Portfolio Progress

From 4/28/2011
-As of right now I have the basic outline of what I would like my Final portfolio section to look like. I still have yet to link any of the images I have chosen, to the pages I have created. My introduction paragraphs are already written out and I have the blogs and in-class writing assignments I would like to feature, picked out as well. I am working setting my pages up so that there is a phrase "click here to go on to...." linked to the next page making it easier for others to navigate through my website. That is where I am at right now I just have to link the pages/images I want together, finish writing descriptions for why I chose the blogs/in-class writing assignments and upload my pieces of writing.

Final Portfolio

After all of this years hard work, the year is finally coming to a close. Along with the year ending is the completion of my ethnography work based off of the BSU Safety Escort. Below you will find the link to my final portfolio.

http://jessrodrigues.weebly.com/

Daycare Center Lay of the Land

I really felt that Chantelle’s paper was well written and contained great information regarding the structured schedule of a daycare, children that attend and the physical set up of the day care. Her paper was flowy in that everything she wrote about was set up well and led into the proceeding paragraphs. One thing that I found distracting was her grammatical spelling errors and will act as another reason for my double proofreading of my final draft because although it takes minimal effort it does have a large impact on the writers credibility. I also enjoyed how she used oral histories which were mentioned in the field working book and make the story more personal and realistic. It actually felt like I was with the writer watching the little girl with the Uggs and pink vest dart over to the closet to get her pony stuffed animal to nap with. She also did a good job creating a setting because she described the area with the pictures of children or pictures drawn with children as well as including a time so we could better understand where the writer was in her day. She did a great job creating a piece that will mesh better with the other essays for a final ethnography essay.

I Can Read and I Can Write

After reading the interview conducted by Jennette Edwards I found myself surprised by how well she incorporated material from her interview into her essay. Although she did not include her questions to the interviewee, the answers she received from Lee flowed well giving the essay an easier to read and story-like feel. What I enjoyed most out of her writing was her use of scene indicators which described the interviewee’s actions and made the reader feel like they were actually there with her.
In the interview section “Learning How To Ask” the interviewer provided readers with very useful information on what kinds of questions to ask, how to listen and how to learn. In teaching us about questions the author used great examples of what open and closed questions are useful to information the interviewer is trying to receive. Closed questions are short answered and require additional research to use such properly whereas open questions tend to be longer and more interactive with the interviewer listening and interviewee speaking. Open ended questions allow the material to be turned into oral histories which is an example of Jennette’s “I Can Read and I Can Write” essay. The author also gave us some reminders regarding proper interview etiquette about listening which many students may forget during their chaotic lives in college. Some I found simple to remember but easy to forget included: no fiddling, no watch-checking show the interviewee you’re interested by maintaining eye contact and using verbal acknowledgments.
I found all the reading useful and am now better prepared for my upcoming interviews.

Bowling Interview Response

I thought the interview of the Hanover Bowladrome was an excellent example for students to follow. Although Nicole Williams' writing was based off of interviews with different members of the bowling leagues and employees it didn't feel strictly set up like a Q&A interview. The writer did an excellent job with incorporating information from her interviewees into her writing through use of direct quotes and very elaborate descriptions of surroundings. She described how different members of leagues came across the bowladrome, how the bowladrome came under its current ownership and how the bowlers came in contact with the hobby of bowling in the first place.
I found it interesting, as well as a good idea, that the writer incorporated a research section on her topic in the beginning. The research section allowed the reader to see the growth and development of her topic over the course of the century. It provided readers with a preview about how bowling came to be what it is in America today; a sport most often played indoors for fun with family and friends.
Included is a link to a power point created by students which contains very general yet useful information on how to conduct a successful interview. I believe this will be a helpful reminder to many students when it comes time for them to conduct interviews.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~kroel/www500/Interview%20Fri.pdf

Blog on Group Presentation

I feel confident in my group and our anticipated outcome. Thus far we have made a great amount of progress as we were researching through websites for additional help. We also found some good general information in the book that we will incorporate into our presentation on Friday
My specific area in the project is to discuss the structure and content for the powerpoint slideshow.
Our groups goal is to answer any last minutes questions and fill in in some empty spots on Friday during class. We are hoping and are confident that we will be productive in class in order to finish our presentation and to practice individually over the weekend.

Midterm Portfolio

Included is the link to my website.

http://jessrodrigues.weebly.com/

Tilly Observations

9am
A girl just walked in wearing spandex, maybe she is just grabbing a bite to eat after going for a run?
Flynn dining commons has many tables in which all but 6n are unoccupied.
I hear the music, its some kind of rock song.
The girl at the table diagonally from me is talking on her phone.
A guy wearing a light blue button down shirt and dress pants. His hair is gelled and curly. is walking around fixing the chairs but it doesn’t look like hes one of the cooks or Sodexho employees.
He just looked at me typing ferociously on my laptop. I wonder what he thinks im doing.
most cooks such as those at the main events station, pizza station, international cuisine station and sub station are prepping food to put out for lunch.
A couple of cooks are sitting down at a table eating maybe breakfast. They probably get a free lunch as a benefit of this job.
That same guy in the blue shirt is now walking around with tea.
Many people are sitting down at tables by themselves or with a friend. I cant seem to make out who is talking and what about because the music is so loud.
I can actually make out what song Tilly has playing on their speakers right now. Its called stand by me by Ben. E King.
Tilly is serving Belgium waffles which you make on your own. Sausage links, home fries and pancakes with rainbow coloring, and a bagel with egg and cheese from what it looks like
And older gentlemen just walked in wearing glasses and a laptop bag. He is using a cane to maintain his balance. He does not look like he works here but he is getting food and sitting down. Maybe he is a student who decided to finish his education. Good for him.
Sheila and another cook sat down near the door next to the clock. Sheila who usually swipes people in during the morning shift talks using her hands quite a bit. They just laughed, I don't think she was using her hands like people do when they're mad.


I think Tilly is a very comfortable place for people to eat in the morning. Since there was not many people here this morning maybe that is why some people eat by themselves because they know there is not that many people to watch them. Tilly has a variety of food to eat as well and they have music that is most often the type college kids would listen to such as kiss 108 and even Jamn' 94.5. Aside from its music it is pretty close to many important buildings such as the arts building, science building and Boyden hall which makes it a good location.

Lay Of the Land

Reading Lay Of the Land by Nicole Williams was very interesting and detailed. The writer made great use of details in this research essay that I could not believe she extracted so much information from just one visit. The details created a visual map and made me feel as if I was actually at the bowling alley alongside her. The choice of title served its purpose in capturing my attention and maintained my interest in uncovering what the body of the essay contained. As much as I enjoyed the descriptiveness, as well as the writers thoroughness I felt there were some areas where the writers essay could have done without. Particularly speaking, I was a bit confused as to how the following sentences fit into her research of the bowling alley and it various customers."I picked up some real estate magazines, a flyer for a computer repair specialist, and I even got a magnet from a local furniture store. It really baffles me that a small furniture store has money to hand out magnets, rather than just regular paper business cards". It makes me wonder if I should look for things that may be overlooked at my research site and if so, how should I incorporate it into my essay? Overall, this was a great example in showing writers how to integrate their research findings to make the essay an interesting read instead of a list of findings.

Ethnographic Site for Research

For my site I have decided to study the BSU police department for research. A few things I already know about the police department is that the site is open 24 hours a day everyday of the week, the officers can make arrests on students as well as the fact that if one is found in violation of the schools alcohol policy, the officers may/not choose to make an arrest (at their discretion), but they still have the right to hold one in protective custody. The officers not only look out for suspicious behavior but also dangerous ones and their actions are in the interest of the BSU students who chose to make BSU their home.
I have some questions regarding my site of choice as well. I wonder, if because I have crossed paths with the BSU police department before will my research contain biases? If officers have relatives that are students at BSU, if when they are found in violation of policies, are double standards created? I'm also curious as to what kinds of offenses they see being violated the most? What type of people (M/F,F/SO/J/S) offend most?

Friday Night at Iowa 80

Before reading Friday Night at Iowa 80 I thought this essay was going to be boring and expected that it would just talk about a random place I did not know of in Iowa. However, while I was reading, ironically it held my interest  quite well. What I found most interesting through the researchers fieldwork is how unfairly treated and unappreciated the truckers are for the amount of work they do.

What I was most surprised by is how the truckers are trapped and constantly receive maltreatment by their employers and the trucking industry in general. I now understand why it has caused them to be suspicious of anyone inquiring about their log book, which is what puts food on their table and a roof over their head. As I was reading this essay  I noticed that I disagree with the reasons truckers provide for not mentioning how unfair and stressful it is for the truckers to take time to unload the trucks because the supermarket chains do not provide that service, yet if they are caught cheating in the log books they could face fines from $70-$1,500. I disagree with how logging hours is set-up.

I really liked the structure of this essay because the headings were of different locations at the truck stop because it was easy to follow where and how he came across each trucker and provided some really good context.