Reflective Letter

This unit has made a huge impact on me. I began not knowing how to create a website and without having alot of technical knowledge, this has also been a ch allege for me. My group members are a huge help when I have a question, thank you all for your help, I appreciate it. I also had a slow start with my service learning agency, as they sent my email regarding start time somewhere else apparently.

When I first entered this class, I knew about Head Start, But not all of the miscellaneous ins and outs of the program. As you can see in my website, http://play-basedlearning.weebly.com/, extensive research has enabled me to better understand Head Start and how they strive to meet today's and tomorrow's needs. Head Start continues to be the best they can be and always trying to better themselves. With continued budget concerns and many more poor than we have seen in many of our lifetimes, Head Start may start to experience problems serving everyone.

I have conducted research on my topic, play learning, completed the majority of my service learning and enjoyed it, and created a website. Also, I will continue with my service learning beyond the required 15 hours required, by this class. I enjoy working with the children at Head Start. I feel good each time I walk out to my car after finishing another week with Head Start, that I have done something for other people and helped them in someway. It is a self-gratifying feeling while helping other people. In the future I will volunteer in someway to give my time to my community, because of the things that I have learned in my English 102 class at Boise State University.

Since starting my service learning, I have learned the way that the individual teachers handle the classroom and implemented this when I work with the Head Start children. The teachers are incredible, so thoughtful and caring, and always positive. The children almost always do as they are asked. While at Head Start, I have noticed a lot of activity but everyone has a job to do and the children take this very seriously. Yes, they are very young still, but each one can serve themselves at lunch time and pour their own drink mostly without spilling. If there is a spill the child must clean it. And, everyone helps at clean up time. There are no favorites with these children they are all treated equally.

There is alot of play learning being done. Each child gets to choose from a list of activities, then they all get busy learning. The children do not realize they are learning, but they are. Last Wednesday, I was helping some boys build gears. They learned what worked, what didn't work and why. Each one was having fun and helping each other. When one child was needing help often times another child was right there to help him. This was absolutely wonderful to see, the children are so thoughtful and caring with each other.

Sometime during the middle of my research, I was considering changing the focus of my topic. My research became scattered and I started to loose focus and lost sight of the end result. This in turn steered me back to my original focus play-learning. Play-learning is very fascinating because this is the way nature had intended the young to learn. It is all about trial and error in a safe environment and around safe nurturers. Young from the time they can move around begin to play, and learn while playing. Only one of my sources disagreed slightly with play-learning. This source said it was difficult for children who started preschool in a play-learning environment to transition to a traditional setting. Therefore, insisted a transition time period is needed. All other studies have so far indicated that play-learning for all children is best for learning, well-being and health.

Many children must sit for up to six hours a day at school. Then they go home and sit in front of a computer or television set all evening. This is why I came back to the topic play-learning, it is very important for children to have play-learning as part of their curriculum in the early years.

reflective letter

At the beginning of this unit I was beginning to work very well with having a conversation with the sources on which my topic was on. I began to really think about what I was researching into, and found that I was asking questions and wanted to branch out and dig in deeper to my research on early child education programs to low-income families. I ended up running into a bit of a snag, however. I came to a point where I felt all the sources I was reading were conveying the same message. They seemed to agree on their position to early child education programming. There wasn’t a lot of new information I felt I could bring to the table, or any bright new thoughts I could express in my website.

Reading Writing Analytically helped move me to my new thesis. In chapter eight it discussed 1 on 10 and 10 on 1. It made me really delve into thought about how a thesis is supported by many ideas and different ideas. Then chapter seven discusses various types of evidence, and it made the wheels in my mind turn. Evidence is used in multitudes and can be used to support different ideas. This led me to take an opposite stance on my topic. Instead of arguing that need for early child education programs by specifically focusing on the parent’s role, I argued that there is not such a great need for these programs as advertised. It made me have to really think about how to support my topic by providing back up. It was a little tricky to propose my argument, because there were times I felt I was supporting not having these programs at all- which was not the point of my website.

Actually forming my website and delivering my argument in a way I felt would be accurately understood by my audience was difficult for me. I went back and forth so many times on how to break up my argument into different tabs. And Writing in the Late Age of Print actually complicated my process of constructing my website. When I read the article I found it extremely interesting. The fact that the shape of a letter could communicate so much with just a twist of the end really blew my mind. I wanted to choose the best font that would help me project a serious but fun tone with my website. However, I ran into many difficulties trying to set it up. In the end it was not quite what I wanted, but I made it work.

Choosing the page design was a whole other playing field. Color and structure were two huge aspect I could not decide on. I wanted a light background, but I wanted some sort of bright color to intrigue my readers. Writing for a Web Audience really made me think about what aesthetic aspects influence readers to like your page and really take focus on your issues. A standard lay out may bore them, but an outrageous, extemporaneous one may frighten them away. Also, the use of media and web art is very important, and again, I was worried about appeasing my audience as I learned to do in this article.

Overall I learned great amounts about how the ways you present the content of your argument can turn your audience on or off to your information. The context display your evidence has great effects on if experts or high school students will most adhere to what you are saying.

Directed Unit Two Posts

When I was volunteering at Head Start I had a chance chit-chat with the instructors in the classroom. In the beginning of my volunteering work I mainly was focused mainly on researching on  childhood development.  From there I was thinking of doing my research question on how Head Start helps kids develop social skills. One day I noticed one of the instructors writing down observations of  the kids. Curious, I asked what was the benefits of these observations. One of the instructors told me that it was an observations of the child's behavior over time. They do that to help them determine the normal behavior for the child.  Then they compare that to the normal behavior of a typical child of that age. Intrigued, I tried to research more information about childhood development and some possible controversies related to Head Start. I talked to the other group members about the observations that they do in Head Start. One of my group members said that when they were younger like in kindergarten, their teachers would give report cards to their parents based on the teacher's observations. Although I was find some information, I wasn't able to find any good information for a research question.

 

From there, I decided to look to into where Head Start gets it's funding from and how the economy with the budget cuts is affecting them. Well funding Head Start is given mainly by the Federal government I found out.

And although I was able to find some video's  like this one.

But   unfortunately I wasn't able to find enough research material to formulate a good research question. 

So from there I did more in depth research and found that there's a debate, a conversation about how influential the program is. And also how long do  they influence kids?  One day when I was volunteering  I was talking to one of the instructors about any disagreements or discussions that people are having about Head Start.  My position was that Head Start does have a positive influence but to how long did it last I was unsure.  Unfortunately, the instructor didn't know anything about that.  But I did find out that the instructor herself was a former head start child when she was younger. Head Start does have an long lasting impact on children, as an example one of the instructors herself was influence by the program. It got me thinking that definitely this program  does make a difference on children lives.

Reflection

As I ponder on where I was, and how far I have come, in the recent past, I must also look toward the future. The next project will be to produce a video about our service partner, Head Start. I think about all the things that I will learn in the production of this video. The Head Start group is a very talented group, Alberto and Josh are going to be vital in the production of the video as they already have exceptional talents. I am not sure how I will fit in, somewhere I am positive. I feel that now that I am working with the others, I have a higher responsibility to ensure that my work is done earlier, rather than at the last minute, as I have done in the past. Also, my dedication to my fellow group members extends to the quality of work that we produce together to be of a higher standard, because it is a reflection on us all. I am very excited to see how this video will turn out.

Reflection

When I first entered this classroom, I had some anxieties about creating a website, okay alot. Since then, I have come a long way, I have conducted research on my topic, play learning, completed the majority of my service learning and enjoyed it, and created a website without too much discomfort. Most of the anxiety was the fear of doing something new. Now I feel I can do almost anything. In the future, I will be more willing to attempt things that seem impossible. Also, I will continue with my service learning beyond the required 15 hours required, by this class. I enjoy working with the children at Head Start. I feel good each time I walk out to my car after finishing another week with Head Start, that I have done something for other people and helped them in someway. It is a self-gratifying feeling while helping other people. In the future I will volunteer in someway to give my time to my community, because of the things that I have learned in my English 102 class at Boise State University.

How Far I Have Come

When I first entered this class, I knew about Head Start, But not all of the miscellaneous ins and outs of the program. As you can see in my website, http://play-basedlearning.weebly.com/, extensive research has enabled me to better understand Head Start and how they strive to meet today's and tomorrow's needs. Head Start continues to be the best they can be and always trying to better themselves. With continued budget concerns and many more poor than we have seen in many of our lifetimes, Head Start may start to experience problems serving everyone.

Josh's website and Reflective Letter

Thinking back to my past experiences with writing in this class, I have found that I have gained some preconceived notions about how this second unit was going to turn out. As the first unit of this English class ended, I learned to voice my opinion and have intelligent conversations with my reader as well as the source. From this I had perceived that I had gained enough experience in writing to conquer any paper or English project that came my way. Thinking back, this type of reasoning might be why Confucius had said, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” As I have been thinking about these methods that Confucius lays out, it occurs to me that, yes, I can write as I always have (immitate), but this may become stale to either myself or the reader. Continuing to write as I always have may rise people to challenge my writing style with suggestions of how I can improve (experience); thus I can either acknowledge that I could improve, or stay at my current level. That brings me to the third point of his quote; “reflecting” on my writing style and what others have thought about my writing has increased my potential to continue to improve and become a more appealing writer. With this said, looking back on the second unit and the work that I've achomplished, I have found many areas on which I can improve as well as many ways I feel I'm a great writer.

Since the start of unit two, I thought that I had quite the grasp on writing. I recieved comments on my writing such as “Nicely done” and “Amazing work!” These comments were great to hear, but as I look back, I became very complacent in feeling the need to further my abilities in writing. I would just regurgitate similar writings to what I had written previously and turn that in. As time went on, I realized I wasn't writing to my audience anymore. I had reverted back to just spitting out the facts and not voicing my oppinion. I wasn't thinking about the source that I had found, I was thinking about just posting a paper and calling it in. Going through and reading all my previous entries, I had found that my discourse analysis paper and entries, along with my first two annotated bibliography entries, were well suited for a conversation and discussion between the reader, author of the source, and myself. My writings after that, however, were more for the credit instead of provoking thought. With my last blog entry, the website proposal, I recieved the comment, “So, it sounds like you're writing toward parents that are considering enrollment in Head Start, for the purpose of convincing them that this program is in fact a good thing? I wonder if this population, specifically, has any resistance toward this type of education that you may need to address?” I had thought a little about what I wanted my readers to take away from my website, but I didn't think about how I was going to help them contemplate it. As with last unit, I have reflected on what I can improve and how to apply it. Although I may have had a weaker voice in my writings as of late, I have increased the credibility of my sources.

When I started this class, I was using sources like Wikipedia and websites. As time went on, I began to find online articles and youtube videos to help further prove my argument. I had even used a book to help cite specific points. About half way through unit two, however, I decided to step up to bat by including more books and academic articles. It was in class that I had found out about the online database from the BSU library that was chalk full of articles. This, combined with the library itself, has been a huge help in solidifying my points about Head Start and furthering my resources. I had found many books and articles that i do not believe I would have found if I hadn't stretched myself in trying to find more creditable sources. I had recieved comments such as, “I'm impressed by the quality of your research, and your write-up.” and “I'm impressed by the substantial quality of the sources you found, especially as you tackled potentially one of the most difficult questions surrounding Head Start-- that of its' effectivity. Your exploratory research in many ways confirms my own suspicion: that head-start can give a leg-up to children coming from marginalized backgrounds.” I feel that if I can convince other classmates, who are researching about the same topic, to take my side, I might be able to help all my readers to as well. With reflecting on past experiences in this class (ie my research and papers) along with comments from my teacher and classmates, I feel that I have once again enhanced my writing and thinking abilities as a writer.

As I have been improving in this class, I have carried everything I have learned into this website that I have created. I have found that talking to my audience instead of spitting facts has help in being able to catch my audience's attention. I have found that creating a website is in fact like writing an essay. I still need to talk to an audience and obtain their interest in order to persuade them to see my side of the arguement. This I have learned to do throughout this english class. At first I didn't think that trying to gain followers would be all that important for creating a website, but I have come to realize that in order to make a good arguement, you need to speak to a certain audience and have them agree with you.

I continue to keep the statement that this class has not only enhanced my writing abilities, but has also taught me different ways to think and to convey my messege. I no longer feel that I am a master at writing; I no longer think that every one of my papers is going to be brilliant and exhilerating to read; but I do feel more confident in my abilities to research and provide a reader with a conversational argument between me, another author, and themselves. I feel that my whole perception of writing has enhanced; as Socrates had said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

WEBSITE

Riley's Website and Reflective Letter

This unit was a little more difficult for me than the last one, and to be honest it was my own fault. I had an epiphany half way through and decided I would change my topic. I quickly went from having folders and folders of research to having none. I would not call this a mistake though. By making this decision I was able not only to research online but through my agency as well. When I switched my topic to nutrition I spent a large amount of time talking to kitchen staff and teachers about nutrition and where to look for more information. From here I found a lot of amazing sources that really gave some interesting angles to my research. Although very few of these sources made it into my website they enriched my research by influencing my perspective and understanding of childhood nutrition. I found that research can go faster and be more productive if you talk to people interested in the topic. When Professor Brandstad suggested I look into Jamie Oliver for example I was able to gain an amazing insight into my topic. The TED video I posted on my second reflective entry was in large part the inspiration for a lot of my website even though I do not cite it once in my text.

I also enjoyed seeing what a huge influence Head Start nutrition plans had on the kids. Every day I am there they are introduced to new foods. They are never forced to try it but sooner or later they give in to the pressure of their peers. Often this results in a new favorite food. There is also a family like element to meal time. Besides the fact that parents are usually present kids find sanctuary in each other’s company. It is a time for them to be heard. Meals can last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. It can at times be overwhelming for the adults as they are inundated by questions and comments from every direction but they are more than happy to be there. It is a great environment for me to observe and learn more about the kids and how they see nutrition. Surprisingly they understand quite a bit about it. Often times I will catch them correcting each other on the names of food, or giving each other friendly reminders to use their manners.

Choosing a topic was honestly my greatest challenge in this unit. As it is every time I do a research project. When I finally find the topic I want to write my paper on I am on my last legs and rushing to get my paper done in time. I have a hard time finding it in me to write about just any topic. It has to be something I am passionate and curious about myself. This almost always leads me to under researched topics and I find myself struggling for information. I was lucky this time to find something broad enough that also fascinated me. Once again though, it was discovered far too close to the deadline for comfort. I feel like I could have done so much more, especially with my text. I wasn’t able to find any contradicting sources, or become familiar enough with the political aspects. There are tons of policies and political debates over childhood nutrition but I felt uncomfortable adding them to my website without understanding them in depth. My current understanding of them is blurry. Since the website is going to be public, to some extent, I feel it is best if I don’t take the chance of misunderstanding or misinterpreting certain laws.

The website was the best part of the unit. I loved manipulating the text and images in a way that would capture my reader. I have always loved design. My biggest struggle as far as organization and images go was my text. I had a hard time picking a font, size, and color, as well as a way to organize it on the page. In my full draft the text was a little much and all over the page. It took away from the overall visual appeal instead of adding to it as it should have. My group had several good suggestions for me that really helped me improve my site. First of all they found that my text color was changing throughout the site and also that it looked better if I just used black for my text. They also suggested that I use titles to help even out the text. All of these suggestions were great.

I am really excited about this website. I feel as if it is a success. There are several areas where more information could be a huge benefit but other than that I feel it works well for its purpose. If nothing else I learned a lot about my own particular researching style, and ways to expand and gain a deeper meaning of the material. Just reading the text only gives you an overlying idea of the subject. To truly understand it you have to experience and discuss it with others who are as passionate about it as you are.


Website!!!

Riley Reflective Blog Entry #2

I found this incredible TED Talk and thought it would be a great addition to my research. Jamie Oliver in this video talks about the problems our diets pose in today’s society. The fact that shocked me the most is that food related disease is the greatest killer in the United States. We have all these shows about murder and homicides while the greatest murder is the little bit of suicide each of us commit with our eating habits every day. He, like me, also believes that the solution to this problem lies with our children and how we encourage them to eat. I mentioned early how many of the kids at Head Start even didn’t know what food was what. How one of the kids didn’t know the difference between butter and mayonnaise. He too brought up that topic and how important it is to teach kids what they are eating. The facts he presented on how much sugar is in foods we think are healthy is incredible! I was wary at first about doing this topic because I didn’t feel like it was an influential important topic. After seeing this video I realize how wrong I was. I really feel justified in choosing this topic now. Great video.

Alberto's Final Website Prosposal

1)       I am expecting my audience to be low income parents with children between the ages 3-5 years old.  Critics of Head Start, seeing the program as not as beneficial for low income children in the long run. And anyone else interested in the program. I’m expecting the education of my audience to be pretty dynamic from parents with only a high school education to people with a college education researching more about the program. Some of the bias I’m am expecting of my audience is that they are either pro-children, meaning protective of  early childhood education, or they critical of Head Start already meaning they don’t see Head Start as having a long term benefit on a child’s education.

2)      The background information of my audience is going to range. First off, they are probably are going to have heard about Head Start in some way. As to how much do they know about the program and some of the discussions within the program? It’s going to range. I’ll definitely cover the basic’s such what is Head Start, what things does the program do for the child, and etc. I’ll also be addressing some of concerns about whether or not this program has a lasting effect in terms of a child’s education.

3)      The orientation of my audience is probably going to be either pro-children’s education or critical of early childhood education.  I envision them to be interested in my topic either because they want to put their child in Head Start or they disagree with some of benefits of the program. When talking about resistant readers, I’m expecting the majority of my audience to be mainly accepting of what I have to say. For those who are not, there is at least some common ground that I talk about.

4)      The gist of the conversations of my sources have been having is how much of impact in the long run does Head Start really have.  There is agreement that Head Start has measureable, impact on a child’s education from Kindergarten to 1^st grade. As to whether that impact last through their later education that is another story. One side touts yes, Head Start will affect children up throughout their lives, and the other side touts no,  the Head Start children after 1^st grade are no different from the rest of the other children. The long last impact shouldn’t be made.

5)      My website is only as effective as it looks. I’m not saying lets disregard the  content, but looking professional and having a good flow of pictures, videos, and color makes people be more receptive to what you are saying. Once I have that down, I can work on my content.  How will I convince them to listen to me? Well incorporation of good pictures, videos, and good context. I’ll address their concerns, and explain to them my reasoning.

6)      The view point that I want to put forward this that Head Start is great program, if you’re someone who is thinking of  enrolling your child, you can’t go wrong with Head Start. In terms of the opposition, Head Start is an constantly improving program, it’s not perfect like any other program but it does have the potential to be what it is claiming to be. I make statement because from what I have found both sides agree that once kids leave head start, they have some of advantage over non-head student in the 1^st or 2^nd years leaving the program.

Josh's Website Proposal

1. For my website, I am writing to the men and women who want to know more about Head Start. I am focusing on those who want to know if Head Start is the right program for their children to attend. Many people like to research schools and programs before sending their children to one; that's who my audience is, those parents who want more information about this program. I want to give parents a perspective and angle that lays out the facts and might help them to make a good decision for their kids. My other audience members may include those college students who, like myself, are studying Head Start.

2. Since I am creating this website mainly for parents of young children or college age students, they will be somewhat educated and have an idea about the program already. They may not know much about it, but they have at least heard about Head Start and want to learn more. I will provide my audience with the history of where, why and how. I will also show the evolution and implementations that have since happened. I will then give information and opinions from those who are in the Head Start program or who have studied it, along with my own experience.

3. Since I am creating this for parents and college students, I would like to believe that they will be orientated and at least interested in this topic. I would assume that since it is a child day care school that those who will be looking at my web page will more than likely want to know more in a positive way. I think that my audience will view my information as positive rather than the alternative. Since most people in this world want children to succeed in life, I am writing toward a non bias audience along with an audience that would agree with me. I don't think that there are too many people that disagree with my sort of thinking about Head Start.

4. The conversations that have risen in my research have all been over whether of not Head Start should continue. The majority of the conversations have wanted to keep it implemented and even increase the funding. There have been a very, very select few that have wanted to get rid of the program. As I continue writing to my audience, I will show both sides of the spectrum and try to not sway too heavily to one side (if that's possible with education and children). I will give my opinions, but express that those are mine and try not to be too bias.

5. I think that everyone, old and young, loves pictures. The saying, “A picture is worth 1000 words” is very true, especially with children. I will talk more about the children and what their education could mean to us in the future. Not only that, but also the state in which most of these children live. Pictures, videos, and even quotes from/of children I think will capture peoples attention more than just a bunch of writing.

6. I will to show that Head Start not only advances children in education, but also increases their social and emotional skills to prepare them for the future. I will show that Head Start is vital for low income families for their children to receive the education they need to succeed in life. I plan to do this by laying out the facts and providing statistical information about the progress and success of this program. I have come to find out, through my research, that the Head Start program gives a leg up for those who might not have been able to go to a regular school. I have found that this program really does keep kids from living on the streets. Through studies that I have researched, I have found that children form Head Start gain the social, emotional, and knowledge they need to succeed and not be pushed aside or drop out.

Amanda's Website Proposal

1) 1) The audience for my paper would include parents. More particularly, however, parents with children who are below kindergarten age. They can currently have children they wish to possibly enroll in an early-child education program, or younger children they are planning to enroll in the future. Either they, these individuals would wish to gain information about programs to enroll their child into.

2) 2) These parents my website would greatly focus towards includes individuals that may bring home a low-income, may not have a college or even high school education, and may not speak English as their first language. These people would have obstacles that may prevent them from enrolling their children in an early-education program already. These parents may already have learned about potential early-child education programs they wish to enroll their child in, but some may not. Therefore I will have to provide some information regarding: what these type of programs endeavor to foster- i.e. child education in the classroom, child education in a social aspect, and what they hope the child will learn while in the program; the purpose(s) and goal(s) their program aspires to attain- the accomplishments they claim their programs will encompass; and I will most likely want to include statistics regarding how well and how often these early-child education programs complete these conditions.

3) 3)My audience may be directed to investigate my topic because they want to unsure the best for their children, and hope to give opportunities to their children. I would have audiences that would be interested in my topic of concern. These individuals, however, may not necessarily agree with my stance on my topic. Overall, individuals visiting my site are there to gain knowledge about early-education programs in order to decide if these programs are what is needed for their child, and if they- as parents- want and need to enroll them.

4) 4) The gist of conversation surrounding my topic is that many people believe early-education programs help aid the growth and development of a child. This applies to educational areas and other areas outside of the classroom. Many people say that these programs need to be implemented as early as possible and that without them children of low-income are far less likely to succeed. Many programs are being pushed to be put into action because their supporters claim they are needed in order for the children’s’ success they will provide services to. However, although little is discussed about the opposite side of this conversation- that these programs are not needed and are unnecessary, this is a part of the conversation that needs to be better represented and explored. Some sources I have investigated affirm that these programs are not as vital as some individuals and groups make them out to be. The basic, basic skills needed to enter kindergarten are so few and elementary that most children learn these elements in their daily life, without the need for an early-child education program.

5) 5) In order to capture my audience, I will need to produce a very simple and well stated title. I may be able to get a good amount of viewers if I do this correctly. Because I will be exploring the alternative side to the majority, I may receive attention just because my stance is contrary to the majority they continually hear and read. Once I have my audience at my website I need to be able to clearly express my viewpoint with professionalism that will not deter my readers initially. The support I provide for my viewpoint must be able to be clearly recognized, or readers may get frustrated, bored, and tired of looking and leave before understanding where I am coming from.

6) 6) The viewpoint I will be putting forward into the conversation is that early-child education programs that pre-date kindergarten are not a necessity for the development and education of a child. I came to make this claim because of a few reasons. It is not because I think these programs are not operating properly. Many of these programs are established on the grounds that they are providing opportunities to children from low-income that are essential to the children’s proper development. This sounds like an unarguable truth, one I also agreed upon. However, these programs and not a make or break deal for a child. If a child does not enroll in these programs, they are not going to automatically fail once they enter kindergarten. Furthermore, the skills needed for a child to enter kindergarten are few and simplistic. Kindergarten, and the entire school system, is established to provide a child the tools needed to learn. Early-child education programs to not provide anything extra that public education does not. I feel that because their purpose is one to be agreed upon, their actual need in the community is inflated.

Many individuals in the government are pushing for funding to establish and expand more of these programs. However noble these programs are, they are nothing more than an exemplified daycare. I have had first hand experience at a few different daycares, private and well established, and established early-childcare education programs. They all were providing the same skills and necessities. Each facility provided individuals to watch the children and carry out tasks that would direct the children’s interests. The early-education did not acchomplish some great feat that the others did not. They just receive more publicity and focus than other establishments do. If you take a step back, early-education programs are just a chain of established child care facilities. They are like the Dutch Bros of child care facilities. (not starbucks because they more often claim to be better than other coffee establishments.)

Web Site Proposal

1) People who is interested in Head Start and their teaching styles are the proposed audience for my website. Parents and family members that wish to read about what their children are learning in school. Prospective family members that wish their children to attend Head Start. Other preschool teachers that want to change or alter their teaching style to be similar to Head Start's teaching style. Also, concerned citizens that are interested in where their tax dollars are going.

2) People in my audience will mostly already know about Head Start. Most people will already know something about the curriculum that Head Start offers to their students. Some background information and explanation will be needed because some of the audience will only have a high school diploma or possibly less. I will be using wording that adults that have a high school diploma will be able to understand.

3) Most people will be interested in the topic of my research question. I expect them on the most part to be agreeable with only a few that disagree. If people find my Internet site it will because they are interested in the subject to have found it on a search.

4) Most of my sources agree that children learn best during play-based learning. So far, there is only one source that argues that children have a hard time adapting from play-based learning to traditional learning. This source has a valid point that children may need to be taught both ways or transition them slowly in between preschool and first grade to more traditional learning.

5) I intend to look at all sides of the argument and coming up with points from all angles. My conclusion may not side with any particular source.

6) I will put my own viewpoint forward, stating the sources viewpoints. My contribution in the conversation will come as I have information to offer to the conversation

Riley's Intended Audience Worksheet Final Draft

1. My intended readers are going to be early education teachers, and kitchen staff. They are the ones I feel I should be gearing my website to. However I also think that principals and parents of young children have something to gain from this information as well.

2. I will be targeting people who probably know quite a bit about this topic. Therefore I think that background information is going to be important but not nessicarily essential. Seeing as how there really isn’t a whole lot of background information on this topic I don’t think it will hurt to include some of it order to cover all the bases. I definitely think I should spend some time explaining things like poverty, and how it affects the diet of young children.

3. I feel as if my readers will be very supportive of my topic. Heath is a common topic in today’s society and the majority of people are in support of it. However it may be a struggle to find a solution that is not costly. This could cause readers to loose interest.

4. The main gist of the argument is that children who eat a healthy diet are better able to learn and stay focused. Childhood is an essential time in brain, and bodily development. There for encouraging proper nutrition could help children to grow up to be smarter and healthier individuals. Meal times are also beneficial for building relationships with peers, family, and a connection to the world as a whole. Some may disagree with this because they believe that child hood is a time of freedom. By restricting their diets you are taking away their freedom to be a kid and try everything. There is also a definite argument out currently about whether or not kids should be forced to eat healthy food or simply encouraged.

5. I am excited about this part of the assignment. I think the colors on the site should be bright and happy with pictures of healthy foods everywhere. It should be light and airy. This means the text should for the most part be broken up into bullet points, and captions. I would also love to incorporate a section for recipes and menus. Perhaps even if possible a place for people to submit their own comments, recipes, and solutions.

6. My position will be that early education programs like Head Start should all have a time where they get together and eat. Here they should encourage proper nutrition and the teacher should serve as an example to the children. They should also include some more oriental meals and a lesson about the country where the food originated and what that place is like. It would also be very cool if they explained the actual food itself to the kids. One kid in my Head Start class doesn’t know the difference between butter and mayonnaise, or turkey and chicken. I think that they should know where their food comes from and why. Their parents should also be included in meal times and perhaps even have the opportunity to take a free class on how to give children the proper amount of nutrition on a low income budget.

Josh's Fourth Anotated Bibliography Entry

Redden, Sandra Cluett , Forness, Steven R. , Ramey, Sharon L. , Ramey, Craig T. and Brezausek, Carl M.(2003) 'Mental Health and Special Education Outcomes of Head Start Children Followed Into Elementary School', NHSA Dialog, 6: 1, 87 — 110

This article focuses on special needs cases that enter the Head Start program. It talks about the 4 major disability categories (speech-language impairment, emotional disturbance, mental disabilities, and learning disabilities) that people may face. Sandra Redden tells us that very few cases of children with disabilities that pass through the Head Start program have been recorded (before her research of course). Since the start of these studies, many new disorders have risen in children coming through Head Start. Redden states, “There are also a number of disorders with early childhood onset, such as fetal alcohol syndrome or prenatal substance abuse, that not only affect learning or cognition, but also have newly recognized behavioral sequel that are not always correctly identified in preschool settings (88).” After talking about these conditions, reddens relates that there may be many children that have not been identified with mental and health conditions. She relays that the rate of identifying these problems has decreased to about 1.1% of total school enrollment. That means that out of every child, only about 1.1% of them have mental or health problems. This may sound like a good thing, but Reddens adds to this statement by saying, “This decline has primarily been at the expense of children with mild mental retardation, resulting from legal restrictions around use of IQ tests and over-identification of children of color (89).” So we can see that there are some restrictions with helping young children with problems. After using many studies that were conducted, Reddens concludes by saying that even though there are many mental and health conditions and cases in the Head Start program, there could be many more. There needs to be a way to properly identify these children while they are young before they leave Head Start. I think that this article complies completely with my other articles. She is talking about identifying problems while in Head Start. One of my last bibliographies talked about not just letting children move ahead if they don't understand the material. This falls under the same category. I haven't ever really thought about mental and health conditions that would impair a child's learning abilities. This does help to shed some new questions and light on this subject.

Josh's reflective Blog #1

Looking back at the research and volunteer hours that I have been gearing towards Head Start, I have found many new and enlightening aspects about child education. I started out researching about the program before I volunteered. All the research had been telling me that Head Start is a good program and that it works, but I never really knew how or why. I try to think back on my own life and think about what preschool and kindergarten were like for me. Given the many years it's been since I was that age, it wasn't very successful. It wasn't until I started going to the center and interacting with the children and observing them that I found out my answers. As I watched the children interact with one another, to me they looked like very short adults. Most, if not all, were very polite and neat and organized. Their meal time was neatly kept while conversations about toys and what activities they were going to do buzzed about the air. I watched as one by one the children either asked politely for more food, or cleared their places and stacked dishes on a cart. I thought a lot about how other children who don't attend Head Start programs might enjoy their meal times. I suppose that their food might be out of a lunch box, delivered to their mouth by their hands and their shirt might be their napkin. For me, I have seen how this program has improved social skills and manners in children.

Alberto's 2nd Reflective Post

As I was working on my annotated bib's, I found more and more of discussions whether or  not Head Start has an lasting impact in terms of education, reducing crime rate and poverty. In these times since the economy isn't the greatest and money is tight, our legislatures are looking to cut/reducing programs.

I think that the Head Start program is a great program, looking at my experiences so far about the program. Those kids in the program are pretty smart.They know how write their name, they know manners, and some of  them can already read and write. I didn't learn all that stuff until kindergarten and I was struggled with that.
Those kids are a pretty smart cookie.

And so I think for my research I'm going look into more how the studies being done about Head Start and why it is difficult to analyze it's lasting effect.  I'm leaning towards pro-head start side, but when I'm researching  and writing my paper  I'll be more critical of all of my sources.

Alberto's 4th Annotated Bibliography

Fitzgerald, Hiram E, Francisco A. Villarruel, Kristine Freeark, and Norman F. Watt. The Crisis in Youth Mental Health: Critical Issues and Effective Programs. Vol. 4. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2006. Print

In this book, they talk about what the Head Start program is and it’s goals. They discuss about past studies done about the program, and the studies’ findings of the program. More importantly they interpret recently collect about the program and make their own conclusion.  In terms of my other sources, I find that this book acknowledges and address the findings of the last impact of Head Start. The book discusses how trying to collect and analyze how much of an impact does this program once the child has gone to upper level education is difficult. But the book always finds that this program has an immediate effect on children. Head Start does give adequate or above adequate pre-school education. In its conclusion, they stated that the “$6,843,114,000.00 has been well spent in this [program] … The data have spoken soberly and objectively, testifying that the program works and many of our neediest children benefit from it” (279-280).

"Child Initiated Play"

Miller, Edward, Almon, Joan. "Crisis In The Kindergarten; Why Children Need To Play At School," ERIC Education Resource Information Center, Featured Publication, March 2009. Web. March 11,2011.

The argument for "child-initiated play" reimplementation in kindergarten continues, this report shows why child-initiated play is not a waste of time. Research has shown that children excel in reading and mathematics from child-initiated play-based learning. Child-initiated play-learning develops imagination and creativity. Many young children often do not have time to play at home, as families are often too busy.

Alberto's 3rd Annotated Bibliography

Vinci, Yasmina. “Head Start Works.” nhsa.org. National Head Start Association, Web. 10, Mar. 2011.

Yasmina Vinci is the Executive Director of the National Head Start Association and in this article she is responding to the opponents of Head Start concerning a study done about its impact.  Her main argument for Head Start is that the program does work.  The Head Start side states it’s program has a lasting long effect on children while the other opposition touts it does not. One of the conclusions extracted from the impact study stated was that “[the] academic performance at the end of first grade was unable to detect any statistically significant difference between [head start children and non-head start children]”.  Basically the program does not have lasting effect.  Ms. Vinci responds to this by stating problems with the study such as “the data from the control group were totally contaminated by the time children entered school.”  She then goes on stating study itself also stated “that the Head Start children left Head Start better prepared ‘on every measure of children's preschool experiences measured in this study.’ ”

I felt that this source addressed some of the issues surround Head Start such as how much of an impact does this program has. In relation to some of other sources, there is agreement on that the program prepares children for kindergarten and etc. but how much of lasting impact there is disagreement. Some of the issues state I have with this source is that Ms. Vinci doesn’t cite sources on how this study wasn’t done properly.