Week 5 Readings

Reading Like A Writer.

I liked this reading; his intro story about working in a Theatre was effective. Not only was it entertaining, but also it painted a picture of a man in a red jacket trying to read with a little flashlight. It was a nice segway into how he started to read word for word, sentence for sentence.

            He points out to not just read but rather to think about the writer. Why do they write the way they do? And how do they make you feel the way you do. The writer put a lot of time into their work so everything is done for a reason.

I don't really read often for fun—only when I find a really good series. For example, I read the Games of Throne series about two years ago. Before the show got really popular. I took my time on theses books it took me about a year to read all 5 books. There are a lot of concepts in theses books and by reading slowly I was able to understand more. After reading chapters I remember thinking and pondering about what the writer was doing. I often found myself re-reading passages to obtain a deeper understanding for them.

Don't just read on the service. Did deep, ask questions, think about the genre, the tone, the stance, and take note of what the writer repeats. This is all about being an active reader.

They Say I Say

            This reading brought a great point about how some times people don't listen to others but rather just wait for their turn to speak. I don't see this as a problem so much in our class. However, examples about how to include others are, saying…I agree with you AJ, however have you thought of this… or in addition to what you have said Ron…

Theses tactics show others that you are listening to them—respecting them and their opinion, as well as keeping the conversation going.

The reading also mentions about how many people think that writing professionally means using big words, complex sentences, and ideas. This however, is not true the opposite is true. You don't want your reader to feel lost or confused. That does not mean talk in slang either. One must use a good combination of writing styles.

What is Acadmic Writing

This article goes over the course concepts. It goes over common writing myths that I personally tend to use. It is great advice, as a human being I have been following rules my whole life. We like rules it tells us what is right and wrong. When we are young they teach us rules for writing. Some of us will stick to theses rules—and like a bad habit they can be hard to break.

Artifact Analyst

Artifact Analyst

I reached out to my friend and mentor Phil Scravino. He was my boss at Montecito Union before he decided to leave to work at Simi Valley School District. He responded to my email, and attached one of his draft articles for CEPTA journal (California Educational Technology Professionals Association). He is on the board of directors for this organization.

            Before I dive into the artifact let me explain what he does and what CEPTA is. His job title is CTO (Chief Technology Officer) his job is to work closely with Super Intendant, Principals as well as other admin staff for his school district.

K-12 education has changed a lot since any of our days in school. Technology is a big part of learning. It is incorporated into almost every subject taught. His job is to make decisions district wide about technology policies—devices used, Internet infrastructure, classroom tech, lastly how the teacher uses it to teach. 

           

            CETPA is an state wide organization, which gives a chance for school districts technical employees to meet and learn what others are doing throughout the state. They have an annual conference, and a journal. I attended the conference in November last year. There were over 1000 people at the conference.

            Let me dive into the artifact he send me, it is a 15 page document going over an Engineering Review. This review is of Content filters—This is a device that will filter what students and staff are able to search, while on campus. As the Internet has evolved one can access a lot of great information, however one can also access a lot of damaging information. Schools are required to limit student’s capability to access hurtful information—Porn, Guns, ect…

           

            From the intro forward he insures the reader that the point of this article is to provide raw data collected. Not to give an opinion about which company is best.

They studied 4 different vendors, by creating a rubric and also giving each vendor 3 likes and 3 dislikes. Three different people are testing the vendors—professional IT, Teachers, Students.

“The Rubric is designed to not favor any particular vendor or product design but rather the needs of the costumers.”

With everything I have said lets look at the intended audience. This is an EDTech journal, which is send out to technology employees that work at school districts. The audience is quiet a small group. They are also a skilled group; he does not address the definition or function of a content filter. He expects his audience to already know that information. He does give some background info, but a layperson would have a hard time understanding this article.

The genre I believe a recherché analysis. The paper is about explaining and experiment held, and informing the readers about the pros and cons of each company. Some conventions of this genre include, unbiased opinion, clear experiment, grading scale, professional tone and language, neutral stance.

He used ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos. He uses ethos by dropping names of school districts involved, the testers and their titles, the number of students involved. This all builds credibility for the experiment.

He uses pathos to emphases the importance of a content filter. Once a child sees something inappropriate nothing can be done to take that image away form them. The goal is to block it before it happens.

This is a recherché paper so much of the rhetoric user is Logos. Logically what is the best way for these systems to work with out too little or too much filtering.

He uses kairos mainly talking about the time we live in. This article would not make sense 15 years ago. The evolution of the Internet, and the benefit it can make in schools caused the need for content filtering.

Week 4 Readings

Finding Evidence

This reading was great. It enforced what we went over about in class. Audience is everything! Directing your evidence to match the audience you are tying to reach makes it the most successful. Evidence can come in many forms; it can be raw date or even personal stories. Artifacts should contain several ways of persuasion—to keep the readers engaged.  I will keep this info in mind, when I review my artifacts.

Lastly this reading gave me some hints about my future interview.

—Be Direct with my purpose and claim.

—Set up the interview in advance.

—Be prepared for the interview by having a list of questions, try to keep them open ended.

—Follow up afterward with an email.

Rhetorical Analysis

This article goes over how to study the rhetoric used. This directly relates to what we are doing, so it was a good read. They went over advertisements. They are great to study—because in a well-written one—it will make you desire the product. iPad ad for example, or what I have been seeing lately the Apple watch commercial. Advertisements have many factors, which written documents don't have—visuals, and music.

Some tips for using Rhetoric

—Know your audience, and persuade them accordingly.

—Use, Ethos, Pathos, Logos

—Know the genre, and fit it’s contingencies

—Use evidence to help persuade.

—Certain language can be used to help persuade.

—Lastly organizing it a certain way.

Most of what is covered in this reading is some of the main terms for the class. It did seem repetitive, however the more I read about these terms the clearer they are. It will help me for my final paper—having a complete understand of the courses terms.

I admit at first I found the term rhetoric intimidating. However, I feel like its definition is clear—from our discussions in class, along with the readings.  

Email