Malinowitz

Malinowitz

D&J

2. How is the presence of lesbian and gay discourses in the composition classroom just as important to those who identify as being heterosexual?

I think it is very important because in this world there are many people who are all different from one another. People who are different from the norm should be treated the same and this can only happen if people become used to them so they are not seen as different. I believe that being cruel to these people is only a way of not knowing how to act around them so by having more experience it makes it no big deal.

5. Explain how Sojourner Truth deconstructed the category of “woman.”

She saw women as from a slavery point of view, where they could act like men did and be treated the same as men getting the same treatment, food, punishment and attitude as them. She shows that women can work as hard as men and have the same attitude as men (take care of themselves).

11. Revisit your pre-reading definition of the term “queer.” How has your definition changed as a result?

I have only ever used the word queer when someone intends to be horrible to someone, implying that they are strange or stupid, however I believe the real meaning of the word is to be attracted to the same sex which implies that this people are weird and strange.

A&E

2. Think about an aspect of your identity (gender, race, religion, ethnicity, etc.). What language do you use to identify with this discourse community and how did you appropriate this language? How would your sense of identity differ if you did not have this language to express your “self” or if this language was silenced? Have you experienced this at some point in your life? Explain.

I believe that with my gender identity of being a girl comes politeness. In general I believe that girls are stereotyped as being more polite than boys. For example saying please and thank you so therefore if a girl does not use their manners I feel this is stated or recognized by another person and the girl is called rude. Whereas if a boy is bad mannered it may just go un-noticed.

MM

What do you think your instructor might say is the most important idea in this text? Explain.

Inclusion, no matter who you are or what you are, you should be accepted into the community because society is very diverse. You can tell people how to act around others but until the situation actually arises you do not realize things that can occur, for example you may be mean to someone without realizing so the best way to learn how to deal with this is through experience and deal with people who may be different to yourself. 

Devitt

QFD&J:

1.      For me, each classes essay structure differs because the tone is likely to be different along with the genre. In Leisure and Recreation I am likely going to set my essay out as more of a debate between one organization and another or maybe one idea to another. Whereas in my student athlete class when an essay is set it is structured as more of a report rather than a comparison. Along with the structure grammar is also likely to be different because a debate would use different tones to a report. A debate would be firm whereas a report maybe more inviting.

2.      At OU there are most definitely a wise range of genres mainly due to the amount of different interests people hold. For example at Peaden and at the ping centre a more competitive and word hard ethic is likely to be set there rather than at Walter Hall where I have my health class. Different people have different genres and those people give off those genres through the interests they have.

A&EI

3.      By researching through ethnographic fieldwork you get to discover with your own eyes different themes and ways of interacting which also allows you to see effective and ineffective methods within communities. This may also allow you to see what causes problems or how people interact and communicate with each other.

MM: I believe that ethnographic fieldwork is the best way to understand a discourse community because it allows you to experience the community yourself and have your own opinions on different people and themes rather than reading about them or having to go off other peoples views who you may have a completely different personality to and also research shows that learning through experience is one of the best ways of learning. 

Project 3 prop

For Project 3 I want my idea to be based around a sporting team. I myself am involved in a sporting team and I believe it can offer so many examples of authority, inclusion and exclusion of specific people and I can also use interviews of team members as well as observation to relate to project 3 topics. I can also relate behaviors to success and failure and see how that changes in different situations. 

wardle

D&J:

1. Wardle identifies engagement, imagination and alignment as the three ways newcomers try to belong in a new community. Firstly engagement can be used by someone to firstly get involved in what’s going on. For example a person may do this by sharing a common ground with someone in the group and showing an interest. Secondly imagination, this may be used to promote yourself to the group. For example if by using your imagination you come up with a respectful idea the group are going to listen and respect, however this may have a negative effective if the group do not agree. Lastly Alignment, would allow a person to come into a group and find where they fit in and where they do not. For example if the person knows they unlikely to get on with person then they should avoid them and stay with people they share common thoughts with.

3. A positive outcome was always unlikely to occur when too much control was used. As soon as a person becomes too controlling others do not wish to listen because they see it as “bossy, rude or even the person may come across as arrogant.” So if anything the people are likely to turn against them and do the opposite to what they wish.

5. I agree with Gee because I believe that you cannot just joining different groups and know it is going to have a positive outcome so therefore you have to gradually ease your way in and adjust to different environments and also it may take a fairly long time to realise this group is not for you but unless you try and fit in with how they work you wont know.

7. I was part of a field hockey team and a person with authority was our captain. The captain was a key role who was meant to lead the team by example of and off the pitch so anything they did was analyzed by everyone around. Unfortunately she made a bad decision one night and got drunk before a match. This led to her loosing her captaincy because the coach believed that if other players wanted to do it and she maintained captain then they would have an excuse to do so.

Gee

James Paul Gee:

QFD&J:

3. In this piece Gee differentiates between "Discourse" and "discourse", one has a capital and one doesn’t. When he explains “discourse” he refers to stretches of language which make sense whereas we he explains “Discourse” he refers to (writing)-doing-being-valuing-believing combinations. Therefore he believes that discourse is part of a Discourse due to Discourses being in the world; forms of life which integrate words. At the first I thought I may understand that having a capital letter at the start of the word can make it very different however, not this different. Gee seems t have a whole different meaning on each word rather than it just being a name for something.

5. I believe it means that Discourses are linked to an individual person. So a Discourse will change depending on the identity it is being used with. So the way something is said or written within a Discourse depends on the identity of the person who is writing it and what they are trying to say. This implies that no discourses are wrong they are just merely opinions or standpoints which can be agreed or disagreed with.

11. Gee defines Metaknowledge as "Liberation and power, because it leads to the ability to manipulate, to analyze, to resist while advancing"

13. A discourse I would like to join is the Education College of campus because I hope to be an Elementary school teacher. I believe this college with help me learn everything I need to know in order to be the best I can and to be successful as a teacher. In order to be part of the college and do well I have to do well in school.

A&E:

3.

Dear Mrs Reece

There are many types of Discourses and Discourses can be defined in different ways. For example there may be dominant, nondominant, primary, secondary, literacy, apprenticeship and many more. As a teacher to help pupils I believe that you have to allow people to have their own opinions and chose what they want to do rather than shaping that which is why people have different Discourses. 

Glenn

Glenn Questions

Pre-reading:

1. Find an advertisement for an animal based food product. Does it feature an animated animal? How does its presence or absence affect your feelings toward the product and the company?

Nandos. The logo for this chicken based restaurant is a cockerel. I believe that the logo just provides the customers with an image which relates to food in the restaurant. In this case I do not believe it is done to draw the customers in. Also I believe that unless you are a vegetarian and even vegetarians do eat here, you are not going to be affected by an image as to what you eat. 

2. What connection do you have to farm animals? How much knowledge or exposure do you have to farm culture?

Personally I have no connection to farm animals. I went to a farm when I was little but other than that I do not really see farm animals or have a particular interest in them. I have a dog and I used to have a rabbit but I have never owned a pig or a horse or anything like that. I also have little knowledge in the farm culture because I was brought up in a town rather than in the countryside where wildlife and farming is a bigger thing.

QfJ&D:

1. What, according to Glenn, are the main characteristics of “factory farm discourse” (145)? How do those characteristics sanitize the process of factory farming? Is this type of discourse ethical? Why or why not?

There are two things within the farm factory discourse, double speak and speaking animals. Double speak was involved within the industry and may involve saying one thing but actually meaning something else. Speaking animals in adverts promotes to maybe the younger generation but at the same time gives a false impression of the animal being happy but in reality it isn’t. I believe it is not ethical because it is lying and the customers are not buying or consuming products we think we are. 

Lab Work

Topic: effects of reading to a fetus or infant

Question: does often reading to a fetus or infant cause them to be more literate at an earlier stage?

In my own experience my parents read to me from a young age and encouraged me to read words back to them so that I could learn at the same time as listening. I believe that through my parents help before going to school, it gave me a head start and I could understand and follow work at school better than if I went into school without being able to read at all. Due to me being able to follow in class I believe it helped me stay engaged and follow schoolwork rather than becoming bored or disinterested due to finding the work too hard to understand.

Literacy

Literacy’s

At a very early age everyone learns different literacy’s whether it be learning the alphabet or learning our times tables or tying our shoe lace. Mainly all our early literacy’s come from our parents in socialisation. After these kinds of literacy’s it is very common that everyone branches off into their own interests depending on the people and environment they are around.

Personally a literacy I learn from a young age was sport. At the age of 6 I began to play tennis because my family was very sporty and then at the age of 10 I began to play hockey. I played both sports at high school and I now play Hockey at University. Both of these various types of information whether it be skills, tactics or rules. I find that sport helps me relax and forget about everything else.

Another literacy I have learnt is technology. The use of laptops and smart phones are very common now so as a society we have to also become literate in these areas. Being computer literate for me was encouraged at high school then at home and in society it was used more and more which meant I had places to practice. I believe that as society develops so do we, so I also therefore believe that all literacy’s we develop are always influence from an external source.

Another literacy I developed was how to cook. From a young age I used to cook dinner and desserts with either my Mum or my Nan. They encouraged me to learn and also gave me the experience of cooking because it is a very good skill to have as we grow up and have to become independent.

Overall I think it is important to recognise that none of these literacy’s are possible without our one main literacy that we learn when we are younger which is reading. Almost everyone learns how to read just in very different ways. For me, the main way I learnt was reading with my parents before attending school. 

Wysocki

Questions for Discussion and Journaling

2. How does how Wysocki set up the text visually work for you as a reader? Is it a low-visual text as Bernhardt would explain it? Explain your answer.

Firstly the picture engages the reader’s attention straight away because it breaks down the text and makes it look as though there is not as much writing as there actually is. Secondly the photos and diagrams help the reader understand and engage in the piece of writing. The piece is very well structured with a clear title and bold headings. The headings and paragraphs breakdown the piece, enhancing the chance of the reader having a positive attitude whilst reading the piece rather than an attitude that it is too much to read so they will not bother reading it. I do not think it is a low-visual text because it contains different variations in the font, for example bold, highlighted and italic fonts which changes it up for the reader.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

2. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Do you agree with Kant that “the beautiful is that which pleases universally,” that some things are inherently beautiful? Or do you agree with Wysocki that “beauty is something we construct together” and subjected to social forces?

I believe that a person can contain beauty not only physically but in their characteristics aswell. If a person is polite then to someone they may seem beautiful because they are a lovely person. I believe beauty is a mixture of genetic inheritance and social structure. In the media we see images which are classified as beautiful so therefore our views are socially constructed to believing this however we may not necessarily think this without being told. Also genetically we are giving features and we are shaped internally through socialization, however we can use external sources to shape beauty such as surgery or being changed in to someone we are not depending on who we hang around with and our environment.

Meta Moment

Wysocki states, "There is no question that there is a certain necessity to effective visual composition because a design must fit a viewer's expectation if it is to make sense… but if design is to have any sense of possibility—of freedom—to it, then it must also push against the conventions, the horizon, of those expectations" (97). How does this statement apply to Wysocki's article? Does it apply to any other visual art? If so, how?

Wysocki states that a statement must make a big enough impact to effect views in society which does apply to this statement. In order to have an impact the message must be put across so the deign has to be strong. This can be expressed through words but the biggest impact would be through images. Images show beauty in a light which people may not have expected and which may shape peoples views. 

Baron

Baron

QFD&J:

2.  I believe that in this piece, Baron does shrug at technology but also sees it as a good thing replacing old methods, such as type writers. I think he implies that technologies increase people’s likelihood of becoming lazy, because he talks about how one day he did not know how to draft due to forgetting because he has become so used to typing. I agree that technology makes people “lazier” but I also believe that technologies help with efficiency and making it easier to communicate and write better papers.

4. Other than a pencil, other technologies which were once high technology are pens, highlighters, paper rubbers, etc. These are all writing tools and although they all basically do the same thing I believe even these types of technologies all has a step up from each other. For example the rubber was a step up from the pencil because it allowed people to erase mistakes and highlighters are a step up from pens because it allowed people to identify key points people were writing.

A&E:

3. Keeping records means that we can see changes we have made and also improvements we have made. This is a positive because if we ever need to go back and look as various stages things have gone through we can just look through old records. Not keeping records does not allow us to research and look up information but not keeping records can also help us forget mistakes we may have made in the past. On computers we may write pieces but not save them which mean these records become erased. Sometimes we do this without knowing when really we do want a record of our work.

MM: I think looking at writing is a positive, because everyone talks about how amazing technology is and how it can benefit us greatly. So if we talk about writing as a technology this allows people to have the same views on it. Also if we see writing as a technology it means we can keep developing it overtime and make changes to improve it. Personally I wouldn’t usually think of writing as a technology because there are not mechanical devices involved, I just have to do it myself and my brain still has to think about what to write, however if you break down other technologies there is always thinking involved from something which makes me think writing must also be a technology. 

Malcolm X

Malcolm X

QFD&J:

1. I believe that Malcolm is directing this piece at African Americans and the deprived. Firstly African Americans because he refers to a person in the text as a “the white man”, which makes me feel he is emphasising the white because it is different to him and the readers. Secondly the deprived, because throughout the text he refers to the limited sources he had available but yet he was still able to do what he wanted.

3. From a young age, Malcolm was deprived but he had sponsors such as books to help him with what he wanted to do. In prison I believe that his sponsors were books, the library and the floor in his cell, where he found it easy to concentrate and work.

6. I believe that motivation relates to your interest in a specific task you’re your taking part in. Therefore the more interest you have in a specific area the more motivation you will have to do well in it. So in my experience I have more motivation to train hard to be good at my hobbies whereas when it comes to studying for an exam, I have less interest in the specific area so therefore I have less motivation to sit down and study quietly.

A&E:

1. I believe as technology has increased and developed, there are two types of literate. Firstly being technology literate means you understand ways to connect through technology and you are able to work with technologies in order to do different tasks. Secondly being literate in a normal sense means that you write well and your grammar and punctuation are used correctly making your writing formal and high-quality.

2. My most influential literacy sponsor has to be my parents. My parents taught me how to read and write before going to school. Parents not only socialise you into beliefs and values but they also teach you basic skills. My parents also used sponsors to help be my sponsor such as learning materials with letters and numbers on to help me see visually what I needed to learn which made it easier. I believe I learnt from my parents the most because they were familiar to me and I grew up trusting them and listening to everything they told me.

MM:

I believe a teacher would say that the most important thing to take from the Malcolm reading is we can achieve in a deprived circumstance and our social backgrounds should not hold us back. As long as we have the correct attitude and motivation we can achieve and do well in life. I also believe Malcolm’s piece shows us that we should not be handed things on a plate, we have to work for them.

Alexie:

A&E:

1. I believe that people can overcome poverty but not all. In extreme cases it would be hard to ever imagine them succeeding without any, or very few resources. I believe sponsors such as books and institutions such as libraries would be open to most people so these would be the most common used, however once again in extreme cases these materials may be hard to gain access of.

Bell Hooks

AyR:

1. I do not believe I have ever fictionalized a memory but I know that sometimes I have Déjà vu, so I may see things which I believe have already happened. I also believe that sometimes I may over emphasise something within the experience than how I actually experienced it just to make it more interesting.

A&E:

3. I believe writing an experience down can add detail to the experience rather than it just being a rough memory. Also by writing it down at the time the event occurred can mean that you have it fresh in the mind so you can write a clear review on it. Another positive would be that by writing it down you can add emphasis on specific parts of the experience. For example make it more dramatic.