Author: Mikaela Freeman

In my Child Development class, we recently watched a Ted Talk by Caroline McHugh. In this Talk titled, “The Art of Being Yourself,” McHugh discussed individual identity. Specifically, one part that really stuck with me was her view of the word “just.” A frequently used phrase for advice is “just be yourself.” McHugh points out several things she sees is wrong with using the word “just” in that phrase. First, she claims that just implies that “being yourself” is easy, and second, the word “just” claims that this is an “original piece of advice,” as if someone couldn’t think of it themselves. I never thought about it before listening to her Talk, but after hearing her view I would agree; the word “just” seems to change them meaning as if it is something that can be easily done. Is interesting to me that using the word just can change the meaning of the phrase.

This reminded me of our class work with the academic probation letters; specifically, in Ian Chipman’s “The Power of Realistic Expectations” Urstein’s and his researchers revised the letter given to students placed on academic probation from saying Academic Probation to academic probation. Urstein shares that by not using capital letters they reframed being on academic probation from a “status” to a “process.” By changing the letters, students began to see their position as a situation that can be changed, rather than as a “fixed” position. This change caused student report “lower feelings of shame” and be more likely to ask for help. It’s crazy how simply changing letters or words around can completely change the way one perceives advice or information given to them. Continue reading “Who Do You Think You Are?”

I remember a while ago reading in Reflective Writing the section on “Reflection for Career Planning.” This section shares how you can use the information in that book and apply it to real world situations. Specifically, it included improving job applications, sharing the need for “evidence” in an application or interview. Until reading this, I didn’t fully realize how experience isn’t just an item that looks good on a resume, but how it can provide evidence of whether someone fits certain qualities that an employer is looking for.

I fully understood what the little green book was talking about when I went on a research interview a few weeks ago. When looking through the research on the internet, the site noted that qualities they look for included “experience and comfort interacting with children” and “willingness to work as part of a research team.” Through reading Reflective Writing, I realized that it was not enough to simply say that I love children and am a team player; I needed evidence. As Reflective Writing claims, my “evidence” was my experience; during the interview I provided specific example of when I was part of a team, running track and working in a restaurant, as well as examples of when I worked with children. Furthermore, as Reflective Writing suggests, I discussed how these experiences shaped me to be a better team player and want to work with children more. I realized that this is what Reflective Writing means when it says, “through examples you justify your claims.” Continue reading “Experience as Evidence”

I was reading through the blogs on Critical Writers and Amanda’s blog post caught my attention; in her post she discussed the senior class and how they are leaving soon. That got me thinking about the seniors in my life; the only seniors that I know are the ones on my Cross Country and Track teams and they have made a huge impression on my life. I have learned so much from them and have gotten advice, support, encouragement from them. They do so many things for the team such as, help freshman register for classes, host team pasta parties, encourage an inclusive and accepting environment, open their houses up to people going through difficult times, and so much more.

Amanda’s post and thinking about the senior class furthermore reminded of the quote “the only thing you take with you when your gone is what you leave behind.” This quote is a bit scary, but I find it to be very true. While yes, our grades are important and we should put school first, when the seniors, and all of us, graduate what I personally think will matter most is whether we made some difference, in the school or the lives of others. Geneseo’s Mission Statement and GLOBE both urge the importance of experience outside of solely academic domains; “Broad and Specialized Knowledge” specifically desires students to “investigate domains beyond their professional interests.” This urges students to become involved in extracurricular activities and try to make an impact on the school and other people. The impact that seniors have left on my life, and the lives of countless others, is what they will leave behind here. Continue reading “What You Leave Behind”

In class, we have recently discussed Geneseo’s Learning Outcomes; “Leadership and Collaboration” specifically caught my attention. This Outcome urges student to work together and also encourages students “to experiment, take risks, and learn from mistakes.” At first glance, I didn’t see the importance of this line; in fact, I thought it was strange to include “mistakes” in a Learning Outcome. However, after thinking about it, I think this line is one of the most important parts of the GLOBE.

I have found that the best opportunities and achievements often require one to step outside of their comfort zone. I recently started to tutor for an elementary school class. When I first signed up for the program I signed up to tutor reading; however, when I got my teacher placement the program had signed me up for 6th grade math. At first, I was worried; I am terrible at math and have never learned the common core that elementary students are currently learning. I know that it is just 6th grade, but I really doubted my ability teach math to someone else. I almost told the program I couldn’t participate, but I told myself to give it a try, and I’m glad I did. I was honest with the teacher in the beginning and told her that I was nervous to tutor math. What she told me changed my thinking; she told me that most of the time the kids just need help staying on task and being encouraged to keep going with they get a question wrong or are confused. I was surprised to find that this was true; often the kids just needed someone to tell them that they are smart and capable and give them a little nudge when they are frustrated. They need this even more than they need help with actual math problems. On the first day when the teacher introduced me to the class she said something like, “remember the last half of the year when we asked for a tutor but couldn’t get one? Now we have one!” I realized that she was grateful to have me; whatever level my math tutoring ability was at it was better than no tutor at all. It’s crazy to me that I almost didn’t try tutoring because I was afraid of my own abilities, but I took a “risk” and it wound up for the better. After reflecting on other instance in my life where I took a risk, I have found that taking a risk and trying something new or facing on a challenge often provides more benefits than downfalls.

The second point of the line I provided from the “Leadership and Collaboration” Outcome is to “learn from mistakes.” As I said earlier, I was surprised at first that this line was included in a Learning Outcome because mistakes usually have a negative connotation; I thought they wouldn’t want us to make mistakes in the first place. However, after class discussions and thinking about it more, I have come to understand the importance of mistakes; we learn from the mistakes we make and find better alternatives as a result. I connected this to our rewrites of our essays. In most of my classes, I learn the material, study it, take the test and then forget the material. While I would like to take the time to look over my tests and understand every question that I got wrong, I need to devote that time to work that will help me for other tests/essays. However, in our class we currently have the opportunity to rewrite an essay. This gives us the opportunity to “learn from mistakes” in the old essay; we can see Dr. McCoy’s critiques and work with her and others to improve our own writing. I see this as the best way to grow and learn; if we didn’t have to do a rewrite we would probably not learn from Dr. McCoy’s critiques, and therefore not improve as writers. Learning from what we did wrong and what we can do differently improves our writing, not just for this one essay, but our writing abilities in general. Furthermore, the Learning Outcome shares that mistakes are actually encouraged because they allow us to learn and create new paths that work better. This encourages students to take on new opportunities and challenges, something that is necessary to prosper, not only as a student, but in all aspects of life. 

Currently in my Child Development class we are learning about emotion. In class, we discussed the importance of framing what you say to a child and validating that child’s feelings. The textbook gave an example; if a young boy falls and starts to cry, a parent might say “big boys don’t cry.” The parent is probably trying to help their child, trying to tell them that they’re going to be okay. However, this can be detrimental because it tells the child that their feelings aren’t valid. Telling a child that big boys don’t cry is telling him that he shouldn’t be crying. Next time the child falls the hurts himself, he may automatically start to cry as a reflex, and then get frustrated because he thinks that he is not supposed to cry. What a parent should do instead is validate the child’s feelings, saying that it’s okay to cry and ensure the child that it’s only a small pain and will get better soon.

While discussing this in class, I thought of “The Power of Realistic Expectations.” Both my Child Development class discussion and this article have to do with the mindset of individuals and how that can affect how they develop, whether that development is emotionally or academically. Specifically, “The Power of Realistic Expectations” shows how society’s treatment of a student’s situation, whether it be minority stereotypes or students on academic probation, affects a student’s perception of a situation and perception of their own abilities. The article shares how students were “exposed to the idea that intelligence, rather than being a fixed trait, is something that grows over time and can be developed with effort.” I really liked this quote and think that it can be connected to everything in life. Specifically, with the writing and revision process. At first glance upon any negative feedback for blog posts, blood child essay, or any from any other class, I, as I assume many others do, get really frustrated and label myself as a bad writer. However, after putting the work away and going back to it later, I realize that I was being irrational; the feedback is important, it is not saying that I am bad as writing, rather, that there are things that I can improve upon to make my writing stronger. Critiques are something that we should want, in whatever we do, because they make us better. Confidence and mindset were emphasized so much in the article; how one thinks of themselves affects their thoughts and actions about other situations. It was so interesting how even changing the capitalization of the letters,  from Academic Probation to academic probation, changed the affects.  Rewording the letter changed the outcome because rather than seeing the situation as fixed and something that defines them, students started to see it as an obstacle that they can overcome. This furthermore connects to one of Geneseo’s Global Learning Outcome’s, “Leadership and Collaboration” which states that one of the goals is, “to experiment, take risks, and learn from mistakes.” When students start to perceive their “failures” not as failures, but as opportunities for growth and development, they start to believe in themselves and their ability to improve. 

A few weeks ago, I attended a plagiarism workshop as extra credit for my Behavioral Research Methods class. While I’m willing to bet that most people there went for extra credit or mandatory credit for a class; I actually learned very important aspects of plagiarism I was unaware of. The presentation began with sharing that one of the main reasons that students plagiarize is that they don’t truly understand what plagiarism is. Everyone knows that if you literally copy and paste an article from a website and then hand it into your teacher claiming you wrote it, then that’s plagiarism. However, what was emphasized in this presentation was “stealing ideas.” Plagiarism isn’t only copying and pasting; it can also be using findings from someone else’s research or using someone else’s idea. You don’t even have to claim it is your own; if you fail to cite where you got the information or idea from then that’s plagiarism. The presentation also greatly emphasized “Switch Plagiarism.” This is when one basically copies a sentence or paragraph; however, to make it different students switch the order of the words or use synonyms for certain words and the new sentence is similarly structured to the old one.

Dr. McCoy often stresses giving credit where credit is due, and this presentation reinforced that. It was a little out of the ordinary when on the first day of class Dr. McCoy made us all memories each other’s names. No other teacher I’ve had has made the students know each other’s names, and many don’t even know the names of their students. Learning the names of my fellow classmates not only creates a more comfortable atmosphere for class discussions; it also allows us to give each other credit for ideas. Last semester I had a teacher who called one student in the class “surfer dude” because he had long blonde hair. It wasn’t even a large lecture class. I can understand that professors have many students; however, if he didn’t even respect that student enough to simply ask for his name how could he ask for respect in return?

Crediting other people is a responsibility we all have in order to respect them. The plagiarism presentation suggested that one way to overcome plagiarism is: instead of looking at the passage while you try to summarize it; read the passage you’re referring to, put the passage away and then write about the main idea in your own words.  Part 1 of They Say I Say stresses the “They Say” part of writing; it specifically explains the “art of summarizing” another person’s work.  It claims that “a good summary requires balancing what the original author is saying with the writer’s own focus.” In other words, one needs to ensure that they have enough of their own voice while still presenting another’s argument. This connects to plagiarism because we need to remember that the goal of using quotes and another’s work is to enhance one’s own writing, rather than using those as a substitute.

The other day in class we discussed Discourse on the Method, specifically one point Descartes made about patience. Descartes argued that “those who go very slowly but always on the right path can make much greater progress than those who sprint and go astray.” Like the old story of the tortoise and the hare, Descartes is arguing that slow and steady wins the race. Descartes claims that often when people go to fast they often miss something or make too many mistakes. He urges the need for patience and taking the time to think through problems and situations. Our class discussion connected this to timed essays in high school and time management in college. Often people in high school rush through essays because they do not want to be doing them. There is also often a time limit, which enforces rushing through rather than thinking through. While time management is a necessary tool for students to learn in college and later on, this rushing through and limited time decreased creativity and the ability of students to think through the material.

This reminded me of my study habits for my Human Biology class. In Biology, every class we cover a single chapter, and I try to read the chapter before class so it’s easier to understand during class. I am not a big fan of reading the Biology textbook, so I just want to read it as quickly as possible to get the reading over with. However, I am constantly conflicted between reading fast, copying the textbook word for word, and getting it done as soon as I can, with reading slow, absorbing the material, takin more effective notes and ensuring that I understand the material. The first one might be less effective in the long run, but I am still reading the material and getting it done quicker. The second might seem like an obvious better option, but it also takes up much more time, time that I need to spend doing the online homework for biology or attending to other class homework. Weighing the benefits and negatives (or risks and rewards) of each, I know that in the long run the latter would be the better choice.

In any class, we often risk rushing through an assignment to get it done quickly but less efficiency. Students can look at the risks and rewards of each alternative and contemplate whether saving some time could be worth the lower grade or going through material and taking your time might be worth it for the higher grade. Descartes argues that the need for patience and perseverance, rather than rushing and not giving your best. Similarly, They Say I Say shares that many students “have trouble entering some of the high-powered conversations that take place in college because they do not know enough about the topic at hand.” It further argues that when given the chance to study the material in depth those same students become more confident about their own ideas and contribute more, and that good arguments are based on “everyday knowledge that can be isolated, identified and used by almost anyone.” While this doesn’t exactly connect to Descartes argument about patience, it does connect to his argument because it shares the importance of going in depth about material and taking time to gradually absorb information. Going in depth about a subject is more worth it than brushing the surface because it allows for a deeper understanding that is better in the long run.

Throughout the past few classes we have been discussing several issues with the partnership between Gan and T’Gatoi in Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild. We have contemplated the complexity of their partnership and the issue of consent. Our class discussion reminds me of what I am currently learning in my Behavioral Research Methods class. Currently in this class I am learning about the International Review Board, which is a group of people who determine whether a proposed scientific experiment is ethical and thus allow to be performed. There are several guidelines for this which include: respecting the rights of subjects, informed consent, no coercion, beneficence and justice. Specifically, the parts that I connected to our course are informed consent, coercion and beneficence.

They key in informed consent is the word informed. It is not enough in an experiment to have the participants signature agreeing to be a test subject. Rather, the experimenter needs to provide information about the entire experiment, which includes: what the participant will be doing, the purpose for the experiment, and not deceiving the subject about the experiment. In class we discussed consent with the agreement between Gan and T’Gatoi, the implantation. Some may say that Gan gave consent from the beginning. When Gan first nods to the situation he says “my sister instantly took a liking to [T’Gatoi] and wanted to be chosen, but my mother was just coming to terms with me and T’Gatoi liked the idea of choosing an infant… I’m told I was first caged with T’Gatoi only three minutes after my birth.” (8) He seemed to just accept the situation because it was how he was raised; it was the only way he knew. However, connecting to the informed consent criteria, this consent was not informed because Gan didn’t really understand the situation. Gan realizes this upon seeing Lomas give birth, after which he says; “I had been told all my life that this was a good and necessary thing Tilc and Terran did together- a kind of birth. I had believed it until now. I knew birth was painful and bloody, no matter what. But this was something else, something worse. And I wasn’t ready to see it. Maybe I would never be.” (17) Gan’s opinion of his consent of the situation changed greatly after he is given more information about it.

I also see a connection with coercion. The IRB won’t allow an experiment if there is a large amount of coercion, which involves threatening or forcing someone to do something. Although technically one could argue that Gan is given the choice of having his sister be implanted instead of himself; in another sense Gan doesn’t really have a choice because he knows this is wrong. “I could make Xuan Hoa my shield. Would it be easier to know that red worms were growing in her flesh instead of mine?” (26) Gan and the other children in the preservation are not fully given a choice about this decision. This is an exchange that has been going on in the preserve for generations, it is a social “norm” now in a way, and the children do not fully understand that it doesn’t have to be this way. Gan, and the other Terran are coerced because there are consequences if they disobey. The Tilc are more powerful than the Terran so the Terran can not rebel in this situation without being suppressed. 

Beneficence also connects because it involves risks and rewards. In my Behavioral Research class, we discussed beneficence as the necessity that the benefits of the experiments must outweigh the costs. In other words, any harm or discomfort caused to animal or human participants must be justified by the amount of good the experiment is trying to do for the population.  There is a partnership between the experimenter and the experimentee and each has obligations to the other.  This connects to class because out whole class premise revolves around risks and rewards. In Bloodchild there is a partnership between the Terrans and the Tilc, specifically between T’Gatoi and Gan. As Gan puts it when he insists T’Gatoi allows him to keep the gun, “there is risk, Gatoi, in dealing with a partner.” This partnership has risks and rewards for both parties and ultimately by agreeing to the partnership each party believes that their rewards outweigh their risks in the situation.