Blog 20

1. What are the strengths your writing for the introduction? What do you need to add as you continue to write your essay?
What are the strengths of your writing for the review of the literature? What will you need to continue to work on?

   The things are working in my introduction is that I think I identify clearly my research question and topic. I've gathered a good portion of my data, so I have a strong idea of what exactly I will be presenting in my paper.
   Looking back at my first attempt at the introduction and literature review, I realized that the main thing I'm missing is explaining why my research topic and data matter. Looking at the example in class was very helpful. I need to include the definition of my terms and give a strong step by step of what I'm going to be discussing inn my essay.
   My literature review needs to be done over, since I only cited my resources. I need to discuss exactly what the authors of those books have to say about my topic, and also give information on why I chose my references and discuss their credentials/contributions. Most importantly, I need to set up my focus.   

2. What is the research problem identified in your introduction? How do you point out what your research project will contribute toward resolving this "problem"? In other words, what have you written about the importance of your project for writing studies?

      My question is why the blame for our failing education system has been placed on teachers in public discourse and what are the factors outside the classroom that impact a student's success in school. However, I fail to point out why my data matters in helping resolve this issue. This is one of the things I need to incorporate.

3. What have other researchers found out about your topic that is relevant to your research project?

       In one of the books, Education Reform and Social Change: Multicultural Voices, Struggles, and Visions the author talks about variuos students she has talked to over the years that were struggling in school. The main pattern she found in all of them was that they all had issues at home. So even though, in some instances, the teachers would reach out, the students would continue to struggle as these issues at home were still present. My other book discusses how socioeconomic factors significantly shape how a student does academically.

4. How do you connect findings from question 3 to the purpose of your project?
    
        These findings help prove the flawed arguement behind solely blaming teachers for the success or failure of a student. They prove that other factors impact how a student does in school, no matter how amazing or incompetent the teacher may be. Teachers, of course, are crucial in what a student learns, and their roles are very important, but they are not the whole picture.

5. What is your plan for finishing/revising your introduction and literature review?

      I'm going to revise my intro and my literature review by comparing what I already have to the sample presented in class, and then adding the information I need accordingly.

  6. What feedback do you want from me?

        As I've gathered my information, along with the great examples you've presented in class as to how you want everything written and presented, I don't really think I need much feedback at the moment. Thus far I feel clear as to how I need to do things.

Blog 19

Arlene Borbon

Short Analysis Project

 

Research Question: What does what I find funny say about myself/my interests?

Categories/Codes:

Animal characters

Violence

Double meanings/wordplay

Structure (length, plot, setting, etc.)

Surprise/absurdities

Conflict

What these features say about me

1

There was a snake called Nate. His purpose in life was to stay in the desert and guard the lever. Animal character personified. This lever was no ordinary lever. It was the lever that if moved would destroy the world. Nate took his job very seriously. He let nothing get close to the lever. The element of absurdity; far from anything possible in reality.

One day off in the distance he saw a cloud of dust. He kept his eye on it because he was guarding the lever. The dust cloud continued to move closer to the lever. Nate saw that it was a huge boulder and it was heading straight for the lever!

Nate thought about what he could do to save the world. He decided if he could get in front of the boulder he could deflect it and it would miss the lever. Nate slithered quickly to intersect the boulder. The boulder ran over Nate, but it was, in fact, deflected, leaving history to conclude that is was better Nate than lever. “Better late than never”. If someone had never heard the phrase before, this story would probably be dumb to them.

 

2.

Some friars wanted to do more for their flock but their vow of poverty, simple lifestyle and lack of gainful employment meant that their supply of available funds was, to say the least, meager. Nevertheless, they put their collective heads together and came up with the idea of opening a small florist shop. They reasoned that they could grow most of the flowers on the church grounds, and what they couldn't grow, they could likely pick from the surrounding countryside. As you can probably guess, everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God and their little business flourished. So much so that the rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. Business setting; can make this funnier to someone that is familiar with this setting because it’s relatable. He asked the good fathers to close their little shop, but their flower business was providing them with much-needed funds for their good works and they refused. He went back time and again, finally begging the friars to close. By this time, they had tired of the florist's constant whining and they ignored him. The success of the friar’s business is causing the florist’s business to suffer. It is funny to me that the cause of the conflict is a friar; the ironic contrast is surprising.  The florist even asked his mother to go and ask the friars to get out of the flower business, but they ignored her, too.

By this time, the florist was nearly bankrupt and in desperation hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town, to "persuade" the good friars to close. Being a man of few morals and even fewer religious convictions, Hugh had no ethical problems with his assigned task and promptly gave the friars a thorough beating and trashed their store. The use of violence is an absurdity; the fact that the florist had to go to those lengths to resolve his problem. He departed with a stern warning that he’d be back if they didn’t close the shop. Terrified, the friars did so immediately, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars. “Only you can prevent forest fires.” You have to be familiar with Smokey the bear ads in order for this story to make any sense.

 

3.

A giant panda escaped from the zoo in New York. Animal character personified; it is funny to picture an animal in an urban setting; relatable to me. Eventually, he found his way downtown and walked into a restaurant, where he found a seat at an empty table. The maître d', being a native New Yorker figures he's seen stranger things than this so he sends over a waiter to take the panda's order. It’s funny to me since I’ve been in this setting; an absurdity taking place in a familiar setting. In due course the panda's meal arrives and he eats.

After he finishes his dinner he stands up, calmly pulls out a gun from God-knows-where he had it hidden, and blows away several customers and a couple of the waiters. Then he turns around and walks toward the door. This is much unexpected.

Naturally, the maître d' is horrified. He stops the panda and demands an explanation, at the very least.

The panda says to him, "What do I look like to you"?

The maître d' answers, "Well, a giant panda, of course."

"That's right," says the panda, "Look it up," and he walks out.

The maître d' calls the police. When they arrive the maître d' relates the whole story to them, including the panda's comment about looking it up. So the chief detective sends a rookie out to get an encyclopedia.

He eventually returns with the Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume P. The detective looks up "panda", and there's the answer: "Giant panda, lives in China, eats shoots and leaves." The double meaning is funny.

 

4.

Robinson Crusoe fell desperately ill. Just before dropping into a coma, he called for his man Friday to help him. "Friday, get help! Get help!"

"Yes!" Friday replied, "Get help now!" Not knowing what else to do, he went outside of Crusoe's tent and danced and prayed for the gods to come and help his master.

Shortly afterwards, he went back into Crusoe's tent and found his master awake and staring at a beautiful glowing shape at the foot of his bed.

"Who is that?" Robinson Crusoe asked.

His helper answered, "Thank Friday! It's God!" “Thank god it’s Friday.” If you don’t know this phrase, this story wouldn’t have been funny.

 

5.

All the top chess players show up at a hotel for an important international tournament. They spend the first hour hanging around the lobby telling each other of their recent victories. Their crows get progressively louder and louder as each one tries to outdo the others.

The hotel manager gets tired of this, so he throws them out of the lobby and tells them to go to their rooms. "If there's one thing I can't stand," he says, "its chess nuts boasting by an open foyer." “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” song lyrics. This story would have been funnier to me if I was more familiar with chess.

 

Story	Animal Characters	References/ double meanings	Violence	Structure	Surprise/Absurdities	Conflict
1: 2nd funniest	X	X			X
2: 3rd Funniest		X	X	X	X	X
3: Funniest	X	X	X	X	X
4: 4th Funniest		X
5: Least Funny		X

  

            Humor is something that is very individual. What comes off as funny varies from person to person. Why you find certain things funny has to do with many things. A joke can speak to your experiences, the situations and settings that you have lived, and the things you are knowledgeable of. If a joke alludes to a familiar situation, setting, a song or phrase that you’ve heard, or a movie you’ve seen, the joke will be funnier to you. For the shaggy dog stories in particular, the features of these jokes can allude to a certain interest or experience you have had. These features are animal characters, the use of violence, double meanings/wordplay, the story structure (i.e. setting, length, plot, etc.), the use of surprises or absurdities, and conflict. What makes you laugh can say a thing or two about you. I will use myself as an example of this.

            For the shaggy dog stories, I ranked the third story as the funniest, the first story as the second funniest, the second story as the third funniest, the fourth story as the fourth funniest, and the fifth story the least funny. What made the panda in NYC story the funniest of all for me were the ironic contrast and the familiarity with the setting. Pandas are associated with being warm cuddly, so reading about this panda busting out a gun and shooting people was unexpected. There was an element of surprise for me in the ironic contrast. This happens in a restaurant in New York, and I’m familiar with the city, since I was born and live in north New Jersey, just ten minutes from the George Washington Bridge. I frequently visit Manhattan and New York City. So the story’s structure resonated with me. The story was visualizing something absurd happening in a familiar setting, which was humorous. The double meaning of “He eats shoots and leaves” was also very funny to me.

            The snake called Nate story was the second funniest to me. The story with animal personification being my top two funniest stories isn’t exactly a coincidence. When non-human things are given human characteristics is very humorous to me. I like the sense of stepping away from reality, which makes the joke entertaining to me. I’ve heard the phrase “better late than never”, so the word play made a connection with me. This is a phrase that has been used widely, so most people have heard it. However, if you have never heard the phrase this story would have been dumb.  

            The features that made me laugh in the second story, again, were the element of the unexpected. I was surprised to read that florist goes to the extent of violence to resolve his benign problem. The injecting of violence as an element of surprise made me laugh.

            The two stories that I found the least funny, the Crusoe story and the chess story, didn’t connect with me. This was because there wasn’t much I could relate to in these stories. For example, I’m not too familiar with Robinson Crusoe. As for the chess story, I’m not a fan of chess, and have barely ever played. When the stories were ranked in class, some found the chess story to be one of the funnier ones, and those people expressed they were chess players and liked to play. So it connected with them.

The reference to popular songs, phrases, or experiences in wordplay and double meaning in shaggy dog stories target the familiarity that makes jokes funny. After looking at the data, the features of the shaggy dog stories that made me laugh say a few things about me. The animal characters made me laugh, since I have an interest for animals and personification. If the settings were familiar to me, that also made it funny since I could relate. I liked the surprises and absurdities, since I like to step away from reality a bit when it comes to humor. I liked the violence mainly when it was unexpected. Asking why something was funny can tell you a lot about someone.

Blog 18

         The U.S' rankings in education system was number twenty-four against the rest of the world. The U.S is a first world country, yet technically less developed nations have a better education system than ours. This an all encompassing subject, one that is connected to many other important societal and economical issues and factors. Education is definitely very important, and many people have raised this issue publically. Because of this, many in American society have an awareness of our education system that needs much improvement, especially if we are going to compete and have something to contribute on a global scale. There are many questions that arise when tackling this topic. Most want to know what is the cause. Why is this the case? Well, when people aren't aware of the many other factors that play an important role in education, and the complexities involved, the discourse can be pretty simplistic. There is an urge to have a subject to point the finger at in order to come to a solution faster. In public discourse about education, the scapegoat becomes the teachers. It is important to look at the reasons why teachers have become the scapegoats of educational woes, and what are the true factors that determine what makes the education process a success or a failure.

Literature review:

Walsh, Catherine E. Education Reform and Social Change: Multicultural Voices, Struggles, and Visions. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 1996. Print.

Singham, Mano. The Achievement Gap in U.S. Education: Canaries in the Mine. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2005. Print.

Blog 17

Short Analysis Project

Research Question: What does what I find funny say about myself/my interests?

Categories/Codes:

Animal characters

Violence

Double meanings/wordplay

Structure (length, plot, setting, etc.)

Surprise/absurdities

Conflict

What these features say about me

1

There was a snake called Nate. His purpose in life was to stay in the desert and guard the lever. Animal character personified. This lever was no ordinary lever. It was the lever that if moved would destroy the world. Nate took his job very seriously. He let nothing get close to the lever. The element of absurdity; far from anything possible in reality.

One day off in the distance he saw a cloud of dust. He kept his eye on it because he was guarding the lever. The dust cloud continued to move closer to the lever. Nate saw that it was a huge boulder and it was heading straight for the lever!

Nate thought about what he could do to save the world. He decided if he could get in front of the boulder he could deflect it and it would miss the lever. Nate slithered quickly to intersect the boulder. The boulder ran over Nate, but it was, in fact, deflected, leaving history to conclude that is was better Nate than lever. “Better late than never”. If someone had never heard the phrase before, this story would probably be dumb to them.

2.

Some friars wanted to do more for their flock but their vow of poverty, simple lifestyle and lack of gainful employment meant that their supply of available funds was, to say the least, meager. Nevertheless, they put their collective heads together and came up with the idea of opening a small florist shop. They reasoned that they could grow most of the flowers on the church grounds, and what they couldn't grow, they could likely pick from the surrounding countryside. As you can probably guess, everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God and their little business flourished. So much so that the rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. Business setting; can make this funnier to someone that is familiar with this setting because it’s relatable. He asked the good fathers to close their little shop, but their flower business was providing them with much-needed funds for their good works and they refused. He went back time and again, finally begging the friars to close. By this time, they had tired of the florist's constant whining and they ignored him. The success of the friar’s business is causing the florist’s business to suffer. It is funny to me that the cause of the conflict is a friar; the ironic contrast is surprising.  The florist even asked his mother to go and ask the friars to get out of the flower business, but they ignored her, too.

By this time, the florist was nearly bankrupt and in desperation hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town, to "persuade" the good friars to close. Being a man of few morals and even fewer religious convictions, Hugh had no ethical problems with his assigned task and promptly gave the friars a thorough beating and trashed their store. The use of violence is an absurdity; the fact that the florist had to go to those lengths to resolve his problem. He departed with a stern warning that he’d be back if they didn’t close the shop. Terrified, the friars did so immediately, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars. “Only you can prevent forest fires.” You have to be familiar with Smokey the bear ads in order for this story to make any sense.

3.

A giant panda escaped from the zoo in New York. Animal character personified; it is funny to picture an animal in an urban setting; relatable to me. Eventually, he found his way downtown and walked into a restaurant, where he found a seat at an empty table. The maître d', being a native New Yorker figures he's seen stranger things than this so he sends over a waiter to take the panda's order. It’s funny to me since I’ve been in this setting; an absurdity taking place in a familiar setting. In due course the panda's meal arrives and he eats.

After he finishes his dinner he stands up, calmly pulls out a gun from God-knows-where he had it hidden, and blows away several customers and a couple of the waiters. Then he turns around and walks toward the door. This is much unexpected.

Naturally, the maître d' is horrified. He stops the panda and demands an explanation, at the very least.

The panda says to him, "What do I look like to you"?

The maître d' answers, "Well, a giant panda, of course."

"That's right," says the panda, "Look it up," and he walks out.

The maître d' calls the police. When they arrive the maître d' relates the whole story to them, including the panda's comment about looking it up. So the chief detective sends a rookie out to get an encyclopedia.

He eventually returns with the Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume P. The detective looks up "panda", and there's the answer: "Giant panda, lives in China, eats shoots and leaves." The double meaning is funny.

4.

Robinson Crusoe fell desperately ill. Just before dropping into a coma, he called for his man Friday to help him. "Friday, get help! Get help!"

"Yes!" Friday replied, "Get help now!" Not knowing what else to do, he went outside of Crusoe's tent and danced and prayed for the gods to come and help his master.

Shortly afterwards, he went back into Crusoe's tent and found his master awake and staring at a beautiful glowing shape at the foot of his bed.

"Who is that?" Robinson Crusoe asked.

His helper answered, "Thank Friday! It's God!" “Thank god it’s Friday.” If you don’t know this phrase, this story wouldn’t have been funny.

5.

All the top chess players show up at a hotel for an important international tournament. They spend the first hour hanging around the lobby telling each other of their recent victories. Their crows get progressively louder and louder as each one tries to outdo the others.

The hotel manager gets tired of this, so he throws them out of the lobby and tells them to go to their rooms. "If there's one thing I can't stand," he says, "its chess nuts boasting by an open foyer." “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” song lyrics. This story would have been funnier to me if I was more familiar with chess.

Story	Animal Characters	References/ double meanings	Violence	Structure	Surprise/Absurdities	Conflict
1: 2nd funniest	X	X			X
2: 3rd Funniest		X	X	X	X	X
3: Funniest	X	X	X	X	X
4: 4th Funniest		X
5: Least Funny		X

            Humor is something that is very individual. What comes off as funny varies from person to person. Why you find certain things funny has to do with many things. A joke can speak to your experiences, the situations and settings that you have lived, and the things you are knowledgeable of. If a joke alludes to a familiar situation, setting, a song or phrase that you’ve heard, or a movie you’ve seen, the joke will be funnier to you. What makes you laugh can say a thing or two about you. I will use myself as an example of this.

            For the shaggy dog stories, I ranked the third story as the funniest, the first story as the second funniest, the second story as the third funniest, the fourth story as the fourth funniest, and the fifth story the least funny. What made the panda in NYC story the funniest of all for me were the ironic contrast and the familiarity with the setting. Pandas are associated with being warm cuddly, so reading about this panda busting out a gun and shooting people was unexpected. There was an element of surprise for me in the ironic contrast. This happens in a restaurant in New York, and I’m familiar with the city, since I was born and live in north New Jersey, just ten minutes from the George Washington Bridge. I frequently visit Manhattan and New York City. Picturing this story was so funny to me. The story was visualizing something absurd happening in a familiar setting, which was humorous. The double meaning of “He eats shoots and leaves” was also very funny to me.

            The snake called Nate story was the second funniest to me. The story with animal personification being my top two funniest stories isn’t exactly a coincidence. When non-human things are given human characteristics is very humorous to me. I like the sense of stepping away from reality, which makes the joke entertaining to me. I’ve heard the phrase “better late than never”, so the word play made a connection with me. This is a phrase that has been used widely, so most people have heard it. However, if you have never heard the phrase this story would have been dumb.  

            The features that made me laugh in the second story, again, were the element of the unexpected. I was surprised to read that florist goes to the extent of violence to resolve his benign problem. The injecting of violence as an element of surprise made me laugh.

            The two stories that I found the least funny, the Crusoe story and the chess story, didn’t connect with me. This was because there wasn’t much I could relate to in these stories. For example, I’m not too familiar with Robinson Crusoe. As for the chess story, I’m not a fan of chess, and have barely ever played. When the stories were ranked in class, some found the chess story to be one of the funnier ones, and those people expressed they were chess players and liked to play. So it connected with them. The reference to popular songs, phrases, or experiences in wordplay and double meaning in shaggy dog stories target the familiarity that makes jokes funny.