November 1, 2012



Dear Rachel,
    Hope your sophomore year of high school is going great! This essay will tell you how to avoid being in the position Rachel is in today in 2012.

    In order for you to better understand the urgency of this letter, you must first realize the direction in which you are heading. Let me tell you a bit about Rachel. She is currently a freshman at Oakland University, her major is Psychology and she is paying for college. Do not be alarmed. She is not paying for all of her college, but she is paying for some of it. Also, your first choice of college did accept you, so do not be discouraged about applying there.

    In your outline of your five-year goals that you made freshman year, there were three specific things that stuck out. These things stuck out because Rachel failed to complete them. If you can remember, you wrote that you want to graduate valedictorian, attend Michigan State University on a full scholarship and major in Biology/ Pre-Medicine. Just to let you know, a lot has changed since 2010. However, this essay will tell you how you can still make some of your goals a reality.

    All three of your goals are interdependent on each other. For instance, in order to major in biology, you first need to make it into college. In order to attend Michigan State, you first need the full scholarship. In order to get the full scholarship, you need to graduate at the top of your class as valedictorian. Clearly, this did not happen for me.

    In order to graduate valedictorian, you will need to start getting all A’s and A plus’ starting as soon as possible. Why? Do you know that guy Elias? Well, Elias graduated in my class of 2012 with a 4.3 grade point average. So, your current 3.5 G.P.A will be no competition to his in two years. In order to get higher than a 4.3, you will first need to complete all assigned work, no matter how laborious. If you become confused on any assignment, get clarification. You should be getting so much help, you seat should be permanently adjacent to the teacher’s desk. Next, you will need to check your grades at least four times a week. To help ensure that you are monitoring your grades regularly, make the online grade book your internet homepage. Through completing these steps, you should be in line for obtaining that 4.32 G.P.A.

    Michigan State University is very stingy with their money. Therefore, you need to earn every bit they offer you. The Michigan State Website does not really offer information on how to get full scholarships, so for this, advice based solely on experience is all that can be offered. The best thing to do to get scholarships is to score high on the ACT, keep volunteering and get that 4.32! If you do all three of those things, you should get partial, if not all your tuition paid for. If it turns out that you still cannot pay for a Michigan State education, then there is always Central Michigan University. Your last choice for college is Oakland University, but it really is not that bad of a school. You will learn about that when you take your personal campus tour senior year!

    Do you remember when you were eight and told your mother that you wanted to become a psychologist? Do you remember her reaction? Oh well! Rachel, sorry to tell you this but Pre-Medicine is not for you. You will learn more about that when you take that biology course at the community college senior year. Our stomachs just can't take it. So, your major will be psychology! Arthur Hill does not offer any kind of A.P. psychology course. So you are going to have to get dual-enrolled in community college! Start the application process this winter for next fall. Only take classes that are four credit hours and take classes that relate to psychology. You can only take one class a semester and only during the fall and winter semesters. Take your intro into psychology course during semester one and take your intro to writing course during semester two. Do not make the same mistake I did and take three credit courses. Those are not likely to transfer. Senior year, take whatever classes you want! It’s free anyway.

    Please act with urgency in response to this letter. Almost as if your life was depending on it, because it kind of is!


Sincerely,


your future self
   

WRT 150: Advertisement Redesign Reflection

Advertisement Redesign Reflection

    When I first saw the guidelines for the essay, I was not sure how I would write a five to seven page essay. The length of the essay was the only thing that unsettled me about the essay. The ad I used for the assignment was a Pandora charm bracelet ad. I chose the Pandora ad because it was so much going in the one page that I could possibly pull apart.

    For the redesign, I used a holiday to advertise the product from, like the original advertisement did. Once I knew which holiday I would advertise, everything else fell into place. I did not have to draw or sketch anything. I imagined what a Valentine's Day ad would look like and how I could make that ad appeal to men instead of women.

    I always have trouble beginning essays. For this essay especially, I did not know where to begin. I decided to start this essay describing the original advertisement. In my first draft, I did not describe the redesign in very much detail. By the time I got to my final draft, I had included much more detail.

    I liked that this assignment allowed me to be creative. Instead of just writing a paper about an advertisement and how it appealed to its  audience, I was able to act as the actual person behind the advertisement and create an entirely new advertisement. I have done assignments similar to this one before. Even though the other assignments were very similar, this time I feel as though I am able to walk away with something more. This time, is contrast to before, I feel I am walking away with a better understanding of the three rhetorical appeals.

    If I could do this assignment again, I probably would attempt to create a physical new ad that corresponds with my redesign. My choice of ad would be different as well. I did enjoy working with the Pandora ad, but I would want to experiment with a different ad if I did the assignment another time.

WRT 150 Visual Argument

     The commercial is trying to convey the ideal that companionships is necessary in life. The message is saying to the audience that Subaru can be a reliable companion in one's life. It depicts the phrase "A dog is a man's best friend" through showing a series of scenes of a man's life progressing along with his dog's life.  

     I interpreted the intended audiences for this advertisement as young families and people who are enthused with nature. The Subaru continued to arrive at the same house in the woods throughout the commercial. The house was surrounded by trees. There were no visibly adjacent houses and there was no driveway to the house. The commercial starts off with a single man, he gets married and has a child. This tells me that this commercial is attempting to appeal to the young family.  

      This commercial is an encoding and decoding commercial. It in encoding that this vehicle is reliable. That is what the commercial says blatantly. The viewer decodes that one may find a companionship with the vehicle.

WRT 150 Process Memo

            When brainstorming my literacy timeline, I was unsure on where to start altogether. I didn't know if I wanted to focus on a particular event or pick a theme to form my timeline around. I decided to create two different literacy timelines and see how detailed each was and how far I could get on each. Whichever timeline was the most detailed and seemed most promising, I would construct my narrative from. The timeline that made the most sense to me was the one on me becoming literate.

            The obvious point to began my timeline on becoming literate was early childhood when I first picked up a book and could read it. This event occurred about fourteen years ago. Naturally, it was difficult to remember every detail. Key events were easy to recollect, but in order to form an essay that made sense to the reader, I needed to dig deep into my memory and close the gaps where my memory faded.

            Not much stuck out to me about how I learned to read and write. The only thing I never really paid attention to was how early I learned to read compared to children of today. In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering at a local Daycare and pre-school center. I am sometimes left with the role of tutoring the latch-key children. I noticed that children of ages five through nine still lack the ability to read. I never thought of myself as being precocious as child, but compared to the children I encounter today, that seems to be the case.

            The theme I chose for my narrative was love. I developed this theme while constructing my timeline so that it would be an easy transition from my timeline to my narrative. I chose love as my theme because it is what seemed most fitting for my essay and it would make an entertaining Animoto slideshow. My narrative was very broad. I knew that I had developed a theme while constructing my timeline, but as I continued writing my essay, those points became harder to pick out. I did not know which parts of my narrative I wanted to highlight in my slideshow. When I realized I had to tell a story in fifteen slides, I knew which slides would work best.

            I would not call the pruning process difficult. In contrast, it was fairly simple to chose what parts of my essay could easily tell the entire story of the narrative. Creating the timeline helped me to realize that it is sometimes beneficial to create a blueprint of what I plan on constructing, instead of spontaneously writing a 1,000 word essay.

            While creating a timeline, I kept in mind that my timeline would eventually turn into a narrative that would then turn into a slideshow. Therefore, while creating my timeline, I wrapped the focus of my essay around my love for literacy. When writing my essay, I followed my timeline exactly. My timeline was in order, so my essay was in order. Organizing my thoughts into an essay was not difficult at all. Organizing my thoughts into a timeline was where I encountered the most difficulty. The only prewriting exercise I used was the one done during the first five minutes of class.

            After the peer review, I did not change much. There were a couple of grammatical errors my partner picked out. He also suggested that I switch some words around. The two people I read my essay to in class both liked my essay's content. While reading my essay to them, I corrected most of the grammatical errors I heard. Overall, the input from my partner was beneficial.

            By the time I made my final edits to my narrative, I already knew what parts I was going to incorporate in the slideshow. In a way, I did my project backwards, even though I followed the steps in order. While writing my timeline, I pictured what would make a good slideshow. By the time I was writing my narrative and creating the actual slideshow, everything fell into place. This altered how I would have normally wrote an essay in a more positive way. This essay was more precise and had less "filler" than some of my essays from the past. Part of this, I think, is because I knew that the "extra" was not needed since my real final draft would be a slideshow.

            My peer review partner actually chose seventeen of what he thought were my best sentences. I ended up using about eight of the sentences he chose in my slideshow. Surprisingly, he chose many of the sentences I wrote with the intention of adding them in the slideshow. Although I knew what I wanted my slides to say before I wrote my actual paper, I did not know there was a text limit to each slide. When I found out there was a 52-character limit, I had to shape my chosen sentences around the obstacle. I realized that I was also not going to be able to use all of the sentences I wanted to use originally.

            I used images differently for each slide. For some slides, I used images to add extra detail and for some slides I used images to continue my sentence. The images I used were all personal except for one. The one exception was of one of my favorite childhood books, that I did not have a picture of. I'm not sure if the pictures actually aided in telling my story or if they came off as random.

            The song I chose was an instrumental version of "All my Life" by R&B artists K-C and Jo-Jo. It is an older song, and one that bring me happiness. I interpret the song "All my Life" as a love song. The theme of my narrative was my love for literacy. I found the song very fitting.

            All three people who commented on my video gave me an A as a grade. If I could go back and change my slideshow, I probably would make it a bit longer. I also would add more pictures to make it even more personal.

Dustin Anderson

     In quote number one, Dustin Anderson is saying that educators are not currently preparing their student for the world in an effective way. Anderson also expresses that part of the reason students are not being taught certain skills is because the teachers do not possess these skills to teach them. I take Anderson's side with his opinion. Our world is forever changing and advancing. In order for the children of today to be prepared for the world of tomorrow, they are going to need to develop these "cognitive skills" that they simply are not exposed to.

     When I was in elementary school, computers that can access the internet were something new and not so advanced. Internet usage for me then, was limited to collecting information and word processing. Today, however, a computer is hardly a computer at all without internet. In my high school English classes, majority of the assignments that were given were to be completed through Moodle. Even group work was assigned through Moodle and other internet sites.

     It is true that many instructors do not have the skills to be able to teach their students. In some cases, the teacher would probably like to teach certain things, but just does not have the room to add it into a lesson because of the school district's curriculum. Many "failing" school districts limit classroom instruction only to the areas covered on standardized tests. They do this so that the students will be more prepared for the tests and so that the school does not lose its funding from the state.

WRT 150: Literacy Timeline

·         Loved books as a child

o   Learned to read at age four

o   Puppet shows at Daycare with Simba and Lemon

o   Wrote stories in Kindergarten

o   Made up different scenarios

o   Spelling tests every week in 1st grade

§  If I got anything lower than an A on a spelling test, I was on punishment for the week until the next spelling test.

·         Love dwindled as I got older

o   Did not like reading as much

o   Preferred to create things instead

o   Mostly read for school only

§  Barley read for school

o   Middle school books were boring!

o   Then there was high school

·         Love was found in high school

o   Found interest in books I read in English class

o   We had to read a different book and report on it every month

o   This class helped me to rediscover my love for books!

o   Since 9th grade, I have never lost my passion for reading

o   I even enjoy reading for my classes now

§  Even Political Science!