Your Goal Grade
Highlight the header for the column below to indicate which grade you plan to work toward in the course. Meeting the basic requirements for your chosen letter grade, according to the table below, is mandatory.
| A Work | B Work | C Work |
-Misses one class or less, or completes make-up work for excused absences -Annotates all readings thoroughly -Makes substantive comments in discussions -Completes all assignments on time (or has an approved extension request) -Work demonstrates intellectual engagement, care, effort, and growth in response to feedback -Collaborates substantially, contributes to vision, works equally with peers | -Misses two classes or less, or completes make-up work for excused absences -Annotates readings -Often participates in discussion -Completes all major assignments on time (or has an approved extension request) -Completes most SAs on time -Work demonstrates care, effort and growth in response to feedback -Collaborates equally, completes required work | -Misses three classes or less, or completes make-up work for excused absences -Completes most readings -Sometimes adds to discussion -Completes all major assignments on time (or has an approved extension request) -Completes at least four SAs -Meets minimal expectations on assignments; shows limited growth in response to feedback -Completes required collaborative work |
First-Week Introduction
I chose goals in the areas of written communication, skills for lifelong learning, collaboration, oral communication, and problem-solving skills. I feel like these skills are not only important for my success academically, but also in my life outside of and after school. I am mostly excited for conducting community interviews because it is something new and I can learn from other people outside of the education curriculum. I think that Lab 2 might be the most challenging part of the semester. Sampling and archival research is fairly new to me, and I haven’t really been exposed to much of it so conducting it can be challenging.
Midterm Introduction
Currently midway through the semester I’ve been learning how to be more of a leader in a group setting which I think will be essential for me if I want to elevate in the professional world after my studies. I feel that I will mostly enjoy it when we go out and conduct oral history interviews with community members of Cahokia Heights because I feel that they are the best source of information on the flooding issues in the area. I want to improve my collaboration throughout the next half of the semester because it will not only improve the flow of my group but also help me maintain a great relationship with our community partners.
Final Introduction
My second semester was definitely more challenging than the first one. Second semester was a deep dive into all of the challenges that come with group research. This semester has taught me that it is better for me to be proactive in my work and that stress relievers and breaks are almost just as important as work. I really enjoyed conducting my interview with Arianna from the Cahokia Library. Not only did I learn more information on Cahokia Heights from the interview, but I also picked up the skill of knowing how to create good questions from the responses I get from previous questions. I believe this skill will be useful for the field that I want to get into after my studies.
Course Goals
Choose five goals from the CODES Student Learning Outcomes that you’d like to work toward. Choose goals that are relevant to the scope of this course, select artifacts/examples based on activities assigned for this course, and explain characteristics in a way that illustrates how your artifacts/examples demonstrate your progress toward the goal.
Goal 1 (20%) Written communication: Demonstrates a thorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose
| What will you do to learn the content/ develop the skill? | What examples will you add to the portfolio to demonstrate your learning? | What characteristics of the chosen examples demonstrate you have met your goal? |
| When writing a piece, I will keep my language appropriate to the context, audience, and purpose | I will add examples from Source Analyses’ and Lab written portions. | Look at the context of the writing and determine if the piece stays on topic and flows appropriately. |
The four artifacts above are excerpts from source analysis #3, Lab 2, Lab 1, and source analysis #1. The artifacts show that throughout the flow of my writing, I keep my language appropriate to the context of my writing, my audience, and my purpose.
Goal 2 (20%)
Skills for Lifelong Learning: Explores a topic in depth, yielding a rich awareness and/or little-known information indicating intense interest in the subject.
| What will you do to learn the content/ develop the skill? | What examples will you add to the portfolio to demonstrate your learning? | What characteristics of the chosen examples demonstrate you have met your goal? |
| Conduct research to obtain a deeper understanding on a topic. | Provide examples from background research in Lab 1 and Lab 3 | results from the research consists of information that is not generally known to the average person. |
Artifact 1 is a screenshot I took from Zillow that shows a house in Cahokia on sale while conducting background research on the living conditions in Cahokia Heights. The 2nd artifact is a screenshot from a pdf of the Bennet V Centreville court case. I read through this case to further understand the efforts that citizens in Cahokia Heights took to improve their water systems. Artifact 3 is a picture I took of the creek behind Cahokia Library while looking through their archives. I took this picture because I noticed how shallow the creek is and how vulnerable it could be to flooding. Artifact 4 is a screenshot I took from google earth of an overview of Dead Creek in Cahokia Heights. I read a lot of pieces that expressed the frequent flooding and presence of raw sewage in Dead Creek, so I wanted to see if the creek is present in residential areas.
Goal 3 (20%) Collaboration: Works independently toward goals by contributing and meeting deadlines.
| What will you do to learn the content/ develop the skill? | What examples will you add to the portfolio to demonstrate your learning? | What characteristics of the chosen examples demonstrate you have met your goal? |
| I will actively complete my assignments on time and be a reliable group member by having my share of work completed on time. | Receipts of emails sent to the instructor that show that deadlines were made. | Receipts should show that I completed tasks on time and submitted quality work. |
Each artifact shows a receipt of an email that shows my professor acknowledging that I submitted whatever work I needed to on time and in good quality. All four emails show different dates throughout the semester. The last artifact shows a like on my email which I assume means on time and quality work was submitted.
Goal 4 (20%)
Oral Communication: Uses compelling, appropriate delivery techniques.
| What will you do to learn the content/ develop the skill? | What examples will you add to the portfolio to demonstrate your learning? | What characteristics of the chosen examples demonstrate you have met your goal? |
| I will learn how to use language that is easily understood by my intended audience. | I will show questions from my survey and examples from my scrollytelling project. | I should be using language that is understandable to an average community member that does not do research on the contamination of water. |
The first two artifacts are interview questions that I asked Arianna from the Cahokia Public Library. My questions used generally knowledgeable language that anybody can interpret even if they aren’t familiar with my topic. The third artifact is from my scrollytelling project. It gives a brief summary of my topic without digging in too deep with the details. The summary can be helpful introducing someone who is new to the topic and needs a general explanation on what I am researching. The last artifact is also from my scrollytelling project, and it is a pie chart of the racial demographics and a bar graph of the average salary in Cahokia Heights compared to the rest of the state of Illinois. By looking at this image, the average viewer can infer that Cahokia Heights is a majority minority town and well under the state’s average income level.
Goal 5 (20%)
Problem-Solving skills: Constructs insightful problem statements with evidence of relevant factors.
| What will you do to learn the content/ develop the skill? | What examples will you add to the portfolio to demonstrate your learning? | What characteristics of the chosen examples demonstrate you have met your goal? |
| When addressing a problem in my research, I will show relevant issues that make what I am talking about a problem. | I will show information in my interviews that address relevant issues and coding I conduct. | My coding and interview excerpts should demonstrate me explaining relevant issues and factors that relate to a problem. |
The four artifacts placed above are screenshots of my coding from interviews conducted at the Cahokia Public Library. On the right of each screenshot is me elaborating a little more deeply on what the interviewee is discussing. I touch on community members moving to Cahokia Heights not being aware of the issues pertaining the water system, politicians not having any urgency to improve the conditions, residents needing to pay a water bill for water that is harmful to them forcing the residents to spend more money buying the essential need of water, and residents having to constantly spend money on repairing their homes after floods. All four artifacts display pressing issues that are caused by the water systems in Cahokia Heights.