Blog 4: Writing Process

    I have spent much of this week and weekend working on my second "block" of research focusing on "What is Urban School Reform." So far, I have found a surplus of information regarding the early 20th century reforms and the reforms that have started in the early 1980's throughout current day. It seems that many issues regarding where to start the reform have come about. Officials have focused on doing reform efforts nationwide, district wide, and throughout individual schools- doing one school at a time.  These three notions have been brought about in "Waves" something that I will be discussing in this block of the paper.
     My biggest challenge so far is to still create a "field conversation". Though there are many sources, often most of them are saying the same things throughout. Until I hit the discourse communities section of my paper, I do not feel that the school reform research at hand will have too many varying opinions. Most of the research is rather cut and dry- statistics, history and reports. As of right now I am focusing on the varying histories of school reform, comparing early demonstrations cited in the early 20th century to what communities are doing today for reform.

Meta Reflection

    Meta- Reflection

So far within the writing process, I think I have began to get a feel to where my paper is going. When I first started this block, I knew I wanted to do it on students and reform, however, I did not have a clear direction as to where to go next. As of now, I feel that I am going to research the various concerns involved in the Urban School Reform. Since this section has focused on student and teacher methods, I am going to focus my next 5 page blocks on these issues:

    Outline

1. What exactly is Urban School Reform

2. Student and teacher methods being used (As written in this block)

2. How successful is it using nationwide and statewide standards

3. Community opinions and outlooks involving the urban reform that is occuring in various areas (people who are for the reform and those who are against it)

I feel that with these main four blocks, I will be able to accurately inform the reader on what the Urban School reform is, how it’s affecting students and teachers, the success of it and also how various discourse communities feel about the schooling efforts.
    So far, I have been able to find a surplus of information regarding the reform. It seems to be that organizing the information has been the only difficult part. I have found Mendeley extremely useful when it comes to highlighting the articles as well as finding the information for MLA citation. I haven’t shared any of my documents yet, but I find the software useful for organizing and researching material. Overall, I feel as if I have a relatively clear direction as of where to go with my paper and research for the next few weeks. I look forward to conferences just to make sure I am doing so.

Week 2- Urban Reform

        This week, I have done more research in regards to the topic of urban reform. Though I have found more books helpful than articles, I have uploaded my first article to Mendeley (yay)! Considering I know nothing about technology, it has taken me a bit to get used to. I definitely like the editing options Mendeley provides, such as highlighting and leaving comments on the works that automatically saves them. For 750 words.com, I was not able to actually accumulate 750 words. Though I only made it to around 300, I definitely got a feel for how the website works. Usually, I'm pretty good at motivating myself, but it's good to see other ways in which motivate other people. 
       As for research, I think I'm going to do my first block of work on the affect urban reform is having on children.   I think it's important for readers to know the background of children in these schools. So far, I have been looking at four books checked out from Cincinnati Public that discuss this issue. Once I get the MLA formatted correctly, I'll post the sources up on here. Briefly, they are entitled, Urban School Reform: Lessons from San Diego, Listening to Urban Kids, It Takes a City, Listening to Kids: School Reform and Teachers They Want. I have also annotated the article, "Urban School Reform: Family Support and Achievement".
      I'm not quite sure if I want to focus the direction on my paper more towards the students how this is affecting their lives or on the politics of the issue. I feel that as I keep doing research, I will have a more guided direction for my paper. 

       

Starting to Research on Urban Reform

For my paper, I have begun to look at various resources regarding the topic of the urban reform throughout the country and especially here in Cincinnati,Ohio. So far, I have found a surplus of information regarding the school reform and the effects it is having on our society today. Most of the resources I have been looking at thus far are books, including  A Decade of Urban School Reform. It seems that through merely glancing at these topics, the issue of school reform has been an ongoing process. Other resources I have found thus far are as follows:

Ansell, Chris, Sarah Reckhow, and Andrew Kelly. "How to Reform a Reform Coalition: Outreach, Agenda Expansion, and Brokerage in Urban School Reform." Policy Studies Journal 37.4 (2009): 717-43. Academic Search Complete. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=15&sid=28ab8672-08ee-4f5d-bb65-6ebfaa5390b6%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=44709269>.

Hess, Frederick M. Urban School Reform: Lessons from San Diego. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education, 2005. Print.

Miron, Louis F., and John P. St. Edward. Reinterpreting Urban School Reform: Have Urban Schools Failed, or Has the Reform Movement Failed Urban Schools? Albany, NY: State New York Press, 2003. Print.

So far, these are the only items I have skimmed through at both the Cincinnati Public Library and on online data bases. My goal is to accumulate as many resources as possible and then begin to look at the direction that I would like my paper to go. This subject is something that I'm interested in, yet I do not know much about. My goal this weekend is to accumulate as many sources as possible and to start reading over them, hopefully getting an idea of where I would like the direction of my paper to go. I'm also trying to figure out Mendeley and this 750 words.com. It seems that my technological skills are limited, so I plan to keep looking further in the ways that technology can help expand my paper.