Final Drafts

Comic Anylisis

Annotated Bibliography

Argumentative Essay by madelinerallen

Workshop Reflection: Argumentative Paper

1. Xaiver's advised me to get rid of a few of my rhetorical questions because I had too many. He always helped me with some sentence structure, and as always asnwering questions I left my audience with. For example in the part of my paper where I start talking about standardized testing he wanted me to elaborate more. I never did elaborate because I was scared it would start to sound like I was going off on a tangent. He assured me I wouldnt so thats what I have to fix.
MC advisaed me to stop being so incredibly personal. Theres certain places in my paper where its unneeded and will be much stronger if I just talk more about my sources instead. For example when i say things like "I wanted to dig deeper." He also had me change some things like "smaller class sizes" to "student teacher ratio" so it wouldnt sound so repetitive.
Megan told me to make the introduction of my paper more clear as to which argument I'm using as well.

2.The most helpful piece of advice I recieved was from Megan. She said that parts of my essay were good enough to keep so personal, however there are some that can go which will make my essay stronger. Like MC, she thinks that I should get rid of the paragraph where I start talking about my reseach process.

3.The least helpful advice as always are things like sentence structure and a paragraph I wrote in second person. These are easy fixes that probably why they are the least helpful.

4. I plan to drop almost all of my rehtorical questions and turn them into stronger, blunt sentences. Also I want to get rid of a lot of first person and talk more about the view of my sources. Also I think I can bring up other benefits rather than smaller class sizes to help change more of the argument against public schools. Last but not least I will make sure its clear that my introduction becomes more clear that my paper is a rogerian argument.

Final Reflection

My final look back at English 112 starts with a deep breath in and deep breath out. This class took up the majority of my school work time. Each week I really did not know how I was going to keep moving forward in this class. I think the most important part of excelling in a class, is knowing the teacher. Megan is a great teacher, but in her class you have to be a great student. She throws no free bees. However she was extremely awesome at helping me every time I asked for it. I have decided to reflect fully on how I changed as a writer.

I have always loved writing, therefore I had always loved English. This class really tested my love for it. It made me realize that not all of my writing can always be creative and catchy, that it can also be challenging and informative too. I've always thought my writing was good. I never liked sharing it though. I've always been the writer to loose myself in it, and I never understood I was that way until I read this interview.  She talks about advice she once got from her teacher. She said "Write what you know you don’t know about what you know.” I love this. she says she loves writing because more often times than not, she "doesn't know what shes going to say, until she says it." I can say that i find myself in this predicament all the time. The thing about this class is that you have to pick your topic quickly and you have to marry it without looking back. So I had to make sure that it was something i knew i could talk about forever and ever. GUUHHHREATTT. What if I hate my topic I thought. What the heck am I going to do? Thank you Exploratory Proposal. Let me tell you, I have never been so confused about an assignment in my life. However when you donut know what to talk about, you kind of end up right where you want to be. I didn't even realized my topic at first. I just wanted to do teaching techniques and how they differed through out different types of schools. I think I had the Social Class Article in the back of my head when I was writing. Then I discussed everything with my group and realized I found myself in a position to write about public school vs. private school, and i never really looked back. The thing about this topic is that it was something near and dear to my heart. My childhood best friend attended both public school and private school. She had a not so good experience and begged her parents to send her to public school. I wanted this. At first I didn't think I was going to tell my friend Logan about it. Until I found myself in a position to where I wasn't going to do my friend justice if I didn't put her story in it. So, two days before my annotated bibliography was due, I called her up and told her where I was at. She was more then excited to help. She said that if she could help in some way decide another students fate she would do so without thinking twice.

Writing before this class was just "fun writing" you know? Anytime I get the chance to be creative with my writing I take it, and run with it. Like on February 5, 2013 when I wrote The View From A Six Year Old. That day we got to use our imaginations and that's what I love doing. Usually because when you use your imagination, your escaping from real life, and there is nothing more exciting then leaving reality behind. Through out this class we were not able to write like this. Because most of the time comprimising doesnt always work. We talked about comprimising on april 4, 2013. This quote is funny because it is insisting that comprimising never happens. This is kind of ironic because in an argumentative essay you have to write a comprimise. Even though through out the whole paper your trying to prove the other side wrong. In argumentative writing only one thing matters. FACTS. Who said this? Why should we believe it? What does this statistic mean? Why is it important? Argumentative writing sometimes makes me what to puke. I usually end up looking like this poor boy. The thing is though, when I believe in something, and I'm passionate about it, I can not be beat in a an argument. I have a belief and it will remain that way until proven otherwise. Megan introduced a set of rules to us that describes my family's style of arguing perfectly. Some of the rules were things like yelling louder and calling your opponent Hitler. This is how I responded. It can be completely ridiculous to argue that way and it could never work in academia, however it is a little easier to call your opponent Hitler, than it is to find information to back your own self up. Thats probably where I struggled most in this class. Was finding perfect sources to make my argument happen. They had to say things that i believed would help me. I needed sources that were good for both sides. Logan ultimatley balanced my topic out. I thought I wanted to write Toulmin. However I felt muh more comfotable with the layout of Rogerian. Also I didnt want one of my sides to "win." They both need fixing.

Fixing. Thats something that happened a lot through out this class. Each paper changed so much from the way it started. I waws always proud of my papers. But this class taught me not to be proud until you see the final grade, because you never know what Megan or your audience is going to think, and I think thats the best lesson I learned in this class: You may start writing for yourself, but in the end its not how you feel, it is how your audience feels.

First Draft Argumentative Essay

Madeline Allen

Megan Keaton

English 112

24 April 2013

Argumentative Essay

            There is an ongoing argument among parents, teachers, and even students. It isn’t about state testing, or where the next school will be built, it is about private school and whether or not the benefits outweigh the costs. A private school on average can cost $12,000 to $30,000 a year. However private schools offer a much higher exposure to arts, have a much smaller student teacher ratio, and can almost guarantee their students admission to college (Kennedy n.p.). Public school on the other hand, can offer a more common culture and give each student an equal range of opportunity. And they just so happens to be absolutely free. If each parent had the funds to put a child into private school, they would. If each private school had the room to accept every child, they would. To avoid putting students in a school in which they feel like they cannot excel, or one in which parents cannot afford, we as citizens should propose a law that helps any child attend a private school, even if their parents cannot afford it. Also all public school funding should be raised to equal the amount of money put into the average private school per district. Each child in our country deserves an unlimited amount of education, should they wish to have it.

Because private schools and public schools are so different, I wanted to dig deep into the subject. At first I wanted to know if there truly was a difference in private school. Did they really have distinct teaching methods, and smaller class sizes, and elaborate art programs? Twenty minutes into my research I started questioning just how much I possibly missed out on as a child. I attended every public school the district assigned to me, and I loved it. However I am an adult now. I know the importance of education because without it, it’s impossible to survive in the real world. In an article written by Robert Kennedy he lists the immense amount of benefits private school has for children. Things like smaller class sizes, higher exposure to arts, community service and sense of values taught to each child are among the many benefits (Kennedy n.p.). Needless to say, my little fire for public schools was slowly burned out with each word my eyes read, until I came across another article written by Julie Mack, Back to School: Why Public Education is Awesome. Using an incredible amount of pathos, she tells a story about an “adopted teenage boy from Central America who has to adjust to life in Michigan” (Mack n.p.). He comes from a place where educational options are almost non-existent. “The child could hardly believe his good fortune is being able to attend high school for free, a school that offers a broad curriculum and even provided textbooks”(Mack n.p.). Thus, a little boy from Central America relit my fire. Except now I have two burning flames: one for private school and one for public school. Which flame is bigger?

“Many private schools require that their students complete a mandatory number of community service hours”(Kennedy n.p.). Students are taught to respect the community and find and importance of contributing to society. They could also find themselves possible career opportunities like political aid for counseling of teens. The importance of this is to teach students that learning is not just to be done in schools (Kennedy n.p.). However, it is hard to compare being forced to help out in a soup kitchen as an assignment, to sitting next to another student in class who doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from. There is something very humbling knowing that children are placed into one classroom of different socio-economic backgrounds, and are able to learn together, and to learn from each other. For example, finding out your best friend has little money for new shoes, can teach you a little bit more about life than stirring up soup in a bowl.

Community service in private schools, can be compared to a different cultural aspect offered in public schools, however the art programs in private schools stands alone. “Private schools have the ability to create their own curriculum” (Kennedy n.p.). Of course they must provide their students with the same basic courses as other schools; they have the extra funding to take it a step further by adding a much higher emphasis on the arts. I took a few art classes in high school, and I always thought of them as an escape. This is because I am a creative person and sitting in cookie-cutter math class rarely kept me interested. I know for a fact that I am not the only student like this. Opportunities like these are what make private schools worth the extra money. “Government regulations on public schools prevent them from spending more than a certain percentage of school funds on the Arts. Private schools, however, are not subject to the same regulations and they have more freedom to expand these programs as they wish” (Kennedy, n.p.) Students can participate in elaborate plays and musicals. They even have filmmaking or video classes. Where students cannot express themselves by clothing of choice because of uniforms, they are able to make up for it through art. How are private schools not all they cracked up to be?

 Inspired by the tribulations my childhood best friend faced, I found out every detail of her experience in private school. She attended a Christian private school from pre-k to seventh grade. After spending every moment she wasn’t at school begging her parents to switch schools, they pulled her out, mid-semester, to join me at our local public school. At the time, I was just excited to be going to the same school as her. As a child it is hard to notice other people’s problems aside from your own. Looking back now, I can fully see the effects private school had on her. Now, at the older age of 20 I decided to sit my best friend down to stir up old emotions on private school. Most of her classmates were extremely wealthy. She for the most part was able to blend in due to the fact that everyone was in uniforms. However, even ten years later she remembered a girl making fun of her hand-me-down tennis shoes from her older sister Katie. Getting new shoes and new clothes was not exactly something Logan was accustomed to like her peers. Her parents didn’t make salaries even comparable to other parents. They saved up each year to pay the tuition bill because they wanted “what’s best” for Logan (Williamson, n.p.). The bullying got worse once she reached middle-school age. “The words they used against me started defining my confidence. I felt like I was less, because my family had less. I know it affected my parents too. They wanted to seem rich, which was the entire reason I was forced to go to private school in general. They wanted to be a part of that crowd… I hated going to sleep because that meant I would have to wake up and go to school again” (Williamson, n.p.).

The problem comparing schools academically is that all students are forced to take the same tests. This makes it a little bit easier for the government, and even the parents to believe that the schools are equal, because they take all the same standardized tests, when in fact students in public schools spend much more time focusing on them. “Increasing charter schools, giving public schools letter grades, abolishing teacher tenure and piling on new standardized tests- all moves that have been passed or proposed by the state legislature- are false reforms that hurt kids and enrich corporations” (Doss, n.p.). This is equally affecting all of our students however not equally affecting teachers at public schools. Private School teachers are able to breathe easy when it comes to standardized test because they are what they say: written at standard level. Private schools are usually much higher. Public schools on the other hand have children who aren’t on equal levels as their classmates and test scores hurt teachers and their pay. This is a huge problem starting to occur, however no one seems to be talking about it or even fully understanding it. Diane Ravitch spoke at UNC Charlotte on the issue. “What it comes down to is a handful of people with a huge amount of money versus the American people. Parents are the sleeping giant, but when the students awaken everything changes” (Doss, n.p.) Standardized testing is another issue, however it is affecting public schools and private schools in different ways and it needs to be changed.

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian education scholar has a love and hope for American education. He believes “in a cultural frame, we take advantage of a minimum of freedom to amplify that freedom”(125). We have the right to fight for something we think we deserve. Exactly five decades ago Martin Luther King made a speech fighting for equal rights for not only him but for his children and other generations to come. He was fighting for the desegregation of schools. Are we as Americans, taking advantage of the hard work our founding fathers put in to give us an education system? After all “one of Americas gifts to the world has been the democratizing of schools…It helped turn the US into the most powerful country in the world, fueling the American dream and the vision of a Land of Opportunity”(Mack, n.p.). We are lucky to live here, and more importantly we are lucky to have the right to say and do, and change whatever we like.

Logan’s story with private school is heartbreaking, however when she entered public school her life took a turn for the better, she became on fire about going to school as did the child’s from Central America. No child should ever hate coming to school. What is it that we as a society can change? We need to change the difference in our schools. No longer are our schools segregated by race and no longer should they be segregated by socio-economic level. This will lower bullying and give a better experience and opportunity for students who do not have the money to put towards school. If everyone shared a love for school like Paulo Freire, Julie Mack and Robert Kennedy, we could change the way America learns, thus changing the way America thinks. We have the rights and the ability to do whatever we feel. In the words of a little Central American boy “what a privilege, what an opportunity, what a country” (Mack, n.p.).

Works Cited
Doss, Ann. “Education Advocate: NC On The Wrong Path.” Charlotte Observer. 21 March 2013: 2

pages. Web.

Freire, Paulo. Teachers As Cultural Workers. Colorado: Westview Press, 2005. Print.

Kennedy, Robert. “Why Private School.” Private School Review. N.d. 20 May 2013. Web.

Mack, Julie. “Back to School: Why Public Education is Awesome.” MLive. 01 September 2012.

Williamson, Logan. Personal Interview. 3 April 2013

Annotated Bibliography Revision

 

1.The most helpful piece of advice I recieved was all of the comments on the part about each authors argument. I feel like I have a hard time getting out what I'm trying to say when I'm explainging why I think they did a good job at making their point. Having this extra back up now in the argument paragraphs really helps me understand why these articles are so good for my paper.

 

2. The least helpful piece of advice is probably fixing a citation. It was a small mistake so it was very easy to fix.

 

3. I dont feel like I have any questions. I know there is probably always more I can do with my writing so I guess I would like to know exactly where my weakest points are in analyzing articles, and where it shows up in my papers.

 

4. I really tried to answer the questions megan was left with after reading my annotated bibliography. I wanted to put her and the rest of my audience in a position that doesnt leave them with any questions at all. So I really tried to be more descriptive and seperate parts of the authors arguments so they could feel as if they read the article too. This si shown mostly in the second paragraph of each bibliography when talking about the authors argument.

Rogerian Argument

Setting: The dining hall of Renaissance Hotel in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. Where the Education is Our Future Gala is held annually. People are laughing and talking of summer break, the upcoming school year, the public school budget, and the new schools being built. Everyone from public and private schools are invited. The money raised goes all the schools who participate.

Me: My child is four years old, and will be starting kindergarten the following school year. I’m just having a terrible time deciding public or private?

Logan: I hated public school! I switched to public school my seventh grade school year and I’ve never looked back.

Kennedy: Yeah but a major advantage to private education is that your child will likely be challenged to a higher academic standard.

Logan: Maybe? I constantly felt like I was doing busy work, not learning. I can see how you can say that though. When I schools I was on a math level much higher math level than my classmates.

Mack: Who wants to pay that tuition though? Plenty of high school children get accepted to college from a public school, because if you ask me, children in public schools are a little bit more independent and ready for college.

Kennedy: Actually Mack, you’re right about part of that. the student teacher ratio at private schools is much smaller. The students have more opportunities to form relationships with their teachers.

Logan: I can see how that can sound great, but sometimes I would find that some of my teachers had no idea what they were doing, or much less, if you weren't their favorite student, it was harder to blend in with the rest. I found I didn't want a relationship with my teachers.

Mack: What do you mean “they didn't know what they were doing” Logan?

Logan: My history teacher didn't even have a teaching degree!

Freire: I can see how you may think your teacher didn't know what he is doing, but I don’t think he would have been hired if he didn't want to teach.

Logan: I was actually the only class in private school I remotely enjoyed. So I guess that makes sense.

Kennedy: How artistic is your four year old? Private schools may teach the same curriculum, however they have the funding to add extra classes that may not be available to your child till college.

Freire: And how passionate are those art teachers! Able to work with children and their love for art!

Helms: You make a great point about the teachers Freire. You know they are paying the teachers based on the children's grades this year!

Kennedy: Yes I heard! Thankfully students at private schools have to spend little time preparing for those standardized tests, because usually they are much more prepared for them without knowing! A friend of mine says her daughter spends entire days at school preparing for one silly test!

Mack: Really? My son goes to a public school and the grade he gets on the test doesnt even count towards his grade for the class! His teacher told him its a measurement to see how good she is doing, not how well the student is doing in her class. The goverment just wants to make sure the teachers are doing their job correctly. At the end of the day, an extra test should be looked at as extra practice for students.

Logan: I was scared of standardized tests when I first came to public school, because they are made a much bigger deal, however I like knowing that teachers are going to be watched more carefully now. I think they spend more time on it in public school because they can loose their job much easily. The last three weeks consisted of seeing my teachers cry in class because they were forced to change schools and take a job that sometimes wasn't even in their field.

Kennedy: Exactly why private schools do a better job! They are just too hard to ignore. The sense of values that are also taught and instilled there can teach your child to not only be a better student but a better person.

Logan: I went to a Christian private school, so yes everyone is well behaved when their in church. You wouldn't believe your ears if you hear the conversations at lunch though.

Mack: What do you mean?

Logan: Almost everyone at private school write their tuition check just as easily as they give their children tons of cash to go buy drugs and alcohol. Some of the kids are there because they were kicked out of public school. It was hard for me to find a real friend there. Public school was where I found myself and real friends too. Yes there are bad kids at public school, but there are also good kids who chose to be that way themselves instead trying to be taught that way.

Me: So Logan, you are saying that, even with all the benefits private school has, public school was better?

Logan: Yes and no. I only went to two different private schools. However I myself liked public school much better.

Me: I’m afraid I’m still stuck. I want my child to be taught values at school, and I also want him to be able to be independent too. Maybe we should look into bettering our public schools. Maybe the budget should stop being cut, and maybe we could focus more on art and values the way private school does. That way every child has the chance to excel, and if you have the extra money for private school and you wish to send your child there, then do it.

Kennedy: That makes perfect sense. I love the private school that my children go to, but I have no problem with improving the public schools in my area.

Mack: Public schools are a gift one generation of America gave to the next. It would be a shame to not improve if for the generation after ours.

Friere: Yes let’s start with the teachers!

Helms: Yes let’s do!

Annotated Bibliography: Second Draft

Madeline Allen

Megan Keaton

English 112

28 March 2013                                                                              

Kennedy, Robert. “Why Private School.” Private School Review. N.d. 20 May 2013. Web.

            Going to a private school means many extra opportunities for a child. More often than not, they will be more academically challenged, have a smaller class size, more exposure to arts, more funds to their education, a harder push towards college, higher sense of values and the list continues to go on and on. Private schools are most known for their high tuition costs, however little to no scandal as to where that money goes. Children rarely have to come home and ask their parents to buy a book or other school supplies like the children from public schools do. Also at private schools children have a better chance to interact with their teachers more often, because of smaller class sizes. The opportunities for excelling in arts and college continue to soar in private schools. Again, because of the funding private schools are able to add music, dance, and theatre programs to their curriculum at the snap of a finger. “According to NELS, students who had attended private school in 8^th grade were twice as likely…to have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher by their mid-twenties” (Kennedy n.p.). All in all, private school is a very attractive option for a parent deciding which school their child should attend.

            Kennedy does a very good job at explaining his argument. He pounds his audience with facts and statistics. In his first paragraph he lays out all the problems and costs a parent has when picking a school for their child. He talks about expenses and for the rest of his essay he is able to explain why private schools are worth that scary tuition bill.

            Because I have never attended private school, this gives me an inside scoop as to what goes on in it. All the benefits help me understand why this side of my argument can be so strong. It also gives a great source of statistics for both private and public schools. I feel like after reading this article I would want my child to go to a private school if I could easily afford it. Using certain quotes from this article will make the private school argument much stronger.

•    “Private schools typically have more demanding graduation requirements than do public high schools.”  
•  “In general a student given the opportunity to attend private school will most likely reach a higher level of academic achievement.”
•   “Private schools have the ability to create their own curriculum…administrators often develop programs that emphasize the arts.”

Doss, Ann. “Education Advocate: NC On The Wrong Path.” Charlotte Observer. 21 March 2013: 2

pages. Web.

Dianne Ravitch is Education Advocate and Author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, made a speech at UNC Charlotte. Ann Doss covers the story in the charlotte observer. The speech she mad focused on “major public issues,” including the amount of new state tests and how they are going to benefit testing and technology companies and hurt students. There are 35 new tests coming to schools this spring. MecklenburgACTS and UnTest, two local activist groups run by parents and UNCC students joined Ravitch to urge parents and members of the audience to resist this new “reliance” on testing to rate teachers. However Ravitch was able to praise the Superintendent, Heath Morrison for also taking a stand against excessive testing. She even added him to the honor roll of her blog after she read a few of his comments in a previous article in the Observer.

Doss does a good job of getting her point across, even though she is basically covering the story of Ravitch’s speech. Her thesis is “Increasing charter schools, giving public schools letter grades, abolishing teacher tenure and piling on new  tests – all moves that have been passed or proposed by state legislature,” is strong and give the audience a good outlook as to what the article is about. Doss is able to add other information to make the cover story stronger by stating the new amount of standardized tests.

This source will help me most with quotes that I can add to help make my paper stronger. Because Dianne Ravitch is so involved with education throughout the country I will be able to practice ethos by quoting her. She is a writer and author, as well as an advocate and former official in the U.S Education Department. This argument works well for the private school side of my paper because it makes public schools look bad.

·         “Its an effort to turn public Education into a profit making venture”

·         “Parents are the sleeping giant, but when the students awaken, everything changes.”

·         “There are so many terrible things happening in your state that I feel like a fireman.”

Mack, Julie. “Back to School: Why Public Education is Awesome.” MLive. 01 September 2012.

Web. 28 March 28, 2013.

The article first starts out telling a story about an adopted teenage boy from Central America adjusting to life in Michigan. Almost no one spoke his language. He grew into the idea of public school and actually became very enthusiastic about it. He couldn’t believe his schooling was free. Mack continues to talk about how the boy was thrilled to be so lucky. Then she twists the article and calls out all the bad press that public school gets. Then she goes on a complete rampage talking about what public schools do for our country. She describes public schools as “one of America’s gift to the world.”  Public school is the primary way to instill core values and a common culture to a nation of immigrants. Public education not only helps individuals one by one, but also communities as a whole. “A well-educated populace has more productive workers, higher incomes and less dependence on public assistance programs; it’s linked to lower crime rates, improved public health, and more stable families” (Mack n.p.)

Mack does an excellent job arguing her point. She has no problem talking about the bad press public schools get and exercising her ability of ethos by starting out a story with a young boy and chooses to step back and looks at public school throughout the nation instead of focusing on one, in a community. She chooses to end her article with “What a privilege. What an opportunity. What a country.” Three very strong statements that help the audience step back and realize that no matter which school they go to, there is always one available for them.

I feel like my public school argument is falling through the cracks and this cannot be a one sided paper, particularly when I personally believe that public school is just as good a private school, depending on the child. This article will help me show that public schools are extremely effective and work well for a child.

• “One of America’s gifts to the world has been the democratizing of schools.
•    “A well-educated populace has more productive workers, higher incomes and less dependence on public assistance programs; it’s linked to lower crime rates, improved public health, and more stable families.”
• “It helped turned the US into the most powerful country in the world, fueling the American dream and the vision of a Land of Opportunity.”

Freire, Paulo. Teachers As Cultural Workers. Colorado: Westview Press, 2005. Print.

            This book is almost an advice book for teachers. It is split up into many different categories, like why he became a teacher, to the first day of school. It is in this order, because it’s really a collection of essays. There are many points about dealing with funding, and pay for schools, teaching techniques, and how to run with a child’s curiosity. It’s a view of education from a teachers stand point, a breath of fresh air from a politician or an unhappy parent. Freire, a Brazilian education scholar, has a love, and a hope to American education. It is shown in every single line of this book. His main focus is the fight for education and the importance of it.

            The author’s argument is very strong. As an outside source, viewing American education, the audience is able to take a step back with Freire and see his point of view. His format is split into essays which are split into chapters. Each line could be ripped from the pages and quoted to a teacher for advice. The use of ethos inside of this book makes each audience member take a new look at education.

            This book is very informational. I probably would have never thought to use it for my paper because it’s a book about teaching, which hardly fits with my topic. However, he talks about the struggles of funding in education, which is a main point I am going to talk about in my paper. He stresses points about a political battle that must be overcome. This will be the parts of the book that will fit in with my paper. I’ll be able to use it from a teachers stand point to make the private school side of my paper much stronger with this quote. Also he talks about the cultural aspect of education which goes hand in hand with my argument for public school.

•     When speaking about the ability to have an education system he says “ in a cultural frame, we take advantage of a minimum of freedom to amplify that freedom” (125)
•    “We would be naïve, however, if we disregarded the need for a political struggle, the need to clarify for the public the real condition of teaching profession, and the need to compare the salaries of different professionals and to point out the disparity between them” (69).
•      The attribute ‘cultural,’ expanded from the restrictive attribute ‘class,’ does not exhaust the understanding of the term ‘identity’” (123).

Williamson, Logan. Personal Interview. 3 April 2013

            Williamson was ecstatic to do the interview. She felt getting her story out, in some way, might help the ever occurring problem of bullying inside of private school walls. She answered questions humbly and honest. Anyone around her could feel emotion. Logan explained how her first six years of school were carried out in a private school. She talked about how she was bullied, by both students and teachers. She talked about the work load. She talked about her hatred for learning, and even more her hatred for school. She would beg her mom every morning to stay home. She believed even though it was a Christian school, she had found hell on earth. She talked about her friends turning on her because of the size of her house, and the lack of cleanliness her tennis shoes had. She was a tomboy, and didn’t fit with the girls who were decked out in girly ways even though they were forced to wear uniforms. All students can remember making Christmas ornaments and having their picture taken in the school hallways for quick gift to their parents. Logan brought three of hers. In none of them she smiled. Her heart breaking story has a happy ending though. It ends with her first day of public school. With an in depth detail of the outfit she wore, and the imaginary runway she walked on through the hallways. She didn’t become popular in public school, but she had real friends, real teachers and a real life she wanted.

            Logan’s argument for the inside “horrors” of private schools is very strong. She was descriptive and emotional. Real pain and real happiness covered her face throughout the interview. Her argument shows just how the atmosphere of school matters to a child and their learning experience.

            This will be the strongest point I make. This is the entire reason I chose my topic. Logan is my best friend and the will and fight she had to get her parents to put her into a public school is why I wanted to learn more about the differences. I had no idea at the begging of Megan’s class that I would choose this topic until I realized where I ended up researching. Direct quotes from Williamson will be the most useful part of this source.

•        “I hated going to sleep, because that meant I would soon have to wake up and go to school.”
•        “The words they used against me started to define my confidence. I felt like I was less, because my family has less. I know it affected my parents too. They wanted to seem rich, which was the entire reason I was forced to go to a private school in general. They wanted to be a part of that crowd.”
•      “This is silly, but the first time I realized I was going to have a used textbook was kind of exciting. It didn’t have a back but it had other notes in it.”
•      "I smiled, I learned, I met amazing classmates, and I wanted to learn again."

Workshop Reflection: Annotated Bibliogpraphy

1. Most of my group members told me about grammar and sentence structure. Xaiver asked me a few questions throughout my paper showing me that I need to take my ideas a little bit further. in a few places he used the words "did what?" I can see now that I can further explain just how each article is helping me. He also told me about how I had to much repetition at one point. MC reminded me that I cannot have the extra space between paragraphs. He also challenged my use of quoting in my second bibliography. He wanted to know just how a certain quote would fit in with my paper. This showed me that I also need further explanation in this area of my paper. Joey challenged one of my entire articles to see if it really fit in with my topic. After rethinking it, I think I will be doing away with that entire article in general. It was adding too much information that really didn't help either side of my argument.

2.The most helpful piece of advice I received was from Joey to get rid of one of my entire articles. I am now forced to search for more topics, however in the end I think that is what will make my paper stronger, because I wont have extra fluff, that will do nothing but bore my audience.

3. The least helpful piece of advice I received are small comments on grammar, and paragraph structure. These are easy fixes and I probably could have noticed them myself. However I'm still have I have three extra sets of eyes to look at it before Megan does.

4. First I must find two more articles and write bibliographies on them. Research is my favorite part of writing the paper because it is what builds the paper up. Now that I've discussed the two sides of my topic with my group I now have a better understanding of what my audience wants to hear, especially when it comes to each side of my argument. I know the strong points of each side that I need to make, I just have to find the right articles to back myself up. Also I still need to find the right book because I have had little to no luck so far.