brionnan-blog

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Blogging for school

Blogging for this class has been a great experience, I love expressing my thoughts and feeling on here with my peers, I feel more comfortable than just writing a paper to the teacher, because it's more laid back. I love using fun hashtags and adding pictures. I love how we blogger challenges, I do ALL of them for extra points, as you can see haha. Looking back at my posts, some were crappy because I didn't understand the reading or maybe forgot to do it over the weekend and did the blog post between classes Monday morning. I think this has helped me be more open, I've always been shy and NEVER talked in class but this class is a small discussion group class which I like. I love reblogging or commenting back on other people's posts.

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Civic Text

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Writing as Public Power

Gabor differentiates between civic discourse and public discourse by using different media. Public literacy and public discourse include much more than civic discourse. Civic literacy is the understanding of and ability to use writing as power in public, political and community-based situation. Examples of a civic discourse are books, newspapers, magazines, novels, posters, etc. Examples of a public discourse are to write, vote, or donate. Gabor defines service learning as a method of teaching that requires students to give something tangible to the local community while learning the academic content of the course.

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I definitely agree with you when you said you had to re-read the message over and over, because that was me too! It made me think more critically as well, because I honestly had no idea what those words meant.

My first impression in reading what Swales wrote made me second guess my understanding of the reading. I had to re-read the message over and over again to actually grasp onto what he was writing about. The tone Swales had made it hard to follow, which is good and bad. The big words and “trying to...

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Swales Discourse Community

I think that this was a very dryreading and the terms and ways he talked about his information was kind of confusing. I had to read it 3 times to really understand some things and I still didn’t get a full understanding. I also don’t like how he wrote it only for those with certain word or phrase knowledge it made the reading harder and elongated also it was so hypocritical. Swales spent valuable pages arguing against these communities or the things involved with them but then goes and writes in a sense only understandable for some. I think that this article could have gotten the message across a lot better and more efficient but that’s the way he chose to do it. I learned the information relatively well and think I learned a few things about the development and pieces of a discourse community. After talking about this in class and reading the 6 defining characteristics I was able to get a better feel of what a discourse community really is.

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Writing Across the University

From reading this article, I realized that transitioning from high school to college is a much bigger step than I thought. My high school teachers would always say "we're doing this to prepare you all for college" but now that I think about it, it didn't prepare me at all. College level classes require more reading, there are more exams, WAY harder basically! I always remember hearing my teachers in middle school say "NEVER start a sentence with but, because or and" and "your paper must be 5 complete paragraphs, intro, body - 3 main statements and a conclusion" but that is not true for every college professor. In college, I've noticed you have more freedom on how you want to write your paper, what you want to write your paper on and how you want to format your paper, but in high school, we HAD to follow those strict boring guidelines that everyone hated. I really liked this article, because the whole time I was reading it, I was saying "YESSS, I remember hearing that!"  

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Hey! I'm graduating this year from highschool and I've been accepted to a university for the coming fall. I'm nervous because I don't really know what to expect from a university curriculum or course compared to a highschool course. Is there any chance you could explain the basic differences between highschool and university? Love your blog!! Thanks!

Hi! That’s great, congratulations! I hope you enjoy university!

Everyone is nervous about going to university; I was dreading it. The main difference is that at university, you’re expected to engage in much more independent study. While there is support available, you are expected to do your readings (both required and extra), do your own research, etc. Coursework in particular is much more independent (at least for me) with more freedom in what you choose to write about, and new styles of writing (such as practical reports which I had never come across before university). There are fewer lectures in university because you’re expected to do so much independent study so be prepared for that. Lectures provide an introduction to a topic which you are expected to follow up.

At high school attendance is compulsory but at university, attendance isn’t taken in the majority of lectures. For me, attendance is only compulsory for personal tutor meetings. 

You’re required to think much more critically, particularly about evidence and theories. You shouldn’t just read something and believe it immediately, you have to think about the evidence, whether there is support, where there is any conflicting evidence, or whether there are any alternative explanations. This is a skill that will develop hugely in your time at university.

At university, you manage your time. In high school you’re giving a timetable, and yes, you get a timetable at university, but as I said, there are fewer timetabled classes/lectures which means that you’re largely responsible for your time and what you do with it.

You get less frequent feedback at university. At high school you can talk to a teacher and get feedback on your progress pretty immediately, but at university with so many students, the main feedback you get is going to be notes on your work, or from a personal tutor meeting (usually about once a term).

The classes at university can be huge. For me, there is usually between 100-200 people in a lecture and this means that your lecturer probably isn’t going to get to know you. In fact, the only lecturers that will, are going to be your personal tutors. 

There’s a lot more diversity in university. At high school, everyone is the same age. At university, there are people of all ages, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds.

There’s a great post here (X) about the differences between high school and university.

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Radical Revision Assignment

How-To

1) Always greet every customer walking in the door, or passing by, whether it's your table or not.

2) If a table is not ready within a reasonable length of time, offer drinks.

3) Always smile! My manager always told me to smile just before I pick up the phone because you can hear the smile come through my voice (:

4) Always be kind --> whether it's opening a door for someone or asking how someone's day is going.

5) Always be yourself and relax when talking to your tables. Engaging with your guests can help build rapport which in return will increase your tips.

6) Be attentive. Guests LOVE when you anticipate their needs before they even ask you.

7) Knowledge! Very important skill. Knowing the foods and drinks menu is a must. You should be ready with answers to questions which may not be normally asked which is good for you and your guests.

8) It's good to recommend items, everyone has a different taste.

9) Don't lie, Be honest and Genuine with your tables. People prefer to hear you say "sorry I dropped your meal while I was bringing it out" and not "It shouldn't be too much longer, they're working on it now" or "The kitchen screwed up". Humans make mistakes and people are understanding of that. Wouldn't you like Honesty?

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"Shitty First Drafts"

I have to say I really enjoyed this article because it made me feel better about my writing. For instance, I know that I have never been happy with the first drafts I have written, and knowing that writers don't even like their first drafts is very comforting. I never believed teachers when they said "writers aren't perfect either, they have a hard time writing as well". I like how Lamott gives us good imagery, describing the brilliant writer at her desk, quickly spitting out a polished draft in just one sitting, and how this never happens. I think this takes some of the mystery out of good writing, often it just takes a lot of will and time. Maybe some people are naturally better at writing than others, but the way Lamott describes writing, it seems that anyone that puts in enough effort, can write well. I think having read this will truly benefit my writing because the next time I sit down to write a rough draft, I'll just get everything on paper that I can, knowing that it will be shitty and I can fix it up later.

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Malcolm X's "Learning to Read"

Malcolm X’s article covers the different literacy sponsors that influenced him in his life. This article also outlines how motivation can push someone to further his or her academic career. Malcolm X dropped out of school after 8th grade. Shortly after this he got involved in criminal activity and was sent to prison at the Norfolk Prison Colony. http://www.elcivics.com/malcolm-x-lesson.html Before this time, he was almost completely illiterate, he describes that he could barely write in a straight line or properly articulate words, let alone read and write. Prison motivated him to further his reading and become literate. He studied book after book, including the dictionary, for hours every single day, even staying up till four in the morning reading from the hall light after “lights out”. He wrote letters to Mr. Elijah Muhammad of the Islam Nation, about the rarely told story of the “black man” in history. Some of his literacy sponsors were prison, the Nation of Islam, and injustices of the “white man” throughout history and the incorrect views. He read multiple stories regarding African American history, as well as stories by Elijah Muhammad and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. These readings are what developed Malcolm into the aggressive equal rights activist and dedicated religious man that he was, as well as a hatred towards white people. Malcolm describes that these books are his “Alma Mater” and that he is always reading to better his knowledge.

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Sponsors of Literacy

In Brandt’s article, she goes into the thought of people not having the same opportunities for literacy sponsors as others. She also explains how social status and race can determine the availability of literacy sponsors. Brandt explains due to resources becoming available to ordinary people through more powerful sponsors, sponsorship and the standard of literacy has risen.

Brandt’s claim that social status/race affects the opportunities people have towards literacy sponsors is correct. Due to Raymond Branch growing up in a wealthy household, he had all the resources he needed to become literate, because of this he had the opportunity to work with computers at Stanford University at an early age. On the other hand, Dora Lopez, a Mexican American that didn’t have the same opportunities that Branch had. Lopez and her family had to travel about 70 miles just to obtain groceries, Spanish language newspaper and magazines that carried information that concerned them. With that being said, Lopez had to work much harder than Branch to become literate.

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3 Metaphors #UWRT

After reading Scribner’s essay, I began to think more to “What actually is literacy”? Scribner states that there is no set definition of literacy. She attempts to define what the integral parts of literacy actually are and how they could be understood and applied to the education of people. The three metaphors she uses are “literacy as adaptation”, “literacy as power”, and “literacy as state of grace”. I agree with most of her points throughout the essay, but I found myself relating primarily to the “literary as adaptation” metaphor. In this metaphor she states the idea of literacy is different in different societies and different time periods. She shows how literacy as adaptation is also literacy needed for driving an economy. The scale of determining literacy can’t be based on a third grader nor a college professor.