Post-discussion

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

My opinion hasn’t changed much after reading my peers discussion posts. Most of my peers including myself were just reviewing the claims in the article provided. That being said I didn’t get any new information to change my view or opinion on the subject. There are two sides in this article the instructors and the instructed. I side with the instructed where I found that English would be more effective rolled into another coarse, because the students have all the tools they need to learn to write for their discipline. I believe that the problem that the teachers of the other disciplines are having is that they don’t enforce the literary quality that they desire. Now, the instructors claim that this would increase their work load and be unreasonable. Well, I would counter with if it is too much then they should lower the number of students taken on, or the number of classes taught. I don’t know much about the logistics of how universities and professors make money so no one should take my options seriously on the matter.

Discussion Post

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

“as we fielded informal (and by and large friendly) complaints from our engineer- ing colleagues about the quality of student writing, in mechanics (failure to spell-check and to punctuate successfully), in usage, and in what we consider rhetorical skills, such as using effective organization for a particular purpose and appropriately addressing particular audiences.”

“In informal conversation in the Writing Center and elsewhere, some students readily admitted that they thought they could be much more indifferent about such aspects of writing with technologically-oriented faculty, based on the common misconception that employers and faculty outside the English Department are concerned only with ideas and verifiable “facts,” and therefore do not notice or object to rhetorical flaws or mechanical careless- ness”

These passages from Bergmann and Zepernick’s article show a lack of dedication or care for the information taught in English by the FYC which is a characteristic that I believe is required to be an expert.

“In an example from physics, experts and competent beginners (college students) were asked to describe verbally the approach they would use to solve physics problems. Experts usually mentioned the major principle(s) or law(s) that were applicable to the problem, together with a rationale for why those laws applied to the problem and how one could apply them (Chi et al., 1981). In contrast, competent beginners rarely referred to major principles and laws in physics; instead, they typically described which equations they would use and how those equations would be manipulated (Larkin, 1981, 1983).”

“The study then compared how the historians and students made sense of historical documents; the result revealed dramatic differences on virtually any criterion. The historians excelled in the elabo- rateness of understandings they developed in their ability to pose alternative explanations for events and in their use of corroborating evidence. This depth of understanding was as true for the Asian specialists and the medievalists as it was for the Americanists.”

These passages from “How We Learn Ch. 2” are a good example of how experience is needed to be an expert. The example with the physics problem is a good example because the experts demonstrates an understanding that comes with experience while the student regurgitates an equation that were taught by a teacher which shows a shallow understanding.

I think the biggest difference between novice/expert learning is how they sort the information and the quality of information that is taken. It’s like two coin collectors the new collector and the old. The new collector collects what is shiny and looks cool, while the old collector knows the history of the coin, the value, and the rarity. The only way for a novice to become an expert from my point of view is dedication and experience. Those are the two things that make an expert because an expert has cares about his work and has a lot of experience in their craft. I do not believe that I’m an expert in any field yet, but I’m working to become one in a few. I say that I’m not an expert do to lack of experience which leads to lack of skill, but I have dedication to my craft.

Blog Post#12

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

I share the perceptions of Bergman and Zepernick, students don’t tend to transfer knowledge from a first year writing course to other courses or disciplines. I also agree that this is because students don’t see the relevance of the information and that students just write to please their current teacher.

The writing knowledge/practices that I’ve developed in English 1001 (006) are helpful in the sense that they don’t hinder or hamper my writing in anyway. I don’t think that I’ll use them out side of an English course tho, because I’m just not very dedicated to writing. I’m also not to sure of how useful it will be in any of the job settings that I’ll find myself in.

The basic stuff like catering to an audience, genre, and rhetoric would be a seamless transition because those are skills that I’ve found inherent in most writing. Making lists of topics and/or genres that I would like to cover in a writing could also be transferred to any writing situation as well. I don’t identify very much as a writer, mostly because I follow the logic that just because you work with wood that doesn’t make you a carpenter. I think the same about writing just because I can write that doesn’t make me a writer.

Discussion Post

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

My thoughts have remained unchanged through the discussion on Bergmann and Zepernick’s article. Some of my classmates where surprised by the assertion by Bergmann and Zepernick that students tend to reject knowledge taught to them about writing. I was not surprised, like the students that where used in this article I saw most of the things taught in English as subjective and useless. Bergmann and Zepernick fail to sway me to think that the skills taught in their history course was useful, if the two of them focused on why these skills are useful more than the fact that students reject them I could have been swayed.

The novice and expert idea seemed basic, I didn’t quite understand the reasoning behind using it. For it goes with out saying that there are novices and experts, because there is always those that devote themselves to a discipline. But, I also had to consider from Yancey’s last article that most people aren’t experts. Which leads me to believe that the skill isn’t something that you have to go to college for unless you want to be a teacher or some other form of academic writer.

Overall the read was interesting and acknowledged some of my beliefs or feelings on the subject. But, the point of view was something different than my own so it gave me a little more to think about. I feel detached from the author in most of these articles which is probably why I’m not swayed by their views.

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

I have chosen to carryover Victoria stern’s and Tara Santora’s articles that cover the history and the effectiveness of subliminal messaging. I picked these two articles because I’m working with historical fiction and basics of how subliminal messages could be leveraged or misused. Exploring how things could go wrong is an effective rhetorical tool to prompt a reaction from people. The other three sources I’ve chosen to help me write a brief alternate history to go along with my infographic, I will have at least two more sources on the history that my timeline diverges from but I will stick with in the 50’s-60’s era when subliminal messaging in marketing was first deployed. I might also have some section on the modern day after the impact of what has changed do to the departure in the 50’s.

citation

Happy Beans Design. “Graphic Design and Subliminal Messaging.” Happy Beans Design, 6 Jan. 2020, happybeansdesign.com/graphic-design-and-subliminal-messaging/. 

Rosenfeld, Gavriel. “Why Do We Ask ‘What If?” Reflections on the Function of Alternate History.” History and Theory, vol. 41, no. 4, 2002, pp. 90–103. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3590670. Accessed 31 Mar. 2021.

Wood, Robert, et al. “Alternate History Fiction: 3 Useful Rules You Should Know.” Standout Books, 17 Feb. 2016, http://www.standoutbooks.com/writing-alternate-history-fiction/. 

Stern, Victoria. “A Short History of the Rise, Fall and Rise of Subliminal Messaging.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 1 Sept. 2015, www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-short-history-of-the-rise-fall-and-rise-of-subliminal-messaging/. 

Santora, Tara. “Does Subliminal Messaging Really Work?” LiveScience, Purch, 14 Mar. 2020, www.livescience.com/does-subliminal-messaging-work.html. 

Discussion Post

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

I thought this article shared a lot of views that I already had in connection to what the students thought. I believe I failed to see what the authors where trying to prove after reading this paper. I side with the students on this paper in agreement that math, physics and subjects like that have more authority and “Hard Facts”. Where English is more subjective and has a lot of “rules” that seem arbitrary and useless. The article also stated that the purpose of English was to teach student rhetorical theory and problem solving skills, and that students where failing to learn that from English because they didn’t respect it a an actual athority. The article also demonstrated that the students already had these skills, with students finding the needs of their audiences (there teacher) and I quote “all of the participants in our study seemed to have internalized a strong sense of the real rhetorical situation of the classroom”. This article also demonstrates that the skills that students do transfer from their classes are rudimentary and are the skills that overlap with most professions.

The idea of novices and experts isn’t that ground breaking, all trades, disciplines, and occupations have them. The novices in the case of English just don’t know where they stand because of the way they perceive English or how it is presented to them. In most trades the lack of knowledge is apparent to the novice and may carry serious consequences so the expert is taken seriously. For example in machining when you mess-up there is a chance of serious bodily harm or death, while in English if you don’t use a coma nothing of note happens. This might be the reason that most people don’t take English as seriously as it should be, or English is put on a pedestal and everyone is taking everything too seriously.

Here is a passage that I find could be of use in my MA4 “As a group, the participants in our study prided themselves on their ability to figure out what teachers want, on both personal and disciplinary levels, and then do it. Students who had had jobs or internships that involved writing spoke in similar terms about understanding and address-ing the workplace audience”. I would use this passage to show that the skills that are needed in life my already be acquired by most people and the English has taught these skill even if it was unintentional or indirectly. I could use some of the papers that needed more work and compare them to the ones that were accepted to show how the writing change to suit the reader and assignment. there will be some work that will have to be done with the passage to show what I mean when using it, for when you read the passage on its own you might just get the idea that students are sneaky and will just conform to get what they want.

Blog Post. #11

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

The work of my research project now relying on a more narrative element, the reason for this is people identify the world with stories and characters it’s a system that is hardwired into the human brain. When you just present facts the presentation is flat, the reason for this is that there is nothing for you to identify with or grab your attention. The drawback of this style tho is that it is harder to know what is fact and what is fiction it’s a lot like creating myth. With a myth there are seeds of truth but you don’t know what is real and what has been embellished. I say this is a drawback but this is something that could also be an advantage because it gets your audience asking “Is that true” and they do some digging them selves to separated fact from myth.

I have to consider what sort of reality I want to write about with this shift and there are few constraints as to what one I should chose. I have the problem of freewill and choice, which is not a bad problem to have when you know what you want. I also have to consider how my audience might see me based on the choice that I make for this reality or how I chose to present subliminal messaging being missused.

This all speaks to my own paranoia more than anything else, the fear to proceed do to the threat of failure. This is something that I’ve overcome, through faith and optimism I’ve realized no matter how far I fall I’ll be alright. That is a message that I would like more people to realize things are only bad if you think there is nothing you can do and have given up.

Blog Prompt #10

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

• identify, respond to, and write effectively for various rhetorical situations

In our reading and discussions of the work Bitzer and Bazerman has done in defining terms like rhetorical situations, speech acts, and genres has helped me identify/respond to these situations. The ideas that was present are built upon and expanded throughout the whole course and there are ideas that help use write effectively for these situations from the entirety of our reading.

• create sustained writing projects that integrate and account for multiple perspectives

A sustained writing project would be the blog posts and discussions that we participate in. The multiple perspectives come from the array of authors we are assigned to read as well as from our fellow students that we write with.

• analyze argument strategies and persuasive appeals and employ them in their own writing

We have done this on occasion but we haven’t been assigned to do much persuasive writing. We analyzed argument strategies of the authors that we have read like Kathleen Yancey, but we haven’t employed the strategies as much.

• develop clear arguments that incorporate ideas and evidence from sources, juxtaposing, integrating, and citing them appropriately

citation and evidence from sources is used in a lot of our writing the major assignments, the blogs, and the discussions all have this. Clear arguments that incorporate our ideas haven’t been done yet so I think that is something that is coming down the line.

• produce successive thesis-driven drafts of increasing quality through drafting, revising, and editing

The major assignments are what is used to reach this goal.

• provide and use constructive feedback on writing

This is done on the peer reviews and by reading the reviews on our own work

• reflect on their rhetorical choices and connect this learning to other writing situations

there is a lot of reflection that is done mostly the assignment that require reflection like the discussion prompts and the prompts that are just for reflection.

• use complex and varied sentence structures and exhibit a writing style appropriate to differing rhetorical situations

This should be demonstrated throughout the coursed within the various different writing tasks assigned such as the blog posts, research papers, peer reviews, and discussion posts.

• demonstrate syntax and grammar control

Syntax and grammar control is demonstrated by the writing that is assigned

• quote, paraphrase, summarize, document, and cite sources accurately

MLA is used and that was taught in middle school, is apparent throughout most of the assignments.

• locate and evaluate print and electronic source material

We do this when ever reading the assigned texts and writing about them in the blog posts and discussions, or when looking for resources for major assignments.

• use electronic media to compose and publish

We do this with our WordPress sites that were setup at the beginning of the course.

Discussion post

Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)

At the beginning of the discussion I thought that the reasoning for a class dedicated just for English didn’t make much sense. I like the idea of reforming English so that It helps the student more so than just being around for the instructors sake. After some thought and reflexion on what Yancey and my peers where saying, I think it would be more useful to have an English incorporated into other classes so that you have a goal to associate to you writing. I heard an analogy by Elon Musk about how English was a tool and that mechanics don’t take a wrench class they just learn to use a wrench by being a mechanic. Why then is not English used in the same manner?