Final Class Reflection

I have never had too much trouble with writing, but usually I also do not enjoy it very much. Although I do not enjoy writing very much, I know that it is an effective way to communicate with others and that is why it is necessary in life, no matter what we choose to do or become. My impression about writing did not change much throughout the semester, although I did learn much more that I could take with me from this point on and continue to use. The assignment(s) that I personally enjoyed most was the Documentary Film and the Opinion Piece. I enjoyed these two assignments the most because I was able to advocate for something and integrate my point of view into both. The assignment that I probably enjoyed the least was the Literature Review, because I was not able to state my viewpoint on the situation, I had to remain mutual to both sides, which I found very complicated. When we first discussed this assignment in class it did not sound too difficult, but it turned out that it is much easier said than done. I know that I will use most of the skills I have acquired in this course; everything that we have learned can be used for the rest of my student life and my career as well. One skill would definitely be being able to not pick a side when writing about a specific topic, such as in the Literature Review. Another skill would be the different ways that I had to acquire my information and limit the information to only exactly what I needed. The final skill would be time management; my time management skills definitely improved in this class because it was a hybrid course it was very different from any of my other courses. Overall I enjoyed this course and I do not see many things that require improvements. The only thing that I am able to suggest is to maybe discuss the assignments in more detail, sometimes I felt a little lost when working on the assignment. But I also understand that there is a major time limit on the discussion time since it is a hybrid course. 

Blog (Standardized Testing)

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/04/30/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-standardized-testing-in-texas/

Pictures of design of OpEd

OpEd-Standardized Testing

Standardized Testing in Schools

- By Audrey L. Swanson

Stress levels at an all time high, pressure and expectations rising and students only learning the minimum amount of information required for the test. All of these things are due to standardized testing in the United States. Most children in the United States attend a public school and therefore are forced to take a standardized test. It has been said that the United States is falling behind in education and what could be the cause of this? Some suggest this is due to standardized testing.

A standardized test is a test that is scored in a consistent manner and was brought into the school systems in an attempt to reform schools in the United States. This is a wide spread issue because in reality it affects most people in the United States, whether it’s a student, parent, sibling, teacher, etc. We are often already in the habit of taking these standardized tests that we seldom stop and think about the consequences that they actually bring along with them. Some of these consequences include: not receiving a complete education, only learning what is on the test, extreme amounts of pressure, cheating and much more. I myself had to take the standardized tests, TAKS at the time, and I still remember feeling extremely pressured because I knew that in order to graduate I had to pass these standardized tests. I also remember that after the test was taken, nothing was taught in the classrooms anymore, everyday after the test became a movie day, early release day or some other easy day. I do not think this is right, because it takes so much out of learning for students. There are so many more things that students would be able to learn if there was no standardized test and therefore this semester I decided to write about standardized testing and once I was able to state my point of view, I decided that I would advocate against standardized testing.

 I read blogs and articles about standardized testing all semester to see how others felt about it and according to The 6^th Floor Blog, 47% of readers argue that standardized testing should be eliminated or minimized, because it negatively impacts students’ self esteem and learning. I do agree with this, because as mentioned above, the only thing that is taught or focused on in classrooms is what is on the test and nothing more. Often, due to these standardized tests students are unprepared for what college holds and are not ready for the workload. I believe that we in the United States should adapt to what some other countries do, that teachers are the ones to develop a test at the end of the semester. I believe that this should be adapted because the teachers know you best and are aware of what they taught you and how they taught you these things. I personally lived and attended school in Germany and there was no such thing as a standardized test, my teachers were the ones who developed and administered the test. I enjoyed that much more, because teachers were able to teach so much more and teach things that they found important for life. From my perspective, students would feel much more comfortable if the test was written by their teacher, rather than someone who has never entered their classroom.

Therefore, I believe that this would be a much needed policy change. By making this policy change, teachers would be able to focus on things they would like to teach and what they believe is important for the students’ future life. Teachers would also be able to teach in a different way and students’ would be able to take much more from this type of teaching. I truly do believe that this would be a great change for the public schools in the United States. Teachers would be able to teach more, teach better, stress levels would be minimized and learning maximized.

References:

The STAFF (February 22, 2013). Are Standardized Tests Worth the

         Stress? Retrieved from  

http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/are-standardized-tests-worth-the-stress

Hursh, D. (2005). The growth of high-stakes testing in the

         USA: accountability, markets and the decline in educational

         Equality. Retrieved from

http://0-web.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b5f59a99-6cf7-4bfd-a6a6-f729b33a6a5c%40sessionmgr104&vid=5&hid=108

Projects of Zack booth Simpson: Why I hate Standardized Tests [image].

         (2010).

         Retrieved from:

http://zacksprojects.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-i-hate-standardized-test.html

         

Deconstructing the discourse of citizen journalism: Who says what and why it matters (Article)

This article was an informative article about journalists. This article gave the kairos on each type of journalist, or what is now considered a journalist. In this article, they discuss the different ways that each type of journalist works, what they do and how they do it. The article also discusses how each different type of journalist is defined and by what they are defined. This article also goes on to talk about who they are, the elements of their (each type of journalist) discourse, the myths about each and the implications for each type of journalist. In the article they tell us that as long as you have correct information, are good at conducting research and a few other specifics, you should be able to be classified as a journalist. Journalism is a growing field however through the frequent use of Internet. The article discusses how citizen journalism is rising and changing the “old” definition of what a journalist is. People used to perceive journalists in a completely different way until now, which is what we have discussed throughout the semester in our class. 

Semester Topic Proposal

My topic for this semester for my English 1312 class will be about the public school systems in the United States, mainly standardized testing. Standardized Testing affects all students in the United States who are attending a Public School. Standardized Testing was put into effect in an attempt to reform the education system in the United States. Although the intentions of standardized testing were good, it ultimately affected the students and teachers in a negative way. Because of this, many individuals have been attempting to find alternatives to the standardized testing. I myself was affected by standardized testing and therefore I know how it affects students and teachers. I feel that students do not get the full learning experience that they should receive and teachers are not able to teach everything that they would like to teach. Students are only taught what is on the test and teachers are given a curriculum to follow based off of the test. I feel like this is a great topic to write about, because it affects many people and I experienced it myself as well. My topic will also help me stay connected with my community and I will be able to see how others feel about the schools and standardized testing and why they feel that way. My original topic was very broad, just the public school systems and therefore I decided to narrow it down to one main problem that exists in the public schools, standardized testing. We should all be aware of how standardized testing affects us, because in reality it affects almost every single one of us, parents, teachers, students, school boards, etc. I believe that it will be fairly easy to find articles and opinions on this topic. Overall, I see my topic being very interesting and informing. 

Citizen Journalism- What It Is? (Video)

This video is all about citizen journalism and defining exactly what it is and why it is good. The argument in this video is that citizen journalism is growing and affecting the printing press, because almost all of citizen journalism is online. But at the same time, this helps us connect to others and pass on information easily throughout the whole world. Also, in the video they tell us that if you are not interested in what is going on around you and/or new knowledge, you will not be interested in citizen journalism. Blogging and citizen journalism are connected because blogs are created, monitored and updated by citizen journalists. The blog that I have been following this semester has impacted much of my writing and advocacy. I believe that it has impacted it so much because I am able to read about how others, just like me, feel about my topic. I like these blogs, because they are not from professional journalists, who often can only mention certain things or take certain sides, they are from regular citizens going through the same situations and experiencing your topic directly. Creating a blogger about my semester topic is actually a little more difficult than I expected it to be. It is difficult in the sense that you do not know how other people will view or feel about your topic. Maybe it will make them think about your topic more or for some even for the first time, others will consider how and why it affects them. It is also difficult because you have to find a way to make it appealing to your viewers and hold their interest on your specific topic. This distinction is important because it helps people be aware of some things that are going on in the community and possibly affecting their community that otherwise they would’ve not been aware of. It relates to my research topic, because although my research topic, standardized testing, affects various areas in the United Stated, I decided to keep my main focus on El Paso, my community, and how it affects our schools, students and teachers. 

Invisible Children-Discover the Unseen Documentary

This documentary was about children in Sudan, children who escaped Sudan to Uganda. These children were forced to escape Sudan because of the war going on. Often, these children were captured/abducted and used as child soldiers or even killed. Seeing these children and adults who help talk about the situation they are in and what it is like to live there during these times was just extremely heartbreaking. Often, we over here, protected and safe, cannot imagine how it is over there, what they must go through every single day and how they live their lives. It has been going on for so long, that children have sadly adapted to it and accepted it as a way of life. No one should have to grow up or live this way. Every element was so well done and captured in this documentary, this documentary truly held my interest the entire time and really made me think about the situation those children are in. I will truly never forget about this documentary, because although I had an idea of what was going on over there in Africa, I never knew it was this bad and hearing it from the children themselves just gave it complete credibility. Seeing actual footage, drawings and interviews was just terrifying and a real wake up call to reach out and help whenever you can. These things must be changed, this world should be a much better place and children should not have to experience such horrid things, ever. This film relates to our semester topic because these three young men are citizen journalists. They traveled to Africa and risked their own lives for everyone to be able to see the horrible situation over there. These three young men did not do it for themselves, did not do it to become famous, but did it to make people aware of the situation and to try to change what is going on in Africa and provide better lives for those affected. I think it is posted in this manner because it is meant to help change the situations that were being filmed and not to give anyone credit or make them look good. The international nature of the Internet complicates this situation due to all of the copyright laws and what is supposed to be or expected to be done when posting a film online. I don’t see anything wrong with posting films in this manner, but I do know, form our discussions in class, that it is a big topic for others. Many believe that copyright laws should be followed exactly as they are stated and that nothing should be posted on the Internet in this particular manner. In this documentary the citizen journalists are extremely involved in their situation and are advocating for a major change. For two of the young men, it was their first time in Africa and experiencing this, but for one of them it was his second time being Africa and experiencing this situation, but they all want to continue traveling there and making a change for as long as they are able to do so. Their level of involvement does impact their skills of filmmaking, because they lean towards one side, showing the situations of the children. I however do not believe that this is a negative thing because that is the main change that they are advocating for, they want these children to have better lives and not have to experience the things they are currently experiencing. By putting their main focus on the children, they are able to show more pathos, ethos and logos throughout their documentary. Their bias in the film is definitely effective for the reasons stated above. I believe that everyone, as citizen journalist, is able to manage their bias, when there are two sides to the story and depending on what message you are trying to get across to the viewers. In this case, the citizen journalists were trying to tell the story of the children, this was the children’s time to speak and reach out to people. There are times when it could be harmful and that is when there are two equal sides to a story and only one is told due to the bias. Citizen journalist and professional journalist partner together in this film by showing all perspectives of the issue in Africa and putting all of the information together in the end.  This collaboration is important, because it helps expand and make the documentary better and more appealing to more viewers. I do believe that as citizen journalists we have the opportunity to partner with professional journalists to make sure that the public can view our information and to make sure that it is correct or to show their point of view on the issue, since they are professionals. Collaborating with professional journalists when it comes to such issues can also create much more credibility for the audience/viewers. 

Born Into Brothels Documentary

Watching this documentary really woke me up and it was extremely heartbreaking. This documentary featured a photographer who on and off lives in the red light district and tries her hardest to help the children get out of there. She teaches the children about photography, gives them cameras and this brings happiness to the children’s lives. The photographer takes them on trips to be able to take breathtaking photos and provides them with opportunities that they would have never received on their own. This documentary was about the red light district and how difficult it is to get out of there. Girls are raised to be prostitutes and education does not matter. This documentary highlighted the extremes that go on over there and showed actual footage of the neighborhood and what goes on in the homes there. The actual footage of how the people live, what they do and how they speak and treat one another really touched me and it was so heartbreaking to see young children having to go through that and not being able to do anything about it. Parents are actually no parents at all, fathers do drugs, drink and attempt to sell their daughters, while mothers are prostitutes. Every detail in this documentary was extremely touching and heartbreaking, this documentary was filled with pathos, logos and ethos in so many different ways. This documentary relates to our semester topic, because this photographer went over there, as a citizen journalist, and filmed an entire documentary to be able to make us aware of what is going on over there and what we often fail to see or think about. If she had not been a citizen journalist, many of us would have never been so informed on this topic or been able to see the actual footage that is included in this documentary. I believe that it is good to post things in this manner, because it is there to inform the public, inform anyone who will watch the documentary. When the maker of the documentary is posting it in this way, they want as many people as possible to be able to access the information and become informed on the manner. The international nature of the internet complicates this situation, because with everything there are tons of copyright laws and most times every person wants at least a little bit of credit for something that they did in the documentary. The nature of the Internet does make it possible though for most people to be able to access this kind of information if it is posted in an open manner, such as this documentary. In this film, the citizen journalist is extremely involved in the situation that she is filming. However, I do not believe that it impacts her filmmaking decisions. I think this way because there is no positive side to this situation, if there were two sides to what she was filming, then I do believe that her involvement could have impacted her filmmaking. Her involvement while making the film created more pathos, as far as I believe. I adored her involvement so much that it held my attention even more, because I wish that I had the opportunity to do such things and make a change, such as the one she made. She is bias, but with good reasoning, as I mentioned above, there is no positive side to the red light district, therefore it is okay to be bias. Citizen journalist and professional journalist partnered together in this film by completing it together and making it an actual award-winning documentary. I think that this partnering is important because it helps put together different perspectives and not just one opinion. The partnering also makes sure that everything is captured, of course four eyes see more than two eyes would. This partnership also made it possible to make this documentary available to everyone, so that everyone has the opportunity to log onto the Internet and get informed on this topic. We can partner with professionals by getting in contact with them, get in contact with someone who is interested in what we are currently filming and make sure that it is a working partnership, meaning you will be able to bring one thing to the table and the professional another thing. 

CCE Ronald McDonald House

This semester I volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House. This organization is not really related to my semester topic. The reason that I decided to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House is because I enjoy helping others and every single child staying at this home is battling cancer and I believe that sometimes all they require is someone to be there to support them and tell them that everything will be okay. So to be that person for these children and a few other reasons, I decided to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House even though it did not directly connect to my semester topic. I did expect something a little different from this volunteer station, but I was usually cleaning, doing laundry or making beds while I was there. Every now and then I was able to give the children who were staying at the home ice cream and I enjoyed that because it made the children happy. Every now and then I was also able to interact with the children and talk to them, which I found the best part of this volunteer experience. Overall, I enjoyed the experience at the Ronald McDonald House, but I disliked all of the cleaning that we had to do. The Ronald McDonald House gives families whose children are battling cancer a home, usually for a very low fee or completely for free if the families are not able to afford it. Families have their own room; there are two living rooms, two dining rooms, a kitchen and a playground for the children in the house. I learned that there are so many cases of children battling cancer in our own community and often families are not able to afford the care, treatments and medications needed to fight this long, hard battle. Although these children and families were suffering, I never once saw them sad. This changed my perspective and made me realize that I have so many things to be thankful for. These children are forced to fight for their lives every single day and they never give up, lose hope or stop fighting. I do plan to continue to volunteer there every now and then, not as often as I was doing for this class, because I unfortunately do not have the time to go every week. Also, for volunteers who go every week, you mostly clean, but I would much rather interact with the children and be able to talk to them and the families.  

Documentary Film

My group and I decided to do our documentary film on standardized testing this semester.
Here is the link, I hope everyone enjoys it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKhF1ni2hlc

TED Video

Link to TED Video:
http://www.ted.com/talks/andreas_schleicher_use_data_to_build_better_schools.html?quote=2053

The video “Andreas Schleicher: Use data to build better schools” is about how a country’s educations system may benefit from the PISA (OECD Programme for International Student Assessment) when developing education policies. Mr. Schleicher argues PISA is an innovative way to test people’s skills and knowledge by testing them with problems that would require that they actually understood the material, and if they are able to apply it in problems in which they have never been tested before; PISA tests the students’ abilities to adapt to new situations. This test is able to measure if a country is truly able to say that it provides “equal education” regardless of a student’s ethnic and economic background. The data collected from the PISA is able to provide data about which countries are providing excellent education to every student and the factors that contribute to this (selection of the best teachers, money spent on educational programs, and time spent on school), and from this, other countries may benefit by adapting the same model these successful countries have. Mr. Schleicher claims that common standardized test do not really provide any accurate information about a country’s education system. Our group topic relates to this video in the sense that the current standardized tests must be modified or eliminated as these do not prove what students really know and that in fact many are negatively affected by them. For our presentation, we plan to present a little bit of background information about our topic and the interviews we conducted for our documentary. After that, we will provide the steps we took to make the documentary and then a brief conclusion that summarizes our topic. Also, we plan to use plenty of visual to make sure we attract the audience’s attention.

Public School Systems

The Secret to Fixing Bad Schools

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/the-secret-to-fixing-bad-schools.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

This opinion piece was about the public school systems, if students are getting a good education and how to improve it. This article largely focused on one school (system) as a specific example. This public school was in Union City, which was known for failure and it made a drastic change and became a high-ranking public school. I liked it a lot that they focused on one specific school and I had not thought of doing that until after reading this opinion piece. By focusing on one specific public school, you are able to provide much more detail, ethos, logos and pathos in your paper. By narrowing down your topic to one specific thing about your topic, you are able to get the audience more involved in the problem and lean more towards what you are advocating. By focusing on one specific thing from your large topic, you can advocate one specific and detailed thing, such as in this article with the system of improvement that the school used. After reading this opinion piece, I have decided that when writing my opinion piece I will make sure to focus on one specific “side topic” from my main topic to keep it from getting messy and unorganized. By doing this, I will also be able to advocate one specific thing and clearly state which side of the issue that I am on. 

More Than Just Error Correction

This reading is mainly about students writing and revision processes. Students revise in many different ways, some are aware of how they revise and others are not. This reading included many studies and plenty of evidence on the different ways students revises. By conducting interviews after the writing process, including an observation, researchers were able to retrieve accurate information from the students and ask the students exactly why they did what they did. Through these studies and observations the researchers were able to see how students revise and why they revise certain things. You never really learn exactly how to revise in school, often it is said to do what you are most comfortable with. Although I do think it is good being able to do what is most comfortable for you, learning particular ways on how to revise correctly would be much more helpful. As it says in the reading, sometimes students were not exactly sure why they corrected something or why they corrected it how they did. Also what was mentioned in the paper and true was that as we, as authors of a paper, write the paper, everything will sound good and clear to us, but as others read the paper it might not be so clear to them. Writing and revising as well takes a lot of practice, which students often do not get, due to specific teaching curriculums. Students should be taught what to be aware of when revising a paper, either it be the students or another students. This article was helpful to read, because now it will make me think twice while I am writing and when I am revising my paper or another student’s paper.