I want to create a presentation for my unit 3 project targeted towards juniors and seniors in college that are making their way into the workplace. I choose a presentation as the genre because I think it is a great way to get the audience, especially young adults, to pay attention to the topic. By adding graphs and images in my presentation I hope to engage with the younger audience, making the topic more exciting and interesting to learn about. This presentation will be based on and conclude research from my unit 2 research portfolio which focused on perspective and empathy in relation to diversity and inclusion. The presentation will touch on that topic and how important it is to think of other’s perspectives and to have empathy towards people and their situations. It will also connect to how they can leave college and go into the workplace with an inclusive attitude that will help support a diverse environment. Think of it as diversity training before going into the workplace, so they can enter expecting to be in a culture that is inclusive. As more and more young people enter the workplace I find it important to have them shape the environment, this presentation would teach them that even though they will be new, their attitudes can rub off on those who have been working at a company and help open people up to new views.
Writing in a conversational tone
This issue has popped up in a few of your posts/comments on the blog, so I wanted to follow up in a more visible way. Read on for some tips on how to produce a text in a conversational (as opposed to formal/academic) tone.
It’s not easy for many of us to write in a conversational tone–you’re not imagining that. In large measure, our writing style is the product of our education, and you’ve spent a lot of years being trained to write in a formal, academic style (and perhaps chastised when you produced something other than that). Furthermore, much of our writing lives have been defined by minimum word counts, which drive us to embellish our writing so we can inflate our word totals.
Conversational writing, therefore, means cutting against our habits and conducting ourselves in ways that are counter to our training. We need to develop new habits in order to do this effectively.
So, a few words of advice
- as you try to figure out what you want to say and how to say it, talk it out–open up a voice memo or other audio recording on your phone, and pretend that you’re talking to someone about your topic. Prompt yourself with something casual like “what I’m really trying to say is….” and see what you come up with. The recording ensures you won’t lose the nuggets you come to.’
- freewrite–try not to edit as you compose, but rather let yourself keep writing for a set period of time (10-15 minutes is a good starting point). This helps you to maintain your chain of thought and to get more comfortable hearing your ‘voice’ on the subject. Once you’ve written, then read your text aloud. Look for the key ideas, then …..
- pull out the key ideas into a fresh file, and start building a text around them. This helps you to avoid feeling wedded to the first words you wrote, which are often just verbal treading-water as we try to get started on our thinking.
- when you’ve got something to work with, take your time revising, and do so with a particular focus on
- employing visual organization (section headings, lists where appropriate; brief, focused paragraphs)
- leading with the big idea (in each paragraph and in the text as a whole)
- using visual representations of information where appropriate (infographics, charts, graphs, etc.)–this allows readers to engage in the ways that are most comfortable for them
Note that the revising will take time and discipline. One of your tasks later this week will be working through a guided revision process. Check out the Review and Revision worksheet in the Unit 3 dropbox on Blackboard.
Project Proposal – Samantha Danylchuk
For my unit 3 project, the specific audience I want to write for are the two newest generations, Millennials and Gen Z. The issue I am examining is this conflict between generations in the workplace and my purpose is to guide these two generations about what they should know headed into the workforce. I hope to accomplish a text that provides all the relative information about the current working generations, such as descriptive characteristics, habits, and what needs to be changed among companies to bring employee compatibility success to this environment. I also aim to ease those who are Millennials and Gen Z into having a successful time working with their peers. The argument I want to make is that more action needs to be done within companies and working organizations in order to bridge this generational gap. The type of text I plan to produce is a social media article. Because most Millennials and Gen Z are so used to technology and social media has taken over our lives, I think an article produced by Instagram would catch the attention of these users. I decided to choose a text relating to social media because Instagram is also fairly used as a networking tool aside from LinkedIn, and the Direct Message feature would benefit me. If you’re a Millennial or Gen Z with a job lined up to start in a few weeks, months, etc. and see that Instagram produced an informative article relating to this issue of how to solve the generational gap in the workplace, I think it would be sent among that user’s friends and so on.
Project Proposal
For my unit 3 project, I am going to create a news article that highlights both the problems and benefits of the screening process in schools. I want to show how diversity in education is essential I feel like a news article can cover all aspects that I want to address with the use of quotes, pictures, and diagrams. I have a template that I can use which will use subheadings and showcase all different aspects of the educational system and how screening is being used. To do this, I am going to use sources that I have used for my unit 2 assignment, as well as additional primary sources that focus on the students and parents personal experiences with screening. The audience that this kind of writing will appeal to most I believe is the students and the parents who have to apply to schools and will eventually be affected by the selection process . Another group that can benefit from this are school administrators and faculty. Identifying both the problems and solutions this process has, will be very helpful for these educators so they know how to deal with it in the classroom.
Ultimately, the goal of this news article is to show why diversity and inclusion in the classroom is important and what screening. can do to help. I am going to use statistics from certain schools diversity and inclusion numbers, and show how some students have been affected in a major way. This will create more awareness to the process and schools can see whether or not they would want to implement it in some way.
Project Proposal
After intensely researching the hardships and discrimination that those in the LGBTQ community face, I want to further focus my research on the issue at hand. This kind of gender discrimination is not experienced by the masses, it is something that can be seen in plain sight, and to learn how this underlying discrimination continues was heartbreaking. Gender identity is not necessarily a physical aspect of an individual, there is no “dress-code” or “look” to someone who identifies as LGBTQ, although there are plenty of stereotypes embellished by the media. For the purpose of my research, I want to start a conversation educating others on the daily situations LGBTQ members find themselves in time and time again. This would be a conversational piece, something casual but that is also direct and brings different questions and thoughts to mind to further continue this long awaited discussion. With this text I want to share stories from LGBTQ members, as it is through experience where us humans learn best, from our mistakes we can re-evaluate what occurred and only grow from there. I hope with this text to not only accomplishing kickstarting this chat but also sharing some intimate stories of those just screaming to be heard. Social media is huge nowadays, and I think stories from advocates for or with the LGBTQ community is who I want the information to come from, so then from this post those who strongly connect to a story can go and follow that author and become an ally with the LGBTQ community.
Project Proposal
For my final project I will be creating a research paper that tackles the question: How common is bias in education, and does it have an effect on students learning outcomes? To do this effectively I am using sources that are vary from citations of books, journal entries (mostly from psychology related publications and education journals, and also trade journals that use the perspective of educators that are active in their profession). My goal is to help show the reader that while they may aware of racial, cultural, gender biases, to peel back the curtain and show them just how widespread this sort of behavior is.
My targeted audience consists of two main groups of people: The first would be educators and school administrators. The second would be university students (just like this class), people who are taking a course in diversity and inclusion studies. I would like this to be part of the canon of a course like this so that students can read this and want to go further with it and develop their own questions and answers about issues in diversity in education, and how it effects different populations of people.
Project Proposal – Dominique Van Gilst
For my unit 3 project, I have decided to research inclusion in education further in order to educate people. I think that the best audience for my project would be parents of students who are in inclusive classrooms, or are about to be in an inclusive classroom. This is because a lot of parents of children with and without disabilities worry that their children will not receive the best education possible if they are in an inclusive classroom. I think that it would also be important to include resources that parents can use to explain inclusion to their children in my presentation. This will allow the students to understand differences and acceptance before they begin their new experiences in an inclusive classroom. It would also help students who already in an inclusive classroom learn more about working together with other students. I want my audience to understand that inclusion has benefits for students with and without disabilities, and that they can be sure that their children will be getting the most they possibly can out of an inclusive education. I think that the best format for this project would be a powerpoint because it can be as if I am a teacher presenting my ideas to the parents/guardians of the students in my class. A powerpoint will be useful because I can embed videos, articles, etc. as well as write bullet points and sentences for important information.
Project Proposal, Bryan
For my final project I’m looking to create a graphic and media news article. Similar to how magazines present the content they hold in an easy-to-read fashion, I’m wanting my media project to be ‘picked up’ and clearly layout relevant background, ongoing research, significant case-studies, and direct quotes from first-hand accounts. The main objective I’m looking to examine here is to inform audiences of a form of diversity (language/ linguistic) typically not addressed or made aware of to the public. Overall while my intent is to appeal to a ‘broad audience’, my main focus would be tailoring the project to university students and professors. I recall a former classmate’s post who was interested in researching generational diversity because she knew that upon graduation and entering the workforce, she would be exposed to a widely diverse age-population. With trends in globalization and transnational mobility continuing to increase, I find it critical for those in an academic setting to realize the impact the consequences, advantages, and skills this can have on their developing career. Similarly, sharing this information amongst colleagues and professors I think would be an effective way in encouraging discussions whether that be in a classroom, organizational meeting, or informal gathering (it also makes sense in Syracuse since we have a large international student population coming from very diverse language backgrounds). I’m happy to have found valuable sources throughout my research ranging from TEDTalks and academic studies to teacher-based web platforms. It’ll be useful in creating the visual narrative I’m looking to create.
Project Proposal – Mike
As I hinted to in my Week of 7/20 Discussion post, I’m going to create a PowerPoint presentation about the power of consumer activism.
Having sat through countless web-conferences and meetings filled with mind-numbing PowerPoint slide decks, I feel I have a good sense of what not to do. My biggest pet peeve is when the presenter simply reads the text directly off of the slides. I could do that myself! Why am I having to sit here and listen to you read it to me? Tell me what you want me to take away from this information. Why did you think it was important to include? What do you want me to do with what you’ve shared?
To that end, I did some Google searching. Using the term “powerful powerpoint presentations”, I came across an article from SlideModel.com called “23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations”. I felt immediately vindicated when, about three paragraphs in, I saw the following sentence highlighted in bold: “The key thing to remember is your presentation is there to compliment your speech, not be the focus of it.”
With all of this in mind, what I’ll end up sharing with everyone is not only the slide deck itself, but also my speaker’s notes. As I mentioned earlier this week, my intended audience is a company or organization’s executives. The deck will be no more than ten slides and will feature graphics which support the text and vice versa. My speaker’s notes will expand on the concepts presented on the slides, include some additional details or perhaps a quote from one of my resources. This is to help add context to what I’m presenting, and to increase the likelihood that my message is being understood by my audience.
So, what do I hope to achieve with this presentation?
I’m going into this “meeting” with the intent of highlighting the changing habits of consumers, focusing on the shift away from direct involvement in the political process to engagement via their pocketbooks. Once I’ve set the scene, I’ll demonstrate examples of successful companies who are attracting and retaining customers and creating loyalty because of actions and initiatives they’ve taken to be socially and environmentally conscious. Combining the two, I’m hopeful the executives will recognize the value and potential positive return on investment to be had by taking such steps.
Thanks to the research I did in Unit 2, I have plenty of material from which to draw. The key will be picking the right ones to resonate with the audience. I have a feeling Jessica Stewart’s essay from Shopping For Change will be particularly powerful. In comparing consumer attitudes toward Wal-Mart and Target, Stewart points out that both businesses are nearly identical in how they’re run, with a few key distinctions which have affected public opinion of the two for years.
I recognize I’ve got my work cut out here. With Arsenal in the FA Cup Final next Saturday, and my birthday the following day, I’ll want to have my draft finished well before next weekend! Seems like a busy week is in store!
Thinking some more about genre
In our discussion work this week and next, I’m asking you to think about genre and what shape your final project will take. You’ve got a lot of latitude here to decide that shape, and it’s worth thinking some more about how genre connects to audience and purpose as you do so.
First off, while it’s useful to think of genres as different types or categories (such as we use for sorting movies or music into meaningful ‘buckets’ or groups), genres are not static. Rather, genres are adaptive and organic. The pop music of today does not sound like the pop music of the 1960s. The circumstances, expectations, and preferences have shifted, and what is popular now is different from what was popular then.
Secondly, while genres have conventions and expectations (people come to a particular genre of movies expecting them to follow certain ‘rules,’ for example), these genre conventions aren’t written in stone. Users challenge them all the time, bending these notions to come up with something new. Think about the film Get Out–it was a comedy right? or was it horror? or was it something else altogether?
When it comes to writing, I think it’s helpful to think of genres as usable responses to recurring writing situations. Need to apply for a job? A cover letter gets the job done. It’s not fancy or exciting, but it contains the elements that a hiring manager would want to know, and in a pretty usable way that lets the reader go about their work efficiently. That didn’t just happen–the genre evolved as this situation (people applying for jobs) kept happening, and people kept responding in pretty consistent ways. Over time, this type of text took on a pretty predictable form. Now, people know what to expect from it (the writers and the readers), and that makes it pretty functional for the readers.
It’s important for writers to consider their readers’ needs as they write. This is all the more true outside of a classroom setting. A teacher reader has to read students’ texts–that’s literally their job–but outside of the classroom, readers seldom have that same requirement. Instead, we make choices about what, whether, and how well we read. When we bump into texts that don’t seem to meet our needs and interests, we often just don’t read them. Or we only skim them.
In your project proposal (due Sunday), your task is to settle upon an objective that you think matters–you’ve learned information that you really want to share with people whom you think need it, and if you’re going to accomplish that goal of information delivery, then you need to think carefully about what your reader will expect, value, and want in a text. That’s why you’ve got so much latitude to determine the genre you use, and it’s why you’ll need to think carefully about it.
As you’re settling on a genre, it’s really valuable to look for examples of that type of text that you think work really well, and then to read them closely, paying attention to things like
- what kind of tone does this author use
- how long is this text
- how does the writer talk about/point to evidence
- what role do graphics play here
- what kinds of style and syntax does the writer employ
- how formal is the voice
- what level of detail does the text provide
- what sorts of word choices does the writer make
So start poking around to look at some of your options. For next week’s readings, you’ll be looking at sample texts in a variety of different genres, but I’d like you to keep looking for models, as well, so that you can see the above considerations in action and be able to draw lessons for yourself. Next week’s discussion work will ask you to share something you’ve found, so start looking now.