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Posted on by Mikaela Freeman - No Comments on Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are?

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?”

Posted on by Natalie Shapiro - No Comments on My Freshman Experience

My Freshman Experience

Coming to Geneseo, I was a nervous wreck. I was unsure of whether or not I would succeed, make friends, and find where I belong. I typically become homesick easily. This was alarming knowing I had to come to a brand new school. I never struggled with grades in high school but, all my teachers and older friends told me college is different. Throughout these two semesters, I’ve definitely come to learn more about college. Continue reading “My Freshman Experience”

Posted on by Gianna Amico - No Comments on The Process

The Process

Courtney recently wrote a blog post called A Process and made an attribution to something I said while we were working on the Collaborative Writing assignment in Dr. McCoy’s class. At the time I said what we were working on was a process. After saying this I have been constantly reflecting on the process in which we have progressed and have realized it can be applied to other aspects of the class. Continue reading “The Process”

Posted on by Hannah Sharkey - No Comments on Ten Blogposts Later

Ten Blogposts Later

I have reached my final blogpost. I thought I would be relieved to write this, but am surprised at my reluctance. During the class time dedicated to reading blogposts, I was searching for something to reflect upon. I had the thought to look back on my own posts and see if I could recognize my own progress. It was in my own blogposts that I found what I was looking for. 

Continue reading “Ten Blogposts Later”

Posted on by Courtney Ciardullo - No Comments on Hit Save

Hit Save

There should be a set of brakes on the send button of my computer. I learned the hard way of being too hasty with a submission to a professor. I made the mistake of not saving my final draft before turning it in through Canvas. Thus, off went the wrong essay. It was an un-proofed, rough draft of an essay that was chock of errors and notes to myself. When Dr. McCoy sent it back to me, irate with me for being so careless it made me sink with embarrassment. Shamed, I felt like the fire alarm of my dorm had been pulled and there I was standing among my peers, in front of my building dripping wet and standing in a towel.
 
All the “should haves” came dancing through my head. I should have known better. I should have checked the document before hitting send. I should’ve hit save. I should have simply slowed down.
 
And the truth of the matter is that‘s just it. Slowing down. Hitting the brakes. Taking a moment to think before speaking, acting, reacting and this case, hitting send. This is something thoroughly discussed during class, proofreading. A step back to look at your work, ensure this is what you are ready to submit. I have learned a lot about the way in which I write throughout the semester. I tend to rush through work creating errors and mistyped words. Dr. McCoy addressed this to me quite early in the semester, and since then I have kept it in the back of mind when not only writing for INTD but all of my assigned essays. I like to think my writing is improving and that these skills will continue to develop throughout the rest of my college writing experiences.
 
I learned from the mistake I made just a week ago. I need to slow down; I need to take an extra look and I most definitely need to hit save before submission.
Posted on by Amanda Lara Sosa - No Comments on The risks young immigrants face when coming into the U.S.

The risks young immigrants face when coming into the U.S.

When I came to the United States in December of 2014 with my older brother, I knew a little bit of English, but not enough to carry a conversation with a native speaker. I only knew the basics of the language that were taught to me in school. In January of 2015 my dad took me and my brother to get enrolled in school and continue our education in the Rochester City School District (RCSD) in Rochester, NY, where we came to live.  We had the records of our official grades from Cuba for all the past school years and we gave them to the woman that was attending us, a Spanish speaker. She looked over our school records and after a couple of minutes she told my father that both me and my brother were going to be starting 6th grade. I was in 10th grade and my brother was in 12th grade when we left Cuba. We were all speechless for a minute until my dad spoke up and said: “Why? That cannot happen,” then the woman replied simply saying: “They do not speak English, your kids will need some time to learn” (This whole conversation was in Spanish, she never spoke to us in English). After she said that, my dad demanded that we take an exam to prove our English level to her (we were supposed to have taken one before she decided what grade to put us in). Me and my brother took the exam and when she saw our results she said something along the lines of: “Oh, their English is not as bad as I though.” After that, she had to put us in our corresponding grades.

Me and my brother were lucky that our dad spoke up and said that it was not right to put us in 6th grade. If he hadn’t, neither of us would be in college right now. Unfortunately, not many new immigrants actually speak up and say that something is wrong because they tend to follow the rules of what other people say is better for them when in reality, no one knows what your family is capable of better than yourself. In my high school, for example, it was not uncommon to see a student in 9th or 10th grade that was 21 years old. This puts the young immigrant students at a disadvantage compared to other students of their age. Their risk of dropping out of school is much higher because they might not just have school to worry about, many work and have adult responsibilities to take care of at home.

There are also the teenage immigrants that come from their country already holding a high school degree with hopes of getting into college in the United States. Unfortunately, things are not easier for them. When they come here they are faced with the reality that their degree does not count in the U.S.. Then, they only end up having three risky choices: redoing high school, giving up going to college and finding a job that does not require a college education, or going back to their home country and going to college there to maybe in the future being able to come back to the U.S. again. One of my best friends in college right now took the risk of choosing the first option of going back to high school in the U.S. with hopes of transforming this risk into a reward for the future. She came from Mexico the same year I came from Cuba, 2014, and by that time she was already 18 years old and had just finished high school when I was just starting 10th grade. She will soon be turning 23, and she is just going to finish her first year of college. By the time she graduates from SUNY Geneseo she will be 25 years old, which will be the age I will be after one year of receiving my Master’s Degree and hopefully having my first full time job.

My friend says that she does not regret having to redo high school because that prepared her to be in college right now, but I know that she sometimes feels out of place being surrounded by people who might act childish to her, but she is starting to get used to it. This can be related to the short narratives from upperclassmen that were shown to the upcoming freshman that were going to participate in Urstein’s experiment in Stanford University in The Power of Realistic Expectations where the upperclassmen detailed how they felt out of place at first but gained a sense of belonging over time. All of these young immigrants including myself and my brother come into the United States of America with dreams of having a greater and brighter future, but instead, we are hit with the reality that to get the rewards we dream of, we will have to face many risks and obstacles from the beginning of our journey, all the way to the end.

Posted on by Roisin ONeill - No Comments on A Partnership With Fergus O’Neill

A Partnership With Fergus O’Neill

While trying to decide what a worthy topic for my final blog post would be, I read through Geneseo’s Learning Outcomes for Baccalaureate Education (GLOBE) once again. The outcome of Communication stood out to me: “To demonstrate proficiency in English and skill in another spoken language” and “to engage in discussion, debate, and public speaking in a manner suitable to the listener(s) and the discourse.” This outcome reminded me of my brother Fergus, who is thirteen years-old and has Down Syndrome. Although he is very social and highly verbal, Fergus has a speech impediment that makes it difficult for a lot of people (sometimes including me) to understand what he’s saying. With regards to education, the main end-goal for Fergus is not to go to college or have a career, but to be able to communicate with and understand the world around him. The academic partnership that Fergus had with his previous teacher, Miss. Kelly, has been the most influential factor in helping him communicate more clearly and effectively. Continue reading “A Partnership With Fergus O’Neill”

Posted on by Amber Castillo - No Comments on To unpack

To unpack

I first heard the term “unpack” in our INTD class I could easily figure out what was being asked of us on the surface. Of course, I had no real idea of the deeper meaning of the term when the semester first began. I had ‌ never heard the term before so it was very foreign. Throughout the semester I assumed it was a term exclusive to our course because I had not heard it mentioned in any of my other courses from this semester or the last.
As finals approach, I have to write a ten page research paper for a mandatory political science course I am taking for my major called Developing World. I picked a topic I enjoyed: a comparative study of Russia and Nigeria and recently I had to pick sources. So when I began reading an article about a fragmented Nigeria and it mentioned that to understand the dire situation for the country they had to “unpack” several layers before getting to the root of the issues. I immediately recognized the term we often used and was surprised; the term was more well known and used than I anticipated. Then I realized that even GLOBE had asked us to “unpack” things as well. It is their first point in Geneseo’s Learning Outcomes. “Students will demonstrate critical thinking..” and this is identical to unpacking. When we unpack we take bigger ideas and dig deeper until we get to the core of the idea, what we’re looking for. GLOBE encourages “investigations” and to evaluate the underlying assumptions. If I remember correctly, when we read Descartes he claimed to never believe anything or make assumptions unless he knew them to be undoubtedly true. This is the method of unpacking I have learned that is utilized in several disciplines and is crucial to them.