Category: Uncategorized

Final Draft Showcase Writing Project

Following The Thread Strategy 

A strategy that I enjoy working with because it allows me to get all of my ideas out on paper and readjust my thinking. 

Our essay prompt is to discuss our personal perspective on the integration of art with our particular major. In my case, I am looking at art and dental hygiene. Initially one would not think that these two disciplines correlate very much, but after taking a step back and identifying how science and art depend on each other, it is easier to see just how important art is in dental hygiene. A few different reasons I believe art belongs in dental hygiene starts as early on as the courses we take in college before ever touching a single tooth. I am enrolled in a drawing class as a requirement for graduation. While I thought this would be pointless, the lessons I am learning in drawing can be applied to all areas of my life. Learning to take a step back, pay attention to detail, and have a creative, carefree attitude when problem-solving.  Another important course that can be taken in college would include a sculpture class. For dental technicians, dealing with creating molds and models is a very important piece of their job, and having a background in creating structures can be extremely helpful. Beyond the years learning in college there are examples of art see within the dentist office itself that depends on the presence of art. In the office, some examples of ways that art is used are through the music playing and the pictures drawn on the ceiling tiles meant to be something to look at while getting your teeth cleaning. The denitist can be a very scary thing for many people so providing calming music can make all the difference in the experience. The art on the cieling can provide a place for small childnre to stay focused on and another calming effect that can shift the overall mood of the office. Along with these few ways art can impact dental hygiene as a career, there are millions of other examples that lead to the overall extreme importance of the integration of art and science.

Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education by Yo-Yo Ma

My personal annotation goals are being reached step by step. I have started to expand my thinking by asking more questions about the text but I know that I can continue to work on building my connections to my personal life.

“Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education” was originally published on the online news and blog site, World-Post, in January 2014. It was written by cellist and songwriter, Yoy-Yo Ma. Ma’s greatest achievements include winning seventeen Grammys, recipient of many awards, and graduate of the Julliard School and Harvard University.

I found this reading, more than others, to really stretch my own personal thinking. Initially, I thought I would completely agree with Ma’s point that art needs to be incorporated into life to make it overall a more empathetic place. However, many of the annotations I wrote challenged that original belief. I started to think about how students who don’t enjoy the arts would respond to these demands. My purpose for reading this essay is to challenge my own personal ideas of how and why art should be incorporated into education and life.

The scope of this essay is to look at how incorporating art into our lives creates connections. Through education and globalization, art can create understanding and encourages a new way of thinking aside from strictly scientific ways.

Lewd: Crude and offensive in a sexual way

Lascivious: Feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire

Bandwidth: The energy or mental capacity required to deal with a situation

Global vs Local Edits

When shifting my thinking of editing from local edits (spelling, punctuation, etc) to global edits (overall idea, organization, clarity, etc) I noticed my edits becoming much more meaningful. I felt as though the feedback I was providing my peers with could really be used to enhance the structure of their essay rather than the superficial appearance.

Editing spelling so early on in the revision process could be seen as a complete waste of time. More likely than not the sentences or even entire paragraphs that make up an initial free draft will be drastically different than the sentences and paragraphs in the formal final draft. While these local or nitpicky edits are important for a published piece of work to be free of errors, at this step in the process they unnecessary to point out.

Emphasis on the global edits is what should be focused on in peer review in the early stages of the writing process. Pointing out where ideas are confusing or how certain paragraphs or evidence (quotes) do not relate to the overall thesis is much more important and necessary. In the peer review completed for this class, our peers need to know how to create a coherent essay that makes sense to the general audience. Building the structure of a house is much more important than the decorations we choose to put in that house similarly to how the concepts discussed in an essay can be more important than fixing a misspelled word here and there.

Initial Thoughts 

A mix of enthusiasm and anxiety flooded to my mind when initially creating a blog. I have always been extremely interested in technology and incorporating different aspects of technology into my school work, yet I have never really had the opportunities to make it my own. At a first glance, WordPress appeared to be very overwhelming but after dissecting aspects one by one, the initial anxiety transformed into an eagerness to learn.  I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge of how beneficial a digital platform for writing will be.