The End Is Near

As we come close to finishing our portfolio, I decided I wanted to blog about the experience in general of creating my first writing portfolio. 

First, like I said, this is my first ever portfolio. In finishing it I have a sense of accomplishment; I am really proud of my work this semester. In the beginning of the semester, I was terrified of the 20 page requirement. But I realized as the semester went on that when you take the time to break down the steps and do it in pieces, 20 pages isn't hard at all. I think I'll be able to apply this to other writing that I'll need to do in college and beyond. The only problem is that in class, I am required to get certain sections done by a specific date. It will take a lot more effort to make my own schedule and force myself to stick to it next time I have a semester-long writing assignment. So I think the actual process of breaking it up and writing it was a good learning experience. 

Also, I think I'll take away from this the many ways we tried to come at our writing. Free-writing, for example, I never thought would work well for me. But the way we went back and made 2 outlines, one from our writing and one for the final draft, I realized that free-writing helps me remember to include a lot of things that wouldn't have occurred to me if I had been writing to a strict outline. 

One other thing is that we were always expected to evaluate our own writing. We had to decide the format, what should be included, and how to put the end result together. The three extra essays for the portfolio were a way to tie all of it together in our own evaluation of the work we had done. 

Now, I'm just excited to see how the end result turns out!

Presentations

This week in class we started doing presentations today, on Wednesday. I thought I'd write a little about what I thought. First off, I was really impressed with the professional style of the presentations. It was obvious that everyone was trying to speak clearly (with a little exception made for Taylor since she only had 4 minutes to present), and everyone's projects were very informative and interesting. And I am going to say right now, that after Kayvon's presentation, I definitely plan on flossing tonight. I'm not going to turn down an extra few years. I also now have an idea of how short 5-7 minutes is. I was planning on reading my entire essay, which is about 4 pages long. I think that might take a bit more time than I actually have, so these presentations also helped me plan my own. All in all--I look forward to more on Friday!

Class this Week

I thought the exercise we did on Wednesday was pretty informative. I think our group had a pretty good idea comparing and contrasting essays and speeches, since both are kind of similar, yet at the same time very different. Essays are a one short deal, make your points, make your conclusion, and hope you convinced your reader. Speeches, on the other hand, can emphasize points more than once without people thinking you are being redundant, since you can change your voice inflection  and the way you are saying the point. It is a much more personal interaction, whereas in an essay the writer and the reader are entirely separate. But then again both are long pieces of written writing (although one is performed) that are meant to be persuasive and informative. 

My Chosen Genre - The Essay

I know that we just did essays, but this time I am writing a completely different kinds of essay. My last one was very informative and scientific, but this one will be more creative and, of course, call for change. 

The kind of essay I am describing is sometimes called a Descriptive Essay, which means there is a lot of descriptions of the setting, and of people. Also, there is a lot of use of metaphors and similes and often is a personal story.

A lot of different kinds of people write these essays - we read a few of them for class a few weeks ago. Also, like I brought up in class, one example is Jamaica Kincaid's "A Small Place." Mostly the reason for writing them is to call for social change (lik Kincaid's), or to bring attention to something not many people know about or realize. They are often published in literary magazines, and are sometimes able to reach a wider audience that way. 

I have a lot of freedom in this genre. There are so many kinds of essays--I can really write whatever I want however I want to. I am choosing to write it to bring attention to an issue that I find important that most people never think about. I am bringing in a lot of personal stories to make it interesting and more real for the reader. 

Sources: Along with our in class resources and course packet, I read an essay called "How to say nothing in 500 words."

Assignment #3

For my last assignment, like I've been talking about, I want to do something more creative. So I think I would like to write a short story/creative essay about what happened to ASD people after they leave high school. I think I'd like to write about three examples that I know about: 1) Dan - mildly MR, ~age 25, works as a janitor and lives with his mother; 2) Jamie - severely disabled, ASD, age 17, unable to work, lives with his mother; 3) an example from a group home/insitution (I don't know anyone personally); 4) Ariel and Christine - twins, both severly disabled, ASD, given up by parents, live with foster parents, ~age 6. Basically I want to write about something people don't normally think about--the fact that some of these people can't take care of themselves and are a huge burden to their parents and to society, really. I don't have a solution, but I really feel like people don't realize how big a problem this is. 

Essay Comments

I was pretty happy that Prof. Scott didn't trash my essay and tell me I needed to rewrite it--but then again I don't think she has the heart to do that to anyone. So I was pretty happy with what I read. My research proposal needed a lot of work when I got it back, but I'm really glad that my essay was mostly well written. There was one idea that she pointed out that I hadn't even thought about--that I was being confusing on whether or not I was talking about VT, or any college. That's a good point since I think I started out talking about VT but by the end of my essay wanted to apply it to all colleges, since my thesis changed as I wrote the essay. Now I know I can go back and make it less confusing. I think it was good that she had a clear idea about whether or not to use personal stories in my essay since I was a little confused about whether that would make my essay more or less legitimate. Anyway, I was definitely in agreement with the items that she pointed out and plan to fix them pronto. And I'm looking forward to the next assignment. 

The Essays

When I first started writing my essay, I already had a lot of it in my mind from the research proposal, which in some ways made it easier and in some ways made it harder. I have begun to feel very trapped by my topic, and I often feel that I am repeating ideas over and over because I have written and rewritten them so many times between my proposal and all the drafts of my essay. I know we have one more assignment to go with the same topics, and after that, I think I won't be writing about AS anymore for a very long time. 

Especially after I heard Prof. Scott's essay in class, I really had an itch to write something more creative, even if it were on my same topic. I feel like I've stuck to academic essays because they are all I know and have experience with from high school. I think the next essay that I write will have to be personal, however, since I have all these ideas rolling around in my head now. 

This Class. (Yes, I'm going to be that general in the title.)

What I find most different about this class from other English classes (and I know I'm not technically supposed to call this an "English Class") is that what we do in class is so productive. 

I remember in high school English we'd maybe...read a short story in class, or do creative writing assignments to be turned in at the end of class, or act out a scene from a Shakespeare play. And then for homework we'd have to write an analytical essay comparing two works of literature we read over the summer, or something like that. And the thing was, there never was a connection between what we did in class and what we did out of class. It always seemed like the out-of-class things were the worthwhile, contemplative, engaging activities while the ones in class were just an hour and a half of filler. 

I really like that in this class the activities we do in class actually contribute to our assignments outside of class. Sometimes, in class, I find myself hoping something like, "I really can't do any more with this essay until I make a definite list of things to improve in it" and then lo and behold that's what we end up doing. 

But not only are the in class activities helpful, but a lot of them are also ones I've never thought to do on my own, and now I know I'll do before writing another essay. 

I think my point is that even though I've said my entire life that I hate English class, since I've always been so frustrated with the way we had it previously, I think I'm finally learning some worthwhile researching methods that will help me in my major. My major is, I think, going to be political science, which involves a lot of research papers. I think I'll be ready. 

How To Improve My Essay

After reviewing the two pieces about essays and also doing all the writing exercises in class today, I've come up with a lot of ways to improve my essay. From the pieces we read for homework, it's pretty clear I should have a lot more focus on exploration and interpretation instead of only focusing on facts. 

A lot of the things we read were about how essays should be personal reflections, etc., but that didn't seem to really apply to my essay since mine is a lot more focused on analysis of facts and has a more concrete thesis. However, I do realize that I need to keep in mind that this isn't a 5th grade style 5 paragraph essay (intro point 1 point 2 point 3 conclusion) which I still tend to do a variation of (sometimes something like intro point point counter point point conclusion). 

Other things I noticed I need to do are put my paragraphs in a more logical order. A lot of what I say is important and needs to stay, but the essay can get confusing since the paragraphs are not in an order that directly leads into my conclusion. 

Also, I think that my thesis in my intro is clear, but the concluding paragraph I have doesn't really connect to that original thesis, so that needs to be fixed up. And one last thing, I'm thinking that after all my persuading essay parts, I should put in a plan-of-action section showing people what needs to be done because of "this this and this" that I outlined in the essay. 

Research Proposal Comments

The comments I got, I think, are very helpful. And not just because it is the same professor who wrote them that will be grading this blog. Most of the comments were directed toward the same idea--I wasn't giving enough detail/I wasn't explaining myself well enough. 

They were helpful because even though I know what I'm talking about when I'm writing, sometimes you need a second reader to tell you where you missed a point...most likely a point you had in your head but never transferred to the paper. 

I guess a lot of what I wrote was based on the research I did, and while I knew the other details, a person who hadn't read those sources would be lost in the proposal. Other than a few smaller problems in my paper, that was the advice given: expand. Actually, that makes complete sense since when I was writing the proposal, I kept thinking to myself, 'I really feel like this isn't long enough, I'm not saying enough.' But while the solution I thought would be to add more sections, really, what I needed to do was add more into each section. 

Contemplations on the Essay

When we first brought up the topic of essays in class, I was a little nervous about that fact that the research we had done for the research proposal was supposed to be enough for our essay as well. For one thing...I think a lot of what I wrote in my research proposal was my own thoughts and ideas which I am thinking now would have a better place in my essay. So I'm not sure what to do about that.

 I think I'll probably repeat some of the same basic information that was in my research proposal, and then expand on my own personal opinion on the issue I was proposing. Also, I have a lot of personal experience with people with AS, so I think I could spice up an essay with stories and accounts of actual people I've met, so I can balance out the more scientific fact after fact after fact style that my research proposal used. I intend to try to appeal to a more everyday person and not pound them with statistics and other boring numbers.

Well...I guessed I answered my own question in my blog. I plan to write an essay with a good balance of facts and personal stories, to make the essay seem intellectual and researched but also make the audience care about what I have to say. 

Fall Break

It's been a long week! I can't wait to relax and de-stress over fall break!

What makes an essay an essay?

Well, I read all of these essays early since I will be away from a computer over fall break and needed to do the assignment now.

They were very interesting. When I first read the assignment on the 3-week planner, I thought they were all going to be boring scientific or historical essays. I thought that because my topic, Asperger’s Syndrome, is going to be very scientific, with a lot of facts and figures. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were all narrative style essays that were entertaining and also educational.

So that gets me into what I think make these pieces fall into the category of “essay.” As I was reading, I picked out a few similarities that I saw.

One, the styles were similar. There were a lot of action verbs—and therefore a lot of action. They were all extremely descriptive and really poetically written using devices like metaphors and similes. I was impressed by how descriptive they all were. The one example that I keep thinking about is the description in The Stunt Pilot when they flew through a cloud and in front of them was a huge mountain of red, iron-laden rock.

Another stylistic point I noticed was that there seemed to be a turning point in each essay. The best example is from Silent Dancing when it goes from describing her life and her home to talking about how she overheard her mother talking about an abortion and it scared her for the rest of her childhood.

A third characteristic of the three essays that I picked up on was that each had their own educational bits and pieces. Some put them in separately from the story, some within the story. For example, there would be a paragraph in Silent Dancing about Puerto Rican culture to explain what is going on in the story. Also, there would be technical terms specific to the topic that would be explained in the reading. Again, I Silent Dancing the word “la mancha” was explained to mean “the stain,” which had to do with looking and seeming like an immigrant. In The Stunt Pilot, there were technical terms that had to do with maneuvers in flying.

Last, each had a certain controversy or point that hooked in the reader. For Silent Dancing, it was the abortion story. For Ali in Havana it was his disease and his experience with Castro. In Stunt Pilot it was how the pilots, both the crop dusting ones and the stunt ones, accepted death as routine in their jobs. Some people may find other controversies they though were more interesting, but those are what did it for me.

So in conclusion, what I found that linked these writings together as essays were: 1)style (descriptive and action words), 2) turning point, 3) informative, 4) a way to hook the audience. 

Questions on pg. 99

1) I would like to determine what Tech should do concerning students with Asperger's Syndrome and the services they need. These services include instructing AS students on appropriate social behavior in college and possibly social activities for them to participate in. Also it would give the students what's called "academic coaching" (one on one help in classes from a trained professional in their disability) more often and with more classroom accommodations. 

2) I think my lit review is very good and leads to my question well. That is definitely a strength of my paper. I think a way I could make it better is by adding a section that shows the importance of my research--why what I'm doing needs to be done and how it will actually affect the organization that is funding me. 

3) I think I did pretty well acknowledging both sides of the argument, since that is a major part of what my research project is. Although I am choosing a side, I will be doing a lot of in depth research on both sides to give each a fair chance. 

4) If it turns out that AS students need extra services, then it is up to universities to implement the necessary services. My paper could be used as proof or guidance of why those services are necessary. It would specifically show what needs to be done, why, and how. However, if it turns out that I go against my hypothesis and decide students don't need these services and it really is too much hand-holding, then it will reaffirm to parents of AS students that everyone is on a level playing field with the services already provided by the department of services for students with disabilities. 

Literature Review

Literature Review

Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) is a disorder on the Autism Spectrum that cripples a student in social interaction. However, the medical community only began to recognize AS about 20 years ago. Now that students with AS are reaching the age of university enrollment, colleges have to deal with a whole wave of students with a disorder that never needed special attention before(Smith, 2008).

As a result, certain organizations such as the Achieving in Higher Education with Autism and Developmental Disabilities (AHEADD)(Pharma Business Week, 2007) and College Living Experience (Lipka, 2006) have sprung up. These organizations are designed to help college-aged students adapt to the new environment that a 2 or 4-year university requires. These organizations provide social and academic advising to students on a weekly basis, giving students, for a price, extra help that the university services don’t provide.

The problem that arises is that in helping these students, the actual integrity of the college experience can be overlooked. When these organizations push for more and more alternative assignments and other kinds of special accommodations, the student may not be in reality be keeping up with the other students, no matter the grade he receives (Farrell, 2008).

This leads to the problem of having students in college who simply are not ready for university life. If a student in pushed through his 4 years of college by these programs and his parents, the integrity of his college degree and all others with it will have been compromised.

Some students, however, use these programs as simply a jump start toward their education, and only remain in the program for 1-2 years, and after this point are capable of finishing their degrees independently (Lipka, 2006). This seems like the ideal usage of these academic programs.

Another blatant problem with the programs still remains, however. These organizations can cost thousands of dollars per year (Farrell, 2008) (Lipka, 2006), creating a sort of elite class of disabled students within the university. Because these programs are not yet all covered by student loans, students with AS who do not have the money to participate in the programs have no way of having the same opportunity as students with AS from wealthier families (Lipka, 2006).

Bibliography

Farrell, E. (2008). Asperger's Confounds Colleges. . Chronicle of Higher Education , 51 (7), A35-A36.

Lipka, S. (2006). For the Learning Disabled, a Team Approach to College. Chronicle of Higher Education , 53 (17), A36-A37.

Pharma Business Week. (2007, December 10). Asperger's Syndrome; Autism U: As College Application Deadlines Near, Growing Adult Population Focuses on Higher Education. Pharma Business Week , p. 2.

Smith, C. (2008). Support Services for Students with Asperger's Syndrome in Higher Education. Academic Search Complete , 41 (3), 515-531.

A Research Topic?

So, as I've been reading through my research to write the literature review, I think I may have come up with a couple ideas for my research topic. I started out broadly, just researching anything that had to do with disabled students, physically or mentally, on college campuses. Then I narrowed it down to college students with Asperger's Syndrome. I think a good basic research question would be (I might be able to phrase it better later):

What are reasonable accommodations for AS students that do not compromise the college experience? 

a) Who should be responsible for funding these accommodations?

Interview with Dr. Angle

I did my site visit and then my interview with Dr. Susan Angle this morning from 10:15 to 11:15. It had been really difficult to set up because the staff are overrun with students who need appointments! Getting an appointment for just an interview was a big task. But after a lot of scheduling, I got my interview. 

The interview itself went really smoothly. My computer recording worked, but I also took notes on important details. Dr. Angle was really nice and really accommodating. By the time I shut off my recorder, I was still talking to her about interesting facts about SSD and special education in general. 

I was really interested to find out that SSD does presentations for classes about disabled services when teachers are out of town. They recommend that everyone go see one of their programs, since many students see the examples of disabilities and realize that they themselves could use the help of SSD. 

Anyway, I let her know that I wasn't sure what my research topic was going to be, so she actually expanded on a lot of the questions I asked her, going into a lot more detail than I expected, which led me to asking a lot of follow up questions that I think may help me come up with a research topic. 

Another interesting thing she talked about was how different Tech is now from when she began working here in 1995. She said the staff are much more willing to work with students with disabilities and provide or create alternative assignments for students with special needs than they were before. 

All in all, it was a really good interview. I think I will be able to use a lot of the information I got to form more questions to research or even to cite in my paper. Since I recorded it, I can even use direct quotes, which I am very excited about. 

A Question for Anyone

Does anyone know how to record audio (for the intverview) on an Apple computer? I know some of the programs can record, but I'm new to Apple and not sure how to use those programs. 

Course Goals

My three course goals:

1. To learn how to correctly create and use footnotes, endnotes, bibliographies, and other means of citation. 

2. To improve my organization in technical papers. 

3. To learn how to create a good thesis statement for any kind of writing. 

Interview Questions

  Planned Interview Questions

1.       1. What are some major services that are available on campus for disabled students?

2.       2. What kinds of services exist for students with mental disabilities if any?

3.       3. Does having a disability affect a student’s chance of acceptance into Tech?

4.       4. How accessible do you see our campus as opposed to other colleges?

5.       5. Do you feel that faculty and staff treat disabled students differently?

6.       6. How does Tech accommodate disabled students during social events, for example sports?

7.       7. Can you tell me about any specific challenging situation you’ve faced working with SSD?

8.       8.  Have there been any recent changes, or are there changes planned for the near future, in SSD?

9.       9. What improvements would you like to see in the services SSD provides?

10.   10. Finally, what attracted you to work with SSD?

 

A Day with the Football Fans

Heading out to the Furman game, I see tens of thousands of avid Virginia Tech football fans clustering around numerous gates and entrances into the beloved Lane Stadium. They range in age, from small children with painted faces and candy bars to alumni who seem old enough to have been the first graduating class at Tech. Young and old, male and female, student and alumni (and hopefuls), the crowd of Hokies chatters excitedly about crushing the enemy and jumping to Enter Sandman. 

After the fans pass through security guards, bag checks, and flights of terrifyingly steep stairs, they find their seats with friends do a number of curious acts.  One might strip off a shirt revealing the traditional maroon and orange chest coloring.  Another might put on an orange wig, or paint the face of a friend with a giant “VT” symbol. 

Seats continue to fill until well after fans have welcomed their home team onto the field. Overpriced food and drinks lure customers at every turn.  As the game begins, nothing else exists in the world but the players and the coaches. 

Tradition is essential to the game. Keys jingle at the gobble of a Hokie, a canon is fired for every point scored, and fans stand, and never sit, out of respect and fanaticism for the game. 

There are rules to being a Hokie football fan, however. Excitement and spirit are necessary, but there is a possibility of going overboard. I watch an over zealous, intoxicated fan being led down the stadium stairs by two police officers and get handcuffed at the stairwell. This fan will likely be eradicated from the football fan community and never allowed to attend another game. 

Even after the last minute winds down, the game really doesn’t end for hours more. Late at night, crazed fans yell “Let’s Go!” to no one in particular, and there doubtless will be someone at 3am within earshot, who yells back “Hokies!” Being a Hokie football fan is not to be taken lightly—it is a lifestyle for everyone who enters Lane Stadium on a Saturday or Thursday. So White Out, Orange Effect, Maroon Effect, whatever game it may be, the football fans will be there and ready for a day of tradition and Hokie culture until the last post-game party goer finally rests in bed at 9 am the next morning. 

Fact or Opinion?

Some of our group statements:

-Most truths come from personal experience. 

-The rest comes from accepting knowledge from an expert. 

-There are grey areas between right and wrong in some topics. 

-Facts and evidence change over time. 

I've thought a lot about how my personal experience in the field of Special Education and just generally with Special needs people has affected my perspectives. I was talking to one person who was telling me that Special Education was a drain on funds in schools, especially for the students who could never become productive members of society. Of course I immediately thought he was wrong, but I've thought a lot about his opinion. I really want to teach Special needs students after college, so hearing that he thinks that what I think is one of the most important jobs is sort of irrelevant to helping society was a huge shock, and I was offended. I tried to think about why he had that opinion, when I thought the absolute opposite. I realized that he placed the good of overall society above the good of a single individual. There's no way to argue whether one of us was "righter" than the other. 

I had this in mind when we went over "How do you know?" I knew coming into class that people have very different opinions on things that no one can be considered right about. Other things might be religion, money, politics, music, or even sports. 

When I go out and do research at SSD and interview one of the directors, I know all this will be swimming around in my head. I'm going to make sure that at least half of my interview questions are answerable in facts, so I can have academic, irrefutable information to add to my research. But I also want to ask questions and see how the director feels the system is working, in her opinion. Then I was also hoping to go around Tech and see if I believe everything she said, or see what my opinion differs on. I am certain she believes Tech is doing everything it can do provide services for the disabled. But I also heard a Tech student actually say that Tech is one of the worst schools she's ever seen regarding accessibility for the disabled. Although I will mostly be researching services for physically disabled students, I might also bring up services for students with ADD or other kinds of disorders. I read in a magazine one time about how some colleges are creating special services for students with autism, to allow students with mild autism to attempt a college education. 

I know I'm biased and think that services for Special needs students are imperative, but I will go into my research trying to think of all the students at Tech and how the cuts in budget affect them as well. I think my library research will be more important in finding out facts, but I think in this case the opinion of the director might be very important for my research as well. It's time to find out how well Tech is doing in taking care of all its students equally. 

Communities I'm Interested In

I know I already talked about this in class, but what I really want to do is become a Special Education teacher after college. So my first choice in a community here is the Services for Student with Disabilities (SSD) department at Tech. Also, I'm a huge fan of Tennis and have played almost my entire life, so another community I could do would be the Tennis or varsity sports communities, and do some research with some of the team members to see what it's like. 

My First Blog

Hi! Welcome to my first blog ever! I don't really know what a blog is or how to make mine interesting, but I will do my best to keep everyone entertained.