Narrative on Social Diversity

Social diversity is very hard to define because it is such a broad spectrum.  To me social diversity includes differences in race, ethnicity, gender, age,  and sexual orientation among other things.  Multiculturalism is the way in which society can blend these social diversities together to better understand each other and build upon ourselves.  Social diversity was honestly not as important in my life as I know it should have been.  Growing up I just was not really exposed to different ethnicities because I have always lived in a predominantly white community where everyone was pretty similar.  However, I as have grown up my eyes have opened and I have come to see how many different social diversity issues there are.  The issue of "class" has been important to me because I am an education major and one of my biggest beliefs is that there should be an equal right to a proper education irregardless of your income or race.  Many areas in poverty do not receive a proper education, and that is something that should change. Another issue that has been important to me now is sexual orientation.  I recently found out that a friend from high school is gay.  It was something I would not have expected, but it has shown me not to judge people based on their sexual orientation. 

Where I grew up blinded me from social diversity when I was younger because everyone seemed just like me. However, as I said earlier, as I have grown up I now have my own perspectives on social diversity.  Once I got into High School I knew that I wanted that I wanted to teach, so educational equality has always been an interesting subject for me.  My junior year I went to New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity with my friend Nicole.  It was sad to see the damage that was done, but what affected me the most was when I found out how many of them were now unable to attend school now because they were without homes and money.  That is why it is so important for educational equality because those children need education because they deserve to have a chance to live a happy and successful life.  This also applies for many Chicago Public Schools.  There are many teachers who show up as baby sitters because they have given up on their students, but you can't give up because they deserve a chance too.  That is why everywhere should have equal quality teachers and you education should not suffer based on where you come from.  And as far as sexual orientation equality, I have recently been influenced by Lady Gaga.  I saw her in concert this summer and she was very inspirational.  She didn't judge anybody for anything and she wanted everyone to embrace their differences, which was really inspiring. 

The social issue I am most interested in is Education.  It's very important because it affects everybody.  Not only do teachers teach math science and social studies, but they also they also teach students how to be a good citizen.  Children are our future, what the next generation does will affect everybody, so we should make sure that everyone is equally educated so that we can continue to prosper as a nation.

Exercise 2

Left Page Stuff:

Favorite Line:

• It's hard not to admire these traits that give the birds such biological success, and yet somehow these evolutionary gifts seem unfair and unearned.

Outside Research Line:
     Like:

• Virginia Woolf compared the movement of the great flocks of starlings in the fall to the throwing of a net with "Thousands of black knots" expanding and then contracting as the birds settle on the tops of trees (Woolf 5).

   Dislike

• Most of the tactics recomended against pigeons, however, are intended to simply make life uncompfortable for them, methods that are more likely , as one combatant put it, to create "a good public relations Image" (Loven 3).

Main Idea:
To me the main idea was basically learning about the pros and cons of pigeons. What people like and dislike about them.  However, the way that it was written almost felt more like a narrative rather than a research paper, which I enjoyed.  By the end of the essay I feel as though I actually have learned more about pigeons including their lifestyle, intelligence, and eating habits.  Although, I was slightly confused in the beging, just because of the style, but it then grew on me.

Right Page Stuff:


I really like the way that they wrote the research paper as more of a narrative as I said before. It didn't seem like a boring old research paper.  A way that I can keep my paper more interesting is by not having a boring format such as a five paragraph essay.  If I keep the format different from a normal research paper then people will want to read my essay, I hope.

It definitely kept me more interested by the format that the author used, however, I did find it to be somewhat confusing.  The intro confused me because I thought that the pigeon was supposed to stand for something, like "To Kill A Mockingbird".  However, it then got into the information about the actual pigeons.  I also thought that there was some information that was irrelevant.

I learned some new things about pigeons, but I didn't really learn anything about myself.  I could relate in one way though.  My sophomore year of football a pigeon actually pooped on my head.  It was really embarrassing.

Exercise 1

My Five Statements:

• You need to follow a formal structure
• You cannot use the pronoun I
• You have to say something original
• You're writing mostly for the instructor
• You're supposed to use your own opinions

The reason that I chose these as my top 5 is because they are the top 5 things that I used to find difficult to be true or false.  I also think that other people struggle in these situations as well.

1) Although it is important in many situations to write in a formal structure, it doesn't always matter.  It is more important to have good content, information, or opinions rather than having bad information but in a structured way.  I think that many times I am more intrigued by something that isn't written as a five paragraph essay.  Content is much more important than structure.

2) It is okay to use the pronoun I.  Many times, especially when writing a persuasive essay, I can make a statement stronger rather than writing passively.  When a person over uses the pronoun I then it can get too repetitive, however, if used correctly, it can be very effective.

3) You do not always have to say something original.  You can simply just further a preexisting statement or research.  Many times  you use other peoples research to prove or persuade an idea, but that doesn't mean that it has to be an original thought.

4) You are writing mostly for the instructor.  This statement is completely false and it may sabotage your writing.  You need to write for yourself because if you don't, then what you are writing is not meaningful.  Also, you cannot be afraid to voice your opinion because your writing for your instructor.  When writing, you should feel confident about what you are writing, and that confidence will diminish if you are not writing for yourself.

5) You don't always have to use your opinion, you may use the opinion of somebody else as long as you site it correctly and give credit where credit is due. However, it is good to incorporate your own opinions as well.

Response: Thinking About Social Action Research Projects

I feel that writing is very important to my everyday life even though at times it seems as though it might not be.  Daily texts and emails come from my computer very often.  I feel lost when I don't have my phone on me because I hate not being able to communicate when somebody messages me. And like most college kids, I am addicted to Facebook. I am always writing on my friends walls or commenting on photos.  My friends from home and I even set up a message board on facebook so that we can keep in constant communication.  So to me writing is most in my personal life because it is writing that I enjoy doing. However, writing is also important academically and professionally.  Academically I take notes daily and have to write several papers for several classes. My senior year of high school I took part in a teaching internship class at my high school where I had to write several teaching philosophies and observations.  And now once again for my education classes I am doing the same thing, which I will then have to do again after that when I applied for a teaching position.

The most difficult part for my in writing is sentence structure.  I know how to make a sentence, however, I am not the best with variety.  I feel as though most of my sentence just go "sentence then verb then a period".  I would really like to improve this so that my writing is more interesting.

To be completely honest, the only reading I do non-academically is Harry Potter.  I just find it difficult for myself to just pick up a book and start reading.  The only book I can honestly say I liked besides Harry Potter was The Great Gatsby.

I really do not have many assumptions about research for this course.  Although I can sometimes find research to be difficult, I do not mind doing it because sometimes I really end up enjoying the topic. However there have been times where I disliked the topic even more after researching it.  I really do not think it will be an issue though.

I think that I want to research homophobia or educational equality.  I think that homophobia is a very controversial subject right now so it would be interesting to research and read different viewpoints.  However, my major is special education so educational equality is important to me.

I would conduct my research via the internet and by asking people their own personal opinions.  I would also use books to research, however, I do not know how effective it would be because I want the most current information.  So I think it would be better off using a magazine or the internet.  





 

About Me

My name is Brad Radzevich and I am a Sophomore. I am currently a math education major, however I am planning on switching to Special Education, and possibly an English minor, but we'll see how that works. I am from Orland Park, IL.  If you feel like you have met someone from Orland Park before, you probably have seeing as basically half of my high school went to ISU and that it was a HUGE school. I played football for 9 years and miss playing now.  One of my favorite things to do is go to concerts.  I went to about 10 or 12 this summer including Third Eye Blind, Cobra Starship, Goo Goo Dolls, 3OH!3, John Mayer, and best of all Lady Gaga. Not gonna lie, she was the best concert I have ever been to!