Final Reflection

Writing Goals from the beginning of the year:

•  Become more confident in writing my essays and make good outlines before I write them
• Get better at using more colorful and less common words in my writing
• Get better at constructing good thesis statements

 Looking back at my goals, I'd say that I have improved my writing from the very beginning. I don't exactly enjoy writing essays, but now that I have started to make good, thoughtful, outlines I've become a bit more confident in writing them. I feel like I have been able to organize my ideas better and have gotten better at giving more details and evidence in my essays. My first in-class essay was not very good and lacked a lot of evidence and detail, but I like to think I improved a little bit in that area of my writing. Thesis statements are another story; they have always been a challenge to me. I know how to write them, but making them good is the hard part. Although I do think that I have improved a little bit in writing good thesis statements since the beginning of the year though. One goal I don't think I have improved that much in is using more colorful words. It's sometimes difficult for me to get out of the habit of using common words, but I'm still working on it. Overall, I think that I have improved as a writer and accomplished my goals to some extent.

I think I should earn an A in my participation grade. I tried to step it up and respond more in class after the last time we graded ourselves for participation, and have been a leader in the small groups, and provided thoughtful responses in class

facebook

Thought this was funny. It does a good job of describing the news feed I constantly read on my own Facebook, and how I don't even talk to half the people that come up on my feed. 

social networks

The number one social network that I use is Facebook. I used to use Myspace, but moved on to Facebook around sophomore year of high school. I also use YouTube, Pandora, and StumbleUpon. On Facebook I post pictures of me and my friends, and update statuses about my life, comment on my friends posts. I have over 400 friends, but i don’t talk to half of them. Some of them could just be from my third grade class and I haven’t talked to them since, or some are my best friends and I post things on their wall all the time. I don’t really use YouTube that much, and I really only created an account my junior year of high school so I could post videos of me doing gymnastics for college coaches to see. Now I just go on there randomly to watch funny videos or get songs that I like. On Pandora, I just enter music that I like and listen to the playlists that it makes for me, and I can also see what other people are listening to as well. StumbleUpon is a website where you choose topics that you’re interested in and you “stumble” through websites that are related to those topics. I can also see all the websites that my friends have liked and can looke at them as well. 

Quotes

• For every $1 invested by the state, the CSU generates $5.43 for California's economy.
• CSU-related spending generates more than $17 billion in economic impact in California which supports 150,000 jobs in the state.
• The CSU, more than any other public or private university in the state, provides more job-ready graduates to California's competitive industries — industries which account for nearly 5 million jobs in the state.
• Even a relatively modest increase of 5% in the bachelor’s degree percentage yields about an $8,000 increase in household median income statewide.
• By 2025, the state will have one million fewer college-educated workers than the economy will require, according to PPIC projections.
• This report proposes that the plan set explicit new goals in several key areas, including UC and CSU eligibility levels, community college transfers to four-year institutions, and college completion rates.

Interview

It would have been awesome if I could have interviewed the chancellor or maybe even our governor, but apparently they have better things to do than help me with my paper! So instead I interviewed a Senior here at SJSU.

Interview with Lauren Green, Senior at SJSU.

Do you know how much you are paying for tuition here at SJSU?

Yes I know that I'm paying about 2,500 dollars for just my tuition, and thats for my 14 credits. But I also know that new fees are tagged on like every semester, which I don't pay much attention to because I don't have much of a choice other than to pay them.

Have you had any difficulties getting classes you need that are required for your major? 


Yes! Last Spring semester was the worst! I had to take six units of just "filler" classes, which I didn't even need. I'm a Child and Family Development major and I could barely get any classes for my major. I had to give up my spot to a Senior that needed the class so they could graduate sooner. Which was very frustrating.

Have you had more luck this year with getting classes? 


Yes, thankfully I have, since I'm a Senior now and they want to get rid of me. It's just annoying because you'd think that my required classes would be the biggest since an entire major of students need them, but instead I was stuck in art class and geology.

Do you think you will graduate in four years? 


I really hope so! I had to go to Summer school right before this semester since I couldn't get any of my classes last semester. Which was even more frustrating since Summer school cost over $1000 just for a three unit class. Now that was a nice dent in my family's wallet.
But I am lucky because I know a lot of people are "super seniors", and I might be lucky enough to graduate in four years, but I'm also afraid I might have to go to Summer school again or have an extra semester here at State.

Do you feel like your classes have prepared you for skills you would need for a job pertaining to your major? 


Yeah, I guess so. Luckily Child and Family Development (CFD) can be kind of self explanatory so the only hard thing will be finding a job after college!

Anything else you'd like to share or any suggestions on how to solve this problem? 

Well, basically I'd just say that going to college is real expensive, and it's very frustrating not being able to get into the classes I need. I didn't think it would be so hard to get the classes I need, but it really is. If we could just have more classes available, I think it would help people to graduate faster, preferably in four years...Except that would also require the schools to have more money, so I'd say that California needs to give more money to the school.

URL

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/aboutuc/masterplan.html

Essay To Do List

• Find out hidden fees on students
• Use more attention grabbers
• Find statistics and numbers that support my idea
• Suggest how to improve the Master Plan

Summary: The Economic Crisis

The current economic crisis we are in is much like others in the past. The crisis is supposed to strike in "two waves", the first being the crash in the credit and stock markets. The second wave affects pretty much everything else, from "consumer demand to unemployment to the possibility of substantial business failure." These failures all affect colleges in one way or another, whether it be an increase of tuition, or making it hard for colleges to raise any funds. Most colleges will be affected since they all somewhat rely on tuition to make money, and with higher prices, people can't pay the tuition,which means less money for the colleges! The few good things that come out of this economic crisis is a reduction in utility costs and lower prices on oil and gasoline!

Evaluating the Source of Information

Nowadays with so many resources to retrieve information from, it's not always easy to know if your source is reliable or not. The internet is usually the most questionable source, although it's one of the easiest to access. We may think the internet is always right, but we must always make sure it's coming from a valid source, and while I was looking at all of the CSU websites, all the information seemed reliable. The statistics of the impacts all seem reliable and truthful. The chancellor of the CSU system controls this information on the websites, which gives a lot of information on the successes of the CSU system and universities.

Compare & Contrast

SJSU:

• SJSU is located in the high tech capitol of the world.
• SJSU has a huge impact on the economy of the Bay Area and the spending related to SJSU which is around $479 million, makes a total impact of $829 million.
• SJSU's college of engineering has been ranked 14th in the nation.
• SJSU is in the top 10 public master's universities in the West.
• SJSU has over 29,000 students and graduates and 5,000 go into the workforce each year. 

CSU Sacramento: 

• CSUS has a big impact on the region of Sacramento and the annual spending related to CSUS is around $607 million which creates a total impact of $816 million on the region.
• The impact helps sustain over 9,000 jobs.
• CSUS has one of the largest cooperative educatoin programs which puts students in paid jobs where they recieve academic credit.
• CSUS produces 89% of all graduates that are in criminal justice.

CSU Long Beach:

• CSULB has a big impact on the area of Long Beach, with CSULB related spending up to $631.6 billion it creates an impact of $1 billion in Long Beach.
• The impact helps sustain over 9,300 jobs locally and 9,500 statewide. 
• The impact also makes $63 million locally and $69 million statewide.
• CSULB has the greatest number of art and design majors than any other public school.
• CSULB has the highest number of masters in nursing in the CSU system.

CSU pages

• Impacts of CSU: The total of direct CSU spending for 2008-2009 was $7.96 billion. This money helps support hundreds of thousands of jobs in California. CSU schools help people get a higher education and earn more money to help the economy. 
• How CSU Impacts CA: States need to realize that investing in higher education is a "strong investment" because when a state is well educated, it makes more money. CSU creates graduates which creates more jobs which helps the states' economy. 
• Magnitude of CSU Impact: CSU alumni earnings help the economy based on how much they earn and spend to help the economy. 
• CA Return on Investment: The state gets back more in taxes when it invests in the CSU. Each dollar invested calculates to be $5.43 for CSU spending impact, which makes the CSU more valuable each year.
• CSU and CA Workforce Needs: The CSU system helps create experienced and knowledgeable graduates that help make up the workforce in California. CSU also tries to give educational opportunities to everyone despite their financial needs, which helps increase the number of jobs and helps the economy. 
• Making Higher Education Accessible: The CSU system has the most diverse schools ethnically, and also give people with disabilities the opportunity to get a higher education. The CSU system is also one of the most affordable higher education systems making it easier for people to get a higher education.
• CSU on Sustainability: The CSU system is "going green" by conserving water, renewable energy, community action, etc. This is helping students have more environmental awareness, which will lead to more success in "going green" for everyone else. 
• Impact on Innovation and Entrepreneurship: The CSU system receives money from different grants or awards that benefit many different academic units. These academic units benefit by having more money for research which impacts California's economy in only good ways. 

Writing Goals

• Become more confident in writing my essays and make good outlines before I write them
• Get better at using more colorful and less common words in my writing
• Get better at constructing good thesis statements

Writing Workshop

I will be attending the workshop Common Grammar and Punctuation Errors on Monday October 4th, from 12-1 PM.

Writing Center Services

The Writing Center here at San Jose State University is a great resource for both students and faculty. The Writing Center is a place where students can go to writing workshops, or schedule a one-on-one or group tutoring session whenever they're in need help with their writing. The workers at the Writing Center are Writing Specialists who are there especially to help you with any writing concerns you may have; whether it be organizing your paper, citing sources, or just simply finding topics for your papers, the writing specialists are there to help you. The Writing Center is a very helpful place for students and can help relieve some of the stress and procrastination that comes along with writing papers!

About Me

I am a freshman on the gymnastics team at SJSU, i work hard in everything I do and I have fun while doing it.