The most harmful type of bias relevant to education is Fairness Bias. Teachers and parents tend to think each student in the class should get the same amount of attention  from the teacher as any other student in the same class. However, this is not true. Each student in the class has different intelligences and learn in different ways. For some students, certain topics are easier than for other students. It may not seem fair that the teacher works one-on-one with a one child while the rest of the class is doing the classwork the teacher gave them.  That child might be far behind the rest of the class or really struggling to grasp the topic whereas the rest of the class is doing fine and are getting farther and farther ahead of that one student. Now how fair is the extra attention? Or, maybe that child is more of a visual learner as opposed to a bodily-kinesthetic learner. If most of the class is bodily-kinesthetic learners (which a lot of people are to at least some degree), then the teacher is trying to help that one child out by reteaching the lesson for them in regards to their learning intelligence so the child understands the lesson better, is that really unfair?

Any one of these situations could cause problems to arise with parents. Then, there is a possibility the parents will try to get other parents on their side (which could be through the media). However, the teacher is just trying to do their job and make sure each of their students are keeping up and understanding their lessons. If any of these situations goes to the media, it could affect the teacher’s ability to teach. For one (and this is a long shot) the school board could temporarily suspend the teacher until the situation blows over or is resolved. Then a sub would have to come in and how well are the students going to learn then? It could also be hard for the teacher to teach because parents could be second guessing them, causing their lessons to take longer. The teacher might also have to spend more time (outside of school periods) talking with parents to appease them and ease their minds.

Either way, both the teacher and students suffer so it is a lose-lose situation for all involved. The parents may be aiming to help their child, but in reality, they are hurting their child. Think about how hard it would be to do your job with someone constantly breathing down your neck, second guessing your decisions, possibly interrupting your lessons.

Some types of writing I am asked to do in classes for my major are case studies, presentations, and lesson plans. The reason we are assigned lesson plans is pretty straight forward. When teaching, teachers are required to write up lesson plans before their lesson in order to have a good lesson but also to think their lessons through in order for it to reach the maximum students instead of having a really bad lesson and the students don’t learn much from it. Because lesson plans are so crucial to a teacher’s job, it only makes sense to start practicing this writing skill while learning about becoming a teacher and teaching. By practicing this skill now, students majoring in education can learn from their professors how to improve their lesson plans but can also learn from other students in making their lessons more creative or just helping each other out. This is also crucial because in the classroom there’s a lot of group work and students collaborate a lot, so for teachers to know good collaboration skills but also see what forms of collaboration works and what forms don’t is important for lesson planning in the future. Presentations are also very important for teaching.  From a young grade, teachers often teach their lessons through PowerPoint presentations. Then, as students get older and move up in grades the teachers then teach the students to create and present presentations themselves. In order for teachers to teach how to do this, they need to know how to do this themselves, especially if they are going to use it to teach lessons, not just about how to create power points and good presentation skills. This is why it is good for prospective teachers to practice the skill while they are in school. Since by now most teachers have practiced the skill while they were in high school and even middle school, their fellow students can also give valuable input to their presentations, not just the teacher. Now, students who major in education don’t have one opinion, but have the opinions of all their classmates and their teachers, which can really help them improve. Case studies may not seem like they have much importance in education but in reality they do have a significance. Teachers need to keep an eye on their students to see how they are doing with their fellow classmates, with their work, or just in general. Case studies are a great way to learn to observe; especially if you are being taught step by step how to do one. In case studies, you don’t just observe the physical behavior, you observe everything you can see or even test the subject on. This includes intelligence, morality, socialness, etc.  Observation is a key skill in teaching so being able to nurture the skill through case studies is very important for rising teachers.

A huge example of a topic in education is bullying. Nowadays, bullying is a hot topic and is often discussed. Adults, mainly parents, know how much effort schools put into stopping and preventing bullying. Some of these methods work but there are always those few kids who will be mean. Occasionally, there’s a case where the bullying is incredibly severe and has a tragic end. Then, the school administration is blamed for not helping more or not  trying hard enough to stop or prevent the bullying. In this case, these professionals are taking on unrealistic tasks. There are only so many teachers for some number of students that each student cannot be watched every hour of every school day. This is why some kids slip through the cracks and have a harder time than other kids. It is also one thing to have knowledge about a topic but can be completely different to put that knowledge into practice. This is the case for a lot of teachers. Teachers often go to seminars to learn about bullying or there are school assemblies that discuss bullying and its effects, but not everyone has experienced it firsthand which can make it difficult to use the knowledge they have been taught. A teacher’s job may seem  incredibly exciting because they get to work with children all day and not necessarily have to do office work. However, a teacher’s job is harder than most think. Teachers have to put in a lot of extra work before and after hours. They also have to buy their own supplies for their students or their lessons if the school is not willing to provide them. Teachers also have to keep their eye on around 20 kids at one time by themselves whereas in other professions, it’s mostly adults supervising other adults (bosses or managers). I think this misrepresentation is harmful because not everyone understands how much effort and work teachers put into their job in order to help their students which means they might not understand how much time it takes up and away from other things they could be doing such as watching for, stopping, and preventing bullying. Teachers have to keep an eye on a large number of students at a time while also doing their job such as teaching a lesson, grading, and making sure the students do their work. That’s a lot to juggle for one person and nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes.

I have some trust in the media, but do not fully trust everything I see, especially right away. If I hear something from the media, I will go to other sources to see how true the story is, but also to get other perspectives because as the saying goes, “there are two sides to every coin”. There is usually more than one side to a story, which is why it is good to get all the facts before making an opinion or the opinion can be biased. I especially check other sources when I find a story skeptical or want to see other opinions and perspectives. By doing this, I can form my own opinion without worry of facts not being true or my opinion being biased.

The type of reporting I trust the most is field reporters and the journalists. When I get a story from a field reporter, I can usually see what is happening in the scene around them, which can help me form my opinion. It also helps back up the truth to their story. For example, if there was a field reporter at the Notre Dame Cathedral when the fire occurred almost a year ago, or even after the fire was put out, I would be able to see that there really was a fire either from flames, smoke, or damaged to the building. However, I would not trust the cause of the fire until it was verified by another source or was quoted from a expert like a firefighter who investigated the cause. I also put some of my trust in journalists (of big companies like CNN or NYtimes) because they usually include images of what they are talking about as well as quotes from experts or witnesses to verify the truth of their story and help the readers see what happened from another person’s perspective. For both field reporters and journalists, there is usually some other source I can go to to verify the story and facts. For example, if CNN has a reporter at the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, Fox News will probably have one to (or some other news company). From the journalist’s perspective, if one article is written about the fire, there is bound to be another article written somewhere, and if not, then an article will be written soon, especially about big events like the Notre Dame Cathedral fire. Both of these ways of reporting use quantitative data and qualitative. The quantitative data is some of the facts given through the report like how long the fire lasted, how much damage there was, how long it will take to rebuild (which can be talked about with field reporters and written about in articles with journalists). The qualitative data is being able to see the scene with field reporters and with journalists, it is quotes and images.

I found the more traditionally academic section more convincing. Instead of the claim being hidden behind the story, it is very clear what the claim is. By writing in the traditionally academic way, there is a clear claim, evidence, and analysis. In a narrative, those statements can get lost. I may tend to focus more on the story than on what the message is the author is trying to convey. Since my attention was partially diverted and I did not get to entire message the author was trying to convey, it was not as convincing as the more traditionally academic section. This is most likely because I am so used to writing my assignments in this style, that I have grown accustomed to it and now prefer it. For years in school, I have been taught to write a topic sentence, give a little background, give evidence to support my claim, and then explain and analyze how the evidence supports my claim. Because of this, it is easier for me to interpret to more traditionally academic section. Since I can interpret it better, it convinces me more than the narrative section which I do not understand as well.

I can apply ethnographic research to case studies I will do in my college classes and in my career. In case studies, I work with a child and take notes. For example, I may take notes on where the child’s development is in morality, which is the child’s highest intelligence and which is the lowest (the multiple intelligences), the child’s developmental level, the child’s temperament, etc. By looking at the culture of the household and friends, I can see what may be influencing the child that could affect the child’s results. Relationships are also important, especially with family members. Two children of the same culture may have different results because they had different relationships with their family. For example, a child whose parents work a lot may be shyer than a child whose parents are often around. This could be because the shyer child does not interact with people as much because the parents are not around as much as the other child’s and because the shyer child does not have as many strong relationships as the other child and is more wary of other people. This is a good way to apply ethnographic research because I can both observe and participate with the child in the study. I can participate by initiating an activity or game that will test the child’s developmental skills. I can observe by watching the child interact with family and friends. By doing so, I can observe the different cultures and relationships of each person the child interacts with.

One way to evaluate communication is to evaluate the form which the communication is being given. There are many forms of communication; written, verbal, and electronic are the basic form of communication. From there, they can branch off into blogs, vlogs, videos, television (movies, and shows), new stations, websites, social media, texting, and calling, to name a few. Certain forms are associated with specific topic. For example, articles on a news website often communicate what is happening within the country and around the world while texting and calling are usually used for communication related to personal topics. In this example, calling is considered more serious while texting is more day-to-day. What I mean by this, is most people choose to text nowadays rather than call. If someone gets a call, they usually associate with something more important compared to a text. Because of this, the form in which one chooses to communicate, communicates more to the recipient than solely the message.

Something else that communicates more to the recipient than the message is the tone in which the messenger uses. Like forms of communications, tone is associated with certain things. For example, a respectful tone is used when talking to someone with more power (or higher up) than one, like a student to a teacher or an employee to their boss. Meanwhile, the tone is kept casual from student to student and employee to employee. Other tones that are often used when communicating are: dark, humorous, enthusiastic, energetic, light, etc.

When Gee says that someone can speak with perfect grammar and be “wrong nonetheless”, it could be interpreted as what someone says is not necessarily the truth. Their statement might sound right, but could be riddled with lies or built on an unsturdy foundation. I believe Gee is trying to warn the reader to not quickly or easily believe what they read or might be told. Instead, they should investigate their source and make sure it is reliable. This is important because having evidence to back up your claims is all fun and good, but if your evidence is not flawless, it will never help you, but it can hurt you.

This does not conflict with what I have been taught prior in this class. In this class, it has always been both encouraged and directed to investigate our sources, make sure they are reliable. For a claim is only as good as its evidence and evidence is only good so long as it is truthful and reliable. Without good evidence, you can not back up your claims and have lost the advantage of persuading the reader to your side and to believe in your claim.

The media I mostly rely on stories, music, and YouTube. Music influences my mood which affects the way I see the world. If I am in a bad mood, I am less open to what is around me; I focus more on myself rather than others or what is going on around me. However, If I listen to an upbeat song, I will become happier and see the world as a brighter place; I will not be as closed off and will seem more inviting to others, as well as feel more inviting. There are also emotional songs that will affect my mood and will put me in between a bad mood and a happy one. These songs usually calm me, not just make me happy. The calmer I am the less judgy I am (which usually is not much) and the more I am willing to do. In doing more, I am opening the possibilities to who I meet, what will happen (the outcome), and new things. One recent example of how music affected my mood is when my family made me upset. I went up to my room and started listening to music that was both emotional and upbeat to calm my self (distract me from thinking about it) and make me happier. Before listening to the songs, I did not want to do anything at all; however, afterwards, I was more interested in doing things with my friends instead of laying in bed bed all day on my phone.

On YouTube, I generally listen to music or watch funny videos. As said before, the music affects my mood and my outlook on the world. Funny videos do this too. Just like anyone else, they make me laugh which makes me happier. For example, recently I have been watching ‘Fluffy’ Gabriel Iglesias videos. The jokes Fluffy makes are true stories and he delivers them perfectly. He also adds sound effects (he does himself, no equipment) that enhance his performance.I think this is one of the main things that stands out about him. Out of the videos I have seen of comedians, not many do these sounds effects and I can not compare anyone to Fluffy. I also watched a video where a group of men were ‘synchronized swimming’ on a stage instead of in water. I think what stands out in this video, besides it being funny, it that it is relatable. I personally have never participated in synchronized swimming, but I can imagine myself doing it which can be just as important to an audience as having experienced it first hand.

Over the years, I have begun to read more and more stories. I first started out with books like The Uglies Series: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras, The Flawed Series: Flawed, Perfect, and To Kill a Mockingbird. After, I found Episode and Wattpad where I would read stories about romance in gangs, fan-fictions, and fantasy stories about werewolves and vampires. What draws me to these are the fact that I have an interest in the topics. The Uglies and Flawed series both have female protagonists that have to stand up against society for what they believe in. Both series are based in a dystopian society. On the other hand, I have always loved fantasy since I was little and that love stayed with me as I grew older. It could also be the romance aspect to them. Most vampire and werewolf stories nowadays have at least a little aspect of romance to them. This would also tie in what attracts me to stories about romance in gangs. As for fan-fictions, they are taking characters I already know and love and continuing their story. Fan-fictions are also often crossovers; so more characters that I love get to meet each other and I get to see how they interact with one another. When reading a story, I also love when the author includes comedy.

Some genres I feel I know well are communication, hyperlinking, fantasy, memoirs, and essays. I learned the communication genre from teachers, parents, and experience. As I got older, I was taught more forms of communication and given access to them. Some forms of communication could also become serious. For example, I never had to email someone where it could not be casual until I got an email for school or started a job. Now, I know to email my teachers and my boss professionally compared to casually. When I was very young, I did not have my own phone and therefore was not able to share a number to communicate with someone personally and I was also not able to text. If I wanted to call my friends, I had to use the home phone or one of my parents cell phones. Before that, I had to learn from my parents how to make a call.

The hyperlinking genre was taught to me by teachers and peers. One generally does not have to insert a hyperlink on a daily basis. They are mostly used for electronic projects, essays (including the article you are writing your essay on in the essay), or sharing certain things like videos or images with friends. While learning this genre, I would usually ask teachers or peers for help .

The fantasy genre was taught to me by authors. I love reading fantasy, it is my go to when looking for a new book to read. Because I have read so many fantasy books, I have developed a skill for it. Whenever I watch a movie or read a book, I find myself figuring out at least parts of the plot or details in the story before they are revealed.

Teachers taught me the essay and memoir genres. Since third grade, I have been taught how to write essays. As another year came, new techniques were added, some old techniques were taken away, things were changed completely, or we were retaught techniques. I have also developed this genre through much experience over the years. The memoir genre was taught to me in eighth grade when my English teacher gave us the assignment of writing twenty memoirs over the course of the year and inserting them into a scrapbook. My eighth grade English teacher taught me what a memoir is and how to rite one and then the experience I have from writing so many memoirs has developed my skill in this genre.

A well known example of a pop-culture genre in a movie is in the Twilight series. This series is a great example of the fantasy genre, or more specifically, the werewolf and vampire genres. Until about the beginning of the 2000s, vampire were generally seen in horror films and were “feared” by society (at least in the films). They were slayers. Now, the genre of vampires has transformed to where vampires are romanticized. We can see the romantic aspect to vampires in the Twilight series. The best example of this is Edward and Bella, however, we still see romance with vampire elsewhere in the movie, it just does not include humans in the relationship. Some of these relationships include Carlisle and Esme, Emmett and Rosalie, and Alice and Jasper. However, the vampire genre is not the only genre to take this turn. The werewolf genre also went from being in horror films until around the 2000s to being romanticized. We see this romance throughout most of the series with Jacob and Bella. Although, in the end, Jacob ends up in a relationship with Bella’s daughter, Reneseme. Also, because of all the romance in this series, we can say that the romance genre is heavily present.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
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• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.