Should the u.s. government give undocumented citizens a path to citizenship?
reflection
Project Description
In this project we chose a modern day problem that the US is facing. We then wrote about a page or so of our opinion on it from the experiences in our lives. The class then went into a deep research mode. We research both sides and perspectives on the topic we chose and then wrote two separate argumentative essays on those two perspectives. Leading up to this project we learned about political philosophies and generally why people make the decisions they do based on their morals. We could incorporate this into an argument in our essays or just use them to justify the arguments we were learning about. After we had our three essays written we were able to choose how we wanted to represent our project, you could choose things like an op-ed article an art piece or a political poster or cartoon. I choose to do a painting that you can see above.
Writing Growth
One of the major ways I changed my paper was the paper’s format. In the first draft the paragraphs were very messy, they had random citations in the middle of sentences and would state something then not evaluate it after the random citation. It was like telling the punchline of a joke first. Not funny. So I reorganized my paragraphs, a lot. After refining them I have formulated paragraphs. You can see what I am stating in the paragraph, or what the topic I will be talking about in that paragraph, first. Then when you keep reading you can see the evidence I have to backup my claim and then my evaluation of the information I have presented.
The next portion of my refinement and growth in my essays was the content and evidence. While I was writing my paragraphs I came up with new arguments for the side I was writing on. So needing evidence to back those claims up was important. Gradually while writing the different arguments for both perspectives I would gain more and more sources. Not coming into this project with much knowledge on the topic, I needed background information on the topic as well as the evidence for the specific topics I was presenting.
The last major refinement I made to my essays in this project was my hook. My first draft didn’t have a hook, the next was just me throwing a bunch of information at the audience. Reading through and refining my essays night after night I realized my essay was really boring and really needed something to bring the reader in. So I decided to come up with a story. A scenario that might happen if you lived in a community with the struggles of modern day Mexico. The overall story is about a person who goes to a market and is then confronted with the cartel. The one thing I wish I did more on my hook was shorten it, after telling the story it does get the reader's attention, but it is quite long. It might lose the reader’s attention by the end or they might not be interested in the actual article by the end
Personal Growth and Perspective
Through this project my perspective didn’t change. I still believe that we should be helping others and letting these immigrants have a path to become citizens. I did, on the other hand, get a lot more perspective on the other side’s view and why they believe it. I have gained more respect for the opposing side because of taking the time and researching their views and the logic that surrounded the reasoning behind it.
The things I have learned about critical thinking for the expansion of this project is that you really need to be open to what other’s morals values are. When you are open to opposing ideas and not open to why they believe what they believe you won’t be able to see their complete perspective and therefore won’t be able to completely understand all they have to say and offer. Learning about the different philosophies before we dove into this project really helped me to see why people believe what they do and how they justify their beliefs.
In this project we chose a modern day problem that the US is facing. We then wrote about a page or so of our opinion on it from the experiences in our lives. The class then went into a deep research mode. We research both sides and perspectives on the topic we chose and then wrote two separate argumentative essays on those two perspectives. Leading up to this project we learned about political philosophies and generally why people make the decisions they do based on their morals. We could incorporate this into an argument in our essays or just use them to justify the arguments we were learning about. After we had our three essays written we were able to choose how we wanted to represent our project, you could choose things like an op-ed article an art piece or a political poster or cartoon. I choose to do a painting that you can see above.
Writing Growth
One of the major ways I changed my paper was the paper’s format. In the first draft the paragraphs were very messy, they had random citations in the middle of sentences and would state something then not evaluate it after the random citation. It was like telling the punchline of a joke first. Not funny. So I reorganized my paragraphs, a lot. After refining them I have formulated paragraphs. You can see what I am stating in the paragraph, or what the topic I will be talking about in that paragraph, first. Then when you keep reading you can see the evidence I have to backup my claim and then my evaluation of the information I have presented.
The next portion of my refinement and growth in my essays was the content and evidence. While I was writing my paragraphs I came up with new arguments for the side I was writing on. So needing evidence to back those claims up was important. Gradually while writing the different arguments for both perspectives I would gain more and more sources. Not coming into this project with much knowledge on the topic, I needed background information on the topic as well as the evidence for the specific topics I was presenting.
The last major refinement I made to my essays in this project was my hook. My first draft didn’t have a hook, the next was just me throwing a bunch of information at the audience. Reading through and refining my essays night after night I realized my essay was really boring and really needed something to bring the reader in. So I decided to come up with a story. A scenario that might happen if you lived in a community with the struggles of modern day Mexico. The overall story is about a person who goes to a market and is then confronted with the cartel. The one thing I wish I did more on my hook was shorten it, after telling the story it does get the reader's attention, but it is quite long. It might lose the reader’s attention by the end or they might not be interested in the actual article by the end
Personal Growth and Perspective
Through this project my perspective didn’t change. I still believe that we should be helping others and letting these immigrants have a path to become citizens. I did, on the other hand, get a lot more perspective on the other side’s view and why they believe it. I have gained more respect for the opposing side because of taking the time and researching their views and the logic that surrounded the reasoning behind it.
The things I have learned about critical thinking for the expansion of this project is that you really need to be open to what other’s morals values are. When you are open to opposing ideas and not open to why they believe what they believe you won’t be able to see their complete perspective and therefore won’t be able to completely understand all they have to say and offer. Learning about the different philosophies before we dove into this project really helped me to see why people believe what they do and how they justify their beliefs.