A13.5: Week 13 Participation Memo

Linsey Cushing

November 18, 2007

Week 13 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:

     This week, my goal was to turn in my final draft by Friday.  After this, I planned on finishing up the rest of the week’s assignments before Monday the 19th because that is my birthday! I wanted to be able to spend the rest of the week enjoying myself and spending time with my family for Thanksgiving.  Of course I will have to spend time on other classes’ homework and begin my Movie Maker for this class, but as of right now, I am giving myself a much needed break!

Declarative Knowledge:

     This week, I learned a lot about age of cochlear implantation and reading ability in children.  In my conclusion for my research paper, I decided that age of implantation does have an effect on reading ability.  I learned that the earlier a child is implanted, the better that child’s reading abilities, including reading comprehension, vocabulary, and word reading, will be.  I also learned that everyone, both hearing and hearing impaired, learn to read utilizing the same skills.  These skills include phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency.  Everyone also develops reading in the same stages.  However, deaf people usually plateau at Stage 3 out of 5, where hearing people and children who are implanted early in life have the potential to reach Stage 5.  Overall, I learned the importance of early intervention in children with severe to profound hearing losses so that they have the chance to be implanted early enough to reach normal or close to normal reading and academic achievements. 

    I also realized something very important this week: No matter how many times I revise a paper, it still can be improved.  I finally reached a point where I stopped and made myself turn my paper in.  However, I am sure that there are areas in the paper that could still be improved.  In the end, though, I revised and edited to the best of my abilities.   

Procedural Knowledge:

     This week, I did not necessarily learn how to do anything new.  However, the processes that I did use this week were crucial for the success of my paper.  I critiqued and edited my paper numerous times in order to make it ready for turning in.  However, as mentioned above, I could have done this many more times.  In addition to the process of finalizing my paper, I also wrote drafts for my Preface, Acknowledgements, and About the Author sections. 

Conditional Knowledge:

    This week, I learned a lot about the process of editing and revising a paper.  I realized that you come to a point of revision where you have to stop and turn in the paper.  I have learned so much about my actual topic and the process of writing papers during this research project.  As a student, the information I learned this week will greatly benefit me in the future because I have become a better writer and editor by writing this research paper.  This can only help my research and writing skills in the future.  I also have learned a lot more about cochlear implants, which can benefit me as a student because one of my current classes is Aural Rehabilitation.  As a pre-professional, the skills I have learned this week are very important.  I am sure that my researching will not end here; rather, I will continue to research cochlear implants and the benefits of early implantation, both in reading ability and other aspects.  I also have become better at writing, critiquing, and editing by doing this research paper, which will benefit me when doing future projects.  As a citizen, the information I’ve learned through this research has made me much more knowledgeable about the benefits of early intervention and early implantation, which I can advocate.  Also, I have learned a lot more about the importance of literacy itself, which can be relayed to my community.   

About the Author

Linsey Cushing is currently a senior in the Communication Disorders Department at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.  After graduating in May with her Bachelor of Science degree, Linsey plans on getting her Master’s degree in Speech-Lanugage Pathology.  Linsey’s major area of interest for future work is with the pediatric population, especially cochlear implants and children on the Autism spectrum. She is the secretary of Marshall University’s chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA). When she is not busy with school, Linsey enjoys teaching dance at Libby’s Dance Connection in South Charleston, West Virginia, to pupils ranging from three years old to adults.  She also enjoys dancing herself, especially jazz and tap.  Other hobbies include spending time with her friends and family, shopping, reading, and going to the beach.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank my instructor for this course, Mrs. Karen McComas, for helping me throughout the research process. She has helped me tremendously, from narrowing down my topic to creating questions (and giving me the encouragement to keep my head up when none of my questions were successful in finding research) to completing this final product. Thank you for always allowing your office (and e-mail inbox) to be open and for providing the encouragement!

I would also like to thank Ms. Amy Knell and Mrs. Jenni Butler for letting me observe the Luke Lee Listening, Language, and Learning Lab, better known as “The L,” throughout the semester. By watching these instructors work with three amazing cochlear implanted children, I have discovered my love for cochlear implants. Luke, Tayden, and Ean, you three are such an inspiration to all of us.

Finally, I would like to thank Joy Pyles and Caroline Banks for peer reviewing my paper. Without your help, my paper wouldn’t have turned out the way it has! Thanks so much!

Preface

When I first learned that we were going to be doing a research paper in this class, the only restrictions I was given were that the topic had to include something within our field and how it relates to literacy. At first, I had no clue what to research because I am interested in so many aspects of speech-language pathology. After a little bit of consideration, I narrowed it down to either disadvantaged children or cochlear implanted children. However, once I compared the two, I knew that I wanted to research cochlear implants because I am very interested in aural rehabilitation, especially in the auditory oral approach used with cochlear implants. Next, I had to think about cochlear implants as they relate to literacy. This is something that I had virtually no exposure to; all of my background has been in either the actual makeup of the implant and how it works or the therapy for children with implants. I began searching through the somewhat scarce research about cochlear implants to try and decide what aspect of literacy I wanted to focus on.

However, the thought process did not end here. At first, my essential question was, “How do cochlear implants affect a child’s literacy?” After meeting with my professor, I realized that this question was way too broad and I needed to create a more specific question. My professor and I developed a question that asked, “In what ways do cochlear implants facilitate the development of literacy skills through the auditory channel?” As I attempted to do research with this as my essential question, though, I was still having difficulties. After much deliberation, I finally decided to focus on reading development in children with cochlear implants because of the importance of language, and therefore hearing, in reading. My final question, which did not come about until I had completed much of my research and therefore was a work in progress, is, “How does age of implantation have an effect on reading ability in cochlear implanted children?”

References

References

Boothroyd, A., & Boothroyd-Turner, D. (2002). Postimplantation audition and educational attainment in children with prelingually acquired profound deafness.
The Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology. Supplement, 189, 79-84. Retrieved October 5, 2007, from the MEDLINE database.

Cole, E. B., & Flexer, C. (2007). Children with hearing loss: Developing listening and talking. San Diego: Plural Publishing.

Connor, C. M., & Zwolan, T. A. (2004). Examining multiple sources of influence on the reading comprehension skills of children who use cochlear implants. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 47, 509-526. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

Geers, A.E. (2003). Predictors of reading skill development in children with early cochlear implantation. Ear and Hearing, 24, 59S-68S. Retrieved October 5, 2007,
from the MEDLINE database.

Lagotic, D., Hofstetter, M., Hall, James, III, & Rosenberg, G. G. (2007). Early reading success: Proven results with classroom amplification technology. Retrieved
November 2, 2007, from http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/webinars/readingseminar.pdf

Marschark, M., Rhoten, C., & Fabich, M. (2007). Effects of cochlear implants on children’s reading and academic achievement. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf
Education, 12(3), 269-282. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from the ERIC database.

Scholastic Red (2002). A look at the research. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/r/reading_bestpractices_assessment_red_c1_L02_tr_alookrsrch.pdf

Sherman, L. W., & Cruse, T. L. (2004). Literacy achievement and early cochlear implantation in deaf children. Retrieved November 2, 2007, from
http://www.users.muohio.edu/shermalw/cruse_mwera2004.htm

Spencer, L.J., Barker, B.A., & Tomblin, J.B. (2003). Exploring the language and literacy outcomes of pediatric cochlear implant users. Ear and Hearing, 24, 236-247. Retrieved October 5, 2007, from the MEDLINE database.

The reading skills pyramid: The key reading skills & the steps in acquiring them (2004). Retrieved October 5, 2007, from http://www.time4learning.com/reading_skills_pyramid.htm 

I-Search Paper: Age of Cochlear Implantation and Reading Ability

Linsey Cushing

November 16, 2007

Introduction/Questioning

Literacy is an umbrella term that includes the essential areas of reading, writing, and digital skills. Before beginning my research, I recently discovered the vast amount of skills required to be considered literate in today’s society. You should be able to read, write, navigate the World Wide Web, differentiate meaningful versus false information, and utilize computer programs in order to make multimedia productions, among others. As I have learned from this class, literacy is no longer something you learn in elementary school. Rather, it is a never-ending process. Literacy is a gift that is often taken for granted by those who effortlessly read, write, and work on a computer on a daily basis. However, when this gift is taken away, or, in the case of hearing impaired people, never received in the first place, literacy is a looming challenge. Cochlear implants are currently aiding those who are deaf or who have a severe to profound hearing loss in hopes that one day, these people will become literate.

I decided to research a topic concerning cochlear implants and reading because I am very fascinated by cochlear implants and the reading aspect is something I am unfamiliar with. I’ve discovered that I am very drawn to therapy involving cochlear implants and find it very interesting and exciting. The fact that we, as speech-language pathologists, can help a deaf child hear and learn to read for the first time truly astounds me. I’ve realized that the impact cochlear implants have on the ability to communicate and understand language is profound. I chose this topic in hopes that I will possibly discover my “niche.” I figure that there’s no better way to discover what type of clients I want to work with in the future than through observation and research.

Lately, I have been hearing a lot about early intervention with cochlear implants. In other words, the earlier a child is identified with a hearing loss and considered to be a candidate for an implant, the sooner the child can be implanted. In turn, this earlier implantation leads to more exposure to auditory signals and better predictions for the child to be verbal someday. I applied this thought process to reading ability and came up with my essential question: “How does age of implantation have an effect on reading ability in cochlear implanted children?” After coming up with this main question, I thought of several supporting, or foundation, questions to help guide my research. First, I wanted to know, “What skills are required to learn how to read and which of these utilize the auditory channel?” Next, I needed information concerning, “What are cochlear implants?” Finally, I wondered, “What is the relationship between age of implantation and reading ability?” It is my hope that by researching these questions, I will come to a conclusion that will help to improve knowledge about the reading abilities of children with cochlear implants.

Searching

Although children with cochlear implants have additional handicaps when compared to hearing children, they all learn how to read the same way. Reading is not something that we are born with; rather, we have to learn how to read. There are five skills in particular that are essential to develop when learning how to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Phonemic awareness involves the ability to comprehend that words are made up of sounds. Basically, sounds are like blocks that can be stacked together in order to form different words. Children must be able to hear and identify these sounds in order to recognize them in words. Phonics is a lot like phonemic awareness but it deals with letters and sounds instead of sounds and words. Phonics involves the child learning that each letter produces a certain sound and being able to combine the written aspect of letters and spoken aspect of sounds into reading. Reading comprehension is a complex skill that can only be achieved once the reader begins reading to learn. In other words, the reader must take in what he or she is reading and gain an understanding about the information. Vocabulary involves words within the reading that must be understood before the reader is able to gain meaning from the information. Finally, fluency involves the ability of the reader to read information accurately and at a steady pace (The reading skills pyramid: The key reading skills and the steps in acquiring them, 2004).

When looking at the five essential skills required when learning to read, I realized that two of these are learned primarily through the auditory channel and the other three are dependent on these in order to develop. Phonemic awareness and phonics both are highly involved with sounds and how they make up words or relate to letters. When a child is severely to profoundly deaf, as are children who receive cochlear implants, he or she receives little to no information through the auditory channel. Therefore, the child does not even have a basis to begin developing phonemic awareness or phonics. For this child, words are made up of letters rather than sounds and letters are simply letters and do not have sound associations. However, once a child receives a cochlear implant, the auditory channel can be utilized and these skills begin to develop. As I looked at the other three skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency, I realized that they are dependent on the development of phonemic awareness and phonics. Until the child is able to utilize phonemic awareness and phonics to learn how to read, these three skills are unable to develop.

Along with the essential skills discussed above, research shows that readers develop in stages. Jeanne Chall developed five stages describing reading development. In the first stage, which spans from birth until six or seven years old, children begin to understand the syntax and semantics of language (Spencer, Barker, & Tomblin, 2003). Phonemic awareness and phonics are also developed during this stage (Scholastic Red, 2002). Stage 2, which occurs at seven or eight years old, involves moving from decoding words while reading to becoming a fluent reader. The most crucial stage, Stage 3, involves children using reading to learn. Words are no longer simply sound-letter associations that come with meaning. Instead, the child is able to read fluently, making connections with what he or she is reading and learning new information. Due to the complexity of the following stages, Stage 3 is often the stage at which deaf children plateau. Stage 3 develops from ages eight to fourteen (Spencer et al., 2003). Stage 4, which develops from ages fourteen to eighteen, involves the individual beginning to take different perspectives into consideration while reading (Spencer et al., 2003). Critical, analytical thinking is applied to information that is read (Scholastic Red, 2002). Finally, Stage 5, which occurs around eighteen years old and continues throughout college, involves the individual analyzing and synthesizing information that he or she reads. Readers must take the information and develop individual viewpoints based on the available information in conjunction with the reader’s previous knowledge (Spencer et al., 2003). This paper is a prime example of utilizing Stage 5 because in this section, I am presenting what I’ve discovered through my research. In the Conclusion/Answering section, I will develop my own conclusions based on the information I’ve found.

According to Dalquist, approximately 75% of the school day involves listening activities that utilize the auditory channel for children in kindergarten through third grade. When hearing impaired or deaf children are taken into consideration, they are dropped off the map. After all, as Dr. Mark Ross said, “Hearing is the primary channel for learning. The more children hear, the better they learn,” (Lagotic, Hofstetter, James, & Rosenberg, 2007). When hearing impaired or deaf children do not receive any benefit from hearing aids, cochlear implants provide a hearing source (Connor & Zwolan, 2004). Cochlear implants are devices that are surgically implanted into the cochlea of people with severe to profound hearing losses. Cochlear implants bypass hair cells within the cochlea and send messages through nerve fibers to the brain so that the person is able to hear (Cole & Flexer, 2007). However, the auditory information that a child with a cochlear implant hears is much different than what a hearing person would hear. In fact, the hearing of a child with a cochlear implant is somewhat like that of a severely deaf child who uses hearing aids (Boothroyd & Boothroyd, 2002). Therefore, the challenges that a cochlear implanted child faces when he or she begins reading are tremendous.

Although the road to reading success is a difficult one for cochlear implanted children, it is possible. As stated in numerous studies, children with cochlear implants show improvements in speech perception, speech production, vocabulary, and reading comprehension after using the cochlear implant for a period of time (Connor & Zwolan, 2004). In addition, the earlier the child is implanted, the more plastic the brain will be for receiving new types of auditory input. Any language delay would also be fairly small at a younger age. This would amount in a somewhat normal development of language and literacy (Boothroyd & Boothroyd, 2002).

When implanted early in life, children can possibly have normal literacy development. Children who receive their implants before three years old have shown better vocabulary and word reading ability than children fitted after three years old (Sherman & Cruse, 2004). The younger the child is when implanted, the higher that child’s reading comprehension scores will be. Because early implantation allows the child to access speech during a critical time period for language development, the child’s language skills are stronger which in turn would create stronger reading skills (Connor & Zwolan, 2004).

In a study done by Archbold, Nikolopoulos, & O’Donoghue, age of implantation had an effect on reading ability. The children tested were implanted between 1.3 and 6.9 years old and the study was done seven years post-implantation. Of the children who were implanted between six and seven years old, 100% were reading at more than one year below the grade level. Those implanted between four and five years old had 81% reading at more than one year below the grade level. However, the children implanted between one and three years old had only 44% reading at more than one year below the grade level. The other 46% were reading within one year of their grade levels, with 10% reading more than one year ahead (Marschark, Rhoten, & Fabich, 2007).

Although the previous study showed potential for those implanted early in life, in a study performed by Geers, the results showed that implanted children are often not catching up with their hearing classmates when reading (2003). Boothroyd and Boothroyd discovered that children with implants did not have age-appropriate literacy or language skills (2002). Progress with reading is fairly slow for children with cochlear implants. The average yearly improvement for these children is one to six months for every year of education (Spencer et al., 2003). The research is somewhat variable concerning age of implantation and reading ability (Marschark et al., 2007). In fact, some studies have even proven that age of implantation has no impact on reading ability (Geers, 2003). However, as stated by Geers when concluding a study, “As implant technology continues to undergo improvement in its capacity to deliver speech and as children are being implanted at younger ages, before language delays are established, the progress for more normal acquisition of literacy may improve even more,” (2003).

Concluding/Answering

As I researched this topic, I discovered that the information varied greatly concerning age of implantation and reading ability. From the research I’ve presented, I realize that the results seem to vary depending on the experiment. However, I found more information supporting early implantation producing an improvement in reading skills. In my opinion, I think that early implantation is critical for success with cochlear implants. As I demonstrated in my research, there are five skills that are essential to develop when learning how to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. All of these are either directly or indirectly dependent on information received through the auditory channel. The five stages of reading development presented similar information; hearing is needed to develop reading skills that progress past Stage 3 where most deaf people plateau. The role of the cochlear implant in improving children’s hearing goes hand-in-hand with the information I have learned about beginning reading skills and stages.

I believe that age of implantation has a positive effect on reading ability in cochlear implanted children. Children who are implanted early in life produce better reading comprehension scores, vocabulary scores, and word reading scores. Earlier implanted children also have better language skills, which in turn facilitates reading development. As seen in the Archbold et al. study, the earlier a child is implanted, the closer that child gets to a normal child’s reading ability. Because the brain is still somewhat plastic when children are younger, early implantation allows the brain to reroute its pathways to fit the cochlear implant’s signals. Therefore, early intervention is absolutely necessary with cochlear implants. The earlier a child is implanted, the better that child’s future will be because he or she will be able to read and achieve just like his or her classmates.

A12.4: Week 12 Participation Memo

Linsey Cushing

November 11, 2007

Week 12 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:

     This week, my initial goal was to get all of my assignments done before the weekend so that I could spend the weekend working on revising my paper and doing other homework.  However, I did not have the Internet for almost four days, so I am now at home in Charleston working on a stable Internet and wondering if I can deal with Comcast for another semester without strangling them… =)  As you can see, my goals shifted to simply getting my assignments done and somehow still fitting in time to revise my paper and do other homework and studying.  Five more school days until Thanksgiving Break…

Declarative Knowledge:

    This week, I learned about yet another literacy skill: socio-emotional literacy.  Socio-emotional literacy skills involve the social skills you bring when searching the Internet and interacting with people worldwide who are also using the Web.  I learned that socio-emotional literacy happens to be the most complex and highest level of literacy skills to obtain.  Socio-emotional literacy skills require the user to be a good critical and analytical thinker while also understanding proper social skills on the Internet, appropriately termed “netiquette.”  You must utilize socio-emotional literacy skills to analyze whether the people you are chatting with are truly valid people presenting true information about their identities.  You must also be aware of false information posted on the Internet, such as hoaxes.  Overall, I learned that socio-emotional literacy skills require you to be your own personal watchdog while also maintaining proper netiquette to respect those who are legitimate people. 

Procedural Knowledge:

     This week, I learned how to use the comment function on our blogs to do a peer review for two of my peers’ rough drafts.  First, you need to access our class website at http://klmccomas.net/cd315.  Then, you click on the link for the name of the person you are planning on peer reviewing.  Next, you click on I-Search on that person’s personal blog page.  After this, you click on the Comment link, where you put in your name and e-mail address.  Finally, I began writing my comments in the space provided. 

     To do a proper peer review, first you must talk about the voice of the paper (first, second, or third person).  Next, you must comment on the audience (who do you think this paper is written for).  Third, you must “say back” to the author what you think he or she is saying with the paper.  After this, you must “bless” a strength of the paper.  Finally, you should address something that the author could do to improve the paper.  When finished writing the peer review, you click “submit comment.” 

Conditional Knowledge:

     This week, I learned a lot about peer reviewing my classmates’ papers.  This is a very challenging thing to do because it is hard to criticize your friends’ work.  However, I hope that through this, I have helped my classmates to develop a better paper.  I have completed peer reviews before, but never through a blog.  I thought this was an interesting way to do it because your peer has to approve your response before it is posted and also, everyone can see what you’ve written instead of just that person.   

     When looking at socio-emotional literacy skills, I definitely think that these skills are necessary in today’s society.  Without the social and emotional skills, you would never be able to judge people to see if they are actually legitimate, be on the lookout for hoaxes and viruses, or determine whether information is actually valid and reliable.  I believe that socio-emotional literacy is something that you continue to work on your entire life; it is not a skill that is just “learned” and can be pushed aside.  As the Internet becomes more and more complex, your awareness must be more acute and your “netiquette” more precise.

     As a student, the information I’ve learned this week, both through peer reviewing and researching socio-emotional literacy, is very important.  By having other people review my work, I will be able to improve my paper, which is due on Friday (yikes!).  Hopefully by peer reviewing my classmates’ work, I have also helped them out.  The socio-emotional literacy research made me aware that I need to work on these skills continuously in order to be successful on the Web.  As a pre-professional, the information about socio-emotional literacy is important because I am sure that I will be in contact with other speech-language pathologists over the Web throughout my career.  I need to have the proper “netiquette” and judgment skills to be considered a professional.  Finally, as a citizen, I am helping out my classmates by peer reviewing their papers.  Also, I could help improve others’ socio-emotional literacy skills by helping them learn the “netiquette” and Web searching skills to be successful in today’s society.

A12.1: Socio-emotional Literacy

Linsey Cushing

November 6, 2007

Socio-emotional Literacy

    Socio-emotional literacy skills describe the social and emotional aspects that Internet users must apply every time they go online and interact with other users.  Socio-emotional literacy, which is the most complex and highest level of digital literacy skills, requires the user to be a good critical and analytical thinker while also understanding proper social skills on the Internet, appropriately termed “netiquette.”  Socio-emotional literacy skills must be utilized any time you, as a user, go into a chat room, comment on a blog, talk to someone on Instant Messenger, become someone’s friend on Facebook or MySpace, or look at information that has been posted by others on the Internet.  You must utilize socio-emotional literacy skills to analyze whether the people you are chatting with are valid people presenting true information about their identities.  You must also be aware of false information posted on the Internet, such as hoaxes.  Socio-emotional skills also are used to keep the user aware of any viruses that may be spread to innocent e-mail readers.  Basically, socio-emotional literacy skills require you to be your own personal watchdog while also maintaining proper netiquette to respect those who are legitimate people.

    I definitely believe that socio-emotional skills exist and that they are the most complex of the digital literacy skills.  Socio-emotional literacy skills require you to take your knowledge of the other digital literacy skills and apply the social and emotional judgments to these areas.  Socio-emotional literacy takes time and experience to develop; it is not something you are just ”born” with.  In fact, I considered myself somewhat good at socio-emotional literacy skills (before I even knew thet term) until I read the information about hoaxes earlier this semester and realized how many I had fallen for.  I also tend to be too trusting of people on the Internet and am shocked at how people make up false identities to harm others.  As the Internet continues to develop and new opportunities for interaction arise on a daily basis, we must constantly monitor and improve our socio-emotional literacy skills for our own health and safety.  I think that socio-emotional literacy skills should definitely be taught within the schools at a very young age.  In fact, I think this is already the case because even when I was in school, we learned about the dangers of the Internet and the people we talk to.  In fact, today, parents no longer tell their children, “Don’t talk to strangers.”  Instead, they say, “Don’t put your full name, address, or picture on the Internet.”  In my opinion, socio-emotional literacy skills are probably the easiest to understand, yet the hardest to implement.  However, socio-emotional literacy skills are extremely important and will continue to be utilized as we become more and more global. 

                                        References

Aphek, E. (2007). Digital, highly connected children: Implications for education. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/aphek/digital-literacy.html 

Aviram, A. & Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2006). Towards a theory of digital literacy: Three scenarios for the next step. European Journal of Open Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from http://www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/2006/Aharon_Aviram.htm

Eshet-Alkalai, Y., & Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2004, August). Experiments in digital literacy. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(4), 421-429.

Mean Girls

We just watched a video about the cruel, hateful things that girls do to one another just to be in the “cool” crowd.  This video hit close to home because I have been a victim myself of this type of cruelty when I was in elementary school and junior high.  The video was very effective because it was accompanied by soft, slow piano playing that brought about a somber mood as the narrator talked.  I thought that the narrator’s voice was particularly touching because you could hear the pain as she described what she and her “friends” had done to other helpless girls just for the sake of doing it.  The video showed numerous pictures and paintings of women with sad faces and broken hearts.  These went along with the narrative somewhat but mainly just revealed the sadness and regret of the speaker as she apologized for what she had done to so many innocent victims.  Throughout the video, a picture of a ferocious cougar was shown, reminding us constantly of the cruel behaviors that can arise from seemingly sweet girls.  At first, the random popping up of the cougar seemed somewhat humorous.  However, as the narration continued, it all made sense and the cougar made the mood even more somber.  Our class went from giggling about the cougar popping up to being completely silent at the end of the video because I am sure that at one point or another, we have all been a victim to this type of event.  One of the pictures shown was from the movie “Mean Girls,” which made fun of the ridiculous things that girls will do to one another in order to get ahead and be “popular.”  It was clear that the speaker was in no way making fun of what she did, though.  She was very remorseful and said that she still thinks about the girls that she mistreated when she was younger.  However, is there a way to truly make the “mean girls” go away?  This type of thing happens on playgrounds, in lunch rooms, and in high schools across the nation as girls try to become better than one another. 

This video was a perfect portrayal because it combined audio (both music and speech) and visual (photos, paintings, and pictures) in order to portray a particular feeling and make an impact on the audience.    

A11.3: Week 11 Participation Memo

 Linsey Cushing
November 4, 2007

Week 11 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:
    This week, my goal was to finish up doing my research, write the research paper, do all of the weekly assignments, and turn them in!!! I did not even get started on these goals until Friday because I had two major tests this week along with a paper due.  This weekend has been very stressful and I don’t plan on waiting this long ever again to do a paper or to finalize my topic!

Declarative Knowledge:
    This week, I learned more in depth about another literacy skill: branching literacy.  Branching literacy skills are those that you utilize every time you try to navigate the Web.  These skills include learning how to transition from looking at literal aspects, as you do with books, to using a non-literal fashion to search the Internet.   The Internet does not have a table of contents or page numbers to follow.  You, as the user, must navigate through the endless links and read through information that is not necessarily relevant in order to find information that pertains to your search.  I learned that branching literacy requires time and experience for the user to become efficacious at searching for information.  Also, I learned that certain traits help a person to have good branching literacy skills: the ability to create mental models and concept maps. 
    This week, I also learned more about writing an I-Search paper as I completed my rough draft.  After e-mailing back and forth with my instructor, I learned that with I-Search, you do not present a view in your research.  Rather, you present the information you’ve found and then make your own judgement in your conclusions.  My instructor also taught me that you sometimes have to reformulate your research questions as you conduct your research when you cannot find information that is fitting.  I also learned the importance of early implantation when looking at reading skills in cochlear implanted children.  

Procedural Knowledge:
    This week, I learned how to write an I-Search paper again.  In order to write an I-Search, you first must write an Introduction/Questioning section in which you tell what you knew before starting the research and explain why you chose your topic.  Next, you develop an essential question and foundation questions, which are also included under the Introduction/Questioning section.  After this, you conduct research, which you present in a section titled Searching.  Next, you form an answer to your research question based on the information you’ve found during your research.  This is included under a section titled Concluding/Answering.  Finally, you write all of your references used in the paper in APA format under a section titled References. 

Conditional Knowledge:
    This week, I learned a lot about research in general.  This week was definitely a challenge to me because I had to do a lot of work in a very short time frame: the weekend.  I had a lot of difficulty with my essential question, which I have changed several times over the past couple weeks.  As I researched this weekend, it became clear that I was going to have to change me question and foundation questions yet again.  This really worried me because I knew my paper was due Sunday night.  However, after e-mailing my instructor several times and doing more research, I finally arrived at an essential question and foundation questions that I was happy with and that were appropriate for the I-Search paper.  I am so happy that the rough draft is finally complete!!! *Huge sigh of relief*
    In regards to branching literacy, I discovered that there is a term for the sometimes seemingly endless wandering I do on the Internet when searching for sources (how convenient that we had this term this week).  One point I found particularly interesting was that with branching literacy, we move from a literal fashion to a non-literal fashion.  I found this to be very because we don’t “look through” the Internet as you do books; you “search.”  This skill is essential for the future because almost everything is now done through the Internet, whether it be banking and bills, office work, or schooling.  If you do not understand how to navigate the Web, you are helpless and hopeless. 
    As a student, the information I’ve learned this week about I-Search papers is invaluable.  Although I’ve done an I-Search paper before, it was in eleventh grade and I had totally forgotten how to write one.  I also learned that you sometimes have to establish questions as you conduct your research, which was hard for me to do because I like a set plan.  The branching literacy information was also helpful as a student because I use this on a daily basis when searching the Internet.  As a pre-professional, the information I’ve learned this week is beneficial because I possibly will have to conduct research on cochlear implants in the future.  Now I already have a collection of sources that are available to me so I don’t have to start from scratch.  As a citizen, the branching literacy information is important because I must remember that there are some people out there who still do not have branching literacy skills.  As a citizen, I should help these people to become literate in branching literacy and start their journey on the Web.