In this blog post I am going to summarize the video we watched in class about reflective writing. I will then tell you about my experience I have had this semester with reflective writing.
Reflective writing is documenting your reflective thinking. It is a three-stage process. It is about looking back, analyzing, and applying the knowledge in the future. Instead of just descriptive writing, you should write about your thoughts and feelings, during, after, and since. You also need to look at how it made you feel, why you did it that way, how you will change it in the future. You should use a small amount of description and a large amount of reflection. Description should be used just to put the reflection into context. Hindsight is important to look back on the event and use the information to change things in the future. That way you can use the knowledge to adapt to other situations. Reflection is trying to get every bit out of your learning. It is difficult when you start reflecting but will become easier with time and it is very rewarding and builds self-confidence. I have found reflective writing to be very difficult for me. I find myself falling into the trap of being too descriptive and not digging deeper into my thoughts and feelings about my writing. On Tuesday in class after we watched the video, I went back and worked on my reflective writing about my research paper process. When I originally wrote this blog, I just answered the questions that Dr. Mangini had put in the instructions. I did not really do a good job in reflecting on what I had learned. It wasn’t until I went back and tried to reflect on what I had learned that I started to appreciate the process of reflective writing. It is difficult for me to write about the errors that I had made and how I will work to avoid them in the future. I think this is because I equate errors to weakness and I am very insecure with acknowledging weakness. I need to learn to accept the fact that I may make some mistakes so that I can learn. If I can accept these mistakes and reflect on how to use them in the learning process it will make me a better student in the future.
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In this blog I will be reflecting on the processes I used to create my MLA Research Paper.
While writing my research paper “Why Should America Adopt Universal Healthcare?”, I used many sources of help. My daughter and one of my friends were extremely helpful with organization and proper citing. I wrote this paper mainly at home over many sessions. This is a topic that cannot be covered properly in a just one session. I did quite a lot of research on my I-pad in different parts of the house. While I was researching on my i-pad I wrote down all of the points that I found interesting. After I had compiled a long list, I used this to create an outline of what I wanted to use and how to structure the paper. My daughter was very helpful to me with showing me this process and I will be using this method in the future. My only issue that I had was I wish I had taken better notes on where the information I researched came from. While doing the research I was so interested in what I was reading and following paths, I sometimes forgot to note where I went. I wasted a lot of time going back and finding the sources again. The next time I do this kind of research, I will try to work at my desk instead of around the house. If I do work in other places, I will make sure that I have a notebook with me and send links to myself on where I went. This is a persuasive paper in the MLA research paper genre. The rhetorical mode of this paper is argumentation, and this is the first paper I have written in this mode and genre. I was surprised at how both easy and difficult it was. The research was both interesting but difficult with citing. The topic that I chose is a very personal to me so that made my argument a little easier. I originally started out writing the paper with just the cost of healthcare in mind but soon realized that the moral aspect was more important to me. Struggling with a long-term disease has giving me a personal insight to both of these issues. In my research I found startling statistics that I found very disturbing. It has reinforced my belief that the lobbyists and wall street are trading on our quality of health for their own profit. This is a practice that must be stopped. I am eager to continue my research and add to the points that I feel are relevant to my position. I hope that in the future I can continue to choose research topics that I am so passionate about. In this blog I will have my annotated bibliography for my MLA research paper. This paper was written using a question found in the documentary Where to Invade Next by Michael Moore. The question that I have chosen to write about is should America have a free universal health care system. Where to Invade Next by Michael Moore Michael Moore starts this documentary by declaring that he is going to invade other countries to bring back successful solutions to problems that we have in the United States. During his travels he meets with government officials and business men and women to find out how they have been able to improve worker’s rights, school lunches, prison system, education, women’s rights, and more. In the end the solutions to most of these problems actually were ideas that were started in United States but not realized. This documentary is definitely biased in its opinions about how we could improve many things in the United States. Michael Moore does gain credibility by meeting with CEO’s and public officials. He does mention that he goes to these countries to pick the flowers and not the weeds. I have used this documentary to help me choose a topic for my research paper. I found the graph that listed our taxes and what services they include compared to other countries, very informative. The United States Census Bureau This is the United States Census Bureau. This site has statistical information on the population of the United States. In addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau conducts other surveys and provides data to many other government agencies. Federal, state and local governments use this data to plan schools, hospitals, roads, police, are fire department needs. The United States Census guarantees non-disclosure and confidentiality. Personal information collected by the agency is not released to other agencies or the public for 72 years. This information is reliable and based on facts. This site has a 2016 report on health insurance coverage in the United States. It contains information collected in the 2014-2017 surveys. It states what percentage of people had health insurance in 2015 and 2016. The Canadian Census Program This is the Canadian Census Program. This site contains statistical information including analysis, data, reference, and geographical information regarding the Canadian population. The Canadian Census is taken every 5 years. The information collected is used for statistical purposes and are confidential. This information has no bias and is reliable. I have used information from the Canadian site to compare to the United States statistics. New study finds 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage, Harvard Gazette This is a news article from the Harvard University Gazette which details deaths that would have otherwise been preventable if not for the fact that the victims did not have heath insurance. The study used surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The article points out that one American dies every 12 minutes from lack of health insurance. The author of this article seems to be biased towards the implementing of universal healthcare. He does a good job in gaining credibility by using well known sources. The facts presented make the need for universal health care evident. I will be using information about the studies mentioned in this article to show how many people suffer from not having adequate health insurance. Haeder, Simon F. and David L. Weimer. "Inching toward Universal Coverage: State-Federal Health-Care Programs in Historical Perspective." Journal of Policy History, vol. 27, no. 4, Oct. 2015, pp. 746-770. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1017/S0898030615000330. This is a paper written to show how the United States is on a progressive slope towards adopting universal health care if we keep following the path that we have already taken. It highlights our progression to the state we are at now. Also, this paper shows parallels to other countries gaining universal health care. This paper is relatively unbiased, relying mainly on past information to inform the possibility of future action. This paper relies mainly on hard facts and doesn’t lean either direction, mostly observing that based off of previous trends that we will most likely adopt a universal health care solution. I am going to use this to strengthen my argument on why we should switch to universal health care. It also shows how we can best progress from our current state. I will be using this paper to inform against the counter argument that the start up cost of universal health care would be prohibitive. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations This is the website for the United Nations. It is the human rights upon which the Geneva Conventions were based. It details one instance where the US had signed a bill claiming that health care is a universal right. This shows how hypocritical the US is in relation to what we do as opposed to what we tell other countries to do. This is an unbiased declaration signed in the late 1940’s and is used as a bedrock of the Geneva Convention. It is a list of basic human rights that all countries should adhere to. This article contains facts and figures used in the paper and to show that we should follow the standards that are recommended by the United Nations. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), "OECD Health Data 2013," June 27, 2013 The OECD Health Data 2013 shows comparable data of health and health care for the 34 members. It shows health status, access to health services, mortality rate, and other key indicators. This is unbiased data and shows how the United States compares to other countries. I will use the facts and figures in this report to strengthen my argument. Himmelstein, David U., et al. "Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Study." American Journal of Medicine, vol. 122, no. 8, Aug. 2009, pp. 741-746. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.04.012 This study was done to show the rate of medical bankruptcy in the United States. It shows the data from 2,314 surveys. This is unbiased data and shows the increase in medical bankruptcy increased forty-nine percent between 2001 and 2007. This will help show the amount of financial hardship our current system puts upon people with medical bills. In Blog #9 I summarized and analyzed the film Where to Invade Next by Michael Moore. This week we are to choose three topics and provide a research question and argument for each. This exercise will help us in choosing and setting up the initial research for our upcoming research paper.
Topic: Universal Health Care Research Question: What are the benefits of a free universal health care system Argument: Having health care is an internationally recognized human right. America must join other countries in providing health care for all its citizens. Topic: Universal Health Care Research Question: What would be the increase in taxes and costs to taxpayers to have a free universal health care system. Argument: A free universal heath care system would save taxpayers money by making the population healthier and more productive. Topic: School Lunches Research Question: Should school lunches be free for all students, and should parents be on the lunch committee as well as local officials. Argument: If all children had to eat the same food and parents had an equal say in the food that was served to their children, the quality of food would increase. Topic: Police Brutality Research Question: Do American law enforcement officers get enough human dignity training and oversight. Argument: If law enforcement officers received better training and support, the incidences of police brutality would decrease. In this blog, I will summarize and give a rhetorical analysis of the film Where to Invade Next by Michael Moore. Michael Moore is an Academy Award winning American filmmaker, author, and activist who is known for his controversial documentaries. His films include Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Sicko. Summary In the documentary Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore visits other countries to see how they have solved some of the most pressing problems facing America. In Italy he visits with top manufacturers and finds that Italian workers receive 8 weeks paid vacation, shorter working hours, and paid maternity-leave. France has school cafeterias that would put some restaurants to shame and have a more practical and effective approach to sex education. Finland is number one in the world in education and he shows us the differences in their system. Slovenia has college that is free to not only their citizens but foreign students. Germany remembers the Holocaust, so they can learn from it and move on. Portugal and Norway have much more effective laws and systems to deal with drugs and criminal rehabilitation. Tunisia held a non-violent revolution and have women’s rights with free family planning and abortion. Iceland shows us that women are more than capable of leading the country as well as major corporations and banks. After the collapse of the economy, Iceland also used an American prosecutor to help them put corrupt bankers in jail, unlike in our country where the bankers were not punished. Moore concludes the film by pointing out that the ideas for these programs were developed in this country, but we just did not use them to their fullest potential. Rhetorical Analysis In the documentary Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore does a very good job with appealing to our emotions on some very important issues. For example, in the beginning of the film he shows police brutality while former presidents are talking about how we will fight terrorism in foreign countries. Moore show us how successful other approaches to education, prison, and school lunches are in other countries. He shows us with statistics facts that these systems are better as well as cheaper than the systems in use in this country. By meeting with CEOs, Ministers, and the President of Slovenia, he establishes his credibility with the audience. It is no coincidence that this film was release just prior to the 2016 presidential election. Moore was trying to persuade Americans to look harder our domestic challenges, and what the candidate’s policies were on these issues. Showing us possible solutions to problems is an effective way of having the voters question the current system. This weeks blog is a reflection on my growth as a writer midway through the semester. I also will be reflecting on my upcoming goals for the rest of the semester. You can see some of the processes I have developed by reading my Blog #7.
How did you feel about English Composition before the semester started? How do you feel now? All my life I have dreaded any writing assignment, whether it was at school or at work. I would do anything to avoid having to write a paper. I am realizing now that the reason for my fear was that I did not get the proper instruction in how to write. My only instruction was being told what I did wrong and I was not instructed on how to do it correctly. This approach left me very insecure in my writing skills and started a vicious cycle. Having the ability to write each week without the criticism has made me more confident in my processes and products. I am starting to not hate writing. In this class, how do we define composition? In this class we define composition as combining two or more communicative elements to make meaning. In this class, we write so we can make meaning. What have you learned thus far about yourself as a writer? I have learned that the first thing I need to do is get as much down on paper as possible without any filters. After that is done, I can go back and edit it to my liking. If I try to edit as I put it down, I freeze up and begin to doubt myself. The more I relax the more I write. As a writer in this class, do you feel as if you are improving? How so? I feel that my confidence has greatly improved, and this is allowing me to write more freely. Implementing what we learn in class to my blog posts is helping me to learn to be more descriptive and show more than just tell. The more I am practicing writing the easier it is. What are your three primary English Composition I goals for the rest of this semester? My first goal is to do some meaningful revisions to my life-choice memoir. My second goal would be to learn how to write effective research papers. I feel that this is a skill that I will need in my future classes. My third goal would be to stay open to learning and put in as much effort as possible. The more I can learn of the art of writing the easier it will become. As we reach the mid-point of the semester, I look back at how nervous I was to take this class. I came into the class absolutely terrified and doubting my writing and literary analysis skills. Now I am finding that each week the blogs are becoming easier and the life-choice memoir was not entirely miserable to write. I don’t think I am quite ready to say fun, but I can see that as a possibility for the future. That is something I would never have thought possible just a few months ago. I am hoping that my positive attitude will allow me to gain even more skills that will result in an even better grasp of the art of writing. In the first part of this week’s blog assignment, we interpreted and annotated the video Reflective Writing. I enjoyed the video very much, it gave me a lot of information on how to write more effective reflections. The video talked about writing more about your thoughts and feelings on what you learned and not just a time line of descriptions. In the future I hope to write more meaningful reflections by delving deeper into what I learned and how that knowledge will be used in the future. The second part of the assignment was to answer questions about how we wrote our Life Choice Memoir.
Who did you work with to compose your life-choice memoir? Was this a good approach? I wrote the first draft of my lcm alone. I chose to do it this way because I wanted to pour every memory I had of that time into it, and then edit it down to the parts that I felt were important. I did not want anyone else to influence me with the choices. I feel that this would lead to a more personal memoir. What rhetorical mode and genre are you using? I wrote this creative non-fiction memoir trying to use mostly description and some narration rhetorical modes. I wanted the readers to be able to see and feel the story instead of just read it. Where did you write this project? Good approach? I started writing this memoir in three free writing sessions. The first one was in class and was followed by two more at home at my desk. When I was done the free writing, I used the material I had to start editing and forming the memoir at home. I found this to be a good approach because it gave me a lot of raw material to work with. When did you write this project? Good approach? I wrote this over quite a few sessions. I found this to be very helpful to keep me from being overwhelmed by the task and I am planning to use this process for my future writing assignments. Working full-time and going to school leaves me with very limited time and getting in even a few minutes here and there helps to get the job done. Why did you choose to write about your chosen topic? Good choice? I chose this subject because it has happened recently and has had a very large impact on my life. I still struggle with the events that occurred and the fate of my future. How did it feel to write this narrative ("during, after, and since")? Do you have any "if only" moments that can help you revise the draft? I am hoping that by writing about my struggle, I will be able to gain some inner peace. It seems that the more I share it with others, the better I am accepting it. How will you revise your narrative? I am looking forward to my session with Sabatino to work on the editing. I am going to need help with taking out more of the unnecessary details and adding to the more meaningful moments. The “Hills Like White Elephants” is a short story by Ernest Hemingway about a discussion between an American man and a girl about an unplanned pregnancy. The American is trying to convince the girl to have an abortion that she is not sure she wants. In this blog post I will give my opinion on whether the girl stays with the man and then show you an example of a time that I had to leave a relationship.
Does Jig stay in her relationship with the American man. The question of whether Jig stays with the man is difficult to answer. The man would like to continue with his care free life of traveling and drinking and is trying to convince Jig that she would like that as well. Jig needs to decide if she wants to continue with that lifestyle or settle down with a child. She is obviously afraid that if she chooses not to get the abortion, he will just leave her anyway. I think that his continued insistence that the baby was the only thing making them unhappy and how simple it would be to fix the problem, shows Jig how unwilling he is to commit to having a family. In the end I believe she chooses to go along with the abortion because she fears being left alone with the baby. I feel that she knows that their relationship is over, and he will leave no matter what she decides. A time when I decided to leave a relationship. “Lauren, your lunch is ready”, I called up the stairs. I hear the door fly open, banging against the pink bedroom wall, rustling the china princess dolls lined up on the shelf. She runs down the hall and barely pauses at the top of the thick carpeted stairs. As she thunders down the steps her long light brown curls bounce up and down in time with her pale blue Cinderella dress. Rounding the corner and gaining speed, she races through the living room, her crystal slippers just a blur. Suddenly her heel twists, and she crashes head long into the dining room table. I run to where she lands, checking for any sign of injury and ready to comfort her bangs and bruises. After the tears start to slow down, we make a careful inspection, there is just one small bruise to her right arm. We head to the kitchen for the well-worn boo-boo bear from the side by side freezer. As I gently hold it to her arm, she looks up at me and between sniffles asks, “Why did you let me do that?”. I looked at her confused, “what do you mean?” Again, in a small voice, “Why did you let me do that? You know that if I get hurt it is your fault.” Stunned I look up and see the faint scars of the repaired holes in the drywall, the replaced cabinet doors that don’t quite match. We sit holding each other just enjoying the closeness. Finally, in a forced lighthearted voice I say, “I think we should go on a surprise visit to grandmas.” “Can we go to Disney World while we are there”, she asks with excitement in her voice. “I think a princess breakfast is exactly what we need right now”, hoping to keep the innocence for just a short while longer. In this week's blog, we were asked to interpret and annotate the podcast What You Don’t Know (Lulu Wang). In this podcast, Lulu struggles with her family’s decision not to tell her Grandmother about her diagnosis of terminal cancer. This is the custom in China, but it goes against Lulu's western beliefs. I will share with you my opinion on the family’s decision, and then I will tell you about a decision I made to lie to protect a loved one.
The Chinese custom of telling the family first about serious health conditions is different than what is done in this country, but it does hold some merit. Often the patients are too ill to process the information and make appropriate medical decisions. This allows the family to break the news to the patient as gently as possible. Like Lulu, I too was shocked when I heard the family’s decision not to tell her grandmother Nainai about her terminal cancer. I felt like that decision was cheating her out of completing unfinished tasks and dreams as well as giving her time to make her final goodbyes. As the story progressed and I learned more about the reasons why the family came to that decision, my opinion changed. When Lulu’s mother explained that Nainai had lied to her husband about his diagnosis of terminal cancer, it showed that Nainai believed in custom of withholding poor prognosis from the patient. The information about her hiding her breast cancer from her family to not distress them, again showed how important it was to Nainai to spare her family hardship. If you look at her past actions, it is evident that Nainai herself would have agreed with the family’s decision not to tell her. I too have had to make the decision not to tell a loved one about an important health diagnosis. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer. If I had a nine-hour whipple surgery, the doctor thought I could gain enough time to see my daughter graduate High School that spring. I was very skeptical with that diagnosis. I have had multiple surgeries in the past to remove suspicious tumors and they had all turned out to be benign. When I voiced my doubts to the doctor, he assured me that the chances of this not being cancer were slim to none. We would have to come up with a plan to attack this cancer and get as much time as possible. Later that night, my daughter Lauren came to visit me in the hospital. She asked if they found out what was wrong with me, and I told her that there was another one of those annoying tumors in a pretty difficult place and the next day I would get a very long and complicated surgery to get it out. It would take a while to recover, but then everything would be fine. Looking back, I think I told her that lie to not only reassure her but to also reassure myself. If I didn’t accept the truth, then it wasn’t real. As it turned out I was right. I had a rare low aggressive form of pancreatic cancer that only 2% of patients get. The surgery removed all of it and I would not need any treatments at that time. The current plan is to watch very closely and if it returns we can attack it then. I feel like the lie I told that night paid off for my daughter and myself. This week the assignment was to read and annotate My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou). The story is about a young black girl named Margaret growing up in the South and the difference between how they were raised and treated compared to white girls. When Margaret goes to work for a wealthy white woman, she found herself a victim of disrespect by having her name changed for a matter of convenience. This is understandably very upsetting to her and she struggles with how to cope with it. This blog is to answer the following two questions: 1. Did you agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups, and 2. When have you made an important choice to either resist or not resist oppression, challenge the status quo, or refuse to obey an authority figure?
Question 1 I can’t even imagine what it was like for Margaret to grow up under those circumstances and I know that she needed to make a stand, but I do not agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups. I understand that she felt angry at Mrs. Cullinan for bending to what seemed to be peer pressure from the “speckled faced” woman to change her name to Mary, but I believe that Margaret should have tried to find another solution before deliberately hurting someone else. I realize that she was afraid of how her mother would react, but I believe she would probably be more upset by her deliberately breaking the china and losing her job than if she had quit her job to stand up for herself. Margaret should have tried to talk to Mrs. Cullinan and let her know how she felt about having her name changed and what her name meant to her. The fact that Mrs. Cullinan was ignoring her lateness and poor work may have indicated that she felt guilty for what she was doing. If after that Mrs. Cullinan did not relent, then she should have left her job without causing violence and explained to her mother why she had to leave. “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind” (M. K. Ghandi) Question 2 I was 14 years old when my grandmother took me to go see the pastor of our church. “It is high time you got baptized and joined the church” she said. You see all the other children my age had been baptized and had joined our church years ago. I had been dodging it with excuses, fake illnesses, school obligations, just about anything I could think up. I just didn’t know how to tell them that I didn’t believe in God. I was afraid that I would lose all my friends at church and worse I would disappoint my grandmother. My grandmother was the strongest women I knew, and I was terrified to disobey her. But if I went through with the baptism I would feel like I was making a mockery of their beliefs. When I finally went in to see Pastor Brad he sent my grandmother to see the church choir director so that we could talk alone. After a few minutes of conversation about church activities that I had been involved with, he asked me “I feel that you have been avoiding joining the church, do you feel that you are ready, or would you feel like you need more time?”. I started to cry. I told him that I loved the people and participating at church, but I did not believe that there was one supreme being controlling our existence. He assured me that I was welcome there and I could to participate as much as I wanted in the activities. My beliefs or non-beliefs were my own and I should not feel guilty or share them if I did not want to. On the way home in the car my grandmother asked me “What date did you decide on for your Baptism?” I took a deep breath and told her “Pastor Brad and I agreed that now is not the time and that I would know when I was ready.” I will never know if Pastor Brad said anything to my grandmother later, but she never asked about my baptism again. I can not even compare my small religious rebellion to what Margaret struggled with. To be a child and try to stand up for your rights is daunting in this day and was even more so in that time. |
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