#writing profiles

My plan for DJP #5 is to offer you space to “think out/write out” some ideas on one of the critical thinking suggestions that your text book offers, specifically the suggestions on pages 102 and 103 (SMGuide). Most of you should have completed your field research. If you have not completed your field research this step will feel like “busy work,” not effective or affective work. “Busy work” runs counter to my intent for these digital journals. If you have not already completed your field research AND notes, please let me know this as soon as possible.

Open chapter 3 in your SM Guide now. Re-read pages 102-103. You will notice that the text suggests that you have 3 different options when exploring the “Perspective of your Profile,” by focusing on the “PLACE,” by focusing on an “ACTIVITY,” or by focusing on a “PERSON/GROUP OF PEOPLE.” For this digital journal, I would like you to explore those possibilities based upon your field research experience.

DJP #5: After writing out your field research notes as described and explained on pages 94 - 98, I would like you to consider the perspective through which you will describe your subject, through PLACE, ACTIVITY, or through the PEOPLE or a PERSON.

Brainstorm a bit about which is right for your essay. Which did you intend before you walked into the event, interview, etc. This could be different now that you have experienced that interview, activity, etc.

Record that brainstorming in some way. (If this direction is confusing to you - see directions for DJP #4.)

Explore in at least 1 long paragraph which perspective you will use. Why?

My plan for DJP #5 is to offer you space to “think out/write out” some ideas on one of the critical thinking suggestions that your text book offers, specifically the suggestions on pages 102 and 103 (SMGuide). Most of you should have completed your field research. If you have not completed your field research this step will feel like “busy work,” not effective or affective work. “Busy work” runs counter to my intent for these digital journals. If you have not already completed your field research AND notes, please let me know this as soon as possible.

Open chapter 3 in your SM Guide now. Re-read pages 102-103. You will notice that the text suggests that you have 3 different options when exploring the “Perspective of your Profile,” by focusing on the “PLACE,” by focusing on an “ACTIVITY,” or by focusing on a “PERSON/GROUP OF PEOPLE.” For this digital journal, I would like you to explore those possibilities based upon your field research experience.

DJP #5: After writing out your field research notes as described and explained on pages 94 - 98, I would like you to consider the perspective through which you will describe your subject, through PLACE, ACTIVITY, or through the PEOPLE or a PERSON.

Brainstorm a bit about which is right for your essay. Which did you intend before you walked into the event, interview, etc. This could be different now that you have experienced that interview, activity, etc.

Record that brainstorming in some way. (If this direction is confusing to you - see directions for DJP #4.)

Explore in at least 1 long paragraph which perspective you will use. Why?

As you all prepare to attend the event, participate in the activity, or interview the person or persons you have chosen to write about in your Profile assignments, you should also be considering how you will write this essay as well as completing some surface level research that will help you to fill in context within your essays.

As an example, look at Gabriel Thompson’s “A Gringo in the Lettuce Fields” in your SMGuide texts (pages 83-6). Thompson begins his essay with narration. The essay begins in the middle of his 3rd day working in the Yuma, Arizona sun. But, you will notice that at paragraph 4 (p.84), Thompson starts to give you his research,

Since the early 1980s, Yuma, Ariz., has been the “winter lettuce capital” of America. Each winter, when the weather turns cold in Salinas, California – the heart of the nation’s lettuce industry – temperatures in sunny Yuma are still in the 70s and 80s. At the height of Yuma’s growing season, the fields surrounding the city produce virtually all of the iceberg lettuce in the United States and Canada. (p 84)

In paragraph 5, Thompson goes on to describe the history and structure of the lettuce industry. This is all information he researched outside of his experience working in the lettuce fields. You should be doing the same work as you prepare to meet with your interviewees or attend events. Your learning, brainstorming, and research should be in process and should be rigorous.

DJP #4

For this digital journal post you will work through some of that brainstorming and preparation on your digital journals. This post is due before class begins on Tuesday, February 7.

Explore whether or not you will write your essay from the spectator perspective or from the participant perspective (see p 64 of SMGuide). Why?

Your post should include extensive consideration. At least 3 paragraphs of free writing (no one cares about your grammar - this is brainstorming).

If you brainstorm better in drawings, in mind maps, or in speech, you can create your journal posts this way. Notice that tumblr will let you post audio, video, photographs, etc. We all think and process in our own unique modes. If you have not tried talking into, let’s say, a recording app on your smartphone or an ipad, you might try it and see where this takes you in your idea development. Post that. I had a student in the spring semester who enjoyed creating her posts through video. She would prepare an outline, respond to the prompt, and post her videos. Whatever aids your thinking process is great. Just don;t forget to check all of the boxes of requirements.

If you post a drawing, take a picture of it and post that. Be certain though that I can see it clearly or I will not be able to respond or give you full credit for it.

Your post should include some sort of beginning research on your chosen subject. What do you know? What do you want to know? 

As you all prepare to attend the event, participate in the activity, or interview the person or persons you have chosen to write about in your Profile assignments, you should also be considering how you will write this essay as well as completing some surface level research that will help you to fill in context within your essays.

As an example, look at Gabriel Thompson’s “A Gringo in the Lettuce Fields” in your SMGuide texts (pages 83-6). Thompson begins his essay with narration. The essay begins in the middle of his 3rd day working in the Yuma, Arizona sun. But, you will notice that at paragraph 4 (p.84), Thompson starts to give you his research,

Since the early 1980s, Yuma, Ariz., has been the “winter lettuce capital” of America. Each winter, when the weather turns cold in Salinas, California – the heart of the nation’s lettuce industry – temperatures in sunny Yuma are still in the 70s and 80s. At the height of Yuma’s growing season, the fields surrounding the city produce virtually all of the iceberg lettuce in the United States and Canada. (p 84)

In paragraph 5, Thompson goes on to describe the history and structure of the lettuce industry. This is all information he researched outside of his experience working in the lettuce fields. You should be doing the same work as you prepare to meet with your interviewees or attend events. Your learning, brainstorming, and research should be in process and should be rigorous.

DJP #4

For this digital journal post you will work through some of that brainstorming and preparation on your digital journals. This post is due before class begins on Tuesday, February 7.

Explore whether or not you will write your essay from the spectator perspective or from the participant perspective (see p 64 of SMGuide). Why?

Your post should include extensive consideration. At least 3 paragraphs of free writing (no one cares about your grammar - this is brainstorming).

If you brainstorm better in drawings, in mind maps, or in speech, you can create your journal posts this way. Notice that tumblr will let you post audio, video, photographs, etc. We all think and process in our own unique modes. If you have not tried talking into, let’s say, a recording app on your smartphone or an ipad, you might try it and see where this takes you in your idea development. Post that. I had a student in the spring semester who enjoyed creating her posts through video. She would prepare an outline, respond to the prompt, and post her videos. Whatever aids your thinking process is great. Just don;t forget to check all of the boxes of requirements.

If you post a drawing, take a picture of it and post that. Be certain though that I can see it clearly or I will not be able to respond or give you full credit for it.

Your post should include some sort of beginning research on your chosen subject. What do you know? What do you want to know? 

In your readings this week, you are being introduced to the process of writing within the constructs and designs of the profile. As suggested in your SMGuide reading, we write profiles for many different reasons. Profiles can inform others of need, can celebrate community projects, can highlight the accomplishments of a person making a difference in some way. These are just a few examples.

In your reading “Transcending Polarization: Beyond Binary Thinking,” Jack Denfeld Wood and Gianpiero Petriglieri, you read about dualism, binary thinking, polarization, and groupthink. Wood and Petrilieri write, 

Whether we consider physiology and psychology of individual decision making or the pattern of group and collective decision making, the process begins with a tendency toward binary thinking and polarization. (38)

Our theme this semester is BREAKING BINARIES. We will begin that work by considering this discussion offered both by Wood and Petriglieri and in the film we watched, What the Bleep Do We Know?, about our instinctual habit toward either/or arguments. 

For DJP #3, I ask you to consider the documentary, What the Bleep Do We Know?, in connection with what Wood and Petriglieri are offering about our proclivity to binary thinking. Was there something specific that struck you from the documentary (look back at your notes) that further illustrates and supports Wood and Petriglieri’s  discussion?

Describe the moment or section of the documentary you are considering. Describe it as you would if you were explaining it to someone who has not watched the film.

Explain how this connects to the quote from your readings (above).

Write at least 2 paragraphs, more is fine. Your blog will hold lots of information - write as much as you feel.