Blog #10 Where are YOU headed

Good morning fellow bloggers!

This will be my eighth blog so far; I can't believe we're more than half way done with this semester! I'm loaded up with upcoming midterms, so I am not really happy about that. I am glad that we get to do extra blogs for additional credit. Anyways... 

The discourse community of practice that I want to research is Electrical Engineers in the Bay Area. The reason why I chose this specific discourse community is because most of my family members are Engineers, and my boyfriend is currently studying to be a Civil Engineer. My uncle and my grandpa are both Electrical Engineers. I was thinking about doing Engineers in the Bay Area in general... but I wanted to be more specific, and two of my family members are Electrical Engineers so I would have more information about it. This community interests me because I have always been around them, so I have knowledge of engineering. I would also like to see what they have to say about that field of Engineering, like, "How do most engineers in training act once they first get the job?" or "What is it like in the office?” 

In this community, I already know what it takes to be in this field of work. You have to take a lot of physics, chemistry, and some really high-level math courses. My boyfriend always tells me how late he stays up doing his physics homework or how he is studying for something about fluid dynamics. I know that it is a hard job, but can be

really really rewarding. Engineers in general make a comfortable amount of money. You have to take two tests to become a professional Engineer in California. My grandfather took both his FE and PE, and also got his masters degree in business at the University of San Francisco. I am very excited to interview him, just because he has a lot of experience and knows the in and outs of Engineering. 

 

With this paper, I want to approach my uncle and grandpa with interview questions about what it costs to be an engineer, how they talk to each other, and what kind of language they use. Other questions I can ask are the questions from the readings...

How are these communicative practices acquired? (Swales, Johns, Gee, Wardle)

What does it take for members to enculturate themselves? (Johns, Gee, Wardle, Mirabelli)What literacies to members need to acquire? (Mirabelli)What is this community's "way of being" (Johns, Gee, Wardle)What does it cost to take on this community? (Wardle, Johns)What values are reinforced by this community? (Devitt, Wardle, Johns)How do readers need to see themselves? How do they need to consider authorities? How do they need to align themselves? (Wardle)

 I am really excited about this paper, just because I feel like I have enough information about it. I am also unsure about my subject, I feel like it is not interesting enough. I think I should still brainstorm more ideas that are more eye catching to my audience. I think this paper is due after thanksgiving, so I will have time to be able to observe my grandpa and uncle in their work environment. 

Blog #9: Wardle and Work (Who Are You?)

Hello fellow bloggers,

Wow, thinking about my future job is kind of scary. We're starting to get closer to the big real thing... Adulthood! How I wish I can go back to being ten years old again :-(

What I got out of Wardle's article, Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces, is that it talks about identity and authority she explains that joining a new workforce is not about the matter of solely learning new skills, but also adding to and fixing your identity. In other words changing your identity kit. For authority, Wardle says that the person of authority must maintain appropriate expressions of his trait. They must command attention, confidence and respect of their audience, and once the person of authority gains their trust the audience will pay attention because he/she portrayed the traits of a leader and they will listen because he/she is who they are.

With this being said, with my profession that I want, I have to apply these traits to myself and contract a new identity kit.

I am honestly kind of scared at what will happen in the future, but I am also very excited at what it has in store for me. I am currently studying Health Science with an emphasis in Public Health. I eventually want to become a Health Care Administrator in a nursing home. I believe that since there were high rates of births after WW2 (baby boomers) there will be a high demand of jobs in nursing homes.

Future Me :-)

Health Administration is not an easy job, sadly... but you do make a good amount of money. Being in this job requires you to basically, supervise clinical units, departments, or an entire hospital. It manages staff, finances and practices according to the law of Public Health... basically everything. In my eyes, Health Care Administrators are the heart of the hospital. Being a hospital administrator, you have to be a hardworking leader. You have to deal with pressures on the spot. Sometimes you will have unexpected problems that will happen and you have to deal with them in a smart and quick way. For me, I do well under pressure so I don't think I will have a problem with dealing with issues on the spot.

I would have to develop excellent communication skills. As you can see up above of the image I posted, the Health Care Administrator (in the picture) is probably talking to doctors, nurses or any other medical provider. The Administrator will have to know how to speak their specific language and fit into their discourse community to communicate with them. The Health Care Administrator would also know how to speak to people internationally (not their language, but maybe make the information understandable to their knowledge). I would have to change my ways and be more assertive and change my identity kit to have the impression of someone being in authority. I would want people to take me seriously (and it doesn't help I am 5'1). I would want them to listen to me. I will also have to talk in a very professional manner to people in healthcare, and have to write a lot of emails to doctors, nurses, CNA, and other hospital administrators in a professional way.

I am applying to an internship for next summer and I know I will have to do a lot of paperwork. I am used to filing and sorting out the paperwork, but I have never filled out paper work. What if I get things wrong and mess up everything? Hopefully, it will not be that challenging. But with a job like this, maybe they will want to prepare me for it.

I think being in this job will cost a lot. I have heard from many of my family members and friends that this is a stressful job, but it pays good. I know I will most likely work long hours, which means I won't have a lot of time to spend with my family. But with any job or internship you have to make sacrifices in order to provide for yourself and others.

-Vanessa

Blog #8 What are YOU learning to read?

Hello Peers!

I can't believe we are already on blog #8 already. Time is definitely flying by. I usually do not start my blogs till the morning of... BUT since I finally have a break during this on-going midterm season, I figured why not get this done now. I am usually a huge procrastinator, so I am trying my best to change this habit.

When I read Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers by Tony Mirabelli, I could not believe what the email respondent said in the first paragraph of the article. I was appalled at how ignorant this email sounded. Especially about the part that said, "Stop being such a weakling, go out and learn something, anything, and go make a real contribution to society..." like what a jerk... Being a waitress, waiter, or server IS a contribution to society. Being in that type of job field actually teaches you a lot. Learning to talk and communicate with different kinds of people are one of the best learning skills you can achieve. I was never a waitress, so I don't really know anything about being in that job... but I would assume that it is a hard job to have. Dealing with rude customers, getting tipped poorly when you know you gave them your best customer service is all part of the job. With all these experiences you can learn patience, which is a skill that is usually learned and not taught in college. Although you may not need a college degree to be a waiter, you have to have skills that they do not teach you in college.

With the responses that this email got I was like...

Even if you have a college degree or not, having a waiter job does not mean you are less of a person. It does not make you worse than a person who works as a lawyer. A lawyer could be the rudest person with a bad personality and would be lower than that waiter with a more humble personality. I know so many college students who work as a waiter or server, and it does not make them less successful. Just like the respondent of the ignorant email said, "not everyone has a trust fund and can't work for a living" even though people have college degrees and want to have big jobs in the future. They have to make ends meet, and having a job that doesn't require a college degree is probably one of their only options. And honestly, not every job hires off of college experience. If you are cocky in having so many internships and jobs they probably will not hire you because of how you act. They would probably hire someone who is willing to work, even if their only job experience is working in a restaurant. I mean personally, I would respect someone who has personality, not someone who has more stuff on their resume. 

Economist Peter Drucker says that service work is "mindless", invoking repetitive tasks that require little education. Although some may agree with Drucker, I do not agree with his statement of a server's job being "mindless. They usually have to cover multiple tables, serve difficult people, and make sure everyone is getting taken care of. Imagine taking orders from 5 different tables, and having to get them right. What if one of your orders gets messed up? You then have to go back to the kitchen and tell them to make a new one, which would probably make the cook mad... So it clearly is not an easy job. I would not classify this work as being mindless, but rather "challenging". I would like to see someone with an "unmindless job" try to be a waiter. I know if I tried to be a server it would be a Sh!+show! On my first day, I would probably cry at how hectic it gets. 

I wonder if Drucker would think working at in-n-out would be a "mindless" job. I mean if you see the way these guys work and how fast they do their job, it is quite insane. They are constantly running around everywhere trying to get the order right and getting it out there fast, and to top it all off they always seem to have a cheerful attitude. So to Drucker I say, "try to do your job with a big smile on your face!"

:-)

Blog #7 My Identity Kit

Holaaa!!!

I am sitting here writing this blog in the morning once again because I have been studying for midterms all night long. This past week has been rough for me, just because I have been having midterms back to back. It seems like it never ends. Will it ever end? I have no idea.

One of the main times I acquired a new discourse community was when I was in middle school. I just moved from Texas and I didn't know anyone. Texas was just so different from California. In California, everyone cared so much about what they looked like and they were so confused about other states. I remember someone asked me if rode horses to class... Like really. I even got asked if I rode bulls, or if I liked wearing ten-gallon hats. I also moved to a different dance studio. Everyone had their own ways of doing things, and I just felt like I didn't belong.

 I started dancing since I was 5 years old, but then I took a 5-year break just because I didn't want to do it anymore. My parents thought it was a good idea to put me back into dance again, but I hated it. I remember my first day of dance class, I felt so out of the loop. All the girls were so good, and I just remember thinking that they would never want to be my friends. I didn't want them to know that I wasn't that good at dancing anymore. If they knew, they wouldn't want to be my friend. I also remember how the owner of the dance studio wanted to put me in an advanced ballet class, so I could catch up to them. I was like, "Why would you do this to me, I just started woman!!!" But if I look back at this time, I would not change a thing. I am so glad she put me in those advanced classes just because I got to adapt to the other girls. I pushed myself to be as good as them, and it worked. I think I push myself really hard sometimes, but I think its for the better. Over time, I started to get to know these girls better and better. I basically knew everyone that walked in and their moms. Before I knew it, the whole team became on big family.

In middle school, I began to see the same thing. The only person I knew in my middle school was my cousin Anna. I was so attached to her because she had her own group of friends, and she just seemed so established. I was such an introvert in middle school. I just knew if someone were to come up and talk to me, I would be so fun to talk to. But because I was so shy, my identity kit back then was that shy, small girl who is nice and quiet. So no one would really talk to me. I ended up joining the cheer team in 8th grade, and thats when I started to open up to people and show them how outgoing I could be.

Dance Team: Senior Night

Overtime, I ended up wanting to get out of her group of friends. I wanted to be friends with people that I clicked with, not because they were my cousins friends. So once I got to high school, I joined my school's dance team. It wasn't easy at first just because the girls had their own friends and cliques, but a couple weeks later, they started inviting me places. Before you know it, these girls because my ultimate best friends in high school. I started to realize my change within the past years and now. I feel like once I had a solid foundation of friends, I started to be more of myself and not worry about what people think. I am really bubbly person once you get to know me, and usually when people see me dance on stage they know I am confident for even being up during halftimes. I started to for this identity kit. The bubbly nice girl on the dance team. That how people knew me in high school. I was just so focused on dance and that is all people knew of me, and I figured this out when I got voted "best dancer" in my high school. I remember thinking to myself, it this what people just know me as?

Sometimes, what people think of you isn't what you think of yourself at all. I feel like my identity kit does not define me entirely. It only outlines what I am on the outside.
-Vanessa

Blog 6

Hello fellow classmates! 

I can't believe it's October already! This semester really flew by, next thing you know it will be fall semester of senior year for me... Okay, I'm kind of scaring myself. Anyways, Hallothanksistmas (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas) is coming! and cold weather woot woot!!!

After reading Professor Flewelling's blog post about Discourse communities and cost affiliation, all that comes to mind is that I can't believe how Steve Jobbs and Bill Gates dropped out of college and made their own billion dollar companies. If I dropped out of college, I honestly do not think I would be as successful as them. I shouldn't doubt myself like that, but sometimes it just seems that the possible is impossible.

In highschool, my mother was really strict on me, I never got to go out with my friends that much and do hood rat things with my friends. It was always just school then dance team, and after dance team practice I would have to drive 45 minutes to get to my studio where I competitively dance. Finally, after that I could have time for homework, but I usually got home around 10:30pm and I would just pass out when I got to my bed. The only thing that I really looked forward to was Friday night football games. In high school, it was kind of hard focusing on academics because a lot of my friends were not really focused as I was on going to college. But once I got to college, EVERYONE is focused on getting their degree, so it made me work extra hard than I did in high school.

Leaving my family back in the Bay Area was one of the hardest endeavors I have ever come across. I remember when everyone had to say goodbye it was a crying fest. Literally, my whole family was sobbing and then before you know it I was sobbing too. I was just so used to being with my family my whole life, and now I have to leave them behind and adventure this knew city BY MYSELF? It was terrifying at first, but once I got to meet friends along the way it got better. After 3 weeks of freedom, I missed my family more and more. I couldn't wait to be with my family again for the holidays. Sometimes it is really tough being at school, while your family is celebrating your sisters 12th birthday party. I hate missing out on things, and the one thing I hate the most is not being able to spend the time with my grandparents while I can... but I know in my heart that they would rather have me in college than be at home taking care of them. My gift to them is graduating college and getting into grad school. Being away from them sucks because my roommates are all from San Diego or LA, so they can just easily drive to see their family... and I am not going to lie I get jealous of them because if my family lived that close I would see them every 2 weeks if I could.

When I got to applying to schools, I applied to be a dance major and a minor in business. My plan was to open up my own dance school and make $$$$.... but come to my surprise I hated the dance major. In dance, I was into jazz, hip-hop, and lyrical. When I came to SDSU and took some classes, we had an 2 hour and 40 minute class of just straight breathing... BREATHING. Like i don't know how to breath. I hated it. The only class that I actually like was the ballet class, but that class started at 9 in the morning and who likes to dance technical ballet with an old lady screaming at you half the time to "straighten your back" when your back is perfectly 90 degrees. (FIX) I am not trying to bash on the dance major, I just think there can be more improvements to to it. I decided to switch my major to Public Health. I always had a passion to become a maternity nurse, and I just loved health. So why not? It was kind of a struggle for me because I changed my major sophomore year and I felt like I was so behind. I had a couple break downs here and there but with some summer classes ya girl is graduating on time!!! (if i continue to do good lol)

Sometimes I think, is college really for me? What if I don't get a job, would I be better starting something off with something on my own? I often think about those rare stories of students dropping out of college or even high school and making billions. Then I realize 1) my mom would kill me if I dropped out and wasted her money and 2) If i dropped out, I honestly would do nothing and just work my life away at a job that I don't even like.

Overall, I believe if you're going in the right direction in life, for instance, going to school, paying your bills on time, and staying healthy your going to be successful in life. If you believe that you can do or create something that is for the good of the people and it will make you tons of mulllla in the end, all power to you! I know midterms are going on right now, so stay strong guys!!!
-Vanessa