Blog 8: Outline of Group Project Presentation

I. Introduction
Student Retention
1. What is student retention?
2. USM’s retention rate
3. Reasons why people drop out of school

II. Student Appreciation Program (SAP)
What exactly is SAP?
1. Explain why the program was invented
2. The prerequisites to get into the program
C. Vouchers
1. What is a Voucher?
2. The exceptions and rules that come with the Vouchers

III. Pros vs. Cons
School vs. Students
Benefits for the school from this program
Benefits for the students from this program
Negative effects on the school
Positives from those negatives

IV. Examples
Other schools that have tried

V. Conclusion
SAP can help with Student retention

To start of my presentation, I decided to briefly talk about what student retention means, USM’s current retention rate, and different reasons why the retention rate is an issue. From there I will begin talking about what we have designed to help out the student retention problem. I would explain why we came up with the SAP, who the program is for, and what all students can gain from earning a Voucher and getting into the SAP. Of course, with every issue, there are pros and cons. Pros which range from having a higher student retention rate and a higher GPA for the University as a whole, to Cons such as how much the program may cost the school or if the program just didn’t work. My group researched to find if any other schools have tried this kind of proposal. We have found some examples and would discuss how their experience was with their program. I would end the presentation with repeating all the good stuff about the SAP, and how it could really help any person that wants to go to college and further their education.

Blog 7: Editorial

The topic I chose to write about is the use of Vuvuzelas during this year’s World Cup in South Africa. I truly believe whether or not you are a soccer fan, the constant buzzing noise that was coming from those plastic horns killed the atmosphere during the games, not to mention annoyed the heck out of people while they were watching a match on the television. The big controversy is that blowing the Vuvuzelas is part of the African culture, kind of like a cow bell at a Mississippi State football game. How can you make an extremely large group of people quit a custom they’ve been participating in for years and/or decades? Well, I believe we should find the answer so that the situation with this year’s World Cup does not happen again. The World Cup is a celebration of the 32 nations that qualified and of all the others that did not but which still play and love the game; not just an Africa Cup. More than half of the players probably never experienced playing a game with that much of a distraction.

Concerns about the noise level of these horns distracting the athletes and damages the human ear spread to other parts of the world. Last week, Cyprus banned the vuvuzela after the authorities acknowledged the plastic horns as a potential weapon that could be used in riots at sports events.

I think that this post could be read by the majority of people in the U.S. The reason I think this is that soccer isn’t the most popular sport in America. The U.S.A. team finally does something to catch the American’s eyes. I know multiple non soccer fans that tried to watch a game but couldn’t enjoy it due to the constant annoying noise. This did not help Americans become bigger fans of this sport.

I would want this to be sent to www.iNewp.com

Blog 6: Collaborative Writing Process Issues

Introduction

This document is working to find creative ways to help the university address student retention. We have designed a plan that gives students a drive to maintain a certain GPA in return for a discount on their education costs.

Facts and Discussion

Our group has been working together very well! I had to miss the second meeting due to a schedule conflict, but I have talked to the people in my group and got all the information I missed. We all have roles in the group, and mine is Finance Researcher.

As a whole, we came up with a reasonable solution that we believe is beneficial to both the school and the students. Our plan involved rewarding students who have kept a certain GPA throughout a year. The reward would be a voucher to purchase books the following school year. Since students will want to ease their financial burden, students will want to make the grades; which will also help the school's GPA as a whole. Since textbooks are a major source of income for the school, the GPA we have decided is a score of 3.5 or higher. The voucher will be a total amount of what the cost of four books would be during a semester.

Conclusions

As of right now our group has been doing a great job communicating and working together. We all get along and listen to each other's ideas. A few more meetings and I'm sure this assignment will be almost perfect.

Recommendations:

To be completely honest I don't have any recommendations. I have taken an online class before and encountered a variety of problems. With this class, anytime I have had a problem or question I have received a helpful reply way before I had time to even check my email. I am very impressed with the way the communication has been with this c

Blog 5: Starting the Job Search

I wanted to start this blog off with a personal experience of mine that pertains to our topic. I have been working at Chesterfields restaurant for about seven months. Unfortunately CVS bought the building, and we, the staff, we’re given two weeks notice about losing our jobs. As soon as I found this out, I went searching for a new one. The first place I went to was Crescent City Grill. Every Tuesday morning you can go and apply there, along with getting an interview with a manager that day.
I applied for the server job at Crescent City last week. Since I have been working at restaurants all of my life, I had a variety of experience to jot down on my application. During the interview, the manager told me the kind of things he looks for before he hires someone. Of course experience is always good, but managers need employees who are dedicated, friendly, and will work hard to be good at what they do. I explained to him that I have been working in restaurants all my life and I know what it takes to help make a restaurant successful. I also told him I am always willing to put forth the effort to be good at what I do. About three days later, I was called back in for my second interview. This time a different manager explained some duties I would have to perform, the type of employees he wants for his restaurant, and how it’s important to be serious about this job before I can become a part of the Crescent City “family”. We had a good talk, and two days later I was called for job! To find out more information about employment at this restaurant, you can visit the website at http://www.nsrg.com.

With that being said, another job I could have applied for is Assistant Social Studies teacher in Stonewall, Mississippi. Some of the basic qualifications for this job are knowledge of the Instructional Process. This includes the context, curriculum, methods, and materials of the specialty to which assigned, which in this case would be Social Studies. One must have the ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with students, peers, administrators and parents, along with having skill in oral and written communication.
I found this job opening at http://www.indeed.com. This is definitely a job that is right up my alley, being that I am an Education major. I truly believe I have the ability to build strong and trustworthy relationships with most people I meet. I am personable and enjoying helping people with their problems. I am also currently in the Elementary Education program; therefore, I am learning the basic steps to being a good teacher.

Another job opening is at the University of Southern Miss as a Social Worker. Some duties of this job are providing services for individuals with disabilities who are homeless or at risk, provide information/referrals for homeless individuals with disabilities and families, work with project coordinators to collect and report required data in a homeless management system and internal reporting system, and etc. The job requires experience in providing case management services for individuals with disabilities or families who are homeless or at risk.
I found this job under USM career services. I can not say that I have ever helped disabled people before, but I have volunteered at a homeless shelter multiple times in my life. I believe in hard work and making right choices; however, I do know I have experienced first hand people who have tried and tried to do right in life yet did not succeed. With this job, I feel I could help people get back on track with their life. I know I wouldn’t be a counselor, but I still feel like I could help persuade them to never give up and always to always look forward. I found this job opening at http://www.jobs.usm.edu.

The final job opening I could apply for is as a Human Resource Assistant. Some requirements for this job are excellent written and verbal communication and computer skills, such as Microsoft Works and Excel. Also, you must pass a criminal background check. I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay in that department.
I found this job at www.human-resources.jobs.net, under the Mississippi job outlook section. One of the responsibilities to this job that caught my eye was regularly interfacing with a variety of internal customers in a professional manner utilizing clean, concise, and accurate verbal communication. I believe I could do this job well because I like to think I have very good people skills. Over the years while working in my restaurant jobs, I have trained myself to stay calm in crazy situations, and I’ve built up the ability to have patience with all kinds of people. Also, I recently passed the BTLE (Basic Technology of Literacy Exam). This is an exam that tests your computer skills from different sections of Microsoft Office. I passed with flying colors.

If I had the choice of choosing one of these jobs it would have to be the Assistant Social Studies teacher. I can not wait until I am done with my program here at USM and am able to teach full time. Mentoring young children and giving them the skills to succeed is why I am working hard in college and getting my education degree. Social Studies is not my favorite subject, but I would be willing to take this job in a heart beat and eventually work my way up to the head teaching position.
My resume would not be full of experience in this field; however, I would definitely include my managers from previous jobs in hopes they could explain my work ethics to my possible future bosses. I would also give my education back ground, and what my goals are in life.

Blog 4: Web Evaluation

To be completely honest, I had a little bit of trouble with this particular blog assignment. We were to select a website or webpage online and make suggestions to how it could be improved. The website I chose was www.klove.com. It is an online site for the K Love Christian radio station. I asked myself what kind of things I could suggest to them so they could change their page up a little bit, but I could think of nothing. It has all the main choices right there on the page; including news, music, ministry, contests, events, and so on and so forth. They even have an online store that can be accessed. If I was to write a letter to the webmaster, this is precisely what I would say....

To the creators of the KLove website:

I believe that creating a website to correspond with your radio station is a really good idea. However, if I was to recommend or suggest one tiny thing, it would be that you have more info for teens on your page. For example, a button for information about certain camps for preteens and teens, or information on how they could get involved in their own community; such as tips on how to get involved in church and a youth group. It would also be neat if you had a significant amount of information for college age kids, how they, too, can get involved in a church, and what to do if they will end up having to go alone. Other than that, I think your web page is very helpful, positive and encouraging!

Kari Lieberman

The information that KLove is putting out is for religious aspects, and I think that they do a good job of it. Although, I do believe someone would need to know about or have heard the radio station to understand the website and what it's purpose is. However, I think that the website has a bit more information than they give on the radio. Granted, it is a website, and much more information can be gathered from there than from a radio station.

I think that if I was going to really critique a website, I would need to start out looking for something that I was trying to find. Usually, if that was the case, perhaps I would not be able to find it on the particular website, and that in turn would frustrate me and pose a suggestion I could make to the designer of the webpage. Also, if it was a news webpage, like my hometown newspaper's page, www.vicksburgpost.com, I would probably make a suggestion as to something such as not having negativity be right on the screen when I visit the site. I know that I have no control over that, and the media decides what gets the front page, but I would rather see something positive appear.

Blog 3: Defining Your Website’s Objectives

http://ci.unlv.edu was a very helpful site. I did have to click on a lot of sections to get to where I needed to be; however, it was very self-explanatory. On this website, they had a variety of different news stories that had to do either a teacher or student that was recognized for something good that they did. This caught my eye and made me interested in finding out more about these people's background. Also makes me think the program here must be good! There was also an area on this site that gave links to other important sites an Education Major may find important.

The USM website actually gives me a little trouble. When you go to the main page, there is that drop box on the top right where you can click on what department or school you want to see. Well, when you click on the Education department it does not go to the Education's site. It's also not very self-explanatory on how to get to the actual site. I'm not lazy, but I'd rather not stress myself out digging for information on the Internet.

OVERALL PURPOSE

The purpose of this assignment is to design a website that would be useful and helpful for any person that was interested in getting an Elementary Education degree. Hopefully, if my site is made correctly, I will have possibly lured more people into this major and helped them go in the right direction. I looked at the things in the other websites that I disliked, and I will be sure not to make the same mistakes that they did.

READER PROFILE

My primary reader is going to be high students. When I was in high school, I did not have a clue about what I wanted to major in or what I wanted to be when I grew up. I do think if I had come across a well put together website about my major now I would have decided on this major earlier in my college years. Instead, I have changed my major a couple of times and am now behind. The reader's relationship to me is solely on the fact that I am a Elementary Education major, so I can relate to them better then if just some random person put this site together. The responsibility of my reader would be to take the steps he or she would need to take to sign up for classes. On my site, I would make sure they knew exactly what classes they would need to take so it wouldn't be hard on them. Also, students that see or read my site do not necessarily have to be very interested in becoming a teacher. But maybe after they see my site and know how easy it is to get to the end they may become an Education major. The readers are most likely not very familiar with my subject or my specialty. Like I said before, I didn’t have a clue about what I was going to do when I left high school. I’m sure there are several students that feel the same. There are several communication preferences the reader and myself should take in account. This ranges from if the student has some kind of learning disability, to whether or not they are qualified to even get into the college let alone this particular major.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

I have taken numerous English classes in my day, so I pretty well rounded when it comes to things to write about. Since I am an Education major, the age range of kids I will be teaching definitely influences the way I write.

USABILITY OBJECTIVES

Some of the keys questions my reader may ask while reading would be 1. Are there any special classes I need to take my first couple of years in college? 2. How long does the program take until I am an actual teacher? 3. Are there scholarships that are strictly for Education majors?

The most useful strategy that I have found on different websites is a search box. One would need to just type in a few key words and everything on the site that is pertaining to those words will pop up. If this doesn’t work, there could be an email or number for the student to call.

PERSUASIVE OBJECTIVES

I am hoping that the reader leaves my website with more interest in becoming an Education major. I will stress on my site that if there is anything they do not understand, or have any questions at all they can contact me and I will do my very best to get back with them as soon as I can! I want them to feel stress free.

STAKEHOLDERS

The stakeholders would have to be the faculty and staff that would be included in my website. I would also have a section where former students leave comments, blogs, their email addresses, etc. The will all be affected in a positive way because I would make sure to bring out only the best things about this major and the people who help put it together.

CONSTRAINTS

The biggest factor that affects my writing and credibility is that I am not an actual teacher yet. I do not start my teaching program until this fall. But, this could actually benefit the students even more because I will be able to constantly update everything since I’ll be going through it.

The Dream of the Rood

Blog #2
This past semester, a class I took required us to read a few Anglo-Saxon poems. One of which was called “The Dream of the Rood.” The main focus of Anglo-Saxon poetry was often centered on Christianity; spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and getting churches started. In this poem a man has a dream, and in the dream he sees the journey of Jesus Christ to his crucifixion in the cross’s point of view. Basically, he saw how the cross started out as a beautiful tree and then was eventually cut down and formed into a cross. In the man’s dream, the cross is humbled and feels terrible about playing a major role in the death of Jesus Christ. The controversy going on during the time that this piece was written was, as I stated before, the spreading of Christianity. These Anglo-Saxon writers believed that no matter what happened in life, as long as they were loyal to God and obeyed His will by spreading the gospel and witnessing to the lost, that they were bound for eternal glory in heaven.
The publication is believed to be around the 6th or 7th century, and I believe that the issue the writer (unknown) is addressing is that of the cross’s humility toward the supreme being of Christ. The cross knows he must go through with it, and also knows that it is the duty of Christ to be crucified to save the world from their sins. It is kind of like a ‘catch 22;’ in the poem, the cross says, “Once I was made into the worst of torments, most hateful to all people, before I opened the true way of life for speech-bearers” (The Dream of the Rood). At the same time, the narrator of the story, who is also the dreamer, describes the worthiness of devotion to the cross, and looks forward to the righteous being able to enter heaven.
As with most of Anglo-Saxon poetry, the looking past the negative and looking towards eternal glory is stressed repeatedly. Therefore, the writer’s purpose, to me, was to show how this ordinary man had this dream about the crucifixion of Christ, and told of how the cross even felt guilty. The writer entails both Christian and heroic themes in the poem, due to the fact that the cross was, at first, “beckoned with gold; gems had covered worthily the creator’s tree. And yet beneath that gold I began to see an ancient wretched struggle, for it first began to bleed on the right side” (The Dream of the Rood).
The word choice of the writer is simple. He does not use many special words or slang, but that of Anglo-Saxon poetry. This is a really good poem, and I recommend it for any type of reading. It’s crazy to me how it is dated all the way back to the 7th century, and it still muzzled its way into our English books today.