Daily Writing

(#1) January 19, 2016

Some of the things I have been thinking about exploring for my Semester Long Multi Modal

Inquiry Project are places in the southern part of charlotte such as: the airport and everything

that it has brought to Charlotte over the years, another one that I could further explore is all of

the malls and which ones were popular back in the day and some of the newer ones such as

South Park Mall, another thing that could be fun to explore would be the school system in

Charlotte which is called CMS, something else that could be fun to explore is all of the sports

teams that have come and gone and even made a comeback in Charlotte, something else that is

good to explore are al of the new transportation methods that the city has created which

makes it semi easy to move around from point A to point B without having to own a car. That’s

about all that I have so far, hopefully I can get a partner that has their thoughts together

(#2) January 21, 2016

I was totally fine with the topic I was in. I think it’s pretty interesting because I’ve lived in

Charlotte for quite some time and am just now learning more and more about the different

modes of transportation in the city/ outskirts of the city. Some ways that I think my group did

well was coming up with questions for the project to answer. After we did that we did an

activity called free write in which we elaborated on the questions that we previously came up

with, wasn’t really a helpful activity since we only had questions and no answers to them.

But overall it was a good activity to have because it helped my group and I to get ourselves

organized and it was a great chance for each person to come up with some aspect of the light

rail that they were curious about.

(#3) January 26, 2016

I think it is of utter importance that I pick a topic that truly interests me because that is

ultimately what will drive this project, because if it’s not interesting to me it will feel more like

something I HAVE to do (or a task), I will end up feeling miserable. If you’re hearts not in it then

you don’t give it your best and the result isn’t great either. Often times in my AP 11th grade

English course I was forced to write about things I was not interested, for example my senior

exit. When I picked my senior exit project I picked the topic Tailoring ESL and originally had a

certain project and product in mind but was forced to put a different spin to it. This turned my

research into the opposite of how I wanted to do my project. SO as a result writing my paper

was a very dreadful process but the final product was okay because I could actually fulfill what I

had in mind with the product rather than the paper (which sucked by the way). I look forward

to hopefully writing about things that I enjoy.

(#4) January 28, 2016

This past semester I was a part of a group project in my sociology class. In this group we were

supposed to come up with a problem in the world that pertained to our overall topic which was

Government. So, for this we chose to talk about misrepresentation of minorities within

government such as not a whole lot of homosexuals, women, and even other races. The

average government official is a white, middle aged, rich and republican person. So in our group

we were assigned a subtopic with a partner but some of the mini-groups ran into issues when

their partners didn’t show up to the meetings consecutively; the real issue was that we had a

month to get all of this done and because of them we had to wait till the last second to put

everything together and didn’t even get to practice our FINAL grade presentation. The struggle

was real, and it was also super annoying having to deal with all of their lame excuses.

(#5) February 2, 2016

The time that I was looking for a source to go with my project and found the perfect one was

about two years ago. I was writing my 10-page paper on why ESL should be tailored to each

individual instead of instead of just following the same steps for every person. This project was

for my senior exit, so everything had to perfect. I found a couple articles that supported what I

was saying, but I couldn’t use them because they were mostly opinion based with no backing. It

took a long time to find the perfect source, but alas, I found a really good article written by a

professor from Ohio State University making the same points I was making and had conducted

his own research (it was awesome). I also found a book that was about a Puerto Rican girl who

moved to New York city and was having a really tough time learning the new language. I was

able to connect quotes from the book, quotes from the author, and my own life experiences

that correlated with the ones of the girl in the novel. I also found really good concrete evidence

to why my suggestion wouldn’t work, because I needed those arguments to backfire why they

would work. Overall it was a very good experience, except I still don’t know how to properly

source.

(#6) February 4, 2016

I found these five rhetorical in both of my AP English classes many times while writing different

papers. Rhetorical Knowledge was a necessity because it was in fact an English course and this

concept was one that was taught to us throughout the years. I had to use this one specifically

during my 11th grade course, in which we wrote many research papers, so I had to have a very

formal diction and tone. Critical reading was another one that I had to use a lot in 12th grade

because we read lots and lots of literature which we had to analyze and synthesize/ annotate.

The composing process I started using in 11th grade but have continued using it ever since, this

is the process in which I broke up my paper and then analyzed it in smaller parts. The specific

outcome for this situation was that even though I had recently just arrived here from Puerto

Rico, I accustomed very quickly to the language and even thrived among my peers.

(#7) February 9, 2016

None, because peer reviewing proposals.

(#8) February 11, 2016

The first time I used a computer was such a long time that I don’t even remember it. I was

probably around the age of two, playing my Mickey Mouse and Monsters Inc. games at home. I

also used it through my childhood to look at old pictures that were stored in the hard drive

(back when I first used my computer the internet wasn’t wireless yet, we had to connect the

computer to a cable and if you were on the phone the internet wouldn’t work... so a really long

time ago). The first time to actually present in front of a class was in 8th grade in my language

arts class. We (my group and I) had a book project to present and it was about the history

behind the book The boy in the stripped pajamas. Also I remember the first time I ever heard

of a Prezi was in 10th grade. We had current event presentations and everyone was using this

type of power point- I though- that was so pretty, I was wondering how they did so many things

and were so creative. So I asked the teacher and she told me what it was and taught me how to

use it; I ended up using it for my own presentation.

(#9) February 16, 2016

I chose the last quote about procrastination which says: “I’m taking care of my procrastination

issues; just you wait and see.” For me procrastination is what helps me get things done. If I

don’t have something to push me then I just don’t want to do it. So, procrastination works for

some people and I am one of those people; although I can see that if things are done in a timely

fashion then results will be better. I think procrastination will affect me in this class with my

portfolio at the end of the year, because I’ll probably leave it until the last second and then

freak out, but hopefully the outcome will be good anyways. I enjoy procrastinating on things

that aren’t too difficult to complete in one day (weekend) / important. It hasn’t affected my

grades so far when it comes to assignments, but when it comes to studying I have a really big

issue with procrastination. Procrastinating on my studying has affected my grades, and that is

something that I need to fix, not necessarily in this class though.

(#10) February 18, 2016

I pick the first quote which says “If you steal from one author it’s plagiarism; if you steal from

many it’s research” (Wilson Mizner). This quote is very interesting because, well, it’s true. If you

only use one authors findings then your research isn’t yours but if you use many then it’s your

research because you, yourself connected the dots between each of the varying information. To

be honest I get this, but at the same time I don’t, just because research only becomes valid

when you not only use your own words and thoughts, but use/ ‘steal’ the thoughts of other

“well-known” people.

(#11) February 23, 2016

Writing to different audiences’ changes everything, it’s super important to keep in your mind at

all times. If making a Prezi presentation geared towards students, then the presentation should

be short and to the point. Not a lot of written information, just knowing the information and

being able to go by bullet points. When writing a letter, it depends because you could be

writing to the dean of your school or writing to your boyfriend that’s in a different university.

One would use colloquial language and the other would need to be written in a respectful and

knowledgeable manner. It all changes based on what you are doing and to whom it’s directed.

(#12) February 25, 2016

How the light rail will benefit UNCC students and the UNCC campus How much it’s going to cost the city of charlotte and its inhabitants

How long the light rail will be open (closing time on the weekends) Where the light rail will begin and where it will end What new opportunities will open up to the people who ride the light rail (students,

people traveling to their jobs, etc.

(#13) March 1, 2016

In a social perspective I’ve been asked to create mini devotionals for my church youth group. In

this kind of setting it’s important to make an error free work, to be able to keep the audiences

attention for the right reasons and not for messing up. I don’t really care too much about

making error free work, because it’s not a life or death situation like it would be for a nurse to

document every single little thing about a patient completely error free. If I did not produce and

error free piece of work, the worse thing that could happen is that I could get laughed at for

making an error on the presentation/ devotional. Errors aren’t what make a presentation, it’s

the content SO I’ve never stressed out too much about it.

(#14) March 3, 2016

What is wrong is that I have tons and tons of homework to do every night, and have 8 am

classes everyday+ I commute every day. I’m just really tired, and hopefully spring break will

help with that. I don’t really feel differently from August, at the beginning of the year. The only

difference was that I was living on campus and that was both a + & -. The thing that is

preventing me from talking is that there’s nothing to talk about, because the stuff that we’re

supposed to talk about is either really dumb, or self-explanatory.

(#15) March 15, 2016

None because self assessing bibliography.

(#16) March 17, 2016

Something we are looking to accomplish with the research of the light rail is to find more

information on how it will benefit the UNCC campus and its students. This is what attracted us

to it in the first place because it will definitely affect us all.

(#17) March 22, 2016

The images that I will most likely get my pictures from my own camera. Since we are discussing

the light rail in charlotte we can combine professional pictures with pictures that we’ve taken

ourselves. The best way to display the image in my project is to not only have one but have

some kind of visual in every slide to make the presentation satisfying to the eye and interesting.

(picture of passengers getting ready to board, with the city in the background)

(#18) March 24, 2016

The places flag is red white and blue, it has stripes and stars. Quite often this place’s flag is

mistaken for another flag (in the same location). This place is known for its beauty, whether it is

the beauty of its people or the beauty of the actual place itself is irrelevant because they are

both equally beautiful. The people in this place are very loud, welcoming and kind. Not only is

this place physically very hot, but the people make you feel warm inside as well. This place has

magnificent food: plantains, rice and beans, freshly grown avocadoes and many more tropical

fruits. Most of all this place is known for its beautiful beaches; where the water is as clear as a

mirror and the sands are as white as snow. Another name for this place is the “la isla del

encanto” which means “the island of happiness/pleasure”. Its people are very proud of where

they come from and shout YO SOY BORICUA PA QUE TU LO SEPA’ every time they get a chance.

The history of this place is that indigenous people called the taínos lived here before the

Spaniards came and forcibly took their land from them. The people were forced to work in

sugar cane plantations but were found to be to weak for such manual labor. That’s when the

slaves from Africa were brought in to do what the taínos couldn’t physically do. Over time the

Africans, Spaniards, and taínos began to integrate with each other. This is why no two boricuas

look the same. Some have green eyes, fair skin and pelo malo. Others are very dark skinned

with dark eyes and super straight hair. Everyone there is different and people often confuse

them to be from a different country because when they think Boricua they automatically think

dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin, wavy hair. ALSO THE MUSIC IS MEGA BOMB.

(#19) March 26, 2016

No class because of group meetings.

(#20) April 5, 2016

In this picture there are very many things that are different from schools back in the 70s and in

2010s. For example, the first thing that caught my eye is that the uniform the police

officer/security guard is wearing is a lot more different than what a security guard at a school

would wear. At my old high school, the security guard’s uniform was a bright blue polo shirt

with an insignia stitching that said Myers Park high school and that they were security guards.

While in this picture the security guard looks like he’s wearing a normal southerner police

officer uniform. Something else would be how the picture is in black and white, and nowadays

they’re in color. Also how the girls are dressed, it’s very different from what a girl would wear in

elementary school nowadays.

(#21) April 7, 2016

A decision that I’ve had to make while in UNCC was whether I was going to stay at UNCC all four

years of undergraduate education. I made my decision because of how badly things were going

during my first year, not only in school but at home. For some reason after I started college,

there was more tension within the close ties of my family. Also I was looking for adventure, and

to love the school I was going to. This decision is a hard one to make because there are so many

things that go into it; expenses, and if credits will transfer. I still haven’t made my decision but I

know that I will be happy with the decision I do make, because I’ve thought long and hard

about it all.

(#22) April 12, 2016

Hello boys and girls, my name is Astrid and these are my friends Megan, Desmond and Alex. We

are here to talk to you guys about a new cool thing that will be happening right here in our city.

Do you guys know what this city is called? – CHARLOTTE, North Carolina. Yes, Charlotte! In

Charlotte we have a university to teach the big boys and girls how to become teachers, doctors

and even a candy store owner. This university is called The University of North Carolina at

Charlotte. Also in the city of Charlotte we have a light rail. A light rail is like a mini train that only

goes around the city of Charlotte. So the city decided to combine the two together and help the

college students with a cheaper mode of transportation. In 2017 the light rail will come all the

way to my school campus and we’ll be able to go to Uptown Charlotte without having to drive

and be in traffic for a long time. Isn’t that cool?

(#23) April 14, 2016

I’m just getting started with my portfolio. I didn’t make one last semester so I’ve been

stumbling around trying to figure it out but I’m still super confused about what all goes into the

portfolio. I’m also waiting to finish everything that goes into it, so that adds to it all. Now I’m

getting stressed out because the date is so so so close.

(#24) April 19, 2016

Something good that happened while working with my semester long project group, was that I

made new friends and through that were able to come together and make a great project. We

also had a lot of fun working together and struggling to find information on our topic.

Something good that happened with our topic was that we got to learn more about both our

campus AND the city we live in. It was pretty cool learning about how different things that we

wouldn’t necessarily think as significant, really do make a difference in our daily lives. Such as

how the light rail will improve the environment, how traffic will be reduced because of the light

rail, how drunk driving by college students will also be reduced, and even how our tax money

will go towards this new project. I don’t know what made me chose to be in this topic group but

I’m glad I’m in it!