Anne Wysocki introduces her article by pointing out that all page and screen-based texts are visual and we (as readers) have certain expectations that each texts needs to be. Example of the expectations are how some are for children (bright colors), some are towards adults and getting them to purchase something (weight loss commercials) and academic pages are very formal. Texts change and transform constantly to capture the reader that they want. Anne Wysocki states, “Visual arrangements do some of the work of the genre. This means, then, that the visual arrangements can be analyzed in terms of the genre work they do.” (Wysocki 124) This brought up the main point of her article to answer the question why do we expect the academic or literary pages to be professional looking the web pages that are academic or literary to be creative and inspirational. Her first point of view is that the visual elements and arrangements of the text are what people link towards first, like the logo or the headers of a paper. Wysocki also points out those attitudes towards the visual aspects of texts change over time. In the middle ages the educated believed that the visual presentations of pages were to make for a reading process where readers moved slowly through pages using the visual presentation of the pages as an aid to memory but today we want quick outlines or layouts to help us get what we need with no distraction or slowing down. This specific visualization leads to the reason we only use certain types of typefaces for certain papers. She also talked about different ideas that you can do with a web page and many different kinds of texts.
Like every program the High School Equivalency Program has its flaws as well as its strengths. The first video that I watched on YouTube was talking about the benefits of the program and According to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW9YI2dIrvE most people get the wrong idea of “migrant workers”, most people expect that the workers are from Mexico or Central America and either Latino or Mexican. In all reality many people come down Canada or are around the United States who is just looking for the seasonal farm work and that is all they really know. It’s usually a big diverse group all working to the common goal; to make a living. So the student featured in the video goes on to explain that the program tries to support them in many different ways. The program is trying to help them to their General Education Degree so they support them by providing transportation, child care, a general stipend at the end of every week, and they also remain as flexible as the can be to address any problems that come their way in order for these workers to be successful. The program just tries to help out in any way possible. Also the program assistants in the video just hopes that the word about the program spreads to reach people that need the help. Everybody has interacted or knows someone who could benefit from this program. One thing that the assistant doesn’t talk about is about the different problems that you can come across when volunteering in the program.
High School Equivalency Program for Recent Dropouts; Smith, Franceska B. 18 AUG 2006 Volume 1984 Issue 21 Pages 41-54 March 1984. Was an article that talked about how there are still big dropout rates throughout the country despite all of the programs that we have offered to address many of the different issues presented throughout the country. It addressed the dropout rates among the High School Equivalency Program showing us that we the program does not have a one hundred percent success rate, many times the students have to move during seasons before they can finish their schooling. Another problem was just like regular high school drop outs and they give up on finishing their education because the class material was too hard or another problem came up. Many times the students found it hard to balance work, family, job, end everyday life which can definitely be a difficult task and need some good work ethic as well integrity to finish the schooling. Without getting the text book this was all of the information it would give me. I find looking for information on this subject very frustrating because none of it goes into depth and there are very few websites about the program. There is though in fact plenty of information about different branches off of the program, for example immigration, migrant farm workers, education, volunteering, and you can still take a look at many different ideas on what to write about.
An online article located at http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/migrants.html was talking about today’s migrant workers here in the United States. It informed us that according to the United States Department of Labor there are approximately 1.3 million U.S. Citizens that migrate between the states making a living by working on the farms and the agriculture industry. It gave all of the usual statistics about have they live a hard a life with little education, tough work and harsh living conditions. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration list agriculture as the second most dangerous occupation in the United States. The Farm worker Health Services Program reported that the average life expectancy of a farm worker is lower than the national life expectancy of the United States population. There was many different articles and information on the past history of migrant farm workers but it talked about how today the workers are 88 percent and alone working in the United States because they work in the states and send money back to their families back at their home. Only 55 percent are married and 71 percent are not living with their spouses. Many of them don’t change jobs and started this work in their early 20’s and just work until they are not physically capable of doing the farm work anymore. The workers usually have no more than a sixth grade education on average. 93 percent are foreign born, and 65 percent are working here in the United States illegally. This statistic then gets into the subject of border control and on whether or not the employers in United States should be punished for hiring migrant workers knowing that they do not have the correct documents to be citizens here in the United States. The migrant workers have generic paths that they follow when doing their seasonal work; In the East the workers start in Florida and work their way up through Ohio, New York, and Maine following crops that range from citrus to tobacco to blueberries, the Midwestern Stream starts in Southern Texas and moves through every state in the Midwest., and the workers in the west start in Southern California and move up the coast to Washington and North Dakota. They follow these patterns either because of the seasons, economy, and different crops patterns.
I still feel like each of the informative texts could have explained more on the program and about its strengths and weaknesses, Wysoki talked about detail and explanation in each of the multimedia texts and each of these could have used more of that. Each of the articles were boring and it took me a while to get through it, the assistant in the video talked about how they wanted to get more information out about the program so how about a specific informative website about the High School Equivalency Program that isn’t just for the students but also for the volunteers that want to be involved with the program. I feel like the HEP Program could use a marketing plan and actually put the ideas to use.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Unit 2 Discourse Analysis
"Disproportionality The Disproportionate Representation of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Special Education." EMSTAC. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .
Logsdon, Ann. "Diagnosing Minority Children - Ensuring Appropriate Diagnosis for Minority Children." Learning Disability - What is a Learning Disability?. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011..
Logsdon, Ann. "Disproportional Representation - Disproportionality in Special Education Programs." Learning Disability - What is a Learning Disability?. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011..
"Minority Disproportionality, Safe & Responsive Schools Project, Indiana Education Policy Center." Indiana University. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2011..
"Oklahoma Parents Center." Oklahoma Parents Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.
Reading Writing Analytically and Wysocki's The Multimedia of Texts contributed to the writing of my discourse analysis mostly by helping to focus my thinking and judgments while I read my sources. Before reading these two texts I had little awareness of my own thought process of how and why I drew conclusions about my reading. Writing Analytically helped me to see different patterns and underlying formats within a text that the author was specifically using to address and manipulate, in a way, their message. At first everything about discourse analysis seemed abstract and very confusing, however as I continue to complicate my research and thinking process, the models provided in the two texts do help and make more sense. Wysocki's model I feel is going to be very beneficial with my website, which I will be starting soon in my course work. Overall addressing Wysocki's model for discourse analysis does still seem extremely vague when applied to an academic paper, or one that is formatted as a single screen with “typical” page format. I am trying harder to look at both the text and visual aspects of the work as both being “visual” in using Wysocki's model and this has help some. By in large the two readings in unit two has aided me in developing my thinking as a better writter.
To focus my research from the large topic of Minority Education and programs such as BSU HEP, I started to look into different aspects of Minority Education. One topic that jumped out at me was the argument over the disproportionality of racial and ethnic minorities in special education. I became concerned with this topic first because it was an issued that I had never thought about before. And second because its has lead me to ask the question if disproportionality is causing a negative educational disadvantage through the generations in the minority communities. Disproportionality, is defined by the Oklahoma Parents Center website as, “...the over or under representation of minority students in special education. In other words, there is a disproportionate number, either a significantly larger or smaller percentage, of students from a specific minority background receiving special education services than the percentage of that minority in the population generally. Typically, African Americans and Hispanics are over-represented and Asians are underrepresented. IDEA ’97 specified that disproportionality needs to be addressed by state and local districts.” (http://www.oklahomaparentscenter.org/Dictionary.html)
The advocates of Special Education have worked hard to address the concern of disproportional minorities in Special Education. The main concern with disproportionality is the over-representation of minorities in special educational programs. According to Ann Logsdon, a school psychologist and the current administrator for disability services at Kentucky State University, a minority group is considered over-represented and disproportional when there is a statistically greater number of special education students within this demographic than there is in the general population of the school. EMSTAC is a federally funded organization which helps to develop and implement new strategies to improve the outcomes of students in Special Educational programs. EMSTAC provided the chart below illustrating the statistical over-representation of minorities in special education.
(http://www.emstac.org/registered/topics/disproportionality/intro.htm#top)
What this chart shows, specifically with Black (non-hispanic) students, is that the percentage of black students in special education is 136 times greater than the general population of black (non-hispanic) students.
The academic community approaches disproportional demographics with two main schools of thought. One, disproportionality happens in minorities because there is inadequate testing oversight and placement procedures for special education programs that meet the cultural differences of minorities. Second, is a question of whether or not the growing number of diverse classrooms is skewing the statistical data, based on socioeconomic conditions. This second question is one that is harder to track and debate. It's being debated that socioeconomic situations, such as poverty, family educational background and family status, is a greater factor in over-representation of minorities in special education. However this is met with great opposition stating that the socioeconomic demographics that are being over-represented are also the same demographics that are being classified as minorities. This argument is taking place mostly between Administrators, Education boards and the Teachers to special education students.
Many times in my research I feel the author of a given text is trying to easy into the idea that our current assessment process for special education is on the boarder of being race bias, and thus risks being seen as racist. I believe this topic more than the two view points above are an area of greater concern. Neither group, schools nor the schools boards want to openly address the idea there may be a racists assessment happening in their schools. This tip-toe method of dealing with race in special education has made the climate of disproportionality a very political issue. In 1997 when the IDEA bill was reauthorized, it clearly mandated that State Departments of Education address and report on the issue of Disproportional programs in special education. There is an obvious concern shown in the Educational communities for this problem and many programs are being designed and changed to lessen disproportionality in special education.
Most documentation and discussion on this topic is happening within the schools and the Educational communities, then also in political circles while new legislation is being passed. The discussion specifically addresses the need to change current programs and assessment standards. Logsdon brings up a interesting point that many are not talking about, the idea that there is a lack of communication and responsiveness with families who represent the disproportional minorities. This lack of communication leads me back to my question of a generational cycle of disadvantaged minorities in the educational system. Logsdon states that disproportionality can, “...Result in a type of racial profiling that places minority students at a disadvantage throughout their school year; Result in lowered expectations among teachers, parents, and the students themselves;...” I believe this aspect alone is causing a generational continuance of poor educational statistics among minorities. Logsdon currently is my only source which clearly speaks to parents and the affected demographic. This disassociation between parents, the community, and schools I find can be a huge contributor to the continuing and growing number of disproportionated minorities in special education programs.
Logsdon, Ann. "Diagnosing Minority Children - Ensuring Appropriate Diagnosis for Minority Children." Learning Disability - What is a Learning Disability?. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.
Logsdon, Ann. "Disproportional Representation - Disproportionality in Special Education Programs." Learning Disability - What is a Learning Disability?. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.
"Minority Disproportionality, Safe & Responsive Schools Project, Indiana Education Policy Center." Indiana University. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.
"Oklahoma Parents Center." Oklahoma Parents Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.
Reading Writing Analytically and Wysocki's The Multimedia of Texts contributed to the writing of my discourse analysis mostly by helping to focus my thinking and judgments while I read my sources. Before reading these two texts I had little awareness of my own thought process of how and why I drew conclusions about my reading. Writing Analytically helped me to see different patterns and underlying formats within a text that the author was specifically using to address and manipulate, in a way, their message. At first everything about discourse analysis seemed abstract and very confusing, however as I continue to complicate my research and thinking process, the models provided in the two texts do help and make more sense. Wysocki's model I feel is going to be very beneficial with my website, which I will be starting soon in my course work. Overall addressing Wysocki's model for discourse analysis does still seem extremely vague when applied to an academic paper, or one that is formatted as a single screen with “typical” page format. I am trying harder to look at both the text and visual aspects of the work as both being “visual” in using Wysocki's model and this has help some. By in large the two readings in unit two has aided me in developing my thinking as a better writter.
To focus my research from the large topic of Minority Education and programs such as BSU HEP, I started to look into different aspects of Minority Education. One topic that jumped out at me was the argument over the disproportionality of racial and ethnic minorities in special education. I became concerned with this topic first because it was an issued that I had never thought about before. And second because its has lead me to ask the question if disproportionality is causing a negative educational disadvantage through the generations in the minority communities. Disproportionality, is defined by the Oklahoma Parents Center website as, “...the over or under representation of minority students in special education. In other words, there is a disproportionate number, either a significantly larger or smaller percentage, of students from a specific minority background receiving special education services than the percentage of that minority in the population generally. Typically, African Americans and Hispanics are over-represented and Asians are underrepresented. IDEA ’97 specified that disproportionality needs to be addressed by state and local districts.” (http://www.oklahomaparentscenter.org/Dictionary.html)
The advocates of Special Education have worked hard to address the concern of disproportional minorities in Special Education. The main concern with disproportionality is the over-representation of minorities in special educational programs. According to Ann Logsdon, a school psychologist and the current administrator for disability services at Kentucky State University, a minority group is considered over-represented and disproportional when there is a statistically greater number of special education students within this demographic than there is in the general population of the school. EMSTAC is a federally funded organization which helps to develop and implement new strategies to improve the outcomes of students in Special Educational programs. EMSTAC provided the chart below illustrating the statistical over-representation of minorities in special education.
(http://www.emstac.org/registered/topics/disproportionality/intro.htm#top)
What this chart shows, specifically with Black (non-hispanic) students, is that the percentage of black students in special education is 136 times greater than the general population of black (non-hispanic) students.
The academic community approaches disproportional demographics with two main schools of thought. One, disproportionality happens in minorities because there is inadequate testing oversight and placement procedures for special education programs that meet the cultural differences of minorities. Second, is a question of whether or not the growing number of diverse classrooms is skewing the statistical data, based on socioeconomic conditions. This second question is one that is harder to track and debate. It's being debated that socioeconomic situations, such as poverty, family educational background and family status, is a greater factor in over-representation of minorities in special education. However this is met with great opposition stating that the socioeconomic demographics that are being over-represented are also the same demographics that are being classified as minorities. This argument is taking place mostly between Administrators, Education boards and the Teachers to special education students.
Many times in my research I feel the author of a given text is trying to easy into the idea that our current assessment process for special education is on the boarder of being race bias, and thus risks being seen as racist. I believe this topic more than the two view points above are an area of greater concern. Neither group, schools nor the schools boards want to openly address the idea there may be a racists assessment happening in their schools. This tip-toe method of dealing with race in special education has made the climate of disproportionality a very political issue. In 1997 when the IDEA bill was reauthorized, it clearly mandated that State Departments of Education address and report on the issue of Disproportional programs in special education. There is an obvious concern shown in the Educational communities for this problem and many programs are being designed and changed to lessen disproportionality in special education.
Most documentation and discussion on this topic is happening within the schools and the Educational communities, then also in political circles while new legislation is being passed. The discussion specifically addresses the need to change current programs and assessment standards. Logsdon brings up a interesting point that many are not talking about, the idea that there is a lack of communication and responsiveness with families who represent the disproportional minorities. This lack of communication leads me back to my question of a generational cycle of disadvantaged minorities in the educational system. Logsdon states that disproportionality can, “...Result in a type of racial profiling that places minority students at a disadvantage throughout their school year; Result in lowered expectations among teachers, parents, and the students themselves;...” I believe this aspect alone is causing a generational continuance of poor educational statistics among minorities. Logsdon currently is my only source which clearly speaks to parents and the affected demographic. This disassociation between parents, the community, and schools I find can be a huge contributor to the continuing and growing number of disproportionated minorities in special education programs.
Discourse Analysis
restorefairness.org/2010/02/legendary-ny-district-attorney-calls-the-way-we-treat-imigrants-a-national-disgrace.web.2/27/2011
articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/17/opinion/la-ed-agjobs18-2010feb18.web.2/27/2010
lawprofessors.typepad.com/2011/02/
First off, I found the reading in Writing Analytically to be interesting. I appreciated the part on false dichotomies and the ideas about shying away from absolutely polar thinking. Most issues are not just black and white, there may be grey areas to consider. It ties into the "The Problems With Debate Style Argument"(page84), it is to take a pro or con stance on a position, convincing others of the rightness of your position while defeating your opponent. "The American College Dictionary says, "to argue implies reasoning or trying to understand; it does not necessarily imply opposition." Simply stated, this definition does a good job to put the position of Writing Analytically in a nutshell. I found the Toulmin Model to be especially helpful. I have found in the past that the Aristotelian model of logic is too black and white, because this is that then absolutely this. The Toulmin model leaves more wiggle room for adding support to an argument.
The Wysocki piece lends me a more trained eye when looking at websites, I am able to look at them critically and I can analyze why I do or do not like a particular website, what works and what does not work.
I want to talk first about the website restorefairness.org. The website itself looks patriotic with an all American background. It is well laid out, has big and bold lettering, everything is easily accessible and viewer friendly. It is an interactive website where you can vote on an issue, leave comments, and there are several ways to "get involved". The only problem I see with the voting on the website is that there does not seem to be enough information given to make a sound judgment call. Of course there is the fact that the vote does not count for anything concrete, other than showing people who visit the site how others who have visited feel about the issues presented. The reason I first visited the site was to lookat the blog section. There is a blog about "legendary NY district attorney calls the way we treat immigrants a national disgrace". It was a radio interview given by Brian Lehrer interviewing Robert Morgenthau, a district attorney in NY for 35 years. The blogger includes dialogue between the 2 men that accentuates the ideas posed by the website. It plays on emotions by showing the emotion of a man who is directly associated with immigrant rights. The following quote was high lighted by the writer. "Robert Morgenthau: I think, the way we treat immigrants is a national disgrace and I’m ashamed of what we do. I think anybody who’s here in the United States, legal or illegal, is entitled to the full protection of the law and they’re not getting that." I felt the blog was a bit lacking, from a 25 minute interview the writer chose information from only a small portion of the interview. In contrast however, the writer did a good job showing what their intent was, the view they wanted the reader to see. The writer uses the fact that Morgenthau is educated and involved in law to push the point that people should listen to what he says and take it to heart. This excludes any idea that there are others who do not share his view who are also educated and involved in law. The writer ended the blog with this phrase, "When those fully immersed in the legal system speak out on the injustice of immigration law, we need to pay attention."
Overall I really liked the website as a whole. It was easy to navigate, interactive, and most of all, it gives its visitors information on how to get involved in supporting immigrants rights and fairness, and help elliminate racial profiling, and racism.
An article that I found in the Los Angeles Times talks about the AgJOBS bill and the changes made by Obama in the last weeks regarding migrant workers and the H-2A program and its effects on migrant workers and agricultural business. Firstly, the writer sounds very leftist by making snide comments about the GOP and blaming Bush for the problems faced by migrant workers. He writes, "Democrats like it too. That just leaves the usual suspects -- GOP legislators who apparently are disconnected from the realities of farming in America. It's a shame." He talks about the AgJOBS bill and its benefits but does not touch on what some have said to be problems, he puts it in a light that it is a perfect bill with no problems. He makes it sound as if both migrant workers and agbusiness are unanimously in support of the bill, which is not the case. He uses statistics that do nothing more than add hype to his argument, "If the United Farm Workers and employers in agribusiness -- wary opponents on 99 out of 100 issues -- can negotiate a compromise, Congress should be able to do the same."
The last website I want to talk about is called ImmigrationProf Blog, a member of the Law Professors Blogs Network. It is an excellent source of information on immigration issues, I found a lot of useful information on this site. Its setup looks very academic, not a lot of flair or bells and whistles but easy to read and navigate through. On the right side of the screen it lists the blogs contributors and their credentials along with their profile and contact info. On the left side it gives lists of archives to easily access past posts. The blog I followed was a plea to ask Congress and the President to Enact Health Care Reform that Includes Immigrants from the National Immigration Law Center.It gives a description of the health care reform bill and how it excludes immigrants from obtaining any sort of health care. Although it comes off as an emotional subject, it does not bombard you with emotional jargon to pull you in. It includes the basic facts about the bill, who to contact, and by what time. It does not contain much in the way of personal opinion, it states facts about the health care bill and its effects on immigrants. It does not give lengthy descriptions, it gives easy to read summaries. The last sentence is the most opinion expressed, "Everyone needs health care to achieve the American Dream. Our political leaders need to ensure immigrants have the same opportunities to reach that dream." I feel it has the capacity to appeal to those they are trying to reach. It is stated they are asking progressive leaders to contact the president and congress, and make it clear who should be the one to contact them and why.
articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/17/opinion/la-ed-agjobs18-2010feb18.web.2/27/2010
lawprofessors.typepad.com/2011/02/
First off, I found the reading in Writing Analytically to be interesting. I appreciated the part on false dichotomies and the ideas about shying away from absolutely polar thinking. Most issues are not just black and white, there may be grey areas to consider. It ties into the "The Problems With Debate Style Argument"(page84), it is to take a pro or con stance on a position, convincing others of the rightness of your position while defeating your opponent. "The American College Dictionary says, "to argue implies reasoning or trying to understand; it does not necessarily imply opposition." Simply stated, this definition does a good job to put the position of Writing Analytically in a nutshell. I found the Toulmin Model to be especially helpful. I have found in the past that the Aristotelian model of logic is too black and white, because this is that then absolutely this. The Toulmin model leaves more wiggle room for adding support to an argument.
The Wysocki piece lends me a more trained eye when looking at websites, I am able to look at them critically and I can analyze why I do or do not like a particular website, what works and what does not work.
I want to talk first about the website restorefairness.org. The website itself looks patriotic with an all American background. It is well laid out, has big and bold lettering, everything is easily accessible and viewer friendly. It is an interactive website where you can vote on an issue, leave comments, and there are several ways to "get involved". The only problem I see with the voting on the website is that there does not seem to be enough information given to make a sound judgment call. Of course there is the fact that the vote does not count for anything concrete, other than showing people who visit the site how others who have visited feel about the issues presented. The reason I first visited the site was to lookat the blog section. There is a blog about "legendary NY district attorney calls the way we treat immigrants a national disgrace". It was a radio interview given by Brian Lehrer interviewing Robert Morgenthau, a district attorney in NY for 35 years. The blogger includes dialogue between the 2 men that accentuates the ideas posed by the website. It plays on emotions by showing the emotion of a man who is directly associated with immigrant rights. The following quote was high lighted by the writer. "Robert Morgenthau: I think, the way we treat immigrants is a national disgrace and I’m ashamed of what we do. I think anybody who’s here in the United States, legal or illegal, is entitled to the full protection of the law and they’re not getting that." I felt the blog was a bit lacking, from a 25 minute interview the writer chose information from only a small portion of the interview. In contrast however, the writer did a good job showing what their intent was, the view they wanted the reader to see. The writer uses the fact that Morgenthau is educated and involved in law to push the point that people should listen to what he says and take it to heart. This excludes any idea that there are others who do not share his view who are also educated and involved in law. The writer ended the blog with this phrase, "When those fully immersed in the legal system speak out on the injustice of immigration law, we need to pay attention."
Overall I really liked the website as a whole. It was easy to navigate, interactive, and most of all, it gives its visitors information on how to get involved in supporting immigrants rights and fairness, and help elliminate racial profiling, and racism.
An article that I found in the Los Angeles Times talks about the AgJOBS bill and the changes made by Obama in the last weeks regarding migrant workers and the H-2A program and its effects on migrant workers and agricultural business. Firstly, the writer sounds very leftist by making snide comments about the GOP and blaming Bush for the problems faced by migrant workers. He writes, "Democrats like it too. That just leaves the usual suspects -- GOP legislators who apparently are disconnected from the realities of farming in America. It's a shame." He talks about the AgJOBS bill and its benefits but does not touch on what some have said to be problems, he puts it in a light that it is a perfect bill with no problems. He makes it sound as if both migrant workers and agbusiness are unanimously in support of the bill, which is not the case. He uses statistics that do nothing more than add hype to his argument, "If the United Farm Workers and employers in agribusiness -- wary opponents on 99 out of 100 issues -- can negotiate a compromise, Congress should be able to do the same."
The last website I want to talk about is called ImmigrationProf Blog, a member of the Law Professors Blogs Network. It is an excellent source of information on immigration issues, I found a lot of useful information on this site. Its setup looks very academic, not a lot of flair or bells and whistles but easy to read and navigate through. On the right side of the screen it lists the blogs contributors and their credentials along with their profile and contact info. On the left side it gives lists of archives to easily access past posts. The blog I followed was a plea to ask Congress and the President to Enact Health Care Reform that Includes Immigrants from the National Immigration Law Center.It gives a description of the health care reform bill and how it excludes immigrants from obtaining any sort of health care. Although it comes off as an emotional subject, it does not bombard you with emotional jargon to pull you in. It includes the basic facts about the bill, who to contact, and by what time. It does not contain much in the way of personal opinion, it states facts about the health care bill and its effects on immigrants. It does not give lengthy descriptions, it gives easy to read summaries. The last sentence is the most opinion expressed, "Everyone needs health care to achieve the American Dream. Our political leaders need to ensure immigrants have the same opportunities to reach that dream." I feel it has the capacity to appeal to those they are trying to reach. It is stated they are asking progressive leaders to contact the president and congress, and make it clear who should be the one to contact them and why.
Unit 2 Discourse Analysis
Gutierrez, Sergio. focus west Loas americanosPersonal Interview. Focus West. 26 Feb 2011. http://www.focuswest.org/latino/losamidaho.cfm
Albright, Jodeane. "Migrant farm workers are modern-day slaves." Polotics. 29jun2007. Web. 26 Feb 2011. http://www.pocatelloshops.com/new_blogs/politics/?p=3209
COHEN, AUBREY. "Hispanics came for work,Stayed to build futures." Bellingham Herald (2008): 1. Web. 26 Feb 2011. http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2007/11/13/233401/hispanics-came-for-work-stayed.html
"End Illegal Immigration." Boundary of the United States. ALIPAC, Web. 27 Feb 2011. http://www.endillegalimmigration.com/About_Us/index.shtml
Americans for legeal Immigration. ALIPAC, 27feb2011. Web. 27 Feb 2011. http://www.alipac.us/
Center For Imigration studies, Web. 27 Feb 2011. http://www.cis.org/
NumbersUSA for lower immigration levels. NumbersUSA, 2010. Web. 27 Feb 2011. http://www.numbersusa.com/content/
Milton, Katherine, and Jack Watson. "Distance Education for Mexican-American Migrant Farmworkers." Arizona state university, n.d. Web. 26 Feb 2011. http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc598geold97/Spring97/10/migrant.html
Discourse analysis can be a difficult task unless you have tools from which to draw upon. The book writing analytically has some great information and tools for this. The Toulmin model by far is my favorite, it is a basic outline of how to question the claims and warrents that a person uses in there arguments. Not only can you use it to evaluate an argument or article from some one else but you can also apply it to your own writing in order to strengthen your claims. Wysoki's writings on how to analyze web pages and other media is also useful in helping to determine if the information is valid and put together well. Wysoki's guidelines are helpful when setting up your own papers or web documents so as to make them easy to follow and aid in keep your audiences attention. I have attempted to use parts of these methods in my discourse analysis below.
Judge Sergio Gutierrez
The interview with Judge Gutierrez shows the success of an individual and how his success has inspired others within the migrant farm worker community. I feel the interview was conducted well and it asked some very specific questions concerning the difficulties Judge Gutierrez faced in his life leading up to his being appointed Judge. The interview with his wife also focuses on the difficulties children of migrant workers face in our education system and what she is doing to improve their success. A young girl Angeles Jacobo was also interviewed and she is quoted as saying "I was so impressed with him. And I said, I want to be like him. I was working in the fields and I know that I can do it because he did it. " . This interview speaks very positively towards the migrant communities and what they can accomplish through hard work and the help they receive from others.
Another article I discovered does not shed such a positive light even though it was written by a person obviously concerned with the well being of migrant workers. The blog "Migrant farm workers are modern-day slaves" (Albright) This blog post written by a news assistant for the Idaho State Journal shows just how we can over simplify a topic and let emotions overcome our search for facts. First off the article itself is very narrow minded and quite unsubstantiated using little facts to back up the claim that migrant workers are modern day slaves. It is based more on the person's opinion rather than proof. Using a term like "SLAVE" which implies that the migrant workers are property is ludicrous to say the least. The entire theme of her post however well intended, actually has an opposite effect than the one she desired based on some of the comments her blog received. "Jodeane, you see it is a vicious circle and you are most definitely running around in circles."(Anonymous post) Very few people will take a blog post like hers seriously especially when no credibility was established and when the author also misuses old sayings. "The biblical warning that you sow what you reap" (Albright) which is actually stated "You reap what you sow".
There are obvious differences between the two articles and there influences, even though they are posted by entities on the same side of the coin if you will. The most obvious is how things are perceived by people. The first article shows a very positive setting while the second even though it was meant to be helpful and bring some awareness to a problem it has the effect of being discarded and not taken seriously because of its emotional focus and lack of credibility of the author.
The third article I'm looking at shows a long history of Hispanic workers migrating to areas of the northwest. Around the time of world war I Hispanic farmers and farm workers were hired to supply sugar beets to the factories but this was only the beginning (Cohen). They were also later contacted to work the railroads from Seattle to Bellingham, the latter of which has seen a steady growth of its Hispanic community over the last few years. The sense of community and familiar like surroundings (Cohen) are a large reason why these formerly migrant workers have settled down and began working in other jobs aside from farm work. Some have started restaurants and work in "less visible jobs" (Cohen). The success of the community I'm sure has an impact on the successes of the individuals as well. It is now a place where they can feel a part of something and have friends and family to turn to for aid when it is needed. In a lot of areas migrant workers do not have this type of environment to help them. Without the benefits of a community such as the one in Bellingham most migrant workers find themselves at an extreme disadvantage. This article does a good job of staying somewhat unbiased while showing a positive outlook on a difficult topic.
The number of web sites devoted to immigration either for or against it is mind blowing to say the least. I've gathered a few examples here for this analysis. Websites like (NumberUSA and ALIPAC) are set up and designed with the purpose of "Educating the public" as well as urging people to take action to stop illegal immigration. I will mainly focus on whether or not they do a good job focusing their websites goals and organizing there information. First (NumnbersUSA) is set up in an easy to scan format showing links to news, blogs etc… it is very easy to follow and shows a lot of current topics concerning immigration, the up to date topics lends a lot to the pages credibility. (ALIPAC) on the other hand is a very busy looking site that is not as easy to scan their choice of fonts and bold outlines as well as their un-clear links in the margin do not make for easy access to information you might be seeking, to be honest the page hurts my eyes when I try and scan thru the text to seek key information. The (Center for Immigration studies) webpage is laid out very similar to (NumbersUSA) and has quick links to the most read topics as well as to their database of information and statistics. (Boundary of the United States) is an (ALIPAC) sponsored webpage that suffers from not being updated since 2009 degrading some of its credibility by not staying up to date with current topics. It however has a better design than the actual (ALIPAC) webpage. The very concise list of links on the left hand side allows for easy scanning and selection of information. The main body of the page also has imbedded links within the text for easy reference while reading through the information.
The task of researching and gathering current, factual and credible information on migrant farm workers and illegal immigrants to say the least is a difficult task. There are literally hundreds of websites speaking for "this" and against "that" and many have strong political views to one side or the other. Having spent hours going through the information out there I find myself no closer to any real viewpoint one way or the other. One thing however that is very obvious is that the matter of immigration legal or illegal is a growing issue that will have dire effects on our country if some solution is not found.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Discourse Analysis write-up: Meeting the Mandates of IDEA 97: Minority Overrepresentation and School Discipline
"Minority Disproportionality, Safe & Responsive Schools Project, Indiana Education Policy Center." Indiana University. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. http://www.indiana.edu/~safeschl/minor.html>.
The article Minority Disproportionality is a collection of reports addressing the overrepresentation of minority groups in special education programs nationwide. The introduction of this article lays the ground work and background knowledge for the reader to follow the article and continue on with each report that follows. The author did a good job at keeping the audience interested and reading flowing through the page. Each section of the web page is broken apart by a line and then followed by a bold faced heading which helps the reader to jump to the most important section of the article for their needs. Under each of the bold faced headings is a brief description of the report which is available for download from a link below.
I believe that the author does a very good job of addressing the main concerns of disproportionality in minority groups and what current measures are used. The author then counters this with what they are currently doing to aid in the correction and adaptation of new standards and curriculum. I feel that the author, like in my last write-up, again is speaking to the professional educator. With a better understanding of the websites background it is easy to address who the author is speaking to. This website is ran by the University of Indiana, to promote and help the development of “Safe and Responsive” schools to aid in identifying successful programs and changing ones that are not currently working.
The remaining article is written with authority and does a good job at siting sources used to draw into the authors arguments. However I was disappointed to find that the links to the works sited where broken and I wasn't able to find out what specific sources where used.
Idaho. Idaho Farm Labor. , 2010. Web. 22 Feb 2011. <http://lmi.idaho.gov/EmploymentUnemployment/FarmLabor.aspx>.
Discourse analysis of a web page (wysocki)
This is a website from the state of Idaho outlining the current information one would need if they were looking at migrant and agricultural work within the state of Idaho. The text is very simple and easy to read and concise. The Font used for IDAHO catches the eye and hints at mountains with the shape of the text. Additionally the background picture of a pristine mountain lake is very pleasing yet it does not take the eye away from the information you might be seeking. The transition of the page is very well done it is easy to scan and it is very obvious what a clickable link is and what isn't. From this page a person can navigate to a wealth of information about Idaho's current crop schedules, the current range of wages, current and estimated number of farm workers broken down by county. There is also links to United States agriculture sites and average wages.
Some of the links also contain a drop down menu which is very helpful in reducing clutter that might make it difficult for a person wanting to quickly scan for a specific area to navigate to. The main body of the page is very brief giving a quick overview of what a person can find with just a few clicks of the mouse. A very eye catching link in the shape of a page showing the current crop activity list is well placed. I would imagine this would be one of the first links a person looking for information on Idaho's crops would click. All in all a well designed web page with a lot of beneficial links placed in an easy to follow format. Additional links on the top right of the page show that you can follow along on twitter and face book and there is also a link to buy Idaho a nonprofit organization that promotes Idaho business. Every one of the links works so I would assume they update the site regularly adding to the credibility of the information. The colors used and the text make it a very pleasant yet professional page as one would expect from a government website. I found the information from the various links to be helpful as well and will defiantly refer to this website while I continue my research into migrant farm workers and the HEP program.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Rayfield, Jillian. ‘Colbert Testifies on AgJOBS Bill: ‘Like most Members of Congress, I havn’t Read It’ (videos). Website, tpmdc.talkijngpointsmemo.com. Web 2/21/2011. This article is a commentary on two videos of the Colbert Report where he was talking on his experience with the United Farm Workers “Take Our Jobs” campaign. Stephen Colbert spends a day as a farm worker on a New York farm and interviews Zoe Lofgren a chairwoman on the House Subcommittee on Immigration. The other video, he testifies in front of a congressional hearing on immigration to share his experience on the farm and to be a spokesperson for migrant farm workers. I will focus more on the videos themselves opposed to the commentary left by the writer of the article. The first video is his five minutes in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security. In the beginning of his five-minute statement he says, “I am happy to use my celebrity to draw attention to this complicated issue.” Throughout the statement, he made many satirical and bizarre comments, but never really addressed the issue. If his goal was to draw attention to the issue, I think he failed; he did a better job distracting from the issues. I know he is a reporter, his job is to make fun of politics while still bringing them to the attention of the public and that is what draws people to his show, but there is a line between educating while being funny and just being comedic. Another example is when he was interviewing Congresswoman Zoe Lungren, it was an interview to supposedly talk about the issue of workers’ rights and what they face working on farms but she could not get a word in edgewise. He continuously interrupted her, after he asked her a question and she began to answer with a real response he would interject with a joke. It was a missed opportunity to hear from an expert on the issue. If his real goal is to educate the public on what is happening, he needs to allow for the opportunity. Throughout his testimony, he seemed to be playing the right side of the fence, even though he was there on behalf of the United Farm Workers of America. He stated, “We are far too dependent on immigrant farm workers. We do not want immigrants doing this labor. I agree with Congressman King, we must secure our borders.” On the other hand he was giving his account of working on a farm all day, "I have to say," Colbert said, "and I do mean this sincerely. Please don't make me do this again. It is really really hard." He continued: "You have to spend all day bending over. It turns out, and I did not know this, most soil is at ground level. If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we make the earth waist-high?" And then when Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) asked Colbert why he picked this cause, he became more earnest: “I like talking about people who don't have any power. This seems like, one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work, but don't have any rights as a result. And yet we still invite them to come here, and at the same time we ask them to leave. That seems like an interesting contradiction to me.” It is as if through his commentary he was trying to get the acceptance from both sides of the issue. Overall, I think it is helpful for someone in his position to bring attention to the issues we as the general public hear very little about. I would like to see more facts on these issues given, if the goal is to bring awareness, give us more facts. The jokes can be funny, but more facts please.
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