Summary

Ashley Meyn

Engl 250

A.R. Mallory

January 27, 2014

Since our society is constantly changing and adding many new aspects each year, it is important to make sure that our youth are provided with the skills and education necessary to thrive in this new fast paced environment. The state of Mississippi was struggling, like many states, with issues concerning violence, child poverty, teen pregnancy and a massive increase in the technological advances. Youth was in dire need of instruction on how to cope and combat these issues in the most appropriate ways possible.

Although many states face the issues described above, Mississippi is particularly unique in the sense that it ranks 49^th.

Child poverty and teen pregnancy rates are higher than the national average and continue to rise. Many of the decisions that lead to such issues are made by teens that currently lack the education that would provide them with knowledge and how to better understand the decisions they are making. As a nation it is our duty to take on these issues and contribute to the well being of these children; after all, today’s youth will be tomorrow’s leaders.

According to Sheri Lokken, a professor at Mississippi State University, family and consumer sciences professionals took the initiative and developed a curriculum that was based on meeting these newfound issues head on with support from technology based classrooms. It was decided that the first three years of the program would be considered a beta in order to gather more information so as to analyze and enhance the way in which we go about teaching this new information.

In 1994, the Mississippi state government passed and funded Mississippi house bill 1467. The bill stated that, “Before 1997 all local school districts shall provide programs of education in family and consumer sciences in grades 10-12, which include coursework in responsible parenting and family living skills”. (Lokken, Preliminary impacts of an innovative FCS curriculum, Iowa State University E-Library). In addition, the committee formed to produce these new programs recommended adding courses that pertain to: nutrition and wellness, family and individual health, personal development, child development, and resource management. Along with the subject of the course, professionals from secondary schools, college faculty, and the MDE outlined several other aspects of the course including: credits, length of the course, competency levels, suggested objectives, and teaching and assessment strategies. Along with the education based features, the course creators factored in such details as requirement for the classrooms, software and materials needed for each course, and an array of other facets that detailed how these courses would be taught in newly improved classrooms.

In order to more easily incorporate the new framework for the courses, teachers are to be trained for two weeks in the summer, prior to the beginning of the school year. The training included the foundation of understanding concerning the six new courses, how to use and teach with the new technology acquired, and also a proficiency test that required each teacher to create and present a 20 minute PowerPoint lesson on one of the various topics relating to one of the six courses. Each presentation was also copied and distributed to participants in order to build an arsenal of teaching resources that will be useful in the classrooms.

As in this case study, the course content of Family and Consumer Sciences does have a significant role in the overall education children are sent out of high school with. Though the program has not been around very long, it has already shown positive impacts on pregnancy statistics.  It has worked in this state, and can be affective in other states as well.

Bibliography

Lokken, Sheri L. "Preliminary Impacts of an Innovative FCS Curriculum." Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences 93.4 (2001): 58-62. Iowa State University. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://mars.lib.iastate.edu:1701/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=viewOnlineTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=TN_ericEJ634101&indx=1&recIds=TN_ericEJ634101&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&dscnt=0&fctN=facet_frbrgroupid&vl(192264181UI1)=all_items&frbrVersion=2&scp.scps=scope%3A%28ISU%29%2Cprimo_central_multiple_fe&fctV=6411965212512181597&tab=default_tab&dstmp=1391195690572&srt=rank&mode=Basic&tb=t&vl(freeText0)=Preliminary%20Impacts%20of%20an%20Innovative%20FCS%20Curriculum&vid=ISU0&frbg=6411965212512181597&vl(203425888UI0)=any&dum=true&vl(1UIStartWith0)=contains&gathStatIcon=true >.

CEO activity

**As a Family and Consumer Sciences high school instructor, there is not very much business that goes on. Our purpose is to educate the next generations with the household skills to survive and thrive in our world. This being said, there is little, to no buying and making a profit sort of stuff.  So, this is to fellow teachers in which I advise them to use the ISU representative as a resource to help with mechanical issues within our kitchens.**

Story County FCS Instructors,

I recently met with a young lady from ISU. She is an engineering major and has many services to offer us. Her main objective in the club she is associated with, is to efficiently build vehicles and race them to maximum comfort and minimum difficulties. She has made a deal with Ames Schools and the surrounding county schools to help us FCS teachers. She is willing to put research into developing us ovens and other kitchen equipment that will have excellent performance and long term running abilities.
Yes, we do not have to deal with all of the “out of order” kitchens anymore. Our students will be able to make use of all the appliances we are given.

Until the team finalizes their designs and get them into our kitchens, they have agreed to make fixes to any problems we have, and have agreed so at a great rate.

Heres what you do if you are experiencing an appliance related issue:

You do not need to first go through me, but email the ISU team directly. They are getting hundreds of emails per day and so you need to make it brief and right to the point. As engineers, they do not expect the fluff or anything extra details. Include only the need-to-know details and exact issue you are having. In this case, blunt is best. This is for their efficiency and yours.

This is a great opportunity and a great value. Let me know if you have any questions regarding their business or how to get ahold of them.

Sinceerely,

Ashley Meyn

Director of FCS Ed.

Story County

How to write in my field

1/22
How would you find out how writing works in your field?


Writing in my field is very different than writing in many other professions. As a Family and Consumer Sciences Educator in a high school setting, I will need to know how to write a few different genres.

-How to write handouts for students, including stllabus and class explanitory assignments.
-Parent directed notes and grade updates in case of troubled students.
-Quiz and test questions. How to write them in a way that is not too confusing.
-??? I am not entirely sure what other writing this field will entail.

Who: I could talk to former FCS teachers or my ISU guidance councilor.
How: Email or in person

Sources and citations- 1/21/2014

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijcs.12027/full

Lindblom, Cecelia. "Practical Conditions for Home and Consumer Studies in SwedishCompulsory Education: A Survey Study." - Lindblom. Wiley Online Library, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijcs.12027/full>.

http://www.joe.org/joe/2013february/rb3.php

""Let's Talk": Collaboration Between Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Personnel and Teachers." The Journal of Extension (JOE). Extension Journal, Inc., Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://www.joe.org/joe/2013february/rb3.php>.

Ashley Meyn

Thought Piece #2

With the first paragraph of Resenberg’s article, I found myself laughing. This piece has Ashley written all over it. I can pick up a Nicholas Sparks book and read cover to cover within days. Nothing intrigues me as much as a drama or love story. However the second I pick up my religion or personal finance textbooks, it’s as if I have been sleep deprived for days and could pass out within the first paragraph. I too, often wonder, is there something wrong with me? Maybe I’m not cut out for this college thing. It was comical and calming to read that this is a common problem and that I might not have a major issue on my hands. I was reassured in the fact that she started out the way I am and as a graduate student, learned to crave scholarly texts.

I also enjoyed Rosenbergs insight into how scholarly reading works. It is not just flat information that does not have anything to do with you. She explains that it can help you to understand your stance on issues and I believe make you a more well-rounded person. Class discussions are also very important to help understand what you are reading and force you to see different interpretations. For example, I had a class last semester that had large amounts of scholarly readings every day. The writing was old fashioned and hard to understand. The most helpful thing my teacher did was peer discussions. The way I understood what the author was saying was sometimes much different than what the people around me thought. This is a helpful tool for me to use even out of class settings.

I find it very helpful what she said about breaking a scholarly article down. Finding the audience, focus questions, and asking your own questions while reading could be very helpful. I feel I have probably been missing out on a lot of the informations that I could have gained just by breaking everything down and using more resources. Though this is no doubt a lot of work, doing these things can really help me to absorb and understand a lot of the information I previously slept through or skimmed right over.

Portrait of a Writer

Dear journal,

Like Sonia Sotomayer, I am not a natural writer. I hear people speaking about loving to write; it’s freeing, expressive, and imaginative. I sadly disagree with all of the adjectives. Writing is a burden and exhausting. Throughout the years, I have found ways to cope and lessen this hatred.

When pondering this paper itself, I procrastinated. “I’ll write it after church tonight! No, I’ll stay home from church tonight to write it. Well maybe I could get up earlier on Friday to write it? No, no. Bad idea I’ll oversleep and have nothing to turn in”. I dread nothing more than this very first paragraph deciding what to talk about. This assignment shouldn’t be so bad, I am just reflecting on myself, right?

Papers and I are a vicious cycle. Writing does not come easy to me, as I am not a woman of many words. I have always been the shy, reserved girl and this is reflected in my writing habits. When it comes to social interactions, I would much rather be a listener, only contributing when necessary. Thoughts and ideas are forced onto pages. While a paper would take just an hour or so for one person, it would take multiple hours for me. I believe it is the combination of intimidation, and biological reasons such as feeling a lack of need to express thoughts. As usual, I tried starting out with a general outline of what I wanted to express through this paper. I separate thoughts into three separate body paragraphs, adding key details I am hitting on throughout. I then add in how I want to begin and end the piece. This is about as wordy as I like to get; however, this will not cut it for most college essays.

            This writer’s block is certainly part of my personality, but I believe there are other factors to be considered as well. My junior year I had a teacher that I was not very fond of. I felt he didn’t use criticism that helped me and in turn really just hurt how I felt about writing. It seemed as though everything I wrote was dumb and useless. As if I already did not like writing, this just made everything worse. Things changed with a new teacher and a new year. My senior composition class was the best English class I could have taken. I somehow was able to enjoy going to class every day. I remember her explaining that writing can be a drag, but there are ways to learn to enjoy it. Though I hate creative writing the most, she made it fun. I actually felt successful as a writer! I believe that it was in this class that I found my writer’s voice. Depending on the genre, this voice comes out in a different way. Perhaps my favorite paper in the class was a persuasive piece about the processed foods we put in our body. (Yes, it was somewhat of a dreaded research piece). I have a passion for food and healthy ways of preparing it. When writing about something I really care about, the fear and intimidation goes away. Without this teacher, Mrs. Engelkes, I would not have realized this. The next year, this fall semester in English 150, I had a fabulous teacher as well. Sinem Sonsaat did a great job at working with me and giving constructive feedback on my work. It was these two years that I believe my attitude towards writing and communication began to improve.

That was the point at which I realized that I don’t hate writing as much as it seems. I do not have a strong personality or feelings about most things, but if I find that thing that really strikes a nerve with me, I like writing. Allegra Goodman writes in Calming the Inner Critic and Getting to Work:

“Go back to your library, your forest, your newspapers, your family, your day job, your photos, your music, your maps and jottings of old dreams. All these are teeming with life, and life is the stuff of fiction. There are no guarantees, but if you go out where stories are congregate, it’s far more likely that characters will come.” (Goodman 310).

All I need to do is find the inspiration. Something that motivates me, and that is when the ideas will flow. This, I believe is the best way to beat the writer-blues and become a person that likes to write.

            The second point of Goodman’s that I like is that “Past masters are done. Their achievements are finite, known, measurable.” (Goodman 308). We don’t need to write to try to out-do or live up to those of the past. The way I see this, is that you do not need to write for the approval of others. Whether you live up to the level of those before you is irreverent. I believe that you should write what is pleasing to you.

It is because all of these things that I want to look at a writing in a different light this semester. I was delighted to hear that we will be writing research papers that have to do with our major. This is a positive twist on normally boring papers. I believe this will really help me to be interested in the papers we will do and not feel that it is a burden. It also will be useful for my other classes. Learning to write well is a good thing, but learning to write well in the field that we will be writing in the rest of our lives, is even better.

            Throughout this semester, I want to improve my writing skills and become more confident in my writing. I would like to be able to be a more efficient writer and learn how to put my thoughts together quicker and write more college (high level) papers. Lastly, I would like to get away from the dislike I had previously developed for writing, and possibly even consider it fun. 

Ashley Meyn

Goodman

In this article, Allegra Goodman highlights the main issues that we faces as writers and encourages us to knock down the barriers that we have set for ourselves. I like what she says about facing our inner critic. As she shared, we are often cautious when writing because of what a teacher may have told us in the past that limits our abilities and scares us away from going deeper into our writing. I experienced this my junior year of high school. I had a teacher that felt the need to comment on just about everything on our essays and pieces. The problem is, he focused on the negative and even though I was proud of that piece, he would grade it very critically. He did not focus on structure and if I answered the critical questions like I wish he would have. This hurt my “writer esteem” and had a large effect on my confidence in writing skills. Thankfully, the next year I had a fantastic composition teacher that let us be creative and did not pick apart all of our choices. This took a dramatic toll on my writing, and even though it was not my favorite subject, I really did enjoy it.

I also enjoyed what Goodman said about getting inspiration. Nobody becomes inspired sitting at a desk in a small room with white walls. You have to go out and do what you love or just live life. There is a lot to be written that is inspired by our day to day lives.

“Love your material. Nothing frightens the inner critic more than the writer who loves her work.” (Goodman 309). I have never thought about it like this, but I am certain that I am scared to be proud of my own work. I put up walls so that when people criticize it, I will have “not liked that piece anyways”. But we are all creative and have our own ideas, so there is no reason to be ashamed by the work that we do. All in all, Goodman has taught me to just write. Don’t worry about what others may think. Get to the place you feel the most creative, and let your thoughts and characters come alive.