Daily Writings-1103

1.a. Mrs. Billings- She always read to us in third grade and made it interesting. She

would read to us in different characters’ voices, which made it enjoyable and made me want to read more than I usually had

b. Mr. Furguson- He made me engage in my writing. He always taught us different ways to connect to the story and relate it to my life better. He also assigned a project that made me really care about my topic and find a solution. I became extremely involved in reading and wanting to continue to learn more about my topic, for the first time.

c. Mrs. Atchley- She helped to make sure we always saw both sides in every argument and that we were always well-rounded in our writings. She challenged my writing ability and helped me become a better writer through her skills that she shared and helped me discover how to write different types of papers.

d. My parents- They would always read to me and helped me gain a desire to learn how to read. I wanted to be like them and read to my sister like they would read to me.

e. My Mimi- She would create stories about any topic I asked her to before I went to sleep at her house. She would also bring me to the library when she watched me and my sister over the summer, so that we could listen to the story tellers and check out books. She has always been an influential part of my literacy narrative.

2. A special place that was significant in shaping my literacy narrative was my little table in the kitchen. This is where I began to work on all academics and to understand them. When I was growing up, this table was extremely important to me because it was my own small space that I could sit and learn without being disturbed. I worked on writing the alphabet there, to learning how to read the books they sent home with us from school. It was so satisfying to me that I had my own place to really connect and discover myself while I was growing up.

Daily Writings-1103

3. School book fairs were always a fun and pleasant experience for me. We got to get out of class and spend as long as we wanted looking at everything. My grandparents would always give me money when I told them about it or showed them the flyer advertising some of the books that were going to be there. Most of the time I would get a book from a series about fairies, but I would also get something fun that I could play with as well. Usually, there were funny looking pencils and erasers, or even stamps that I would buy. If I didn’t get anything during school hours, my parents would let me at night after the PTO meeting/Open house.

4. My bedtime ritual was almost the same every night, as long as I was spending the night at my house. My dad would read a children’s Bible to me at some point before I went to bed. My mom would always read any book I wanted, a majority of the time it would be a book of nursery rhymes. As I got older, my mom would transition into reading different books, like the Bernstein Bears or Juney B. Jones. I stuck to a few favorite books and we would read those together every night and never really change it up. After we read, my mom would say the prayers, tuck me in, and kiss me goodnight.

5. I had a computer at home and it was used occasionally, but it wasn’t until we started to go to the computer lab at school that I started to use the computer and discover new enjoyable ways to use the computer for learning. Once I learned about all of this, I would go home and be on the computer a lot of the time because I thought it was cool that I was taught a bunch of new exciting tricks. My first experience creating a Power Point was in school when my teacher had us begin to make Power Point, even though it was just one or two slides it was still exciting to learn how to create something I thought just teachers knew how to do.

6. I have a connection with August from The Secret Life of Bees, this is from multiple occasions that I saw similarities between us. One basic connection is that my birthday is in August and I like to stretch the celebration out throughout the whole month, if I can, like she does because it is her special month. She is also always willing to help others no matter the circumstance, and I strive to be like that. I find most joy when I am helping others and not being just concerned with myself and she exemplifies that. She is the motherly figure in the house and that’s how my group of friends see me as well.---Rosaleen learned how to write her name by writing her name over and over, like most people did.

7. My parents both worked at my uncle’s baby store called “USA Baby” for years. My dad was a manager and very involved with the store. Four years ago they had to sell the store and my parents were both unemployed. My mom began a job with Kasey Kahne a few months later, and has been there ever since, but that process for my dad was not as

Daily Writings-1103

easy. He went through multiple jobs trying to find one that would provide for us, because for some reason there were only jobs available that was commission only. This job search lasted a little over three of him being in and out of work. Thankfully, he found a successful job to be apart of for almost a year.

8. I learned that my Dada, my grandpa on my mom’s side, doesn’t have much involvement with any of his family. He was sent to a catholic school states away from where his family actually lived and did not want to go there, so he ran away from the school and made his way back to Georgia. He had to work and take care of himself and some of his brothers. He now doesn’t talk to any of his brothers and never wants anything to do with them because they have always treated him poorly. I know that I now do not want to research his side of the family at all anymore.

9. My Grandma makes a delicious lemon pound cake that no one in my family has been able to recreate. It has always been one of my favorite things to eat growing up. Going to my grandma’s house to spend the night always meant that we got to help her make one. My favorite part was getting to mix all the ingredients and eat the extra lemon icing. I still love her her to make a lemon pound cake for me and my whole family fights over who gets more than one piece.

10. “If you steal from one another it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many its research.” Wilson Mizner. This quote speaks to me because it explains that if you just rely on one person for research you are solely stealing what they have discovered, and you possibly can run into the idea that the information you have found may not be completely accurate. If you look at many peoples work, if gives you the chance to compare and contrast until you can decide on which research best fits what you are trying to discover. With multiple people, you also have the possibility to merge all of their work together so that you will not completely copy one persons work. This quote really explains some of the confusion and misconceptions about what plagiarism is actually considered and it helps give an idea of how to not plagiarize.

11. Something I need help with on my family tree is the digital aspect. I have a direct list of ancestors dating back to 1682, which means that the list is lengthy and bulky. I’m not sure if I should include all siblings of every generation and all of their kids, or if I should just include the ones that are directly related to me and ignore the siblings because I have so many people to include. It would be really large and hard to include every single person on this family tree while making sure it is only five slides. I don’t want to exclude anyone from my family tree, but I also want to make sure the project is how it should be.

Daily Writings-1103

12. When studying to take my CNA exam my teacher stressed to us the importance of being error free, as she did all semester. It was important to be error free as we worked in the nursing home during clinicals because if not we were putting other peoples lives in danger and potentially causing extreme harm for them. We had to execute each skill precisely as it said in the book, otherwise it was unacceptable behavior and you could loose the right to the license you were trying to earn. The actual exam had a skills section where you were to perform a random set of skills given to you and you could only make a few mistakes without failing. There were certain steps that were bold in each skill, and if you missed that you automatically failed because you were going to put that patient in direct danger. This shows that in nursing it is extremely important to minimize the errors that you make and not put the patient in any kind of danger.

13. In research projects, I have found that it is important to get your information from a wide variety of sources. I have found that it is best to find multiple resources about one topic and compare and contrast those to find the information that is valid and that should be used in the project. When trying to find the best information I use Google as my search engine, but using “site.edu:.” to make sure that the information is coming from websites that are “.edu” or “.gov”. I think that it is important to never use just one source as your sole means of research, especially when it is just Wikipedia.

14. Peer review is something that can be helpful in the writing process. A majority of them time I have received helpful criticism for my pieces, but I have discovered that it is essential to be picky in who you ask to peer review for your work. It is important to choose someone who will be honest with you, but who also cares enough about the work in general to make sure that you are getting logical feedback that will actually help out in the long run. If you do not pick an appropriate person you can just get a “everything looks good”. I know that it is important, but sometimes I don’t like the process because I don’t want to be judged for the flaws in my writing, which makes me feel self conscious about this my writing.

15. I think that we should care about the horrific event that happened in Paris on Friday night. Terrorism is not something that we should just ignore or pretend it is not as serious as it is or like it does not matter as much as it does. France is one of our allies and they cared for us during 9/11, like we should be doing for them now. In times like these most people or places are going to need support to get through it and it shows how terrorism is actively happening, which could also cause a threat to our lives. We would want love and support if something that tragic happened here again and we also know how it feels and how hard it is to deal with it, so we should care for them.

Daily Writings-1103

16. A decision that I had to make since coming to UNC Charlotte was if I could handle getting a job or not. I need at least fifty hours of CNA work to even be considered for nursing school, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle it while transitioning into college because I never worked while I was in high school. I tried to think about if I should try to juggle it with school or just try to obtain all my hours in the summer, but then an opportunity came about that I couldn’t pass up: I was only going to have to work on Saturday’s for six hours and get paid well, so I decided to take the job. I now work on Saturday’s and Monday’s and can do my homework during off times at work, so it has worked out for my benefit and ended up with the best boss and coworkers.