This past weekend, I participated in Derby Days for Sigma Chi’s philanthropy event. Before I go into my personal opinions or statements about this particular event, I wanted to clearly state that anything I say in regards to this matter does not reflect the views of any organizations I am a part of. Digital Rhetoric is something that is so commonly used today and on many occasions it is used for good and connective matters. In this event and scenario, I believe that this one, emotionally driven post has exploded in the wrong manner because of the abilities Facebook provides. This idea of something on social media going viral is nothing new. Time and time again you will see the same video of adorable dogs pop up on your Facebook feed due to the fact that people like, share or comment on the posts. In this derby days event at Ole Miss, social media was used as a mechanism to bring about conflict and bad reputations. The biggest connect or parallel I can think of between this incident and the United States is through politics. Since we are in the months leading up to the presidential elections, you see all over the internet good and bad things going viral about the candidates. In conclusion, I think that social media is used as a means of communication, but sometimes it can be enlarged into something that is not that big of a deal.
Category Archives: Daily Writes
Basic Web Design of Sephora
Posted onMy weakness is online shopping. It has always been an issue ever since I got my debit card. With that being said, there is one website that I look at once a day; Sephora. While the merchandise is a main reason why I like the website, I think it is because of how it is organized. When you first open the website, there are a list of sales located at the very top. Who doesn’t love a good sale on makeup? A part from there being sales on things that I “must have”, they present them in a very flashy way. For example, if they are have a sale on lipstick they show a picture of the item and then in big font they have the percentage of the discount on top of it. With these two simple piece of information, I know whether or not I want to spend time looking at it (even though most of the time I do). Another thing I love about Sephora’s website is the organization of finding the items that I know I want. Right underneath the sales at the top they have tabs that link you to each kind of product they sale. But they don’t stop there! Once you click on the tab a drop list of each specific brand pops up. So within two clicks, you are directly at the product you want. How easy is that? I think that I want to include a lot of this simple organization and visuals to my project. I really think that by doing this my website will be more appealing.
Language of cause and effect paragraph
Posted onInitial Effect
When lawmakers sat down and decided that there was a need for legislation in the education world, they had one issue on their mind: money. In efforts to keep funding more equal across the United States educational systems, they revised the wording of the IDEA laws. As a result of this, regular education students benefited at the cost of those who are in need of protection, students with disabilities. According to the Education Journalist Christina Samuels, “The provision, called “maintenance of effort,” is meant to keep funding stable…school systems are locked into spending a certain amount regardless of any system wide changes they may make.” While this law seemed to be reasonable and productive for all, it has left the special education programs with less money than they had to begin with. Once they are locked in with a particular set of digits, there are no revisions. Where this becomes a problem is with the school systems that are located in poverty regions, for they don’t receive much funding initially. In conclusion, the change of funding is the starting point of the continuing decline of special education students’ protection by the law across the nation.
I feel that this paragraph is a good start, but not something that I plan to turn in. At this point in my drafting stage, I am all kinds of unorganized. I find myself starting to write about one topic then I introduce the next topic in that paragraph. By the time I get to the following paragraph, I repeat what is said in the prior paragraph. So long story short, this draft is a mess. I plan to finish my very, extremely, terrible rough draft tonight. Then on Tuesday, I will go through and move my thoughts around, re-word, and add subtitles to the paper. I hope that from this point, I can get a better understanding of how my actual writing and content after the conference. Overall, I will be working on this paper all week.
Connect 10: Timberlake’s Concert
Posted onThe most memorable introduction that has stuck with me was with my celebrity crush, Justin Timberlake. My junior year in high school he went on his 20/20 tour with songs from his new album. My friends knew of my love for him so when they surprised me with tickets I couldn’t wait. Now, I don’t know if this introduction was so memorable just because I was looking at the love of my life since I was a little girl listening to NSYNC, or if the introduction was really memorable by the elements in which it started. A part from me looking at my lifetime crush, the there was a huge replica of the machine you use during a Retinoscopy at the eye doctor. I remember initially thinking how strange it was to have medical equipment as a part of a concert, but I was just going to roll with it. Once I realized that his tour was about 20/20 vision of the future, everything because into focus (lol,what a pun?!). As the intro music started, I saw this elevator rising and there were letters spelling out his name through the eye machine. As soon as the beginning note of his song “Pusher Love Girl”, the elevator curtains dropped and there he stood. After talking about the purpose of an introduction in class, I realized that the elements to this opening concert were so complex. I think that each of his introduction played a part in getting people to look at the stage, hold their attention and promote his new album. In conclusion, I think that just like how the concert opened in such a complex yet simple manner, I should include things that subtly express the complexity and have that final, “wow” moment with my thesis.
Prejudice Class Exercise
Posted onWhy are people prejudice? When I asked my family this question they responded with “People were raised and surrounded by a culture that forms their thoughts, beliefs and morals”.
Who is prejudice? I find people in politics to be very prejudice. They try to side with the most popular and accepted positions, thus including elements of the socialization factor the author describes. I think this really highlights the author’s points about how it starts at a cognitive level, then turns into emotional level where it is plastered all over the news and media. Eventually, whether small or large, it turns into an action once given the position. Which leads to the idea that they use the issue of prejudice to justify their reasoning for their belonging in an authoritative position. I think that they also become prejudice because of the economic competition the US encounters. Overall, all of this would lead to America adapting a social norm based off the prejudice of people in politics.
Discussion Form: SPED Across Borders
Posted onIn today’s discussion, I wanted to hear about the different special education systems in the school systems of my classmates. Through out my research, I noticed that many schools don’t have special education systems and if they do, they were either great or not at all. I am thinking about writing my cause and effect paper about how schools are putting their money in to their physical structures and as a result they are not turning their attention to things in the school district that need the financial support.
Connect 10: Statistics vs Major
Posted onFor this connect 10, I wanted to highlight how this research had a moment where one of the statistics made me have an emotional connection. In my personal life, I have been having a hard time with my major. The more I shadow teachers and other educational specialist, I fell that I want to make more of a difference. When assigned this topic, I really wanted to find a way to not only push me out of my comfort zone in researching, but I wanted to explore all the issues of the educational system and find a passion. After reading that initial article, I thought I was going to focus my paper on how the schools are being funded differently and why that was wrong. As I was attempting to further my research, I came across three statistics that depicted an interesting common thread to how funding was different and why. This reoccurring theme was special education. As hard I have been trying to disconnect myself from it, deep down, my passion has always been to help special education students. Each time I am out in public and I see a child who is has a physical, emotional or learning disability; I can’t help but give the family and child a hug and tell them how wonderful I think they are. After reading how the statistic suggest that there is a growing rate of special education students up north, where my family is moving this summer, I instantly knew that God was calling me to add on a major that would further satisfy my passion in life. More importantly, this new self discovery provided a motivation for my deeper reading and researching for this particular assignment. One thing I have learned about myself is that reading is like pulling teeth. I don’t want to do and I will use every excuse to try to talk myself out of doing it. After having this moment of emotional connection, I realized that I had been looking up articles and other statistics until 1:30 in the morning. In my educational experience, I have never had an assignment that seemed so easy to read and research things about. Overall, I think this learning and connecting moment was not only beneficial to my paper, but to my decision on what I want to do with my life.
Discussion Form: Still Segregated?
Posted onI am asking about segregation in the education system today. I really wanted to hear the classes opinions about this because I only truly understand one side of the argument; the white population. In addition, I had never thought about the other issues of which Kozol talked about. The differences in school structures, resources and teacher efforts. I began to try to make connections through my moms school and where I went to school, but I feel like input on an outside school district would be more beneficial.
Connect 10: Back at it again with Education
Posted onAs much as I enjoyed reading about the money and success, I think I wanted to change my myth/topic back to my favorite thing to write about; Education.
Still separate, still unequal- This article was the first one that caught my attention. As I read the quotation underneath the title in the table of contents, I immediately was able to draw a connection. I was blessed to go to a very well off public high school. In fact, we were known through out the district as Cy Rich. With this being said, my mom works as an assistant principal within the same school district. During my junior year of high school, my mom received a new position within the district at a title one school. When I went there for the first time, I was surprised as to how different it looked compared to the schools I had personally attended. I think it was at this moment that I realized that even though Cypress Fairbanks claims to be an equal opportunity school district, there are some schools that are more advanced than others.
I just wanna be average- I was taken aback by this title when I first read it. I always viewed myself and peers as wanting to better ourselves through our education. If we didn’t, why were we paying all this money and being away from our families? As I read the quote from the article underneath the title, I was shocked as to how relatable this article was. It talked about how they were just set on a track and there was extreme emphasis on the bottom level. I was really intrigued by this because I want to know more about what this author has to say. I have always viewed education as a positive, not a negative.
Commonplace Book Purpose
Posted onI think the commonplace book has a very beneficial purpose. While I sometimes find it tedious and annoying, it has allowed me to draw deeper connections to what I have learned and how I could use it in other classes in the future.