Last Week of March

This week we worked on our two pieces of rhetoric. The purpose of my two pieces of rhetoric is to raise awareness about minority high school dropouts. The gap between minorities and the majority is ever growing. If our country wants to remain number one, a change in our education system is a must.  The meaning "No child Left Behind," just cant be another logo for a program that is not working.
I don't think people realize how they also impacted economically by the decisions of these students dropping out. Some of the things dropouts will encounter are unemployment, poverty, welfare, crime, drugs, violence and very important a disadvantage of terminating the cycle if they have children that they will be creating.

The two pieces of rhetoric I created was for a transit banner and a Facebook page. The banner would be for the bus but it also can expand to the light rail Charlotte has. I think when people are waiting to get on the bus or train my banner can expose them to the issue and bring awareness to this silent epidemic. The other piece was a Facebook profile picture to raise awareness about minority high school dropouts. Social networking is really big and everyone is using it. It doesn't look like social networking will be going any where soon so it would be a good idea to expose people to the issue through social networking.

Wordle Creation

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5051052/2ENG1102

March 18th Blog

Summary: This week we took the time to get into our M.I.P groups that were similar by category. We talked about them to each other and then we all got to tell each other what we are working on. We also started to brainstorm about our pieces of rhetoric and how we will be creating them.

Reflection: In my M.I.P I am still trying to get a hold of my NPO. I'm not discourage because I am still following along with the guidelines of the project. I sent my email and now it's time to work on the two pieces of rhetoric for the NPO. I am debating a facebook page because I don't know if they already have one. I didn't see one on facebook that affilated with Charlotte. For the other piece of rhetoric I was thinking maybe a poster that can be put up to raise awareness for the "ghost students." A lot of these kids don't transition into high school with the support they need to make it and can cause their decision to drop out before finishing school. I think that if adults can get involved more with children and their education than they have a better chance of finishing high school. By showing logos, pathos and ethos in the pieces of rhetoric, it would be most effective in reaching out to people who can make a difference.

Collage Post

How does this collage represent my identity?

I wouldn't say this collage represents me fully. I feel like there is more to us than the photos we chose to show others. To me this collage is a time capsule of about roughly 7 years of my adult years. After high school I joined the Army, I now am a veteran. I got married and had a child after the Army. I am now 26 years old. I value to my family and friends very strongly. I like to be happy, outgoing, and a dreamer so I would say those are some images I can identify with.

Ordinary Photo

I chose this photo because everyday I am caring for my 3yr old daughter Adrianna. 

February 17th Summary/Reflection

This week we discussed Michael Moore's film "Capitalism: A Love Story." In class we each added to the chalk board on the thesis, rhetorical situation, logos, pathos and ethos, fallacies or gaps and rhetorical strategies Michael Moore may have used in the film. I felt the exercise to be helpful. We also wrote an in-class letter to Mr. Michael Moore on how we felt about his film.

We also had an in class group project to interpret the meaning of some images in our textbooks. From the discussion in-class and our reading we talked about how photographers can use images to show their audiences what they want them to believe. Some images can show a distortion of reality.

Summary/Reflection

This week we have turned in our main inquiry project proposals. We must remember to keep our timelines in mind so we don't fall behind. We also watched the film "Capitalism: A Love Story" by Michael Moore on Wednesday and finished it today. I felt the film was very effective. I felt Michael Moore used lagos, pathos and ethos throughout the film. I can say I was affected by the events that happened and are still happening today due to the financial crisis. So, I can understand his side of the story about the financial crisis. I think the most effective part of the film was the people's stories about how they were being thrown out of their homes.

Summary/Reflection 2/4

This week we learned about roles as a researcher, tips for researching, annotated bibliographies, evaluating websites, evaluating academic sources, claims and how to write a proposal for our main inquiry project. We also did a free write on our topic for our main inquiry project. I think the free write was a good idea. I felt like it helped me. I am still a little nervous about this project but I know it will be interesting to do. My topic is about high school drop out rates among minorities.

This Week's Summary/Reflection

This week's summary involves learning how to search for books, articles, and other useful information for our projects through the library’s website. We also covered logos, pathos and ethos. Logos involves rational argument that can deal with statistics, facts, definitions, and deductive reasoning. Pathos appeals to emotion that can involve sad stories. Ethos appeals to authority or character and can involve celebrities or well known experts.  I am familiar with ethos; brands are always trying to use famous celebrities to sell their brand. This week I learned that the best arguments have all three arguments: logos, pathos and ethos. I also got an idea of what social issue my project will be about; minority high school dropout rates.  

What I learned/Reflecting

I learned that writing is “a way of exploring ideas as well as communicating them.”  I never thought of writing in that aspect. I always thought it just a way of communicating our ideas. I also learned about rhetoric. Rhetoric is being able to persuade at any given time. I also learned about the rhetorical situation, which is audience, purpose, motivation, constraints, and knowing which strategies will work to convince the audience in any situation. I now look at things very differently. Instead of believing in everything (I know I sound naive), but I now stop and really question things.  

1. Describe yourself as a writer and as a reader.     What/When/How/Why do you usually write or read? (1-2 paragraphs)

I like to read magazines such as People, Us Weekly and magazines in that genre. I usually don’t get a chance to read until my 3yr old goes to bed. I also like to read the news such as headlines on yahoo and other websites. I read the magazines and headlines because they are interesting. Magazines keep me in touch with celebrities, fashion and trends while the news headlines keep me in touch with what is going on in the world that might affect us Americans.       

I considered myself a writer in high school. My friend and I came up with writing in a notebook. We would pass the notebook back and forth to each other after we wrote a page in it. We would write about our day, what happened and how it made us feel. It was a pretty good idea at the time, to express how we were feeling about certain situations.  Not much writing happens these days but since starting back in school, I am sure there will be plenty to come.

2. Find an image and try to write a rhetorical analysis of it on your blog. (Look at #2 on page 26 for guidance).        

http://ideas.time.com/category/cartoons-of-the-week/

On January 10th 2012, the New Hampshire Republican Presidential Primary was held. Massachusetts Former Governor, Mitt Romney, won with a total of 39 percent of the vote. Former Governor, Mitt Romney tied for 2nd place in  the Iowa caucus. The guy being chiseled in stone is Mitt Romney. 

This cartoon reminds me of Mt. Rushmore, a sculpture of former United States presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. After doing some research on the memorial sculpture, it turns out that the sculpture is actually carved in granite. The “Granite State” represents New Hampshire. The people that are working on the sculpture make me think that the people of New Hampshire feel that they are making their choice of the next President of the United States. However, the look that is depicted of Romney makes me think that the candidate may not be the right choice. America is facing serious problems that require the work and action of serious leaders. The jokey look that Romney has makes me feel that he may not be a serious candidate for President.