Reflection Number 2

1. Overall, when you think about the big picture of your writing, what improved? How did it get better? Why?

Overall, I feel my writing improved immensely. My formatting of my work has greatly improved from the 5 paragraph essays that I started with to the loop method which helps the reader understand and get a better understanding of the content. I also feel that my overall sentence layout has greatly improved from the choppy hard to read blob of text I had in the beginning, to the flowing, well written article that it became.

2. Overall, when you think about the big picture of your writing, what still needs work? What do you think will help you improve? Why?

I always have the problem with words I use. I tend to have a very limited vocabulary and tend to use a lot more passive verbs and “ing” more than I really should taking power away from my writing and making it sound like the same thing the whole time. This was a problem I still struggle with but after many critiques and looking over it myself, I feel I have gotten a lot better.

3. Specifically, show us something that improved and describe the path it took to get better. You can quote your article, your drafts, link to evidence, etc.

Overall my writing has improved but some parts that have improved greatly have been my layout and conclusion. When I first started writing this piece, I wrote it in a simple and very basic 5 paragraph essay. After learning the loop method where we start off with a personal event then explain that event with information, I changed my writing to where it would be more descriptive and be more interesting for the reader.

4. Describe something specific (or a few things!) that you learned about writing.

I learned a lot about my writing, especially how much I depended on a normal 5 paragraph essay. After using it or so many years transitioning to this more complicated but much more formal style was a hard task but I feel I did pretty well for my first time. I still feel i could work on my wording an sentence structure, as well as making it more active piece of writing, but I know that will take time for me to understand and formulate my ideas in a simple but entertaining manor.

Magazine Reflection

1. What went well for you during the process of creating this magazine?

One thing that went well was my time management. I made sure I managed my time so I used it wisely so when inputting our layouts and doing critiques could be done on time running my group as well as Vannessas into the right direction. Something else that worked would be how had my group worked, everyone did their part which allowed me to make sure everyone’s work was ready as well as my own.

2. What challenges did you face as you moved from an early draft or idea to a final product?

Some challenges I faced were balancing my work with the work of everyone else in my group. Since I had a lot of people I had to get onto the magazine, I had to make sure everything worked. I also faced problems with computers, getting one that unplugged turning it off or the hard drive failing the day before it was due. Luckily I was able to talk to other groups and get the things situated to where everyone could get their work in on time.

3. What other examples of work—student and professional—stood out as exemplary and served as a good model for your own work?

Some examples I used were the Atlantic and National Geographic. I liked how they used there formats and ho they incorporated their pictures with their text. I tried to follow another article and saw many other people in my team doing the same. In the end I also looked at articles like Jade’s and a few others to get ideas for the front page.

Obama and Socialism

When i first looked up Obama Socialism, i saw a lot of republicans talking about Obama trying to make the united States a Socialist government with all the laws he is trying to put in place and democrats making fun of the republicans for judging Obama.

Personally i dont feel that those are correct, i feel that his policies are for the country so taht it can get out of this recession not to force our government into a socialistic government.

Yes they do, since he is the president whatever he does will set precedents to what happened in the past and will be looked at or compared to other presidents whether they be good or bad.

Photo Essay

The Beginning of the Day

I walk up the stairs and look up to see a building containing LARC(Language Acquisition and Research Center), my internship location. LARC is located at SDSU and I have been and will continue interning here for the length of this semester. As I approach the building I wonder what I will be working on during the day. After walking up to the fourth floor I try to mask my deep breaths from the 10 flights of stairs. After I reach the fourth floor, I walk down the long hallway watching college students walk to class. As I watch these college students walking to and from class ideas of what college will be like pop into my head. Once I reach Room 410 all the thoughts about college go away and my work day has begun.

Distractions at the Workplace

I walk over to one of the far desks and start working on one of the many instruction sheets I have to do. While working, I also have to help students that come in with any problems they may have, which distracts me from my work and stops my train of thought. After an hour working on instruction sheets, a college student comes up and asks, “How do you use Skype?”, I follow her to the computer she is working at and guide her through the different programs for voice recording and video editing. After she understands how to use the programs and can finish her work by herself, I go back to my desk and continue the instruction sheets that I have to do. At around 11 a.m. a teacher walks in and informs Jonathon and me that a class will be coming. To get ready for a class we have to get certain things prepared such as the projector, computer operating systems working correctly and opening applications necessary for the lesson.

Class has Begun

The class has begun and the teacher has let Trevor give a basic workshop on how to use the program Skype. Jonathon is demonstrating how to use the programs on the instructor station while Trevor is explaining what the class is supposed to do. At this time I am walking around taking pictures of the class and answering questions people may have such as, “Why can’t I hear my partner?” and “Why cant I hear anything?” Those are 2 very common questions that are generally answered by turning the volume up or someone accidentally clicking the mute button on their microphone. Once the class has finished their assigned task we show them a program called Fetch. Fetch is used as a “shared documents” folder for turning in assignments, which we them use to put their videos in before they leave. After the class leaves and the room is quiet again, we turn the projector off and leave Room 410 heading towards Room 419.

Meeting with our Mentor

After leaving Room 410, Jonathon and I walk down the hall and reach Room 419, this is the open access room for all college students who attend SDSU and where the offices of my mentor and many of my colleagues are located. We walk to the back of the room, past the rows of computers and hard working students and walk into the office of our mentor, Trevor Shanklin. We inform him that we are leaving for lunch and what work we have accomplished this morning. After hearing our progress he says “good job” to Jonathon and I which I then head out, past the rows of computers, and go down the long hallway and walk down the stairs until I get to my car.

End of the Day Routine

Upon Returning from lunch, I go and head down the hall again towards room 419. Here I work with a few of my colleagues on the website and see how everything is working. Room 419 is where I get all the information on what I need to change on my instruction sheets and how we will get everything together. After getting input from my coworkers I spend the next hour critiquing my work and proofreading it with Jonathon. Once my work is done, I talk to Trevor once more. Once I am done talking to Trevor I leave Room 419, walk through once again the long hallway, down the steps and end my day with a quiet drive home.

3 questions on magazine

1. What article(s) would you like to write for the magazine? What photography could you contribute? Art? List three different ideas for your major contribution.

I would like to use my photo essay for this, article wise, i personally would not like to add anything becuase most of my time will be focused on the layout and design of the magazine.

2. Suggest at least one (or more) possible title for the magazine. This could be a title with or without a subtitle. For example, I work for UnBoxed: a Journal of Adult Learning in Schools.

Some titles could be internship, released or 11th grade, Randy Team Good pieces of writing and photography.

3. Suggest a topic for an article that you were personally like to read in a magazine inspired by the internship semester.

A topic i would like to write about is comparing and contrasting the economy now a days to older times, as well as add some of my history blogs.

Internship Immersion

I learned a lot at internship, as well as hone many skills that i will have to use for many years. During internship i had to write a lot of introduction sheets as well as teach classes how to use programs such as iMovie. This helped with my speech skills, my openness with people as well as a better understanding of these programs that i did not completely understand when i started. There are many skills that are needed in a job and all though not all of those are knowledge related people skills is a very big thing. Without people skills you will not meet friends and you will not be able to interact with your teammates or your colleagues making it much more difficult to get work done. Other than that, i felt that immersion was a great thing and very happy i had it because it allowed me to experience life at work and help me cross of teacher as one of my jobs choices.

Honors Blog

Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office during a rough time in America’s history, we are in the middle of the depression, unemployment is at an all time high, people are still getting laid off, and everyone is worried if we can ever get back to what we once were. There were many things that Franklin D. Roosevelt did to help soften this blow, and took his job very seriously and to heart because he knew everyone was looking to him for answers. To bring the U.S. economy out of the depression Roosevelt, and his brain trust, proposed a “First Plan,” proposed the “Second New Deal.”

First thing Franklin did when he entered office was put together a brain trust of economists and other professors who all had one goal, to help the failing U.S. economy. Roosevelt experimented with many things like the price of the dollar, putting money into banks and starting relief for the unemployed. One of Roosevelt’s advisers, Hopkins, persuaded Roosevelt to enact the Civil Works Administration that would, “Do something socially useful… preserves a man’s morals.” Due to the high price of this program Roosevelt soon disbanded this program but used it as a guide for future programs. Roosevelt then started a program that is still known of today for making some of the most important structures in U.S. History. The PWA is called the Public Works Administration that put unemployed workers to work by hiring contractors to build big jobs like the Triborough Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel and two Aircraft Carriers. This gave people a job as well as allowed consumer spending since people were getting money once more.

This second plan was during a time of huge up rest of workers, there were strikers everywhere around 1900 at one time and it was telling Roosevelt he needs to work faster. He felt his answer was the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 with a record of 4.8billion dollars for relief and employment. Some went to the NYA to help get jobs for younger people but the bulk of it went the WPA. “Before its end in 1943, the WPA employed at least 8.5 million people and built or improved 100,000 schools, post offices, and other public buildings.” Social Security was also a plan that was put in place to help those people who could not help themselves the aged poor, the infirm and dependent children. These new programs brought relief to workers and helped those that needed it; people believed he was answering their prayers.

The last thing that brought the U.S. out of the depression was war. World War 2 was happening and the U.S. was being dragged into it. It was the Bombing of Pearl Harbor that brought up rest at home and it was the invasion and axis pacts that forced the U.S. to side with the failing British and French governments. This war allowed a record number of jobs for building weapons. “Within two weeks Churchill was in Washington, meeting with Roosevelt to coordinate production schedules for ships, planes, and armaments.” The newspapers laughed at them saying it was outrageous but in the end, they made more than scheduled which probably brought the turn around of the war and the U.S. economy.

In the end, Roosevelt was a great man and with the help of advisors and his first lady, brought the United States out of the depression. There are some who say he didn’t do much, that the U.S. would get back to its pre depression status on his own but if he got elected for four terms, he must have been doing something right. From my knowledge of this period he changed the federal government as not just a maker of rules and protector of lives, he used to delegate everything from money to jobs. He used the federal government for the people rather than the people working for the federal government. It was through his first and second plans that change started and new policies were in place but it wasn’t until World War 2 for us to get out of the depression and focus on a scapegoat which at the time was the axis evil.