My favorite part of the Service_Learning_Oral_Presentation sideshow was the "Questions your presentation should answer" section because it helped clarify the goals of our project. Going through the questions on the first slide helped reassured me that we did the project correctly as I was able to answer the questions without much hesitation.
Though I fully support female equality in the workforce, I feel that this article is too biased about inequity between men and women in the workplace and merely promotes stereotypes. First, the second fact in the overview page is that women hold fewer leadership roles than men. It is stated that "in 2000 women held 3.95 leadership positions for every 10 held by men." It seems quite unfair when said that way (at least to me anyway.) However, the article also said that women are 46.5% of the workforce.
We have been planning our layout for the brochure. We are currently focusing on creating a 3-fold brochure with printing on both the front and back sides of the paper giving us six columns. We will have one column for an introduction to Von's Shops, four columns describing the four different sections of Von's shops: books, jewelry, music, and movies, and one column for a conclusion leaving the reader with a desire to check Von's Shops out. We are currently choosing a background style for the pamphlet and will finish drafting the content this weekend.
This week I helped with the peer reviews. I mainly focused on the alternative fuels white paper. I also helped with a revision of the color scheme for our white paper. We felt that there was too much green. We also discussed ideas for our presentation on the Monday after Spring Break. I suggested that we could do a skit in which on of my teammates is paying his bill for dinner with a debit card and the waiter swipes the card and steal this person's identity.
There weren't any readings this week so I wrote about the group work article from last week. While reading section 5 of the "Group Work and Collaborative Writing" web page, I noticed many similarities to my OBHR 230 class. I first noticed that they refer to the different stages of group formation by the same keywords: forming, norming, and performing. During the forming phase the article stressed the importance of giving each member of the team some airtime to voice their opinions with regard to the problem, their interests relating to the project, and name.
This week I typed up the introduction and conclusion to my group's white paper and added it to the body of our paper. I feel that that I wrote still needs a fair amount of revision, but as the body of our paper takes a firmer shape I can strengthen what I have written to reflect on our content more effectively. I plan on adding a few quotes to my parts, but I want to make sure that I don't take quotes that are going to be used in the body. After the paper is done I need to help make sure that it surpasses the 1700 word minimum, but at the same time ensure that it doesn't ramble.
I really liked the article about group work and its references to the constant shift from individual work to collaborative projects. The quote starting the section drew me in because I recently had a teacher who believes that learning arises through disagreement, not agreement which is similar to that quote: "...in science, criticism is the height and measure of friendship." I would rather have a friend who challenges me to be a better person than someone who tells me I'm awesome all the time. On the same note it is important that group members challenge each other to create better work.
I found the fourth section of the "Group Work and Collaboration" article fascinating because it rebelled against things I have been previously taught. It said that time spent having fun, talking, and getting to know each other is a valuable aspect and perhaps one of the most important features of a group meeting. According to the article, most of the group work is finished between meetings. When reflecting upon this, I realized how true that is. I also thought about how much time groups I have had spend simply chatting or making jokes.
This week I typed the revisions our group came up with for our memo handed in on Wednesday. I also helped type up some of our outline, primarily with regard to the executive summary. I have not started typing up the actual white paper, though I am preparing to begin sometime this weekend by finishing up the research for my section. I can start writing the rest of the paper after I receive the research from my other group members. I still need to go over the division of writing with David so we know who is responsible for which sections of the white paper.
It is new to me that by making my subject matter the most important part of my paper I am starting off wrong. The "How to Write a White Paper" article said that the right way is to cater to the needs of the reader. I need to state a specific problem that my audience might have and then provide solutions to that problem. By doing that I have created interest in my product or idea. Another idea presented in the article is that its the small details that can make or break a white paper. I now understand that its important to add callouts.