In Class: My Thanksgiving

I did manual labor over Thanksgiving.  We are downsizing to a new house in San Antonio.  I moved furniture and boxes, and other miscellaneous odds and ends that we have acquired over the years.

On actual Thanksgiving day we didn't move.  My family went to my grandparents house in Austin for turkey dinner, with mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.  My mom and I went to see Burlesque, and it was fantastic.  Both Cher and Chritina Aguilera are amazing performers, and Stanley Tucci was fantastic as always.

Unit 3 Proposal

The issue that we have chosen for this project is publishing unnecessary and inappropriate details about one’s personal life through facebook. Overuse of facebook has many negative effects on incoming college freshman which include being a distraction to academics among other things. Regarding this topic, we think that incoming freshman to TCU should be advised to limit what they share publicly on their facebook. Additionally, they need to be made aware that information they believed to be private can be seen by anyone, including their future professors and employers.

Our target audience for this particular issue is incoming TCU freshman, with facebook accounts, that have just graduated from high school. Our audience will be made up of both males and females ranging in age from seventeen to eighteen. Focusing in on TCU freshman, most of the audience members will be from middle to upper class families.

Our first medium will be an article in the Skiff discussing the dangers of facebook to incoming freshman and advice from more experienced, older students. Second, we are going to create a flier which would be handed out during new student orientation. The flier will include a general example of what an inappropriate facebook page looks like for incoming freshman. For our final medium for this argument, we decided to have a short video that could be shown to incoming freshmen during orientation as a warning about overusing Facebook.

In Class: Visual Arguments

I learned a lot about visual arguments, and how people would create said arguments.  I was really interested in the use of color in visual arguments and how different colors mean different things to an audience.  Images are very powerful and can leave lasting impressions on an audience, they can establish a person's credibility, and invoke emotion in the audience.

One of my group's ideas for a visual argument is to replicate a Facebook page to show that overuse of Facebook can be detrimental to a person's scholastic and social life.  We plan to keep the page simple like a Facebook page with the main colors being blue and white to maintain a sense of realism and continuity.

In Class: What I Learned

I learned that you need to know the audience that you plan to present your argument to, because without knowing who you are talking to you can't generate effective arguments.

My Job Title

I am the "Googler," and my job is to be a creative force in my group.  I'm good at finding things online and using those ideas together to create something new and better.  My job is to keep ideas flowing within the group, and allowing other people to include their input, I'll try to combine ideas where I can.  I might even bring Dr. Pepper for the group to keep energy up, but that depends on my mood at the time. :)

My group members are David Bussen, Kelly Putterman, and Allen Tausend.

In Class: Ideal Group Situation

The perfect group situation would include three to five members who are actively engaged in the group work and contribute to the overall positive environment.  No one would shoot down ideas, and everyone would feel like they could contribute.  People would play to their strengths and offer advice on how to improve weaknesses.  Everyone would participate in the presentation.

Group members are punctual and don't show up without their needed work.  There is plenty of Dr. Pepper so that the energy of the group won't slack.  The ideal group works together towards a common goal.