WRITING
This was easily my favorite writing class that I have taken so far. I think the reasoning for this was because of the freedom I felt when approaching a subject. Writing should be a free and open experience, but most classes make it so very structured that this is impossible. I liked being able to experiment in the genres and writing for this class. I am also surprised to say, but I really enjoyed using Weebly as well. Despite the forum, I don’t think my writing changed. I had to be more mindful of the way I was writing, but my same style remained intact. I have used blogs for many different classes before and didn’t feel hindered by this. In fact, I find it was easier. With a blog, it is almost expected that your post be short, sweet, and to the point.
This was easily my favorite writing class that I have taken so far. I think the reasoning for this was because of the freedom I felt when approaching a subject. Writing should be a free and open experience, but most classes make it so very structured that this is impossible. I liked being able to experiment in the genres and writing for this class. I am also surprised to say, but I really enjoyed using Weebly as well. Despite the forum, I don’t think my writing changed. I had to be more mindful of the way I was writing, but my same style remained intact. I have used blogs for many different classes before and didn’t feel hindered by this. In fact, I find it was easier. With a blog, it is almost expected that your post be short, sweet, and to the point.
Readers do not go onto a blog to read a novel. The posts should still be thoughful and reflect on the topic, but there is a constraint on the space you are allotted. There is really no need for a five paragraph essay or thesis statement in this form. The only parts of writing that I found more difficult on the website was revision and writing for an audience. Revision was more difficult for me however because of the technology, so I will return to this issue later. As for audience, though ever piece piece of writing needs an intended audience, I felt this was a little different. I found myself intrigued, but a little unsure how to approach it. I like posting here and trying to express myself on the page, knowing that any visitors to my site would only have that to define me by. Anyone in the class, ultimately anyone in the world could have found these websites and read my thoughts on Michael Pollen or anything else I posted on, everything personal that I had written. This thought was a little intimidating, but it gave me more motivation to make sure each item I posted was constructed the way I wanted and the way I felt was best before I actually clicked “Publish.” For that reason, I find that my writing is most professional here. I would never think to use texting language or acronysms in a forum like this, but try to show the best version of myself and my best writing. I definitely find myself writing for the genre in this class.
I also learned about new genres in this class. Changing genres from my past blog posts definitely impacted my writing and meaning making.
When approaching the assignment of making a haiku out of my microfictions, I began by reading the two pieces over and and pulling out words I thought could be useful. I constructed this list in Microsoft Word and was able to make a coherent piece pretty quickly. However, it did not have anything to do with either microficiton piece I had initally written. The haiku was an entirely new topic for me. It only came easily because the words I was able to pull out still fit together in other settings without losing a meaning. As I said, it was not the same meaning, but when looking at the words, it was easy to find one. I was pleasantly suprised by the seamless process of creating my haiku.
I initially followed the same process when attempting to create my found poem. I looked at the list of all my tweets and began pulling words out that I thought could be placed in my poem. I compiled these words in a Microsoft Word document again. By the time I had about twenty words, I was already starting my poem. This time though, I didn't keep referring back to the words. I wrote the majority of the poem, once I knew what it was going to be about, first, and then looked back at my tweets for a second time to make sure all the words had been used there. If there was a word that was not available from my tweets, I found a way to adapt and alter the words in my found poem. The poem seemed to write itself after I found my start.
We were asked to pull words out of our microfiction pieces to make a haiku. With the words I chose, I ended up with:
Youth is so precious
Appreciate the common
See, love the journey
Our next assignment was to create a found poem out of words from at least 10 of our tweets. I came up with the following:
Imagine
Home again
Enjoying the eventful treat
I’m here
I see you
But I’m curious, love
You look surprised
I’ve always been here
I knew it all this time
Look past all the fog
I’ll still be here at the end of the day
This is the only one I’ve missed
These are the only people I’ve missed
I hope you changed your mind
I’m home for good this time
I used words from twenty of my tweets to complete my found poem, which are in boldface.
@Linzz88 Agreed- if the snow doesn't keep me here cuddling with my puppy is exactly what I'll be doing tonight too #twitterive
Probably one of the only ones not watching the Super Bowl. Instead in the library for monitoring. Awesomee. #twitterive#wrt1
I missed my baby <3 http://twitpic.com/3u8kwq
The people you have here, you always have here. But me, i'm a ticking clock. So why aren't you here #twittterive
Could barely see on the way to class because of all the fog #twitterive#wrt1
Turns out when babysitting caillou and curious george really are "baby crack." Who knew? #twitterive
My roommates and I never leave if the fire alarm isn't in our own hall...could be risky but that hasn't changed our minds yet. #twitterive
It should be past my bedtime already tonight, but alas I have many more hours of work ahead of me. #twitterive#wrt1
@TarrMart I completely agree with you about Pagnucci- I loved it! #twitterive#wrt1
@linhoop Grammar? I feel your pain; that was the longest class for me last semester!
Can't handle another snow like this at home again today #twitterivehttp://twitpic.com/3vj1vi
Enjoying this minor break before my four hours of classes starts up again...then zumba tonight! #twitterive
Still need to catch up on sleep. Naptime today? #twitterive#wrt1
@MissJessW @linhoop I had her too; she was a really good teacher but it still took me forever to understand. I felt bad haha #wrt1
@sabatinomangini I've never really liked Twitter, but I'm curious to see if I can get into it this time. It seems more useful than I thought
Home again tonight...could be a little more eventful than I had thought. #twitterive#wrt1
Forgot that only my apartment is 75 degrees. Slightly freezing now. #twitterive#wrt1
Somehow a little sore. Amazing being my friend took the shovel right from me and finished my driveway
yesterday. Looks amazing! #twitterive
Still can't imagine eating pigs feet, sorry. It scares me as a dog's treat too. #twitterive#wrt1
Boy tricked me and suprised me last night- he was waiting for me when I got home- so cute :)
Looks like I forgot to add #wrt1 to all my tweets. Sorryy
My initial microfiction was prompted from a line from one of Gloria Anzaldua's pieces, either Borderlands or How to Tame a Wild Tongue. I chose the line "So common a site no one notices," to begin my story.
So common a site no one notices. A little boy, about the age of six, stretched out his precious, miniscule hand to reach for his mother’s as they began to walk across the street. Though the mother was smiling, it was clear she was distracted and more focused on her surroundings than her son’s gesture. To her, and to little boy, this was the norm. But as an elder woman watched from behind, she could see much more than anyone else. She had been through it all.
Reminiscing, she remembered starring into her handsome son’s tiny face all those years ago for the first time. He was squirming and squiggling, but was easily the most incredible creature she had ever laid eyes on. His first laugh came a few months later. He learned to walk at fourteen months, only stumbling a few times on his journey across the room into Mommy’s open arms. She remembered walking across the street with her son arm in arm, skipping and smiling through life.
“Hi, Mom,” her son greeted her, breaking her from her memories. “Sorry I’m late.”
“That’s ok, Brian,” she said with a somber smile on her face. Grown at twenty-two, he already looked just like his father. She looked back, searching for the young mother and son, but now they too were out of reach. She only hoped that the mother would appreciate the time she had with her son, and both their youths, before it was too late. So common a site no one notices.
We were also asked to create a microfiction piece beginning with one of our Tweets. The tweet I chose was "We're going to Camp Bow Wow!" which the little boy I babysit for told me.
“We’re going to Camp Bow Wow! We’re going to Camp Bow Wow!” the children chanted.
Brandon was thrilled. He and his parents had seen Camp Bow Wow for the first time last summer on their endless drive to Florida. They were on their way to see their grandparents, but luckily, his dad had desperately needed a bathroom, so they happened to stop in the glorious land of Camp Bow Wow. He fell in love at first glance. Though the camp seemed a little out of place for Savannah, Georgia, with its thick evergreen trees and wooden cabins, to Brandon it was perfect. His brother Charlie was still too young to join him, much to his dismay. At least Brandon’s friend Patrick was joining him or his worrisome parents probably wouldn’t have let him go at all. At this point, Brandon’s excitement was unbearable. He could smell the sweet forest air, feel the summer breeze on his neck. As soon as he got there, he was going to jump straight into the lake, where he would spend his afternoon before the campfire tonight. His parents had even packed him his own bag of marshmallows for the occasion. He was literally jumping up and down on the bulky bus seats with the thought, causing quite the uproar when they hit a bump in a road as he would almost crash to the floor each time.
“Attention children!” We are pulling into Camp Bow-Wow now, please grab all your belongings-“
“This is it!” Brandon yelled. He grabbed his bag, ready to jump off the bus. He was home.
These new genres were definitely new experiences for me, but I was pleased with the way they turned out. I only had so many tweets to go off of and thought I was able to use what I found to create a cohesive piece. What I found truly interesting about my new pieces of writing was that neither seemed heavily influenced from my starting pieces, those of the microfictions and tweets. Though it was possible to see the themes in them upon closer reflection, they did not start out from the same topics. When I looked at my finished products of my haiku and found poem though, the two ended up being of very similar topics and tones. This was not my original intention, especially since I was starting with a different set of words each time, but the end result was the same. I think my new products could have potentially been influenced by my original pieces underlying messages, but they do not look to be of the same topic at first glance. By the end of the creation of my new pieces, the theme and meaning was the same.
RESEARCH
I had quite the experience with research in this class. My group and I, not for a lack of trying, could not find people to interview for the longest time. We approached countless people but many did not want to be video-taped, some did not even want their audio to be recorded, and some would not even call us back for our collaborative research project on school lunches. Finally my group members and I were able to each get one individual interview. Personally, I was not used to this. I have rarely done professional interviews and was not used to the set-up of one. I was also interviewing the principal of my mother’s elementary school, which made me feel a bit awkward. I needed to watch everything I was saying and ensure that I was not being bias in any sense towards the school or shying away from asking the tough questions because of who the woman was.
Transcription from Lindsay's interview with the principal of William Woodruff Elementary School, Ms. Gasparini:
.55 Lindsay: "What changes have you undergone to make the school lunches better?"
Ms. Gasparini: "Well, it’s a little bit different here. For years, up until about I wanna say maybe three years ago, um in our district, um we did the whole lunch program. We ran it, our nutritionist ran it and it aligned with the state um guidelines as far as what we needed to have nutritionally, carbohydrates, fats, etc. About three years ago now, a company runs it. It’s a separate entity that actually runs our food services. So things have changed over that time. The changes I think have been good things because um with the company running it there’s many more choices. Typically the child had an opportunity to have a hot or cold lunch. They have the opportunity to have a hot or cold lunch, they have opportunities to have salad, there’s an extra extra every single week so that they can have that. There are always bagels that are offered also as another selection for lunches. So there’s more variety in the lunches. One of the things that uh when this company took it over there seemed to be a high concentration of carbs. Like we’d be giving them pizza and they would tell them to give them a roll too. So as a district, and as the principal, I said, “You know, you can’t have that many carbs.” So we, they balanced things out. So pretty much there is a vegetable, there is a fruit, there is a carb piece of it, a protein piece of it. So I think it’s a better balance. I still think it’s a school lunch, but I think it’s a better balance."
5:00 Lindsay "That was actually one of my later questions. So cost definitely does affect the products that you’re buying?"
Ms. Gasparini: "It affected it when we were running it, absolutely, ok. Because obviously, we’re, well not obviously, we’re only a six school district as far as that part of it so, our expenses would be greater than if it was a company running it, which could buy more mass, uh, um products as far as that part. There were certain things that were government staples that we were able to buy, definitely at cost. Like um, large cans of corn, those types of things that we definitely saved money on, but it still was more expensive for us because smaller is going to be more expensive because you’re not buying in quantity levels."
Lindsay: “So then if you had the choice, would you prefer the healthier, more expensive option, or the potentially processed cheaper one?”
Ms. Gasparini: "Well, I think we always want to go with healthier. I think we have to go with the best of the best that we can. However, you know, we are a public school, we do have kids that are on free and reduced lunch, and we do have families that are in need so we have to be able to offer something that’s going to be, provide the kids the nutrition that they need during the lunchtime. But at the same time, also be able to be something that’s affordable for families so if they have one or two kids, it’s not gonna cost them an arm and a leg if they are buying lunch on a daily basis."
The other form of research we did, which was internal for the Twitterive, required much more reflection. Our Oral History projects required the straight facts before we formed opinions and connected our information. The Twitterive was almost a reverse of this. The words were already down on the paper, but we needed to reflect and analyze them before we could come up with a new topic. We then had to do a whole different type of field research in going to our place and exploring the angle we wanted to present our information in. Personally, this has always been my weakest area in writing. I can sit down and write just about anything and have it come out to reflect exactly how I'm feeling that day, usually unintentionally. I have notebooks and Microsoft Word documents covered with writings like these, but the difference is people almost never see them. When I started my Twitterive, my writing spewed out in this same way. However, this was not a piece I could just throw in a desk drawer and pretend to have never written. I had done the research inside myself, I knew what I needed to say, but I still needed to be alright with the world seeing what I had found as well. This was the hardest part for me and heavily impacted my writing that I did for the piece.
The different research projects we had also gave us the opprotunity to explore different kinds of work. Our Twitterives were indiviudal. The Oral History project was a combination of sorts. Though our interviews and transcriptions were individual, we used them to create collaborate work. We had to cooperative first when we each set off for out interviews. We had to keep in mind who each member was interviewing and when so that we would have the time and materials we needed to collaborate later. Many of our blog posts that we used to reflect on the final product and process was coauthored. We would sometimes find an article through our research that may have been intriguing to one of us. That person would create a blog post and tell the other members about the source. They would then have the chance to look at the same article so that we could use the information to do further research and construct our collaborate research project.
Throughout our research and interviews our group though it would be interesting to see what lunch option they would pick when given a choice. In Bells Elementary School, the students are given a choice of Six different options: Lunch of the Day, Hoagie, Hot dog, Salad, Smuckers PB & J, Cold Platter, or Chicken Patty. Also, they offer Vegetarian options such as: Meatless Chef Salad, Vegan Salad, and Fruit Salad. Our group was very impressed with the variety of choices the children were given. This is such an improvement even from when we were in Elementary School. Nicole is currently observing in Mrs.Barca’s first grade classroom on Tuesdays. She took a tally of what the students got for lunch that day. Twelve students picked the Lunch of the Day which was chicken nugget and french fries. One student picked a hot dog, one student picked cold platter, and five students brought lunch from home.
Also , she paid close attention during snack time to what the students were eating. There were items such as Doritos, fruit roll ups, Fritos, Oreo Cakes, cookies, gummy fruit snacks, and gold fish. A few students did bring healthy snacks such as carrots, apples, raisins, and pretzels. Our group strongly believe that children will eat whatever their parents pack for them. When children are hungry they will eat anything. Parents’ are most responsible for what children eat.
Collaborative Blog: Tarrah Mart, Lindsay Finkelstein, Chelsea Ernst, Nicole Flesch
TECHNOLOGY
I have always considered myself technolgy literate. I would never go so far as to compare myself to Bill Gates or anything like that, but I do believe I can usually figure out what I need to do with a computer. I am never without a cell phone, my Ipod is my best friend, I have gone through more memory cards in my camera than I can count, and I recently was given a Flip videocamera for Christmas. I am no stranger to impeding technology. However, some of the tools we used this semester were unfamiliar to me. I had never used Weebly before. I was unsure about what to expect from strictly using a website to post everything, especially with the initial technical difficulties I was having, but my opinion changed throughout the semester. I was able to play around with the fonts and styles, the themes and colors for my work, though sometimes with more success than others. It did take me some time to adjust to the new medium, but I ultimately came to really enjoy this website, even though I am someone who still adores the simplicity of the pen and paper.
I never really found a use for Twitter before this class. I had to make an account for my Intro to Writing Arts Class, but I didn't have it on my phone and rarely remembered to use it except for when we were reminded to in class. I never really adjusted to the source. By the culmination of the semester, I think I had posted six times, and this was a result of time given in class when we were instructed to do so.
I also learned about new genres in this class. Changing genres from my past blog posts definitely impacted my writing and meaning making.
When approaching the assignment of making a haiku out of my microfictions, I began by reading the two pieces over and and pulling out words I thought could be useful. I constructed this list in Microsoft Word and was able to make a coherent piece pretty quickly. However, it did not have anything to do with either microficiton piece I had initally written. The haiku was an entirely new topic for me. It only came easily because the words I was able to pull out still fit together in other settings without losing a meaning. As I said, it was not the same meaning, but when looking at the words, it was easy to find one. I was pleasantly suprised by the seamless process of creating my haiku.
I initially followed the same process when attempting to create my found poem. I looked at the list of all my tweets and began pulling words out that I thought could be placed in my poem. I compiled these words in a Microsoft Word document again. By the time I had about twenty words, I was already starting my poem. This time though, I didn't keep referring back to the words. I wrote the majority of the poem, once I knew what it was going to be about, first, and then looked back at my tweets for a second time to make sure all the words had been used there. If there was a word that was not available from my tweets, I found a way to adapt and alter the words in my found poem. The poem seemed to write itself after I found my start.
We were asked to pull words out of our microfiction pieces to make a haiku. With the words I chose, I ended up with:
Youth is so precious
Appreciate the common
See, love the journey
Our next assignment was to create a found poem out of words from at least 10 of our tweets. I came up with the following:
Imagine
Home again
Enjoying the eventful treat
I’m here
I see you
But I’m curious, love
You look surprised
I’ve always been here
I knew it all this time
Look past all the fog
I’ll still be here at the end of the day
This is the only one I’ve missed
These are the only people I’ve missed
I hope you changed your mind
I’m home for good this time
I used words from twenty of my tweets to complete my found poem, which are in boldface.
@Linzz88 Agreed- if the snow doesn't keep me here cuddling with my puppy is exactly what I'll be doing tonight too #twitterive
Probably one of the only ones not watching the Super Bowl. Instead in the library for monitoring. Awesomee. #twitterive#wrt1
I missed my baby <3 http://twitpic.com/3u8kwq
The people you have here, you always have here. But me, i'm a ticking clock. So why aren't you here #twittterive
Could barely see on the way to class because of all the fog #twitterive#wrt1
Turns out when babysitting caillou and curious george really are "baby crack." Who knew? #twitterive
My roommates and I never leave if the fire alarm isn't in our own hall...could be risky but that hasn't changed our minds yet. #twitterive
It should be past my bedtime already tonight, but alas I have many more hours of work ahead of me. #twitterive#wrt1
@TarrMart I completely agree with you about Pagnucci- I loved it! #twitterive#wrt1
@linhoop Grammar? I feel your pain; that was the longest class for me last semester!
Can't handle another snow like this at home again today #twitterivehttp://twitpic.com/3vj1vi
Enjoying this minor break before my four hours of classes starts up again...then zumba tonight! #twitterive
Still need to catch up on sleep. Naptime today? #twitterive#wrt1
@MissJessW @linhoop I had her too; she was a really good teacher but it still took me forever to understand. I felt bad haha #wrt1
@sabatinomangini I've never really liked Twitter, but I'm curious to see if I can get into it this time. It seems more useful than I thought
Home again tonight...could be a little more eventful than I had thought. #twitterive#wrt1
Forgot that only my apartment is 75 degrees. Slightly freezing now. #twitterive#wrt1
Somehow a little sore. Amazing being my friend took the shovel right from me and finished my driveway
yesterday. Looks amazing! #twitterive
Still can't imagine eating pigs feet, sorry. It scares me as a dog's treat too. #twitterive#wrt1
Boy tricked me and suprised me last night- he was waiting for me when I got home- so cute :)
Looks like I forgot to add #wrt1 to all my tweets. Sorryy
My initial microfiction was prompted from a line from one of Gloria Anzaldua's pieces, either Borderlands or How to Tame a Wild Tongue. I chose the line "So common a site no one notices," to begin my story.
So common a site no one notices. A little boy, about the age of six, stretched out his precious, miniscule hand to reach for his mother’s as they began to walk across the street. Though the mother was smiling, it was clear she was distracted and more focused on her surroundings than her son’s gesture. To her, and to little boy, this was the norm. But as an elder woman watched from behind, she could see much more than anyone else. She had been through it all.
Reminiscing, she remembered starring into her handsome son’s tiny face all those years ago for the first time. He was squirming and squiggling, but was easily the most incredible creature she had ever laid eyes on. His first laugh came a few months later. He learned to walk at fourteen months, only stumbling a few times on his journey across the room into Mommy’s open arms. She remembered walking across the street with her son arm in arm, skipping and smiling through life.
“Hi, Mom,” her son greeted her, breaking her from her memories. “Sorry I’m late.”
“That’s ok, Brian,” she said with a somber smile on her face. Grown at twenty-two, he already looked just like his father. She looked back, searching for the young mother and son, but now they too were out of reach. She only hoped that the mother would appreciate the time she had with her son, and both their youths, before it was too late. So common a site no one notices.
We were also asked to create a microfiction piece beginning with one of our Tweets. The tweet I chose was "We're going to Camp Bow Wow!" which the little boy I babysit for told me.
“We’re going to Camp Bow Wow! We’re going to Camp Bow Wow!” the children chanted.
Brandon was thrilled. He and his parents had seen Camp Bow Wow for the first time last summer on their endless drive to Florida. They were on their way to see their grandparents, but luckily, his dad had desperately needed a bathroom, so they happened to stop in the glorious land of Camp Bow Wow. He fell in love at first glance. Though the camp seemed a little out of place for Savannah, Georgia, with its thick evergreen trees and wooden cabins, to Brandon it was perfect. His brother Charlie was still too young to join him, much to his dismay. At least Brandon’s friend Patrick was joining him or his worrisome parents probably wouldn’t have let him go at all. At this point, Brandon’s excitement was unbearable. He could smell the sweet forest air, feel the summer breeze on his neck. As soon as he got there, he was going to jump straight into the lake, where he would spend his afternoon before the campfire tonight. His parents had even packed him his own bag of marshmallows for the occasion. He was literally jumping up and down on the bulky bus seats with the thought, causing quite the uproar when they hit a bump in a road as he would almost crash to the floor each time.
“Attention children!” We are pulling into Camp Bow-Wow now, please grab all your belongings-“
“This is it!” Brandon yelled. He grabbed his bag, ready to jump off the bus. He was home.
These new genres were definitely new experiences for me, but I was pleased with the way they turned out. I only had so many tweets to go off of and thought I was able to use what I found to create a cohesive piece. What I found truly interesting about my new pieces of writing was that neither seemed heavily influenced from my starting pieces, those of the microfictions and tweets. Though it was possible to see the themes in them upon closer reflection, they did not start out from the same topics. When I looked at my finished products of my haiku and found poem though, the two ended up being of very similar topics and tones. This was not my original intention, especially since I was starting with a different set of words each time, but the end result was the same. I think my new products could have potentially been influenced by my original pieces underlying messages, but they do not look to be of the same topic at first glance. By the end of the creation of my new pieces, the theme and meaning was the same.
RESEARCH
I had quite the experience with research in this class. My group and I, not for a lack of trying, could not find people to interview for the longest time. We approached countless people but many did not want to be video-taped, some did not even want their audio to be recorded, and some would not even call us back for our collaborative research project on school lunches. Finally my group members and I were able to each get one individual interview. Personally, I was not used to this. I have rarely done professional interviews and was not used to the set-up of one. I was also interviewing the principal of my mother’s elementary school, which made me feel a bit awkward. I needed to watch everything I was saying and ensure that I was not being bias in any sense towards the school or shying away from asking the tough questions because of who the woman was.
Transcription from Lindsay's interview with the principal of William Woodruff Elementary School, Ms. Gasparini:
.55 Lindsay: "What changes have you undergone to make the school lunches better?"
Ms. Gasparini: "Well, it’s a little bit different here. For years, up until about I wanna say maybe three years ago, um in our district, um we did the whole lunch program. We ran it, our nutritionist ran it and it aligned with the state um guidelines as far as what we needed to have nutritionally, carbohydrates, fats, etc. About three years ago now, a company runs it. It’s a separate entity that actually runs our food services. So things have changed over that time. The changes I think have been good things because um with the company running it there’s many more choices. Typically the child had an opportunity to have a hot or cold lunch. They have the opportunity to have a hot or cold lunch, they have opportunities to have salad, there’s an extra extra every single week so that they can have that. There are always bagels that are offered also as another selection for lunches. So there’s more variety in the lunches. One of the things that uh when this company took it over there seemed to be a high concentration of carbs. Like we’d be giving them pizza and they would tell them to give them a roll too. So as a district, and as the principal, I said, “You know, you can’t have that many carbs.” So we, they balanced things out. So pretty much there is a vegetable, there is a fruit, there is a carb piece of it, a protein piece of it. So I think it’s a better balance. I still think it’s a school lunch, but I think it’s a better balance."
5:00 Lindsay "That was actually one of my later questions. So cost definitely does affect the products that you’re buying?"
Ms. Gasparini: "It affected it when we were running it, absolutely, ok. Because obviously, we’re, well not obviously, we’re only a six school district as far as that part of it so, our expenses would be greater than if it was a company running it, which could buy more mass, uh, um products as far as that part. There were certain things that were government staples that we were able to buy, definitely at cost. Like um, large cans of corn, those types of things that we definitely saved money on, but it still was more expensive for us because smaller is going to be more expensive because you’re not buying in quantity levels."
Lindsay: “So then if you had the choice, would you prefer the healthier, more expensive option, or the potentially processed cheaper one?”
Ms. Gasparini: "Well, I think we always want to go with healthier. I think we have to go with the best of the best that we can. However, you know, we are a public school, we do have kids that are on free and reduced lunch, and we do have families that are in need so we have to be able to offer something that’s going to be, provide the kids the nutrition that they need during the lunchtime. But at the same time, also be able to be something that’s affordable for families so if they have one or two kids, it’s not gonna cost them an arm and a leg if they are buying lunch on a daily basis."
The other form of research we did, which was internal for the Twitterive, required much more reflection. Our Oral History projects required the straight facts before we formed opinions and connected our information. The Twitterive was almost a reverse of this. The words were already down on the paper, but we needed to reflect and analyze them before we could come up with a new topic. We then had to do a whole different type of field research in going to our place and exploring the angle we wanted to present our information in. Personally, this has always been my weakest area in writing. I can sit down and write just about anything and have it come out to reflect exactly how I'm feeling that day, usually unintentionally. I have notebooks and Microsoft Word documents covered with writings like these, but the difference is people almost never see them. When I started my Twitterive, my writing spewed out in this same way. However, this was not a piece I could just throw in a desk drawer and pretend to have never written. I had done the research inside myself, I knew what I needed to say, but I still needed to be alright with the world seeing what I had found as well. This was the hardest part for me and heavily impacted my writing that I did for the piece.
The different research projects we had also gave us the opprotunity to explore different kinds of work. Our Twitterives were indiviudal. The Oral History project was a combination of sorts. Though our interviews and transcriptions were individual, we used them to create collaborate work. We had to cooperative first when we each set off for out interviews. We had to keep in mind who each member was interviewing and when so that we would have the time and materials we needed to collaborate later. Many of our blog posts that we used to reflect on the final product and process was coauthored. We would sometimes find an article through our research that may have been intriguing to one of us. That person would create a blog post and tell the other members about the source. They would then have the chance to look at the same article so that we could use the information to do further research and construct our collaborate research project.
Throughout our research and interviews our group though it would be interesting to see what lunch option they would pick when given a choice. In Bells Elementary School, the students are given a choice of Six different options: Lunch of the Day, Hoagie, Hot dog, Salad, Smuckers PB & J, Cold Platter, or Chicken Patty. Also, they offer Vegetarian options such as: Meatless Chef Salad, Vegan Salad, and Fruit Salad. Our group was very impressed with the variety of choices the children were given. This is such an improvement even from when we were in Elementary School. Nicole is currently observing in Mrs.Barca’s first grade classroom on Tuesdays. She took a tally of what the students got for lunch that day. Twelve students picked the Lunch of the Day which was chicken nugget and french fries. One student picked a hot dog, one student picked cold platter, and five students brought lunch from home.
Also , she paid close attention during snack time to what the students were eating. There were items such as Doritos, fruit roll ups, Fritos, Oreo Cakes, cookies, gummy fruit snacks, and gold fish. A few students did bring healthy snacks such as carrots, apples, raisins, and pretzels. Our group strongly believe that children will eat whatever their parents pack for them. When children are hungry they will eat anything. Parents’ are most responsible for what children eat.
Collaborative Blog: Tarrah Mart, Lindsay Finkelstein, Chelsea Ernst, Nicole Flesch
TECHNOLOGY
I have always considered myself technolgy literate. I would never go so far as to compare myself to Bill Gates or anything like that, but I do believe I can usually figure out what I need to do with a computer. I am never without a cell phone, my Ipod is my best friend, I have gone through more memory cards in my camera than I can count, and I recently was given a Flip videocamera for Christmas. I am no stranger to impeding technology. However, some of the tools we used this semester were unfamiliar to me. I had never used Weebly before. I was unsure about what to expect from strictly using a website to post everything, especially with the initial technical difficulties I was having, but my opinion changed throughout the semester. I was able to play around with the fonts and styles, the themes and colors for my work, though sometimes with more success than others. It did take me some time to adjust to the new medium, but I ultimately came to really enjoy this website, even though I am someone who still adores the simplicity of the pen and paper.
I never really found a use for Twitter before this class. I had to make an account for my Intro to Writing Arts Class, but I didn't have it on my phone and rarely remembered to use it except for when we were reminded to in class. I never really adjusted to the source. By the culmination of the semester, I think I had posted six times, and this was a result of time given in class when we were instructed to do so.
This semester, I told myself I would actually try to embrace Twitter. I connected it to my phone and signed up for TwitPic. To be honest, I still rarely used Twitter from my phone. However, it was definitely useful to have if I had a question about class. If I made one post and included #wrt1, the entire class would get back to me to try to help. I also used Twitter outside of class to an extent. I think I am not up to sixty-one tweets, which is really an accomplishment for me. Still, my blog posts are obviously much more thought-provoking than my tweets. I would say though that my tweets are more personal, at least at surface value as they are usually spuratic thoughts, but they are still more condensed. I still prefer writing for a blog over Twitter though. However, a lot of these tweets helped me to write my Twitterive, which is the most time-consuming and yet favorite assingment that I completed in this class. I did not intend on writing about the topic I chose, which made my final product pretty interesting. Once I decided to continue with this topic, I made at least four major revisions, wanting it to be absolutely perfect and capture exactly what I needed to say. Weebly also gave me some trouble in this respect. The majority of my final product was conversations. I showed each speaker with a different color. Everytime I would move the text around or erase something and add in a new story, I would have to re-do my entire color scheme again.
This still was not the project that gave me the most trouble. My group and I had trouble even getting interviews for our Oral History Project. People refused to call us back for the longest time. Once we finally had our interviews done, we realized mine was the only camera that would allow the videos to upload to YouTube. It took my first video three and a half hours for just that step. We then had to re-record two of my group members videos on to my camera, while the third member ended up having to take it to hers. I expected it to take the entire night for them to upload, but instead only one video was able to connect in this time frame, much to my dismay the next morning. It then took about four more hours for them to finally be uploaded and posted to our websites. That was my first time uploading videos to YouTube. Ironically enough, this was not what actually gave me the trouble, it was just the timing that caused an issue. The videos uploading successfully once they finally connected, even despite a few of them surpassing ten minutes, which I thought might be a problem.
Though I've always enjoyed writing, I had never experienced it in such various forms before. The methods of researching that we used were somewhat experimental for me, as I was not used to professional interviews or working with a group for this medium. However, I was pleased with how it worked out and thought my group and I did a nice job combining our efforts and information to create a cohesive, informative piece. The technolgy that we used for this class was also enjoyable for me. I enjoyed using Weebly, even though I did not always initially have the success I would have hoped for. The most trying form of technolgy that we used was YouTube when trying to upload the videos, which was completely new to me. Even though my work in each form was sometimes new to me, I really enjoyed getting the opprotunity to learn about the different modes. Writing, Research, and Technology truly helped me gain perspective on each of the various form of writing.