Blog 8: Outline of Group Project

My partner and I will inform the audience that our project will be a newsletter providing information about writing a cover letter for a job application. We will present the newsletter to our audience. We will just give an overview of the main topics that will be discussed. One of us will take a section of what will be on the newsletter and discuss it further. The newsletter will contain information that would be very clear and understandable even without an explanation. It has to be a strong informative piece because we will not always be there to explain it.

Since this course is for students in any major and not a specific degree, we think that anyone would benefit from our information. Therefore, the first topic we will discuss are the three types of cover letters. The following are the three types we will go into detail about are application letter, prospecting letter, and networking letter. The next topic we will discuss are the 8 steps of writing a cover letter. This is a very important part of the newsletter and cover letter writing. Then we will talk about the styles of cover letters. This newsletter will provide an example of the 3 types of cover letters and websites of templates.

We hope that this newsletter will be helpful to future students of ENG 333 and others in need of a place to start before writing their cover letters. 

Blog 7:Editorial

change.org - Caylee's Law

Caylee Marie Anthony was born on August 9, 2005 and was last seen with her mother on June 16, 2008 and reported missing on July 18, 2008 by her grandmother.  Caylee’s skeletal remains were found not far from the home on December 11, 2008. 

Her mother Casey was arrested on various charges during 2008; however on October 14, 2008 she was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to police

On April 13, 2009, prosecutors announced that they planned to seek the death penalty in this case.

The trial lasted for five weeks and concluded with a not guilty verdict on all charges with the exception of four counts of providing false information to police.  This verdict outraged a large percentage of the population that immediately began to criticize the judicial system and the jurors in this case. 

I am one of the many who will disagree with the verdict and I am very disappointed that the accused is now free to enjoy the rest of her life and has to option to bear additional children.  I am a supporter of the proposed “Caylee’s Law” and I firmly believe that any person suspected of being missing should be reported to the appropriate authorities as soon as practical.

This verdict has not encouraged me to lose faith in our judicial system or the many men and women who are taken from their families and sequestered to serve on a jury.  It is very difficult for jurors to convict some one of first degree murder and send some to death.  The jurors did an excellent job during deliberations and although many may believe that the accused is guilty, Casey was to be convicted by evidence and not by what so many people “believe”.

The death was ruled a homicide and the cause of death listed as undetermined.     There were many pieces of evidence such as the duct tape and odor in Caseys’ car, however the prosecution failed to present this case in such a manner that would lead them to a conviction. 

I am confident that with the evidence provided, the prosecution would have been able to get a conviction on a lesser charge that would still have had Casey spend the rest of her life in jail.

In conclusion, I urge everyone to maintain faith and belief in our system.  It is a good system that ensures everyone to a fair trial. 

 I chose this topic because I believe that the Casey Anthony verdict was not due to a poor judicial system or the lack of knowledge of jurors, but that the prosecution failed to present the case in a manner of which would have resulted in a first degree conviction. Shortly after the verdict was revealed on national television I read many comments and posts on Facebook and through other social media criticizing the system and the jurors. I believe the jurors did an excellent job in providing a verdict based on the evidence provided and what is fact rather than their own beliefs and what we have all seen through the media. Regardless of what we believe everyone is subject to a fair trial and conviction as a result of evidence. I also believe that with the evidence provided perhaps another murder charge may have resulted in a conviction. This conviction may have resulted in life in prison. The media also may have been an influence in the results of this trial. Often times in the past, trial with media publicity such as this has been very difficult to get conviction; such as the Simpson Trial.

Assignment 6: Collaborative Writing Project Issues/Progress Report

I honestly have to admit that I didn’t really like the idea of putting together a group project. I usually like to work on my own; therefore, no one else’s grade is depending upon my work. No one would be waiting on me to complete something. I wasn’t to sure how this project would work out or even what we had to do. I am glad my group is very small. It is so easy for the both of us to call each other to discuss ideas. We do not have to relay messages to anyone else. We both are really easy going on this project and the decisions have been easy and very agreeable between the two of us. My group partner and I are both organized people like to have a plan of action. We are ready to get this project going and get it completed. We were a little nervous at the beginning when one of our partners was not responding to emails. Not sure what happened to her, but we have continued and working smoothly.

The collaborative writing project that my group is working on is creating a newsletter on writing a cover letter for a job application. This newsletter will take a lot of research to put it together. You want to make sure you have reliable information, especially if it is something that has the potential to be used by other college students to help in this course. At this point the topics that will be covered are; 8 steps to an efficient cover letter, the 3 types of cover letter, sample cover letter, and cover letter template. This newsletter should be completed by the projected due date.

This project is coming along on schedule. I have almost completed most of the research. I have parts of the newsletter put together. There is still much left to be completed. I would like to add websites addresses for cover letter templates and sample letters to the newsletter. So far I have not come across any unexpected events. Just have to focus and get the project completed. I think this project will be completed one day this week. It is added to my list of many things to work on this week.

I think the overall product will be very informative. It will also help me to complete an accurate cover letter for my resume. Even though I will have a job at the same school I am currently working, I do not plan on being there forever. I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s completed projects. I am sure they will all benefit me and not just future students of this class. Writing is still not one of my favorite subjects, but I am kind of getting the hang of it. Just need to catch up on my blogs. I hope this project continues to go as smoothly as it has been going. My partner and I will make frequent phone calls or send email to check the progress of this project. It helps keep each other motivated to complete it and not just slack.

Assignment 3: Defining Website Objectives

My major is elementary education and I will also receive an endorsement for science. The two websites I would like to compare are http://w2.uno.edu/coehd/CollegeofEducationHumanDevelopment.aspx and http://www.usm.edu/elo/ug_teacherassistant.php. The first is the University of New Orleans which is where I received my first bachelors’ degree and obviously the second one is the University of Southern Mississippi where I will receive my second bachelors’ degree.

The reason I chose these two is because they are so very different. The sites I will compare are their Education Department site. I prefer the USM website because all the information is there that you need to guide you through this program. On the UNO site you have to search for everything. When I am looking for something in particular I like to have it right there. I like to have easy access to information. I get frustrated when I have to search all over the site just to find out one simple answer. USM site is very detailed in their information. I especially like that you do not have to download the college catalog just to access the classes that you need to fulfill the degree requirements.

I will try to answer the questions from the objectives worksheet as best as I can, but it is very difficult to do so since I am not the original author and I am just placing an opinion.

This type of writing is intended for students who are deciding to go to college and which college would be the best choice for them. This type could also be intended for parents and guardians of students who are deciding to go to college. The reader’s relationship to me would be that we were in the same situation at one time. I was looking at different colleges’ websites trying to determine what college would be best for me. 

There are various key questions the reader will ask while checking out these sites. I think that they will have an easier search if they use the USM site. Sequential reading from beginning to end is the format the reader would have to follow. I think the readers will use the information provided and make a decision on which university would meet their needs. I think the readers will have a positive attitude toward the subject. I think that if this is the field of study they are going into then one would hope they would be positive about it. 

Assignment 2: Rhetorical Situation

Last semester I took the class CIR 306, Introduction to Literacy: A Language Arts Approach, with Christine Selman as the instructor. She required the class to critique three articles on three different topics. Each topic was pertaining to Language Arts and its different contents. My best article critique was on an article called Interactive Writing Beyond the Primary Grades.

This article was about using interactive writing lessons as a method of teaching writing mechanics in contexts. Three key points of the article are interactive writing, interactive writing in a third grade classroom, and interactive writing for special need students. The article defines interactive writing and gives examples of how the teacher implements it in her lesson and makes modifications for the group of students she is teaching.

According to this article, interactive teaching was developed in 1991 by researchers with the Ohio State University. Interactive writing assignments are a process of writing content which the teacher guides the students. The teacher takes lots of time to talk bout phonics prior to the lesson and during the lesson.  This writing process was created to promote independent writing in primary grades. During these lessons teachers will select students, intentionally based on their ability, to add a section to the sentence. The reason is to have a grammatically correct sentence. This can be done with small groups or the class as a whole. Research has proven that children using this type of writing process have shown improvement in their writing. Reading comprehension has also improved by using interactive writing lessons.

In this article the author states that the third grade class uses interactive writing to create their weekly parent newsletter. The students and teachers create each sentence together. Together they also decide on the topic of the weekly newsletter. The teacher draws a name out of a can and has that student decide on how to start the paragraph or sentence. As the student makes a suggestion the discussion continues. Once the student starts the paragraph the students work together to determine if it is good or corrections are needed. In the beginning of the year the sentence are simple, but as the year goes on the sentences progress into using clauses as sentence openers and compound sentences.

The teacher teaches interactive writing with special needs students a little different than the regular education students. The interactive writing is worked in smaller groups. These students write summaries of previously read texts. They create really big graphic organizers. Since the teacher uses small groups everyone participates and the work becomes a group effort. Interactive writing can be modified for any grade or special needs group.

This was a very interesting article. I think this article does reflect good teaching, because the teacher modified the interactive writing lesson for each group she was teaching. I like have my students do writing assignments and now with my new knowledge of interactive writing I will definitely incorporate this into my lessons. I think having the ability to write properly is very important. Proper techniques should be taught at a young age. As students grow older their writing styles will progress maturely, but the basic techniques are instilled in them as young children. I like the idea of letting the students make the decisions. It helps them want to be involved and participate. It gives the students a sense of ownership.

Assignment 1: Student Profile

Hello again, I would like to tell you a little more about myself. I have been with my husband for 17 years and we have two very intelligent and beautiful daughters. Stefani Alysa is 8 years old and Jillian Delanie is 6 years old. They are very active girls and constantly keep me and my husband on the go. I have taught 3rd grade and preschool at private schools, and assisted 6th grade ELA teachers at a charter school. I am currently a preschool assistant at a catholic elementary school. I am a college graduate working on my second bachelor degree. My major is Elementary Education and I will also receive an endorsement for Science. I will begin my student teaching in the Fall of 2012. My plan is to become a 2nd or 3rd grade teacher but I will start where ever I can just to get my foot in the door. In six years and four months my husband will retire from his current job and we plan on moving to Clermont Florida where my husband and I will go to work for Disney and I will continue my teaching career. We are looking forward to this move because we really love the area and visit there at least twice a year.

The only type of document I enjoyed writing were my weekly parent letters. I enjoyed writing about the events and the fun things we will be doing during the week at school. The only thing that worries me about this class is that my writing is not very good. I have a hard time trying to express my thoughts in words than verbalizing them. For me writing is a very hard means of communicating. I hope to not only earn an A in this course but also to learn how to express myself in writing more clearly. I hope to accomplish how to become a more efficient writer.

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. I am new at this so please have patience. I had to create this blog for an English class I am taking. We will have to post weekly blogs. So check back each week to see my new post. Please keep in mind that I am not a great writer, but hope that by the end of the class I will have made some improvement. Once the course is completed I will continue to blog, but I am not sure what theme it will follow yet.

Please enjoy and of course feel free to make comments.

Thanks,
Stacy