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Digital Portfolio finally done :)

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Map #3

Over this past quarter, I have grown and developed as a writer in ways I could never have thought of.  Looking back, I realize the many misconceptions and mental blocks I held towards writing keeping me from improving my work was my fault.  My theory of writing I wouldn’t say has changed a great deal from the beginning of this class, however, my understanding of it, and how to effectively use it has shifted.  

My theory of writing from the beginning of this quarter was something along the lines of “Good writing is the result of a passionate person with a purpose and credible sources.”  I still agree with this, however, think it needs to be altered slightly to encompass everything I have learned.  Much of my focus was on passion and purpose, which I still believe are a very important part of the writing process, however, do not incorporate everything that I think should be incorporated.  

Reflecting on my past maps, I can see how my theory has developed over the quarter.  My first map was mainly focused on the process of writing and having a passion and a purpose to create a good essay.  However, by my second map, I began to see how important failure and reflection is.  This was a very important step to my growth as a writer because I am a perfectionist, and always thought that the first draft had to be the best draft.  I also began to realize the impact my own voice can have within my writing, and it became of great importance for me to incorporate voice within my maps, giving me a great sense of personality and control.  Finally, I end with my last map, with the word “reflection” used to make the body of a reflective fish.   I chose this as my last map because I believe reflection is one of the most important parts of creating good writing.  Without reflection we cannot continue moving forward by looking at what has already been accomplished.  One of the most important things I have learned in writing is “metacognition”. This is the concept of thinking about what you are thinking about.  This was an important concept for me to understand because it is the ability to reflect on what you are writing about while you are writing, ultimately leading to “deeper” thoughts and ideas. 

Throughout this quarter, I have grown a great deal as a writer and a student.  The most important thing I have learned that has helped me as not only a writer, but as a student, is the transfer of learning.  My maps have helped me understand what is important to myself as a writer as well as what is important to be an effective writer in ant situation.  Growth as a writer is constant, and the only blocks are mental as long as I keep reflecting, learn from my failures, and have the ability to transfer that learning.  

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Week 8 Research Journal

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Writing was always a distinctly separate course from math, history, and the sciences in my mind.  However, after completing my writing courses this year, my perception of writing classes as changed immensely.  As shown by Bergmann and Zepernick, students often disassociate writing for English classes with other forms of writing, deeming it to be “unprofessional” and lack discipline.  I have never felt as though my previous writing classes allowed my writing to be nonacademic, or lack discipline.  Personally with my previous writing class in high school, I felt I was taught a very structured format, not giving much room to grow as a writer but rather confine my writing abilities to be like everyone else.  This is not the same experience many of my peers have had, however, I feel it made me think of writing as a subject rather than a skill.  This class, and readings, have shown me that there should be no distinction between writing in this class compared to any of my other classes.  That writing is a skill that has universal importance among all subjects.  Most importantly, we must learn to transfer this knowledge amongst all subjects or situations if we hope to keep learning and making connections.   After almost completing my first year of college, one of the most important things I have learned in writing is “metacognition”. This is the concept of thinking about what you are thinking about.  This was an important concept for me to understand because it is the ability to reflect on what you are writing about while you are writing, ultimately leading to “deeper” thoughts and ideas.  

Transfer will not only make me a better writer, it has and will continue to help grow and develop my understanding of this world and how it works.  The ability to transfer what you have learned between subjects is necessary to perpetuate knowledge and make connections amongst situations that don’t seem to have relations, yet, can benefit you greatly if you learn to make these relations.  The more you know, learn, and experience, the more you can transfer knowledge to continue learning!  I always thought of writing for my english class as very different from writing about history, or science, but now I see how my skills as a writer must be transferred amongst all types of genres and topics.   Before this class, I was not super keen on social medias such as tumblr and twitter.  At first I was confused as to why we would need to learn how to tweet, however, after learning more about myself as a writer, I realized social media is a form of writing and should be taken seriously in this new digital age.  One thing I felt I have really been able to develop as a writer is my voice.  I never felt the freedom to experiment with my voice in my high school writing class, however, this class has shown me the importance of having your own voice in your writing and being able to transfer that voice amongst many different genres.  

After reading all three readings about threshold concepts, knowledge communities, and transfer of learning, I see the importance of understanding myself as a writer in order to become a better writer.  Having a knowledge community (our class) helped develop my writing as we are all growing and learning as writers together.  Being able to discuss the difficulties that everyone shares, and how to overcome them and progress as a writer was essential to my learning process.  For me, the concept of failure as part of the process was very important to hear and understand.  I definitely held the misconception that the first draft must be perfect, however, I have learned that failure is just part of the process.  It is important to learn from your failure, and be constantly reflecting in order to make progress.   

I chose Chance the Rappers music video Everybody’s something because I feel it highlights the power of your own voice, and that there are many struggles in life, but you must grow, learn, and transfer from your struggles.  

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Research Journal #7

As we reach the end of week 7 and beginning of week 8, my primary research is coming together nicely as I begin to make connections between my findings and my secondary sources.  I am not too surprised at my findings from my survey answers, interview questions, and observations, however, was slightly shocked that I was met with no surprises.  

I interviewed my teacher of diversity and healing who is a grad student at the University of Denver, becoming a psychologist.  During this interview we touched on many topics surrounding the commodification and discrimination of African Americans in the United States.  We discussed the ways in which popular culture influences global capitalism, and the pivotal ways in which this can only lead to further discrimination.  One name that was immediately brought up during our interview was “Kardashian”.  The Kardashians are globally know for their fame and fortune along with there blatant commodification of black culture.  

This discussion of the Kardashians directly relates to not only my survey question results but also my observations.  For most of my observations I took to Instagram to see how the American youth identifies and discusses this commodification of black culture.  I went to Kylie Jenner’s page first, having a total of 93.6 million followers, she holds a great amount of power and influence mostly amongst millennials.  Kylie, having always growing up in the spotlight, has shared with the world her transformation from a young girl to a sex icon.  By getting plastic surgery to make her lips appear bigger, hips to look wider, butt to look larger, and spray tans to look darker, she can be accused of reworking her face and body to have features that, for centuries, many black women were taught to be ashamed of.  Features that were looked down upon within the black community, and even exaggerated through black face (such as large lips) are now being commodified through Kylie Jenner, a white female, as “attractive” or “sexy” ultimately making her millions.  Scrolling down her Instagram photos, I came across many photos with her in a hairstyle salient to black culture; cornrows.  Scrolling through the comments I found many interesting conversations arguing whether or not she is guilty of cultural appropriation.  Some of these comments defending Kylie include, “How is a damn hairstyle so bad? If people are getting offended by a hairstyle they need to toughen up” and “Its not a hair style made for a specific person so just leave Kylie alone.  Braids are not specific just for black culture. It’s her damn hair let her do what she wants.” Others trying to help educate replied with responses such as “Its not because she is white she cannot wear them, its the simple fact she is using African American culture for her own benefits to make money because now it is a “new trend” when it is not.  It has been around for so long that black men and women have been looked down upon for that very style.”  and “White people try us on like costumes while oppressing us at the same time.”   I am excited to connect this findings to my survey answers, interview questions, and secondary research and look forward to sharing more of my progress.

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Map 2

The words I chose to include in my map were voice and reflection.   My prior experiences with writing have felt limiting on me as a writer.  I was taught a very structured formate, and had the idea that I had to write the perfect draft the first try.  Because of this I never had a good relationship with writing, and always felt pressure to be perfect on the first try.  My map represents how developing your voice as a writer is essential yet not always easy.  This was an important part of my writing development as it helped me grow as a writer and become more comfortable with writing in different genres and for different audiences.  As explained on the voice poster page, a writer must have the ability to “develop several voices, and use the appropriate voice for a given task.” This was something I have worked on throughout this quarter as we have had to learn to communicate our writing through different genres with different audiences, making my voice as a writer develop in many aspects.  

Another key term for me when thinking of effective writing is reflection.  As taught in the Threshold concept reading, reflection is an important, and constant process, that will help you develop while writing your work.  Doctor KT helped illustrating how “revision, which includes some amount of failure, becomes particularly helpful when writers reflect and learn from these experiences” ultimately developing your skill as a writer.  Constant reflection is important to build a deeper understanding of what and how you want your reader to conceptualize your work.  It is crucial to remember you must constantly reflect, as many students only reflect on their work once it is complete, however, that should not be the case.  Reflection has taught me a lot about my self as a writer which is why on my map it is stringing between the woman father away and the face of the women speaking “voice” I did this because It represents the importance in developing your voice, and the need to reflect on yourself constantly in order to grow that voice.  On my map the woman speaking “voice” depicts this growth through her transformation into a tree.  Since trees are constantly growing, I thought this was a good way to highlight how important it is to find your voice and constantly reflect on your work to grow as a writer.         

Good writing is the result of a passionate person with a purpose, a voice, and constant reflection of your work, resulting in deeper thoughts to create a growth in consciousness and a broader understanding of yourself as a writer. 

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Transfer of Learning

One The transfer of learning occurs when a person uses their previously learned knowledge, and applies it to a new situation with a different context.  It is very hard to make a clear distinction between what is normal learning and what is considered transfer learning.  As depicted in the article Transfer of Learning, this type of learning is not well ingrained in a students learning process.  I thought it was very interesting how when given two very similar tasks presented very differently, subjects failed recognize the difference of “one isomorph to the other” rendering their ability to use the same “strategies” between one and the other.  This shows how students are not being taught to transfer what they learn in on context to another.  This article also discusses the importance of “large knowledge” to further your understanding of “local knowledge” and vise versa to create a better understanding of any given context.  

For me, I noticed a transfer of learning most recently in my coding class.  We are learning how to use cosine and sine to place an object on the screen at a certain point.  I learned about cosine and sine in AP calculus junior year and never thought I would revisit it to create artwork on my screen.  Another type of transfer I see myself applying is learning to draw what I see.  When creating a realistic drawing it is very difficult to train your hand to draw what your eyes see and not what your brain thinks you see.  This is a challenging task because it requires you to separate, on some level, one type of reality from the other.  Your brain constantly is tricking you into drawing what it thinks you see, making it difficult to draw what is actually there.  This learning is transferred  to how I interpret many instances in my daily life, reminding me to look objectively at a situation before I let my brain goes into its wild theories.  

As for writing, I feel it is important to constantly find connections between the works you read and write.  One of the my most important key words is purpose, and I believe that when writing, it is important to be passionate about what you are writing so you can transfer knowledge from your other passion into your work.  I think its very important to use your “large knowledge” to help you with “local knowledge” when connecting themes and ideas within your writing.

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Week 6 Research Journal

This week on my journey for research, my main focus is still on my primary research and connecting my findings to my secondary research.  I finalized my survey questions to make sure I wasn’t generating just yes or no responses.  These are my final survey questions.  

1. What is your favorite genre of music?

2. What artists do you listen to on a daily basis?

3. What brand of shoes do you mainly own?

4.  Do you follow the Kardashians on the internet or buy their products?

5. Do you know the history of minstrelsy?

6. Briefly explain what you know about the origins of Jim Crow

7. Are you familiar with Plessy v Ferguson?

8. Do you know which supreme court case achieved integrated schools in the US? If yes, please name the case.

9. Do you know who Ella Baker is? If so please briefly explain her significance

I also revised my interview questions asking more about pop culture. I hope to interview multiple people to get a range of answers.  

1. How does popular culture influence global capitalism?

2. How does popular culture influence race, class, and gender stereotypes in the United States?

3. How does gender and race influence relationships/marriages?

4. How do race and gender allow for exploitation of labor in the workforce?

5. How does popular entertainment in media reinforce the ideology of the perfect family/relationship?

6. How does global capitalism and commodification influence the way relationships are negotiated romantically as well as in the labor force?

As for my observations, so far, I have found many distinct connections to my secondary research.  This past week I attended a chance the rapper concert giving my hours to observe not only him, but his thousands of fans eagerly waiting in what felt like a two mile long line for his performance.  As this group of three caucasian girls pushed through the crowed to the front, reassuring everyone that they were VIP, gloating about the fact they were going to meet chance the rapper.  I couldn’t help but wonder to myself “How do they deserve this?” What is their understanding of the culture behind rap and hip hop.  Although I couldn’t ask them directly, I am interested in learning more about the understanding of this commodification of black sound and culture through my survey results, interviews, and more observations.  

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Poster Page: Reflection

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Peer Reflection Post

I thought my peer review group worked really well together.  Although we got a little confused with the directions first, we were able to rewind and get back on track.   What didn’t work well was the fact that we all misunderstood the directions, causing us to start reviewing by only reading two pages of each persons essay which turned to be very confusing.  The most useful advice I received from my peers was how they understood what was being said, and what I could do to make the research more clear.  From this feedback, I plan to clarify some of my statements and do a better job at explaining some of my quotes.  By doing this I can make it more clear to the reader what I am researching, and create a clear conversation amongst my sources.  For my next step, I plan to write a conclusion to tie up the whole lit review.  I would also like to add a little more about the history of minstrelsy to give a reader a better background and understanding of what I am discussing.  From this I have learned how as a writer, I need to clarify what I am talking about, and go into more detail on certain topics that aren’t universally understood.  I need to work on my explanation of my sources to create a better understanding of the purpose of my paper and lit review.  I was happy about the reactions my peers gave me to my paper and I am excited to continue and start my primary research to further my understanding and my peers understanding of my topic.  

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Threshold Concepts: Metacognition and Reflection

Threshold Concept: Creating your own unique voice when writing is essential to your success as a writer

Developing your voice as a writer is no easy task, however, it is an important part of becoming a successful writer.  Becoming a skillful writer, as we all know, takes time, practice, and as pointed out in this threshold concept reading, “thinking about what you are thinking”.  Constant reflection of your work leads to “deeper” thoughts, creating more depth within your writing. Part of this reflection is how you make your own voice heard in your writing.  It is important to discover how you present your work in your own unique way. When creating a painting or drawing, all artists have their own artistic stroke, and visually represent what they see in a personal way.  Much like an artist, a writer must sculpt and design their work, adding their own voice to create a distinct masterpiece.  However, when working with different genres, one must slightly adjust their voice to fit within the genre.  This is no easy task.  As Chris M. Anson points out, much like gear shifting, “automaticity or unconscious competence” can be reached through repetition and thorough practice.  This “habituation” can be, however, limiting when switching genres. Just like your own writer's voice, it is important to develop your voice to the extent of being appropriate, yet, recognizable amongst other genres.

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Week 5 Research Journal

Primary Research Preparation

My focus for the coming weeks will be centered around collecting my primary research.  This collection process will include 90 minutes of observations, a survey collecting 60-100 responses, and an interview with an expert.  I already have my survey questions prepared, my next step is to focus on creating the actual survey on surveymonkey.com and start collecting responses to the questions below.

Survey:

1. Do you listen to Kendrick Lamar?

2. Do you listen to J. Cole?

3. Do you listen to Kanye West?

4. Do you know how the music industry functions as an institution of capital?

5. Do you know the history of minstrelsy?

6. Do you keep up with the Kardashians?

7. Do you own Nike, Jordan, or Adidas shoes or sportswear?

8. Are you familiar with Plessy v. Ferguson?

9. Are you familiar with Brown v. Board of Education?

10. Do you know who Ella Baker is?

Interview:

I have not yet found who I will be interviewing however, have prepared the questions I will be asking.  I am nervous about conducting this interview but  keep reminding myself to: introduce myself and my topic, make eye contact, and to not forget to get the IRB interview submission form signed! 

1. How does capitalism reinforce patriarchy?

2. How does patriarchy influence race, class, and gender in the United States?

3. How do gender roles influence relationships/marriages?

4. How do race and gender allow for exploitation of labor in the workforce?

5. How does popular entertainment in media reinforce race, class, and gender stereotypes?

Observations:

For my observations, I plan to look at popular songs and music videos, and the responses to these songs and music videos.  For example, I will be looking at the new music video released by DJ Khalid, Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo, and Lil Wayne called “Im the one”.  I will also be looking at the responses to Kendrick Lamar’s new hit song Humble and the reactions the lyrics “Show me something natural like afro on Richard Pryor Show me something natural like ass with some stretch-marks” as these lyrics have caused controversy amongst some fans.  

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Practice Run with Primary Research Write Up

Practice Run with Primary Research

For our primary research we looked at Fraternities and Sororities and looked at their social aspect. We spent time observing, and taking findings from surveys and interviews, in order to see if we could find anything definitive from our research. We found certain things that were unexpected, and our preconceived notions were contradicted other times by what we found. We set out to research and hopefully come to some definitive findings about our question: “What is the social aspect of Greek Life at the University of Denver?”

Methods: 

For our methods, our group created a survey, interviewed a Greek Life member, and went out into the “field” to take observations about Greek Life. For our survey we created a 7 question survey through “surveymonkey.com”. We sent the survey out as a link to friends, both involved in and not involved in Greek Life, to fill out and answer anonymously. This survey included several questions from involvement, to what was most important to them about Greek Life. For the observation part of our primary research, we went to the Moon-Ball event hosted by the Sorority Gamma Phi Beta and to observe the event as a group for a full 60 minutes. Occasionally, we were greeted and mingled, but for the most part we kept to the sides while noting any observations to each other verbally. After the event, we retreated back inside to jot down our findings and to do our check in post. For the interview, we had a discussion with one girl from Gamma Phi Beta at the library to learn more about Greek Life. These findings fueled us when coding and looking for themes, so that we would have clear results.

Results:

From the survey, interview, and observations we were able to see several prominent themes, and important conclusions. When it came to the coding process, the key words/concepts that we highlighted were: fraternity or sorority names, culture, inclusivity, activities, and community. These were highlighted fairly equally throughout our primary and secondary research. Some major things that we found in our research included that regardless of the fact that 50% of people that took our survey were not members of Greek Life, 90% of people involved in our survey still attended greek life events. Similarly, the Sorority member we interviewed stated that most of her friends were actually not in her Sorority. Another fact that stood clear in our research was that financial aid did not affect whether a person would be in Greek Life or not. These findings were consistent and thorough across all Fraternities, Sororities, and Business Fraternities. Several themes that we saw throughout our research included the fact that socially some Fraternities and Sororities seemed cooler, and more known than others. Similarly, our observations showed that some Fraternities and Sororities appeared, or were perceived to be, somewhat exclusive. A main theme that we observed and found in our research however, showed that Sororities and Fraternities provide community and consistency to members regardless of the Fraternity or Sorority they were a part of.

Discussion:

Overall, this brief research project provided some interesting findings. One finding was that of a general feeling of “community”. In our interview, the girl emphasized that the part she enjoyed the most was the feeling of familiarity. This is supported by our survey results, as well as our observations, which show that students who are involved in Greek life express “Community”/“Network” as a main factor of satisfaction.  This is also supported by the Midwestern State University website on the benefits of Greek life emphasizing how “Greek women and men find that a sorority or fraternity offers a place to be comfortable and at home.” Yet, there seems to be a lot of intermingling between people who are and not involved in Greek life, which indicates that the social aspect of Greek Life is not exclusive to just Greek Life members. 

The second finding was that financial aid does not affect involvement in greek life, which is surprising since the generalization is that greek life involvement is expensive. This is supported by bestschools.org which said in an article about the pros and cons of Greek life is that, “At an average public institution, dues for a single semester can cost as much as $1000”. Yet, our survey results showed that there was no correlation between being a part of greek life and receiving financial aid. Our last finding that seemed a bit surprising was the fact that people are involved in Greek Life events regardless of whether they were members themselves or not. This extended even further to the fact that people both inside and out of Greek Life, were friends with people not incorporated in their group. This meant, and was shown by our research, that Greek Life members had a majority/large portion of friends not incorporated in Fraternities and Sororities, and visa versa for non-members.

Conclusion: Our research provided us with several things. Firstly we learned that Greek Life provides a strong community and family to members, on top of providing them with familiarity. Secondly, we learned through our findings that financial aid does not affect Greek Life involvement. Lastly, we were surprised to discover that people still were involved in Greek Life events regardless of their own membership. All these findings we discovered though our research both secondary, and primary, made up of observations, surveys, and an interview.

Sources: Examining the benefits of Greek Life. (2014, July 03). Retrieved April 26, 2017, from http://college.usatoday.com/2012/05/08/examining-the-benefits-of-greek-life Joining a Fraternity or Sorority: The Real Pros and Cons of Greek Life. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2017, from http://www.thebestschools.org/features/joining-a-fraternity-or-sorority-real-pros-and-cons-of-greek-life/ Benefits of Greek Life. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2017, from https://mwsu.edu/student-life/development/greeklife/benefits

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Research Journal #4

This week, my main focus was still on my secondary research, however, I had to practice connecting all the information I found to form a “conversation” between the multiple authors whose work I cited.  My first attempt at my literature review was not completely success, however, I gathered a significant amount of relevant research. The most difficult part of the literature review was not inserting my personal opinion into my writing, as this topic is something very important to me.

I realized that in order to design a more successful literature review, my main theme must be the history of minstrelsy and must put multiple scholars in conversation with one another.  This can be exemplified by combining the research of Eileen Southern and Tilford Brooks.  Southern’s work The Music of Black Americans provides the historical and cultural foundation for the development of minstrelsy.  “The minstrel songs, originally inspired by genuine slave songs, were altered and adapted by white minstrels to the taste of white America in the nineteenth century, and then were taken back again by black folk for further adaption to their musical taste.” Additionally,  Brooks explores the popularization of minstrels shows internationally, who “performed music of the concert repertoire in concert halls and attracted the cultivated musical public.”  Minstrel music was thus a catalyst for the characterization of African Americans through blackface performance.  Additionally, as discussed by Kenneth Padgett in his work Blackface! The History of Racist Blackface Stereotypes, minstrelsy directly stereotyped black people in a negative light, and were widely performed in front of an audience of people who had never interacted with African Americans.  

I am still working on the communication of research between authors amongst my other themes, which I will continue to revise to create an overall stronger literature review.

Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans.

Brooks, Tilford. America’s Black Musical Heritage.

Padgett, Kenneth. Blackface! - The History of Racist Blackface Stereotypes. Web. 22 Jan. 2016. <http://www.black-face.com/>

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Practice Run with Primary Research

Summary:

Ok so quick check in, as a team we met up at the Nagel, and came up with a solid 7 question survey which can be found right below in the dooblido.

Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G3HRVZ5

We then decided to observe the Moonball event hosted by Gamma Phi. We also have made plans for some super interview questions→ word play and association with all frat/sort. Names will be very interesting to see. We already have at least 6 people who we want to interview. However, our questions are incomplete, but we will get them finished next week.

Observations:

For our observations we went to the Moon Ball (volleyball) event hosted by Gamma Phi Beta. We spent a full 60 minutes walking around and taking observations. We took down the sororities and fraternities that were present, and noted that a majority of the event was actually made up by non affiliated teams (made up of clubs and sports teams). The Greek life involved included ZBT, Tri Delta, Delta Zeta, Chi Omega, Beta, and Theta Chi. Some of our observations included that the event was predominantly white. There were many free items including pizza and donuts. Even though it was cold everybody seemed to be having fun. Some Fraternities and Sororities seemed more popular than others. They seemed somewhat exclusive except to the sports teams. There was music and other small activities around. There was plenty of socializing and talking around nets and Driscoll Green.

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Research Journal 3

This week I have been focusing on finding secondary research and preparing to start my literature review.  Secondary sources were much easier to find than primary sources, however, it can sometimes be difficult trying to find credible articles.  

Here is a great source that explains the history of blackface, and its role in the american entertainment industry. These are some acts which assisted in the perpetuation of the racial categorization of African Americans according to the website listed below.

https://usfacingrace.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/vaudeville-and-the-american-music-industry/

“Jim Crow”: originated from Thomas “Daddy” Rice’s dancing jig to the tune “Jump Jim Crow”.

“Zip Coon”: originated from George Dixon’s performance that mocked the free blacks which showed him dressed lavishly, however spoke with misused puns and vocabulary to make him appear ignorant and naive.

“Mammy”: a independent and stern black woman

“Uncle Tom”: a old, wise, good, gentle banjo playing man.

“Buck”: A big, proud black man who is interested in white women.

“Wench”: A temptress, typically a man dressed as a woman.

“Mulatto / Mulatta”: Mixed skin, attempting to pass as white.

“Pickaninny”: unkept hair, bright red lips and are often eating watermelon

There have been many scholarly articles written about this topic giving me a lot of resources and information to sort through.  The website below has many subpages giving a wide range of information including videos and images and sources to find further information. 

http://black-face.com/minstrel-shows.htm

Blackface performers are, "...the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied them by nature, in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste of their white fellow citizens." -- Frederick Douglass

“With the dramatic increase in the popularity of minstrel shows in the years following emancipation, Whites continued to wear the blackface mask in performances that would serve to define the meaning of blackness for many Americans who by choice or geography had little contact with Blacks.”

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Threshold Concepts

1) Context is an important threshold for writers and readers to understand, particularly in the pursuit of expanding one’s general skill of writing. Context is important because it “enables us to recognize that it is impossible to make a valid judgment of a student writer’s ability by examining a single sample of his or her writing” (61).  Thus, an educator does not limit their determination of a student’s writing level and ability based on merely one rhetorical situation.  Accordingly, because a student is fluent and confident in literature reviews, this does not equivocate skill in other areas of writing.  This concept is also important because it allows writers to continue to expand their knowledge about rhetoric, always challenging the writer to undergo new territories of genre to inspire new forms of writing.

(2) Another important threshold concept is the embrace of failure as a progressive feature of the writer’s journey. Embracing failure “will enable writer teachers and students to develop a healthy dialogue around the experience of failure, perhaps leading to the development of what we might call pedagogies of failure or ways of teaching that seek to illuminate the myriad ways writing gets done by examining all the ways it doesn’t” (63).  Often, in academia, we are swept away by the concept of grades, test scores, and other standardizations that measure our success as a student.  The pedagogue of failure is an extremely important concept because it un-learns for us the ways in which we are conditioned to learn.  By embracing failure we can learn more than by simply succeeding by standardized testing; moving away from the monotonous routine of judging ourselves via grades and into a territory of expanding our writing abilities by embracing what we do not understand is an important tenet of a writer’s success.