I feel secure now. I was always nervous to ask them about there jobs because I thought I would find out something I did not want to hear. However, I found out mostly good things about working in a prison, which have changed my whole perception about the staff and the inmates. During the interviews I herd the word respect many times and never understood how important respect was in a prison, but now I know that respect is important to inmates because it is the only thing the inmates have to hold onto.
While doing my interview I had difficulty staying focused on one question at a time. I realized I had so many question that I wanted to ask my parents about there jobs. Some of my question did not even go with my interview, so I had a problem staying focused on the points I was trying to make about prisons.
I believe that I did very well at conducting these interviews. Even though it was hard for me to stay focused on my main point and I wanted to ask other questions that had nothing to do with my point, I feel as though I got my points. I realized that I was going off topic and fixed it, plus I edited out the parts that I did not want in my oral history. I was very professional even though I interviewed people who were close to. If I were not professional in conducting my research then I would not have the great end results I have now.
I learned many new things during my interviews about my parent’s jobs that I did not know before. All of the thoughts that I had about prisons were gone because it was nothing that I thought it was. I found a lot of things interesting as well. Like what reasons are inmates locked up for etc…
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT
At first I thought I was going to be by myself for this project, but then Nadia and I both looked at each other and decided that we were going to be partners. After that we watched the movie Food Inc and took lots of notes. We were trying to come up with a primary research topic, but found that we could not decide on just one because there were so many. So we decided that we were going to think about it over the weekend then make a decision during the next class. During the next class we noticed that Jen did not have a partner yet and asked her if she wanted to be in our group. At first I thought that this research project was going to be extremely hard because we were already having problems making decision on our primary research topic. We went through two research topics before we found ours. I found so many research topics interesting like E. coli and organic foods. Then we finally found the right one for us.
Once we found our topic I realized that this research paper was going to be fun! Not only was I learning about the foods I ate but I got to experience being a vegetarian. We had to find reasons why we wanted to become vegetarian, and the points we were trying to make. We wanted to inform people about the food industry.
We recorded our eating habits and how we felt about becoming vegetarians. I can honestly say it was hard. I thought I was going to be anorexic, good thing that was not the case.Considering I am always on the run and I live a very busy lifestyle with running to and from work and school mostly everyday, I did not eat healthy at all. I mostly ate fast foods. I did not know what I was going to eat now, because all I knew was quick, easy food. The hardest part was when I was being with other people who eat meat. The process of becoming a vegetarian was very interesting but I realize that I love meat and can never give it up because I am a natural carnivore, but through my research I found healthier ways to eat meat.
I think the product of my collaborative research project was an accomplishment, because I learned about the food industry, and how you can not trust supermarkets. In the beginning of this project I was a passive consumer unaware of what the food industry was doing to our food. However, now I am aware of what the food industry does, because of this project and the research I have done on this topic I am now eating healthier foods.
Even though I am not going to stay a vegetarian I learned different ways to eat better, for example I can now go to supermarkets and look for meats that are hormone free beef and RBGH free dairy products. Also, I can look for food that carries the USDA certified organic label, I can also start shopping at organic supermarkets. I never realized how bad factory farming was until this project, but now that I am aware of what goes on in farms I would like to try and make a change to improve how factories treat their animals and workers. This part of the reasons why I took on the challenge to become a vegetarian for this project was because I want to try and make a change and inform people about our food industry.
I have made many healthy changes in my life, and I do not think I will ever touch a fast food restaurant like McDonald's or Burger King. They just gross me out now. My group’s research project does inform people about the food industry and how to make changes in their lives, not just by becoming a vegetarian but by making better choices and eating healthier.
Once we found our topic I realized that this research paper was going to be fun! Not only was I learning about the foods I ate but I got to experience being a vegetarian. We had to find reasons why we wanted to become vegetarian, and the points we were trying to make. We wanted to inform people about the food industry.
We recorded our eating habits and how we felt about becoming vegetarians. I can honestly say it was hard. I thought I was going to be anorexic, good thing that was not the case.Considering I am always on the run and I live a very busy lifestyle with running to and from work and school mostly everyday, I did not eat healthy at all. I mostly ate fast foods. I did not know what I was going to eat now, because all I knew was quick, easy food. The hardest part was when I was being with other people who eat meat. The process of becoming a vegetarian was very interesting but I realize that I love meat and can never give it up because I am a natural carnivore, but through my research I found healthier ways to eat meat.
I think the product of my collaborative research project was an accomplishment, because I learned about the food industry, and how you can not trust supermarkets. In the beginning of this project I was a passive consumer unaware of what the food industry was doing to our food. However, now I am aware of what the food industry does, because of this project and the research I have done on this topic I am now eating healthier foods.
Even though I am not going to stay a vegetarian I learned different ways to eat better, for example I can now go to supermarkets and look for meats that are hormone free beef and RBGH free dairy products. Also, I can look for food that carries the USDA certified organic label, I can also start shopping at organic supermarkets. I never realized how bad factory farming was until this project, but now that I am aware of what goes on in farms I would like to try and make a change to improve how factories treat their animals and workers. This part of the reasons why I took on the challenge to become a vegetarian for this project was because I want to try and make a change and inform people about our food industry.
I have made many healthy changes in my life, and I do not think I will ever touch a fast food restaurant like McDonald's or Burger King. They just gross me out now. My group’s research project does inform people about the food industry and how to make changes in their lives, not just by becoming a vegetarian but by making better choices and eating healthier.
