I choose this community because of some of my past and present ties to it. I have both opinions and experience concerning my research question about the center. On almost a weekly basis I have contact with inmates there and frequently go in for meetings or to speak with some of the staff.
My research question is this, how effective is a pre-release center in the rehabilitation of a felony offender. This is a broad topic on which I could hardly cover in this paper effectively. But I will try to hit some key points which I believe to be crucial. These points are supported through observation, interview and experience. Also, I will use two specific inmates as examples, Mark and Joe. Their names have been changed for obvious reasons and I might add some of my own past experience also.
I will start with Mark he has been in the system for 3 years now. He was transferred from prison to pre-release about 16 months ago and had adapted to pre-release well. He had maintained a positive attitude throughout his stay there. He actively participates in this rehabilitation both in the center and in the community. Mark has on a daily basis made a choice to do something different, not to fall back into his old patterns. Mark has a release date pending and will most likely be a positive member in any community.
Joe, on the other hand, has been in this center more than once. Although, Joe and Mark’s total time in the system differs by about one and half years, Joe has had a more difficult time with it. Therefore, he has been at it longer. Both of their backgrounds are similar, and their felony charges are identical, Felony DUI. When I met Joe about three years ago he was on his first trip through pre-release. He reminded me a lot of how Mark is today, willing to change, positive and active in his rehab. Then a few months into the program he started complaining about this or that. His outlook became bleak rapidly. Less than eight months into his program he broke the law and was sent back to prison.
I am not really clear on all the circumstances surrounding Joe’s story. I know that he has been back at the center for a few months now. He seems positive and seems to be active in his rehab. He is actually spending a lot of time around Mark. What is the difference between Mark and Joe?
When it comes to the pre-release center staff and authority, Joe always had a negative comment. Someone there was always doing something wrong. On the subject of the other inmates, he just couldn’t get along with them. Mark, on the other hand, navigated both the staff and the other inmates practically incident free. So in the case of Mark, he has been successful in his rehab and is about to reap the benefits, Freedom. Joe is starting over on a 12 to 18 month program. Hopefully with different results this time.
It is extremely difficult to be in a position under close scrutiny and authority. I know from talking with these men and lots of other men and women in this situation. Jail, prisons, and pre-release centers are some of the toughest places I know. The majority of the men and women in these institutions are addicted to alcohol and or drugs; have been victimized horribly as children and have gotten caught up in a cycle that is incredibly hard to change on their own. In that situation, I think, these institutions are an excellent tool in rehabilitation.
A large percentage of the inmates struggle with some of the most basic skills needed to get along in society. Lack of literacy, job seeking skills and even personal hygiene and cooking for themselves are all addressed in the programs available to them and treatment for addiction is a priority.
So in conclusion, what does this all mean? I think we need to work harder at rehabilitation of these men and women. In Mark’s case the system is 100% effective but put Mark and Joe together and it most likely drops to 50%. But if we just lock them up and pitch the key, Joe and Mark wouldn’t be in recovery together today. If a man or woman wants to participate in their own rehab, we need a place for them to do so and be successful at it
Many may say lock’em up but be cautious where you throw that rock. The fact is that you may very well hit someone close to you. Someone you care about a brother or a sister, uncle, grandmother or maybe your unborn. Another reason to rehabilitate is one way or another you and I will pay for this, through medical costs, insurances premiums and law enforcement, the list is ongoing. The right choice is compassion for each other.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Summary on Discourse Community Writers
After reading the three writers articles, I have a better understanding of discourse community. Each writer gave me something to walk away with on the topic.
Gee was by far the easiest for me to relate with. At the beginning of his article he suggests the need for using the proper discourse in the correct community. He went so far as to suggest using slang as being acceptable in the right situations. I liked Swales reference to discourse community extremes. On one end of the scale a person can have a sense of community deprivation. Example being cooped up in the house with the kids all day. On the other end he used a journalist as a example, constantly assuming membership in multiple communities.
Although I liked his real life example of working class people, I found Mirabelli hardest to comprehend. One thing I think all the readers agree upon is multiple discourse communities exist, and that everyone is involved in them, like it or not.The understanding of discourse community helps me to be more objective when gathering writing material.
Gee was by far the easiest for me to relate with. At the beginning of his article he suggests the need for using the proper discourse in the correct community. He went so far as to suggest using slang as being acceptable in the right situations. I liked Swales reference to discourse community extremes. On one end of the scale a person can have a sense of community deprivation. Example being cooped up in the house with the kids all day. On the other end he used a journalist as a example, constantly assuming membership in multiple communities.
Although I liked his real life example of working class people, I found Mirabelli hardest to comprehend. One thing I think all the readers agree upon is multiple discourse communities exist, and that everyone is involved in them, like it or not.The understanding of discourse community helps me to be more objective when gathering writing material.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Final Draft of Kantz's Article
In the article, "Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively" (published in the College English Journal, Volume 52, #1, January 1990, page74-91), Margaret Kantz’s argument states that any two writers can take one piece of factual information and present it in such different ways that it may not seem like the same topic. In fact she claims that non-fiction text is just one writers argument of the facts. A writer can take a topic and either argue for or against it yet it still being factual. This way the writer can convince or sway the audience to one opinion or another on basically the same piece of information.
One example that Kantz used was the statement, “the Earth is round". The status of this fact depends on agreement that "round” is an adequate description of the earth’s actual, imperfectly spherical shape (Writing About Writing Pg.67). Meaning what is factual to an audience or group depends on how specific one chooses to be about “facts”. When saying the earth is round most of us agree that this is true because the earlier option was the earth was flat. If we were to get precise about the exact shape of the earth perhaps we all wouldn’t agree that it is perfectly round. This proves that one can use a fact to prove that the earth is round rather than flat but one could also argue this “fact” of the earth being round as more imperfectly roundish. One person can use the same fact for different purposes.
Kantz also used a, “typical college sophomore,” as another example to prove her point. The student’s writings up to this point had been basically a rewriting of "facts" taken from a variety of texts on any given topic. The paper noted was on some battle waged long ago, over in Europe. In this example the student received a poor grade on the paper and Kantz suggests that that the poor grade was maybe not entirely the fault of the student. She suggests that possibly the student was never taught any other way to consider text and it’s supporting information. She goes one to suggest that possibly the student had never been exposed to such a thing as rhetorical reading. One could say that the student learned to read everything as true and not to question its validity. Therefore the student could regurgitate the facts into a paper without really questioning what she read. Regarding the student’s paper Kantz talks about the student’s failure to actually discuss original ideas about the text.
Unlike the example of the student who regurgitated information into a paper I hope to bring my own personal beliefs into this paper, which brings about my situation on this writing task. As a freshmen, at 46 years old, I feel my reading skills are fair but I’m still working on my writing skills. The last time I was in school was 1981 and this is probably my first true exposure to rhetorical reading. But actually, I am coming to realize that unknowingly I have been a rhetorical reader most of my life I just didn’t have the right language or words to describe it. I have often questioned what I was reading and whether it was “true” (fact) or whether it was just “true” for the author. So, if I were to become practiced in rhetorical reading, through guidance, trial and error, and reading at least, “some" text that interested me, I would like to think I and any other student could become successful.
Although, Kantz is arguing that perhaps rhetorical reading wasn’t taught to the “sophomore student” this article was published in 1990 which is roughly 20 years ago. I believe a lot has changed in the past 20 years specifically what was taught to students about rhetorical reading. Although, I have no “facts” to back up my previous statement I know everything changes, (the only constant is change) so I can only assume (and hope) that what was once taught has been improved upon. So perhaps in 2011 students have been taught the importance of rhetorical readings and teachers no longer see papers where students just regurgitates facts. Also, this being published in the National Council of Teachers of English the audience for this article was specifically for teachers. So in claiming that the student’s poor paper wasn’t the student’s fault but a lack of proper or good education by teachers could have made many teachers upset for Kantz pointing the finger at them. But this also could have been the starting point for change so I could also argue that this article helped change what is now being taught 20 years later.
One example that Kantz used was the statement, “the Earth is round". The status of this fact depends on agreement that "round” is an adequate description of the earth’s actual, imperfectly spherical shape (Writing About Writing Pg.67). Meaning what is factual to an audience or group depends on how specific one chooses to be about “facts”. When saying the earth is round most of us agree that this is true because the earlier option was the earth was flat. If we were to get precise about the exact shape of the earth perhaps we all wouldn’t agree that it is perfectly round. This proves that one can use a fact to prove that the earth is round rather than flat but one could also argue this “fact” of the earth being round as more imperfectly roundish. One person can use the same fact for different purposes.
Kantz also used a, “typical college sophomore,” as another example to prove her point. The student’s writings up to this point had been basically a rewriting of "facts" taken from a variety of texts on any given topic. The paper noted was on some battle waged long ago, over in Europe. In this example the student received a poor grade on the paper and Kantz suggests that that the poor grade was maybe not entirely the fault of the student. She suggests that possibly the student was never taught any other way to consider text and it’s supporting information. She goes one to suggest that possibly the student had never been exposed to such a thing as rhetorical reading. One could say that the student learned to read everything as true and not to question its validity. Therefore the student could regurgitate the facts into a paper without really questioning what she read. Regarding the student’s paper Kantz talks about the student’s failure to actually discuss original ideas about the text.
Unlike the example of the student who regurgitated information into a paper I hope to bring my own personal beliefs into this paper, which brings about my situation on this writing task. As a freshmen, at 46 years old, I feel my reading skills are fair but I’m still working on my writing skills. The last time I was in school was 1981 and this is probably my first true exposure to rhetorical reading. But actually, I am coming to realize that unknowingly I have been a rhetorical reader most of my life I just didn’t have the right language or words to describe it. I have often questioned what I was reading and whether it was “true” (fact) or whether it was just “true” for the author. So, if I were to become practiced in rhetorical reading, through guidance, trial and error, and reading at least, “some" text that interested me, I would like to think I and any other student could become successful.
Although, Kantz is arguing that perhaps rhetorical reading wasn’t taught to the “sophomore student” this article was published in 1990 which is roughly 20 years ago. I believe a lot has changed in the past 20 years specifically what was taught to students about rhetorical reading. Although, I have no “facts” to back up my previous statement I know everything changes, (the only constant is change) so I can only assume (and hope) that what was once taught has been improved upon. So perhaps in 2011 students have been taught the importance of rhetorical readings and teachers no longer see papers where students just regurgitates facts. Also, this being published in the National Council of Teachers of English the audience for this article was specifically for teachers. So in claiming that the student’s poor paper wasn’t the student’s fault but a lack of proper or good education by teachers could have made many teachers upset for Kantz pointing the finger at them. But this also could have been the starting point for change so I could also argue that this article helped change what is now being taught 20 years later.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Ruff Rhetor on Kantz
In the article, "Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively", Margret Kantz claims the nonfiction text is just one writers argument of the facts. She claims that any two writers can take 1 piece of factual information and present it in such different ways that it may not seem like the same topic. In doing so, the writer can convince or sway the audience to one opinion or another on basically the same piece of information.
One example that Kantz used was the statement,"the Earth is round". The status of this fact depends on agreement that "round"is a adequate description of the earths actual,imperfectly spherical shape.(Writing About Writing Pg.67)
Kantz used a ,"typical college sophmore,"as an example in her article. This students writings to this point had been basically a rewriting of"facts"taken from a variety of texts on any given topic. The paper noted was on some battle waged long ago, over in Europe.
Kantz's example student recieved a poor grade on the paper. Kantz suggests that that the poor grade was maybe not entirely the fault of the students. Kantz suggests that possibly the student was never taught any other way to consider text, and its supporting information. Kantz suggests that possibly the student had never been exposed to such a thing as rhetorical reading. Kantz talks about the failure to disscuss original ideas on the text.
This brings about my situation on this writing task. I feel my reading skills are fair, and that I am getting a sense of the importance of rhetorical reading. Actually, I am coming to realize that unknowing I have been a rhetorical reader most of my life.
But, taking one of the limited topics and reading it rhetorically still seems to be out of my grasp. Sure, I get some information out of such dry articles, but its like taking a pair of pliers and extracting my own teeth. Painstaking!!!!
If a student were to become practiced in rhetorical reading, through guidance, trial and error, and reading at least,"some" text that interested them, I would like to think they could become successful. And hopefully somewhere at the end of it all would be a product worth the time to read it.
One example that Kantz used was the statement,"the Earth is round". The status of this fact depends on agreement that "round"is a adequate description of the earths actual,imperfectly spherical shape.(Writing About Writing Pg.67)
Kantz used a ,"typical college sophmore,"as an example in her article. This students writings to this point had been basically a rewriting of"facts"taken from a variety of texts on any given topic. The paper noted was on some battle waged long ago, over in Europe.
Kantz's example student recieved a poor grade on the paper. Kantz suggests that that the poor grade was maybe not entirely the fault of the students. Kantz suggests that possibly the student was never taught any other way to consider text, and its supporting information. Kantz suggests that possibly the student had never been exposed to such a thing as rhetorical reading. Kantz talks about the failure to disscuss original ideas on the text.
This brings about my situation on this writing task. I feel my reading skills are fair, and that I am getting a sense of the importance of rhetorical reading. Actually, I am coming to realize that unknowing I have been a rhetorical reader most of my life.
But, taking one of the limited topics and reading it rhetorically still seems to be out of my grasp. Sure, I get some information out of such dry articles, but its like taking a pair of pliers and extracting my own teeth. Painstaking!!!!
If a student were to become practiced in rhetorical reading, through guidance, trial and error, and reading at least,"some" text that interested them, I would like to think they could become successful. And hopefully somewhere at the end of it all would be a product worth the time to read it.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Kantz Post
At the beginning of this article, it seemed to be going in the same direction as most of the other material in this textbook. 15 to 20 pages of paragraphs with words I do not understand. Basically meaningless to me since there is nothing in the text that interests me.
Although early in the reading Kantz did spark my interest talking about facts, claims, and opinions. That challenging what is stated in a text can be done without changing facts, just maybe changing how you state them or to whom you state them to. She also makes me feel a better about my comprehensive writing skills through mention in some of her text. She seems to say that these skills require a fair amount of learning and practice.
She also talked of a student who was quite tired of the long, boring college level reading such as myself. But they told of a time when they finally read something that was of interest to them. At that point, things began to come around for them. I can only hope this for myself.
Although early in the reading Kantz did spark my interest talking about facts, claims, and opinions. That challenging what is stated in a text can be done without changing facts, just maybe changing how you state them or to whom you state them to. She also makes me feel a better about my comprehensive writing skills through mention in some of her text. She seems to say that these skills require a fair amount of learning and practice.
She also talked of a student who was quite tired of the long, boring college level reading such as myself. But they told of a time when they finally read something that was of interest to them. At that point, things began to come around for them. I can only hope this for myself.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)