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Zack Bigelow
English 2010
Portfolio
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Throughout this english course, I feel that my confidence as a writer has increased.
As you read each of these papers that I have written throughout the course, I hope
that my improvement and growth will show through each paper. I have had a big
semester with my mother passing away and my wife having our new little son. It
has been a semester of emotional highs and lows. However, I feel that I was still
able to use this emotion to put into my writing.

1. Laura Hamilton Report

The first paper that I choose to include was my report on Laura Hamilton and her
educational views. Within this paper, it had once been a profile but through comments made in my reviews, I was told that it would also work well as a Report.
Throughout this paper, I used a lot of information regarding Hamiltons educational views as well as her research that she has done.

2. Language Position

The second paper I included was my position paper on language. I really enjoyed
writing this paper because I really could relate well to the topic. I was able to pull
from personal experiences with language in multiple perspectives. Papers are more
enjoyable when you can relate to the topic and pull from personal experience.

3. Conception to Birth Visualization

The last paper I choose to include was the visualization paper on the video Conception to Birth. I really enjoyed this topic that I had chosen because my wife just
had our baby boy a couple weeks ago. It was amazing to watch her go through the
experience through going to her doctor appointments, watching ultrasounds, listening to his heart beat, and finally watching his birth and witnessing him coming into
the world. This video was able to give me insight to my sons development and how
everything takes place.

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4. I choose this particular peer review because it went through all the evaluation
questions and I feel shows my best ability for peer review. I enjoyed reading others
papers and being able to give insight to all the variety of topics I read about.

I may never be a great writer, but this class has helped me expand my ability
to write in many different genres. It was challenging but I enjoyed being able to
challenge myself in the variety of topics. Writing is such an important characteristic to develop. This will help me with all my future classes and any future writing
assignment that I will have. My confidence has increased in my ability to write and
I will continue to improve through all future writing assignments.

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Report

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Laura Hamilton

Education reform is a hot topic amongst todays educators as well as legisla-

tors. They are always looking for a new way to evaluate and judge how teachers
teach, as well as how to hold educators accountable for student learning. Education
laws become such a hot topic because everyone attends or is required to at least attend k-12, meaning kindergarten to 12th grade or a senior. Laura Hamilton knows
how important education is in her own life as well as the society around her. She
herself has completed a Ph.D. in Educational psychology, M.S. in Statistics, M.S. in
psychology of education, as well as a bachelors in music education. She has been
well rounded and spent many years obtaining these degrees and continuing to do
research on the many education reforms taking place.

Performance based pay or evaluating teachers according to the performance

of their students has been a major topic amongst the whole educational community. Much of teacher evaluation or holding teachers accountable began with the No
Child Left Behind act that was put into place in 2002. Hamilton discusses in an interview about how this particular educational law has

changed over the years

since being implemented and what would need to be change in order for it to still
be relevant. Hamilton is very knowledgeable as she gives this interview and really
brings you into the research she and many others have done to analyze this particular law with education.

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When the No Child Left Behind act was set in place, there was a lot of focus

on individual schools and school districts for accountability on student performance. As the years have gone on, much of this accountability has switched over to
teachers and their effectiveness inside the classroom. Much has been focused on
how teachers within the same school can be drastically different in how their students comprehend how well their students success levels are in the class. States were
also given a lot of freedom to determine what proficient was within core subjects.
In this media interview Hamilton stated, There is a tremendous variation to how
states measure student performance, and what they consider proficient performance. They have set those proficient cut scores at very different points, so a student who is classified as proficient in one state might move to another only to discover that they are no longer proficient.

Now among different states, common core standards for a variety of subjects

such as math, english, science, etc. are being implemented. This means that students will be taught the same standards as well as take the same test for these sub-

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jects. She states that this will help with how different states have been in regards to
proficiency among students and start to uniform them so that everyone is being
held to certain standards and not all over the board.

In winter of 2010, Hamilton published an article that discussed assessments

and the purpose for them in schools. Assessments are largely used for determining
students knowledge and what they have learned. Many of the standardized tests
that have been implemented, have been aligned with state core standard for core
classes such as math, english, and science. These subjects are heavily focused on in
determining a students success as well as a schools success. Hamilton states something very interesting when it comes to wide scale assessments that have been used.
Policy- makers and the public must recognize that when a test designed for one
purpose (e.g., to identify students strengths and weaknesses in algebra) is used for
another purpose (e.g., to decide which students will be promoted to ninth grade or
which teachers will receive bonuses), the resulting test scores may not provide valid
information for both purposes, says Hamilton. It is with this problem that she says
teachers have found other ways besides the tests that seem to show student learning
better as well as what they need to reteach. Some of these options have been
homework, class assignments, discussions, etc.

Something that has become much more implemented within k-12 schools is

professional development for teachers. Within different studies, this has been put

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into place in order to help instruct educators for better teaching practices and how
to better engage and teach their own students. With the topic of performance
based pay, professional development has been looked at to implement hand in hand
in order to make that adjustment. Hamilton often works with other researchers as
apart of the RAND corporation who come from all different backgrounds. In this
corporation, their goal is to provide research that creates solutions to challenges in
public policy. They are able to research together and begin to understand different
points of view for any particular subject. One research study that was done was titled, Using Teacher Evaluation Data to Inform Professional Development in the Intensive Partnership Sites. Within this study Hamilton was a part of looking into different schools
that had started to implement professional development for their teachers and how
they were using it to assist with student learning and holding teachers accountable.
By studying multiple district, state, and county professional development programs,
they were able to evaluate if the offered professional development lined up with
what was actually being evaluated according to teacher performance.

Lauras intensive research has been one of her lifes work. She has such an

intelligence and passion as she discusses education. As you listen to her speak and
read the research she has done in a variety of these articles, it draws you into the
education reforms and how they are affecting our schools in todays society. This
information greatly affects anyone that attends school or has children that attend

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school. It is information that affects every educator within the nation. Educators
need to be well informed about not only our educational laws, but also be able to
understand the information within the research. Her mentality about education is
very much related to a quote by Nelson Mandela. Education is the most powerful
weapon which you can use to change the world. She believes that education will
change the world if we can create laws within the educational system to improve it.
Education is very influential and all powerful. By improving our educational system, that is the only way our society will continue to improve.

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Sources:

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Hamilton, Laura, and Ben M. Stecher. "Education: Standardize the Goal, Customize the Strategy." RAND Corporation. 1 Oct. 2008. Web. 7 Feb. 2015.

Hamilton, Laura. "Testing What Has Been Taught." American Education: 47-52.
Web. 8 Feb. 2015. <http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/
Hamilton.pdf>.

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No Child Left Behind: 10 Years Later. 2012. Film.

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Position Paper- Language

Zack Bigelow

In the book Language Loyalties by James Crawford, it speaks of the early

years of the United States. Immigrants came from all over the world speaking
many different languages. and bringing a multitude of cultures together. In as early
as the 1750s, there was the beginning of contempt towards those that didnt speak
english. It was interesting to learn that Benjamin Franklin started to become concerned with German immigrants refusal to speak English. There was street signs
that were bilingual that were also looked down upon because it wasn't just english. The term assimilation began in these early years and was encouraged of all
immigrants to assimilate into now an American culture. In the early 1900s, English
was first proposed to become our official language of the United States. Even a
state like New Mexico were spanish speakers outnumbered english speakers because of immigrants from Mexico, wasnt admitted to become a state until majority

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of the residents were english speaking. This was in the year 1912. When Puerto
Rico became a U.S. colony in the late 1800s, we tried to americanize it by having
English as the main language for instruction in schools. This pushed aside the predominately spoken language of Spanish, and pushed a foreign language on the
colony. In as late as 1987, when a language survey went out among Americans,
about two thirds believed that English was the official language of the United
States even when it wasnt ever made official. With so many strong opinions about
this issue, it has made it hard for many immigrants who dont speak english to be
accepted in the United States.

The biggest experience that I had with language was when I left on my LDS

mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to Argentina. When
arriving into this foreign country, I didnt speak Spanish fluently and was immersed
in a country that was completely different to me than what I had grown up in. My
second transfer, I had three other companions that I was living with. My companion was from Columbia, while the other two were from Chili and El Salvador. I was
still rather new to the mission and was still learning the native Spanish. I was
looked down upon and treated badly because I couldn't speak spanish. They
wouldn't try to communicate with me or help me learn the language. I was treated
like an outsider. They also had preconceived thoughts about me because I was
American. I found out quickly that they had certain stereotypes of Americans and

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it influenced how they treated me. As I have thought about this experience, I have
been able to really relate it to how people feel in our country who are looked down
upon for not speaking English. I have also learned how stereotypes and judging
someone because of the country and culture they come from has a profound effect
on someone. Being open to learning about new cultures and celebrating those that
are different than us is a lot more beneficial than tearing someone down because of
these differences.

Growing up my family only spoke English in our home. This wasnt weird to

be because majority of my friends, my school, my church, etc., spoke English. I

wasnt ever confused or thought any differently about it because it was so common
place. Though later on I had the experience I shared previously on my LDS mission in Argentina, in high school I also had a some experiences that opened my
eyes to the benefits of being able to speak multiple languages. I also experienced
how hard it can be to come into a country where suddenly your language is not the
majority. In high school my family had an exchange student from Brazil. He came
from a country where he spoke predominantly Portuguese in his home and at
school. Though he spoke some English, he was emerged into a culture where English was the main language that was spoken unless you were enrolled in a foreign
language in school. For him, getting used to the culture and the lingo was a tough
adjustment from where he had grown up. He had to get used to words, phrases,

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and sayings that confused him and many times he didn't understand. Not only was
I able to get to know him and his culture, I was also able to see how people accepted him at school and in public places. It was amazing to me how people are so
quick to judge someone who might not speak what they think is the language of
our country.

Since the terrorist attacks on our country in September 11, 2001, the need

has been seen to have better foreign language and culture skills. In a second language study in the United States it says, A pervasive lack of knowledge about foreign cultures and foreign languages threatens the security of the United States as
well as its ability to compete in the global marketplace. A great need has now been
established in the benefit of speaking multiple languages or even just being bilingual. One great thing that has been established in our countries schools is language
immersion programs that are starting in elementary school. These students involved in these programs do half the day in english while the other half is in a foreign language. Some of these include Spanish, Chinese, French, etc. In a journal
article done for the Harvard Education letter regarding duel immersion programs
on the rise it states, At a time when other types of bilingual education are on the
decline and the B-wordbilingualhas been scrubbed from the U.S. Department
of Education lexicon, dual language programs are showing promise in their mission to promote bilaterally and positive cross-cultural attitudes in our increasingly

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multilingual world. As stated in this article, its introducing students at young ages
to different cultures and languages that will benefit them and their future. Our
world isnt just an English speaking/ American culture world. Our global marketplace and international affairs are something that our nation needs to constantly be
pushing ourselves in. The more open we can be to not only celebrating different
cultures and being open to them, but being able to speak foreign language will
open so many doors. Some data from schools in Texas have shown that it increased
latino parent involvement, increased test scores for students involved in the duel
immersion programs compared to those who werent in the program, and lead to
about 90 of those students in the program attending higher education. I agree with
the Harvard Education article when it says, We need to invest in these kinds of
programs. In an international economy, knowledge, and knowledge of language, is
power. This is a great way to not shy away from being bilingual and judging others
for not speaking a language like English that we are so familiar with. Just encouraging and implementing more of these programs in schools and even offering classes
to parents who want to learn English along with their young children would be a
great opportunity for those who havent had the opportunity.

It is interesting to me that language has become an issue with many who feel

that we as Americans should have a national language of English. As I look on my

experiences that I already have had, we need to be more open to multilingualism

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as that is what drives our world. Communication is a huge factor when it comes to
anything that we want to accomplish in life. The more we embrace the chances we
have to expand our knowledge of culture and language, the more chances we have
to embrace life and create a better world. There would be less confusion and more
acceptance of others. As Frank Smith states, One language sets you in a corridor
for life. Two languages open every door along the way.

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Conception to Birth- Visualization

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Everyday people ponder the wonder and miracle of fetal development inside the womb. Technology to see this development has come such a long way even in the past ten years. We are
able to see so much through ultrasounds that have now even included up to 3D and 4D imaging. Using visual Imagery, Alexander Tsiaras, founder of VisualMD, was able to create one of
the most

amazing depictions of how a baby develops from single cells all the way into a average 7 lb
baby. Women become pregnant every single day as well as give birth. Many people havent
been able to really visualize how their baby develops inside them. Even though we have had
many representations throughout the years and visual imagery of development, this particular
imagery is based o years of research into all the variety of tissues and cells that come together to make us who we are. Tsiaras has been called the Digital Age Leonardo da Vinci because

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of his ability to create what is considered art in scientific imaging software. He used this new
age software to actually scan and record every stage of the human body. He not only is an
artist but taught himself mathematics and physics in order to be able to create new lenses and
technology for microscopes. He used his own lenses to take what is considered the first known
imagery for the human cells that are the beginning of creation; egg and sperm. He used this
technology to break down these cells into millions of tissues that have instruction codes once
combined to create one of the most complex and modern miracles known as the human body.
Along with his work on Conception to Birth, he also was oered a position to teach at Yale University. With this he was given funding to help NASA write algorithms for virtual surgery. This
was so astronauts in space would have the information and technology for astronauts to be
operated on during deep space flights. With all this technology, I wanted to really find out how
this better helps us understand the formation of the human body and the complexity of it. My
biggest criteria for this was is there good visual imagery and does this imagery help me better
understand what happens during each month of pregnancy, does this video provide information about fetal development, and is it realistic?

I have found that since my wife has become pregnant, I always find myself looking up

how my baby is developing each week. Every week my wife gets an email sending her information how how big the baby is, what the baby is able to do in the womb, how much they should
be moving, etc. There are so many explanations for how they are developing so I wanted to
research more into how they are able to gain this information. I finally found Conception to
Birth by Tsiaras. While listening to Tsiaras and how passionate he is about fetal development, it
intrigued me and peaked my interest. Through watching his explanation about the creation of
Conception until birth, I was impressed with how much information was explained and how far
technology has come in order to study the bodies development. In this video he shows visual
images on how the heart develops from two single cells and forms into an actual full functioning human heart through the weeks of pregnancy. He also visually shows the brain and how it
slowly starts to twist and turn into what we now known as a fully functioning, thinking brain.

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The fact that brain functions and waves are detected within the first month in a half of pregnancy is amazing.

The visual imagery is so realistic as I was watching it. With pregnancy such a normal
part of life because of it happening every single
day, its really relatable. With talking to my dad
about when my mom was pregnant with me,
he told me that even ultrasounds were few and
far in-between. The medical technology we
have now were not around when women were
pregnant 20 years ago. With using body scans

to create these visual images of babies in utero, it is a visual of the most amazing miracle that
we can witness in this life. Tsairas states, Even though I am a mathematician, I look at [fetal
development] with marvel: How do these instruction sets not make mistakes as they build what
is us? I like him and in awe of how when a baby develops, the cells that come together, sperm
and egg, have all the information for each organ to develop with such exactness. Even though I
am also not a medical professional and havent studied in depth everything involved in the
makeup cells, this information makes me want to study it more in depth or at least research
what has been studied. An interesting statistic that is shared is that within the first 36 days of
pregnancy are the most rapid periods of growth that the fetus experiences. If it were to continue to grow at that speed, it would weigh about 1.5 tons at birth.

This realistic visual representation of fetal development is one of the most amazing that

I have ever seen. I really appreciate the research, studies, and hard work that went into creating
this video to help me and others understand the marvel of pregnancy and a babies development inside the womb. Its also made me appreciate my wife and what her body goes through
during the pregnancy. Its amazing that a womens body knows exactly what to do when the
sperm and egg come together and implant within the uterus. We found out my wife was preg-

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nant around 6 weeks. I have learned from this video that the baby had already developed a
heart and it was beating, arms and legs, the brain was forming, and it was in its most rapid period of growth. All this happened before either of us knew that it was. It has made me really
think and grow such a respect for our bodies and what we can create. We are so complex, yet
our bodies still can create another human being that will be able to also live their own life. I
highly recommend this video to anyone and everyone interested in learning about how human
life grows inside and the miracles that our bodies can create.

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Peer Review Questions for Veronica Pimentel

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By: Zack Bigelow

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1 To what opportunity for change is the writer responding?

Immigrants to the United States has been a major topic for a number of years.
Many believe that they shouldnt be allowed to stay while others believe they
should be given the opportunity to stay.

Who might be the writer's intended audience? Does the report fit this
audience?

I believe that americans in general are the intended audience for this paper. This
particular topic aects each of us in one way or another. Its important to be able
to understand immigration and why people do immigrate to our country. My aunt
and her family were immigrants from Uruguay when my aunt was only a teenager. I have watched as my aunt had struggled to become a legal citizen with how
long the process was. She is also able to now sponsor her own family members
to help them become legal citizens. They work, pay taxes, and are productive
members of society. I believe that this is a great topic to focus on but also to
look at all sides of the issue.

What portions of my introduction seem likely to engage the interest

of the intended audience? Does the writer define the issue in terms
that will make sense for the audience? What suggestions do you have
for the writer regarding the introduction?

I really liked how the paper started out talking about the myths of immigration. It
was very strait forward and informative. Often times we dont see outside of our
own worlds. We believe what other people tell us without doing our own research. With a ounce from the immigration policy center, it was able to debunk
multiple myths that are very wide spread. I really like the introduction to this pa-

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per and it brings you in and interests you. I will say that for a report it is somewhat biased with opinion rather than staying neutral.

Note the writer's thesis statement. If you cannot locate a thesis, what
thesis statement might work for this paper?

I believe that the thesis statement could be centered around the beginning sentences. She asks what America is saying about immigration and leads into some
questions that people have. One of these questions is, are illegal immigrants
taking our jobs and living o our government? While many people have that
question or actually believe it, there is so much to learn about immigration.

5 Note the assertions the writers makes to support the thesis of the report. Are the assertions presented in chronological or emphatic order? Does the writer use the order that seems the most eective?
Would you reorder some of the assertions?

She does go into the details on debunking the myths and answering some of the
big questions that the population of America has regarding immigration. She
mentions a little about becoming a legal citizen of the United states as well as
dierent groups that do help those illegal immigrants. Much of the paper is very
biased towards support of immigration which is great. However, I think actually
looking into some of the reasons why this is such a debate among legislature
and our government would be interesting to look into. Though I do support immigration to a degree, I do believe that there has to be laws for the country.
What those laws should say and be, I do not know for sure.

What facts and details are given to explain how the issue aects different groups that might have an interest in or connection to the issue?

This issue is a big factor for not only citizens of the United States but also those
illegal immigrants that have come here to our country for a better life. So many
people come here willing to work and work hard to provide a better life for their
family. This is a motivator that is admirable. Immigration reform has been a huge
source of contention among so many people and continues to be every time it is
brought up. Every presidential election has debates on how they will handle this
reform and laws they would put into place. We all at one point were immigrants
to this country we call home. This is an interesting perspective to take on as we
argue about it now.

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How does the writer establish ethos/credibility? How could the writer
strengthen this appeal?

I believe that using the stats used as well as some personal experience with
immigration establishes credibility in the paper. I believe provided more statistics
on the lack of support in other countries or maybe even which countries immigrate to the United states the most would be interesting statistics to look at. This
might give us some interesting perspective as to why these particular countries
are higher immigrants of our country than any others.

Is the conclusion of the report eective? What specific conclusion do

you reach about the issue as a result of reading the report? What
strategies might the writer use to make it more eective?
I do like the use of the statistics on Americans and how they actually feel about
immigrants becoming citizens of the United States by following dierent requirements. It does show that negotiation is in progress as well as people willing
to give immigrants a chance to become part of our country. I think that maybe
ending with a quote on immigration reform would be a little more eective than
the opinion on being for immigration.

Does the visual design make the report informative and credible? Are
there any points at which the writer needs to add more visual elements? If so, what should they beheadings, pictures, bulleted lists?
At what points does the writer need to add or revise captions for pictures or legends for charts, graphs, and maps?

I did like the visuals and statistics used in those visuals. It was able to really
show how Americans feel about immigration, what should be required in order
to become a citizen, and how educated immigrants have become by being in
our country.

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I really enjoyed the section about the myths of immigrants. It was eye opening
because many of these questions we have regarding immigration were debunked by sharing that information. That was a really eective part of the paper.

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