Technical Writing

When we were first introduced to technical writing it did not seem like a hard concept.  However, once we actually did it ourselves it turned out to me a lot more work and detail than I thought.  It was hard to determine which parts to leave out or what details to make sure we included in our instructions.  Even though we thought some things were clear, the group that had to interpret our directions thought they were confusing.  It was hard to explain some of our objects as well.  They were not actually circles, squares or other normal geometric shapes.  We also left out important components such as how much time it would take or adding graphics.  They would have been very helpful.  Overall, technical writing can be challenging, but it would get easier with practice.

Native Tongue

Tan’s teachers encouraged her to follow a career path in the math or science field because they said she had awful writing.  One of her bosses even told her that her writing was her worst skill.  Since she was an Asian-American student, she tended to speak “broken” English.  Her math scores were overshadowing her reading and writing scores.  It would make more sense for the teachers to drive these students towards careers that require them to have certain skills sets that most Asian Americans have.             

            In this article, Tan is trying to make the point across that you should not allow teachers and your backgrounds decide what you are going to become.  If someone believes they can be a great writer and put enough effort into it, then her or she can be a successful author.  She went against what her “Native Tongue” told her to do and she did not let her teachers persuade her into doing premed.  She wants people to be tenacious and do what makes them happy.   

My Digital Storytelling

For my digital storytelling I'm going to talk about growing up on a farm.  It is a different way of living and has allowed me to experience things that many people haven't.  The farm has provided me with many helpful things including my current summer job.

CWS Lab Meeting

During our lab meeting we discussed the progress we've made throughout the year.  Mike informed us about what to expect next year with our classes.  He says we will have more 'freedom' but we will also need to focus more.  Our sophomore year is the transition between becoming Juniors and Seniors which are big years for us. We went around the table and discussed our majors and ideas for studying abroad.  He answered questions we had about job opportunities and conflicts we have with our schedules.  It was a very beneficial lab session.

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling will revolutionize the way we see narratives.  It takes on a whole new level of interpreting a story and thinking about what you are listening to.  The narratives come alive and are more personable than usual.  You can actually see what the story is about and really feel the overall mood.  Readers feel more connected to the story and can fully understand what the author's point is.  It is easier to hear the emotion rather than reading it and attempting to figure it out on your own.  Digital storytelling is a modern technique that revolutionized the way narratives are perceived.

Student Metaphors

The article written by James C. McDonald called, "Student Metaphors of Themselves as Writers," is about an assignment an English Professor has his students complete.  They must provide a metaphor that reflects how they view themselves as writers.  Students took different approaches to it from the processes they wrote it to the overall products of their papers.

The article is broke into 5 different section: the introduction, four categories of metaphors, and the conclusion.  The main idea of the first section is to introduce the assignment and give a quick overview of the varieties of metaphors. The following section topics include; metaphors of process and speed, metaphors of fear and courage, metaphors of control, and metaphors of silence.  Each section reflects back to the assignment.  He explains the creative metaphors that students come up with.  Some view writing as "dangerous and fearful," while others describe it as them being "a business executive running a large corporation."  This gave he professor an excellent idea as to how each student perceived their writing abilities and writing in general.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia poses many problems when it comes to using it for a credible site.  Middlebury College established a policy saying that Wikipedia could no longer be used as a proper source of information.  Some students' work was incorrect because they got their facts from this website.  I agree withe the colleges decision.  Even though Wikipedia is convenient, you can never be sure what is right or wrong.  I only use it to get a basic understanding of something then I move onto a better website.  Some of the policies were lenient in this manner.  They aloud students to look at it but encouraged them to not cite it as their main resource.  One of the teachers also saw it as a great teaching opportunity when students made the mistakes of using it.

I think there is only so much you can do to prevent students from accessing Wikipedia.  Within the schools network, they could block it so that you can not even access it at school.  This would help filter out most of the problems in high school students.  If teachers warn children about it early enough, then they will not use it.  I was told all through high school to never use information from it and to not cite it.  After being told so many times I never think twice about Wikipedia.  Faculty should remind students that it is not a credible source for information and it should be avoided.