Finally done the collaborative research project! Working with my group went really well. I enjoyed working together and figuring out how to upload youtube videos! Yayay! I remember on the first day of class when our professor asked us to write down three goals of ours for this class. One goal that I wrote was learning how to upload youtube videos. With the help of my group I learned how to do this and conduct interviews. This class has taught me a lot about technology and writing. Making my own website and uploading videos has been such a learning experience for me and my writing.
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I was a vegetarian for five years of my life. I started right when I left high school and before I entered into college. I wanted to eat healthier and save the animals along with the environment. I wanted to make a change to my body inside and out. I wasn’t a vegan but I always tried to buy organic eggs and milk. Having healthy or organic food in your household is a step for a healthier future. Doing the research for the collaborative project gave me facts and knowledge on being a vegetarian and living the lifestyle. I feel the reason why I stopped being a vegetarian about a year ago because I didn’t have the knowledge. I stopped being a vegetarian because I was getting sick often, I had hardly any protein in my diet, and I felt weak. I was doing the vegetarian living for a healthy lifestyle but I didn’t have the knowledge to stick with it. After doing this research project on the advantages and disadvantages of being a vegetarian I now feel that I have gain the knowledge of the lifestyle. Being a vegetarian has many positives if you have the facts. People who live this lifestyle aren’t just helping themselves but also helping the plant. I just posted Dorothy Boody’s interview on my oral history page. Check it out!
First interview with Sarah’s Mom:
dietician: 1. How can vegetarians get the essentials fats and nutrients only found in animal products? 2. How can you tell certain processed foods are guaranteed vegetarian? 3. What are some health disadvantages vegetarians have? 4. Are there any diseases or conditions that call for a strictly vegetarian diet? 5. Can vegetarianism be used to cure certain illnesses? generic: 1. Do you find that you do not eat at fast food places as a vegetarian? 2. Is there any specific reason you chose to be a vegetarian? Religious? Moral? Health? 3. Do you know a lot of people who are vegetarian? If so, what are their reasons? 4. If you are one of few vegetarians that you know, is it hard to interact socially with others? (bbqs etc) 5. Is being a vegetarian a lifetime commitment for you? an experiment? 4. Are there any diseases or conditions that call for a strictly vegetarian diet? 5. Can vegetarianism be used to cure certain illnesses? Reflective vs. Reflexive Reflexive is the “other.” Learning something new is about learning the other, putting ourselves into the situation/ the other’s point of view. Can change your view on any situation, we don’t know our point of view until we explore. Being reflexive is being flexibly. Qualley wants us to challenge our thinking and struggle to get our answers. Reflective is about comprehension. Understanding what you already know. Collaborative, Cooperative, Co- Author Collaborative: Meaning working together, getting other’s input on a subject, group working as one. Knowing the topic in a conversation and adding your input is collaborative. Collaborative is more talking/ reflecting on your work and others work. Cooperative: Supportive in your work and your groups work, supporting each other while working together. Cooperative work is supporting each other but not reflecting. Co- Author: Writing on your own. Co authoring is taking experiences from your own life and co authoring it in a story. Hierarchy, Dialogic Two themes: Hierarchical: Organized in a linear fashion, structured by the roles of each participant, and driven by a goal of accomplishing a task. Assigning roles, members of the group work independently. Dialogical: Dialogue, joint process throughout the project, talk a lot more, maybe in write together. Working together is a dialogical role. Both methods are collaborative writing but different styles. Two themes: Hierarchical: Organized in a linear fashion, structured by the roles of each participant, and driven by a goal of accomplishing a task. Assigning roles, members of the group work independently. Dialogical: Dialogue, joint process throughout the project, talk a lot more, maybe in write together. Working together is a dialogical role. Both methods are collaborative writing but different styles. First Interview Questions:
1] How many calories a day are an appropriate amount in order to maintain your present body weight? 2] How do vegetarians receive the daily allowance of protein since they do not consume meat products? 3] Are vegetarians healthier overall because of their preferred choice of diet? 4] Do most vegetarians have low cholesterol? 5] Are vegetarians more or less susceptible to various infectious diseases? 6] Why do you prefer to be a vegetarian? 7] What are some advantages of being a vegetarian? 8] Are family members also vegetarian or did you choose this diet based on other circumstances? 9] What store brands would be recommended for a person who is just beginning a vegetarian diet? 10] Since vegetarians choose this diet to live a healthier lifestyle, do they still consume alcoholic beverages? 11] Describe a day in a life of a vegetarian. Are there challenges? What are your meals like? 12] Do you maintain a healthy weight? 13] Do you think restaurants do a good job serving vegetarian? What is your favorite restaurant and why? 14] Do supermarkets do a good job making foods products accessible? 15] Do vegetarians live a healthier lifestyle? Dietitian Questions: 1. What is a vegetarian? 2. What are the typical reasons behind people's becoming vegetarians? 3. Are there different degrees of vegetarians? If so, what differentiates them from one another? 4. What are the health benefits of being a vegetarian? 5. What are the health shortcomings, or issues that require attention, for vegetarians? 6. Why should, or should not, people become vegetarians? Vegetarian Questions: 1. Why did you become a vegetarian? (Ex: health, moral obligation, etc.) 2. What difficulties do you face, if any, in finding suitable food options? At the grocery store? In cafeterias? 3. What is your opinion on stores' prices for vegetarian food? 4. Have you ever been in a situation where vegetarian options were not readily available? Describe. 5. Why should, or should not, others become vegetarians? 1. What should we be looking at on a nutrition label?
2. Should we be counting calories or something else? 3. Why are children in America becoming more overweight? 4. How do we know if an item is really organic? 5. Where can we go to get cheaper healthier foods? 6. Is a salad at McDonalds the healthiest choice? 7. What state is the fattest state in America? Why? 8. Can we trust free range products? 9. Why aren’t children eating the healthier foods at lunch? 10. Whose fault is it that America is becoming obese? Parents? Businesses? Ourselves? ~ As I read, “Turns of Thought” by Donna Qualley it explains her first experience with Donald Murray. She read his work, The Listening Eye: Reflections on the writing conference. She goes and quotes Murray by saying, “Yet, as he reflects on how he came to teach writing by listening to his students talk about their own writing he realized that his students are learning because he is able to show them what they just discovered themselves.” I feel that this is a good way of reflection. As students we expect our teachers to help us and learn something new. I feel that some teachers don’t realize that their students are trying to do the same thing by teaching their teachers something new. Some teachers ignore the learning process while others embrace it. Each student brings something new to the writing process and it is the teacher’s job to take it and teach it. While the students learn the teacher does as well.
“What I have learned from Donald Murray is a habit of mindtranslates into a way of being in the world,” stated by Qualley. She admires Murray not by the way of his teachings but by the way he presents himself as a teacher in the world. According to James Berlin, “When we teach writing we are alsoteaching, “tacitly” teaching a version of reality ... We are teaching a way of experiencing the world, a way of ordering and making sense of it.” Qualley stated this because she isn’t trying to remodel reality but wants us to recreate reality for a better understanding of learning, she calls this reflective inquiry. Qualley teaches reflective inquiry, “I mean the act of turning back to discover, examine, and critique one's claims and assumptions in response to an encounter with others idea, text, person, or culture.” She wants her students to learn a self- critical process of discovery. Qualley shares with us, “…so many of my students see writing and reading as only an application of technical knowhow and skill.” She states this because she wants us to understand that reading and writing are not only for skill. We need to know how to apply reading and writing and how to decode it. If teachers only give us the knowledge of reading and writing and the practice it won’t be enough. Qualley tells us we need to also examine our work. As writers and readers we need to examine by contrasting ideas and methods into our work. Qualley wants us to become more aware of our own work. To conduct an interview you need a connection or a friend who has some sort of connection. I feel having a connection with the person you are interviewing would be important. The person would feel more comfortable opening up to you and sharing their true story. But, in conducting an interview the most important part is having a person who wants to tell his or her own story. That is the necessity of oral history, someone who wants to pass down their story to you and others and give history to life.
“My part is what is being told.” My job as an interviewer is to tell he or she’s story. I am just not telling a story I am making connections and gathering up feelings/ thoughts. It is my job to make sure I tell the story right and have emotion while telling it because that is what makes oral history special. When choosing someone to interview you have to focus on what type of interview you want or interested in. There are many different types of interviews: full length biography, which you could interview a grandparent. A narrator which you could interview a friend or someone you hate. Or you could do an interview on preserving a culture that is dying out which would be a how to do it interview. You can also do an interview on a feature story that is happening in your school or community. Lastly, you can get an interviewer and tell your own story. Whatever interview I conduct I must have a strong feeling. That is what is important when conducting an interview. Having a strong feeling is important but also what is important is conducting the interview. What are you going to ask your narrator? Do you have a list of questions prepared in your head? Before conducting and preparing ask yourself why do you want to interview that person? Knowing why you want to interview your narrator will make the questions of interview flow naturally. Preparing yourself for an interview shows your narrator that you want to know their story, having questions in your mind and not on a piece of paper looks like you’re interested. During your interview process you want to get the answers to all of your questions. You narrator maybe talking your ear off with stuff you may not be interested in but asking certain questions will give you certain answers. You want your narrator to talk and be open but you also want you interview to come out how you want it to be. Lastly, be daring. Don’t be afraid to ask questions that are a little crazy. Those questions are usually the answers that make your story. This chapter really helped me understand the interview process really well. Ideas are jumping into my head left and right after reading this chapter. It was very interesting and helpful. I will definitely refer back to this chapter while conducting my interview. |
AuthorI am an Early Childhood Education/ Writing Arts major at at Rowan University who blogs about classes and assigned readings. Archives
April 2011
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