Alexis Western



Lexie WesternMrs. BlommerEnglish 10106 Jan, 2015Issue Exploration ProjectSelf- ReflectionIn this Portfolio I have learned to become a better writer through Salt Lake Community College’s Course Learning Objectives. I have learned to analyze the rhetoric of websites easily (the way they look and the diction used in them), and how to determine whether a source is credible or not. Also my rhetorical strategies have improved, because I have had to think about the other side of the argument and write about it. By doing that, it has increased my thinking ability and allowed me to “think outside of the box.” Every section, except the Source Analysis and Evaluation part, has both sides of the argument explained. To write this entire Portfolio was hard because, there were so many different components to it. But, it did expand my critical thinking process. I have had to edit my paper so many times. Although, each time I had to edit I made sure to be super careful and give myself affective feedback of what could be better.The assignment made me realize that sleep deprivation for teens is a huge problem in today’s world. I knew that most teens are almost always tired from school. But I did not know that there were problems that could be caused by sleep deprivation. Drowsy driving and bad grades are some of the effects of having school earlier. It also made me realize that teens have a lot of responsibilities at home. Doing homework for school, cleaning the house, taking care of little siblings, and getting a job are some things that teenagers are required to do. Getting a job may not be required for teens at home, but when times are hard for the family they need to get a job. None of these new findings challenged any of my assumptions about the topic; it just gave me new insights to it.My writing process for this portfolio was a little different. This is the biggest paper I have ever written and I freaked out about it. But I did as Mrs. Blommer said and took it section by section. Throughout the entire portfolio I had to always think “outside of the box,” because to write this paper both sides of the argument have to be stated. It can be very hard to write such a big research paper. The only problem was that a lot of the articles and videos I found were very biased about the subject. But I put away all the opinions of each article and was able to analyze the rhetoric of each piece.I want the reader to notice how I tried making the paper relatable. In the very first paragraph of the introduction I start out with “Tired, grumpy, frustrated, and done, that is how a teenager feels each day.” Getting up early in the morning is something that everyone has to do for work or school. By having the portfolio start out with something relatable, I hope that it catches the reader’s attention. I also want them to notice how in the conclusion I try to leave the reader thinking by asking the question, “Is there a right choice?” It will keep the reader thinking about it and hopefully do some research about the subject.The hardest part of this portfolio was the entire thing except for the commentary. It is easy to write something you have an opinion on. But, it is really hard to analyze and write about websites and articles. The hardest part was the source analysis and evaluation section, because I always have a hard time putting what I want to say into words. Also trying to think about the other side of the argument was really difficult. In the introduction both sides have to be stated, and towards the end of the second paragraph it talks about keeping school the same. That part was really hard to write, because I think that school should be started later. But after thinking for a bit, it was easy to write it.Annotated BibliographyDanner, Fred & Phillips, Barbara. “Adolescent Sleep, School Start Times, and Teen Motor Vehicle Crashes.” US National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health. NCBI. 15 December, 2008. Web. 23 November, 2014.In a study held by Doctors Fred Danner and Barbara Phillips, which was published on December 15, 2008, talks about how teen’s motor skills are affected by the amount of sleep they receive each night. Danner and Phillips know that drowsiness is a serious safety problem. Schools were asked to delay their start time by an hour, to see if it had an impact on students and their motor skills. After two years Danner and Phillips found that students who got more sleep, significantly dropped the auto collision rates in that county. Danner and Phillips are Doctors who focus on developmental psychology and they conduct studies to see the effects on sleep deprivation on teenage driving. The intended audience is the administrations of high schools and parents of teenagers. Throughout this study Danner and Phillips use simple yet sophisticated language to appeal to the reader. Simple language helps the reader understand the effects of drowsy driving. If they had said, “Sleep deprivation is deplorable for the soul” the reader would not understand it as much. Along with simple diction the authors use: factual evidence, visuals, and statistics to let the reader see the effects of it. To have visuals make the readers connect more to the article and actually see the results. The fallacy of the survey was that they had troubles with giving identification codes to people to take the survey. The codes changed the next year, so it was hard to keep consecutive data according to each person.This article made me realize that there is more to sleep deprivation than just being tired all the time. I did not realize that motor skills are affected. I will definitely use the statistics from this article as factual evidence. It makes me want to research more on the effects of sleep deprivation. The only thing I’m confused about is why this was posted in the “US National Library of Medicine” it should have been posted on a drowsy driving website or teen car accident websites. It deals more with mental health rather than medicine and being treated for diseases. Owens, Judith A; Belon, Katherine; Moss Patricia. “Impact of Delaying School Start Time on Adolescent Sleep, Mood, and Behavior” Jama Pediatrics. Jama Network. 5 July, 2010. Web. 24 November, 2014.In the study “Impact of Delaying School Start Time on Adolescent, Sleep, Mood, and Behavior,” (published on July 5, 200) Doctors Judith A. Owens, Katherine Belon, and Patricia Moss talk about how sleep is important for teens. Wanting to observe the effects on school start time, these doctors had a Rhode Island high school delay their start time by thirty minutes. After two weeks Owens, Belon, and moss found that students who had more sleep were in a better mood, more alert, and overall class attendance improved in the school.These Doctors study sleep habits and the effects it has on teens. They know what they are talking about in the article. The intended audience of the study is anyone who wants to research about sleep deprivation. Also the intended audience focuses on school administrations because it focuses on teens. Throughout the study, these doctors use a very educated language and tone to appeal to the reader. The first sentence of the study says, “A number of important biologically based changes in sleep regulations...” This uses an educated language and tone because it was not simple diction. Every claim made throughout the study always gives evidence for the reader, by providing specific examples and giving statistics to the reader. For example they said there were “3000 high school students” and “80.9% students completed the survey.” The fallacy in this article is that it’s very repetitive. They tend to make the same claim over and over again, but in different ways.This essay gave me more statistics to put in my essay that help make people see the effects on teens. It brought up information that I never would have thought of. It goes along with the first article because it says how more sleep is better for teens. The only problem I have with this study is that it was only done in state instead of many. By doing it in many states we could see different sleep patterns in different areas. Not everyone is the same in how they sleep (as reported in the article). The article was published in the most effective place on the internet, and is very effective.Nelson, Libby. “The Students Who Get the Most Out of College Wake Up and Go to Class.” Vox. Vox. 23 November, 2014. Web. 30 November, 2014.In the article “The Students Who Get the Most Out of College Wake Up and Go to Class” published on November 23, 2014 by Libby Nelson, states that people who get up earlier get more out of class in college. A national survey was taken at 57 different colleges asking if students prefer to get up early, or stay up late to study. After conducting the survey, Nelson states that people who get up earlier in the morning spend more time studying. These students get more out of their classes, while the students studying at night do not.Nelson is an education reporter for “Vox” and various other news websites. In her article she mainly focuses on the students who took the survey of how they study. She did not take into consideration of what was going on in student’s lives. Some people cannot focus early in the morning. Also some of the article is her opinion rather than factual evidence. Nelson used very simple diction and a lot of visuals throughout the article. Saying, “Morning people spent more time studying…” college students reading this understand it better because it is not complex like most articles. Having visuals also help students understand it easier. Graphs in the articles provided a visual for the evidence found in the study. The fallacy in the Nelson’s article is her claim of “Morning people are just better, smarter, more motivated students.” That is more of an opinion rather than actual evidence. She should have mentioned another point of view, like how night people are and their study habits.This article made me realize that there might be a purpose to why schools start earlier. Rising earlier in the morning creates good habits for students to be ready for the day. Whether students get up to study, or just be ready for class earlier. Compared to my other two articles, this one deals with college kids rather than teens. It is different because it states that we should get up earlier in order to succeed. I will use this to contrast my article by looking at the other side of “spectrum” Mrs. Blommer talked about.Should Schools Start Later or Stay The Same?IntroductionTired, grumpy, frustrated, and done, that is how teenagers feel after going to school every day at 7:45 in the morning. These feelings come from having to get up early, and staying up late to do homework that is required of school. In the Salt Lake area high schools start 45 minutes earlier than elementary schools, and sometimes an hour earlier than middle schools. Teenagers are tired, more like exhausted from school. To try to help them, some high schools have made certain days be “late starts,” where school starts an hour later. In the article, “Impact of Delaying School Start Time on Adolescent Sleep, Mood, and Behavior” it talks about how students who get more sleep are in a better mood, and are in a better attitude about learning in class. Having late starts means there will, hopefully, be more students awake. This has helped students get more sleep but, if students stay up late the night before it does not do them much good. Without sleep the body cannot function or carry out simple tasks, like staying awake in class. If we cannot function without sleep, how are students able to learn to their fullest extent? Doctors have recommended that schools should start later all the time. Teenagers often only get six or seven hours, or less, of sleep instead of the recommended eight or nine.Sleep deprivation has been found to be a common death in licensed teens. Drowsy driving is as (if not more) dangerous than drunk driving. In the article “Adolescent Sleep, School Start Times, and Teen Motor Vehicle Crashes” it states that the motor skills are dulled when a teen is sleep deprived. For the safety of people who drive, schools should start later so teens can get more sleep. However, after school activities would have to go later. By having them go later, it would cause students to have less time to do homework or study for a test. Which is better? Having school later? Getting more sleep but not having enough time for anything. Or keeping school the same? Where teens are sleep deprived but have time to do homework and fulfill family responsibilities.Summary In the article “The Students Who Get the Most Out of College Wake Up and Go to Class” published on November 23, 2014 by Libby Nelson, states that people who get up earlier get more out of class in college. A national survey was taken at 57 different colleges asking if students prefer to get up early, or stay up late to study. After conducting the survey, Nelson states that people who get up earlier in the morning spend more time studying. These students get more out of their classes, while the students studying at night do not.But starting at a later time for school is good and bad according to a news video on youtube called “Does School Start Too Early For Teenagers?” Posted on Sep 2, 2014 it talks about how students do better when they have school start later in the day (See Fig 1.). 03145155Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1. News Cast VideoFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1. News Cast Video0190500In the video the American Academy claims that teens will have a better mental health, safety academic performance, and quality of life. Teenagers who do not get their sleep end up obese, depressed, and not in the best of health. Doctors have said that as teenagers grow, their internal clock shifts their bed time two hours later. This also shifts their wake up time two hours later. Some schools have accommodated this as teenagers grow. News reporters also claimed that if they start school times later, schools will have to go later. Conflicts arise with students. Those who have to take care of their families cannot pick siblings up from school. Also those involved with sports will have later practice and no time to do homework. Not only that but Finley Edwards brought up the point, that later start times do not necessarily increase tests scores. In his article “Do Schools Begin Too Early?” Published in the summer of 2012, Edwards found that there is little rigorous evidence directly linking school start times and academic performance. He conducted a study in Wake County, North Carolina where he examined students take tests when school was delayed thirty minutes. He noticed that students only improved their scores by one percentile or two at the most. Not only that but it depended on what age group a person fell under. When school started later, kids who were 11 & 12 did not do as well as teens who were 13 & 14. They scored lower and did not -2000254543425Figure 2. Life of a TeenFigure 2. Life of a Teen-200025177355500improve at all. Edwards stated that not all schools should have a later starting time.But according to Doctors, they think that school should start later. In an article written by the Beuamont Health System, published in August of 2014, there is a picture depicting what a teenager’s life looks like when they do homework but are not getting enough sleep (See Fig 2.). It shows a student with her glasses all skiwampus, sleeping on a pile of books in a library. Then up in the corner the reader can see the main claim, that later school start times are better for teens. Beaumont Health System claims that more sleep is needed in order for a student to succeed.Source Analysis and Evaluation Someone once said that a person can judge a book by its cover. How about a website by its looks? The websites that get the reader’s attention are the Beaumont blog and the Vox website. Both of these websites/blogs are in colors that are noticeable (like a maroon or bright yellow). These colors draw the reader right in. While the youtube video and the article, “Do Schools Begin Too Early” are plain black and white. They have a darker color to them, which makes it boring to the reader. Although, the color black is more of a sophisticated color for the topic because of how big a problem it is in today’s world. While the colors in the Vox and beaomount websites are light and tend to leave a happier tone. But in the websites and the youtube video, they have big bolded words and phrases highlighted to get the reader’s attention. While the article, “Do Schools Begin Too Early” does not have these components to it and the same font is used throughout it. Different elements are used in these sources, but they are all affective in different ways.In the article “The Students Who get Most Out of Class Get Up and Go to college” uses reasoning throughout the piece. It gives facts about people who get up earlier to study or do homework, but it is very biased. It only mentions one side and leaves out the other college students who stay up all night to study. The article, “Later School Start Times Better for Teens” does the same thing, it only acknowledges one side of the story rather than both sides. However they both make their points very clear by using simple diction. Although these articles are very biased the point is clear. Either students should get up and go to class, or they should get more sleep.But the news report on youtube called “Does School Start Too Early for Teenagers” and the article called, “Do Schools Begin Too Early?” are not biased. The youtube news reporters state both sides of the argument. That “School should begin earlier because it can benefit the teenager.” But “teenagers could never fill responsibilities for families because they’d be in school later.” Since they stated both sides of the argument, it makes it more affective to the reader because they can see both sides the argument. A source is only affective when they (whoever is writing, speaking, or talking) state or comment about both sides, just for the readers benefit. These articles are more affective because they let the reader see both sides of the story.However in all sources they have specific audiences that they try to inform. In the youtube video, the article (“Do Schools Begin Too Early?”), and the picture on the Beaumont blog, they try to reach out to High School administrations to inform them about how drowsy teens are during school. While the Vox article, “The Students Who Get Most Out Of College Wake Up and Go To Class,” has three intended audiences: college students, potential college students, and High School administrations. All the articles are centered towards the administrations because they have to make the right decisions for the school. All of these articles are affective and make their points in different ways. But they each are credible sources because they use factual evidence and doctor’s claims as evidence. The Vox website had graphs and charts, most of the articles were written by doctors. These sources are credible because Doctors know what they are talking about. The only source that might not be credible is the youtube video, it only says “Doctors have said” instead of “Doctor Smart from Utah Valley Hospital said…” It does not give a direct credible source. They are all credible except maybe the mentaryTo start school early or to not start early is the real question? Many people have said that school should start later so teens can get more sleep, while others want to keep it the same so teens can fulfill responsibilities at home. Sleep is better for the body but, fulfilling responsibilities prepares teenagers for the future as they start to be on their own. In my personal opinion I do not know what schools should do, I am fine with keeping it early but it would be nice to have school start later.In my experience as a High School student, I find it very annoying to have to wake up at six in the morning (when it’s still dark outside) and get ready for school. It is super cold, and it is not very enticing to get out of my warm snuggly bed to go to a cold school where we are forced to do homework. To have school later would be better because it would give more time for teens to sleep and be better prepared for the next day. I like that High Schools have certain days where school starts an hour later. These days are usually a Monday, a nice day to ease back into the school week. But in the past, I have stayed up extra late the night before trying to do homework. So I end up getting the same amount of sleep as on a regular day. Late starts are sometimes pointless, but it shows that the administration has paid attention to a teenager’s need for sleep. But on the other hand if school starts later, then school would have to end later too. After interviewing my cousin, Ryne Steinacker a teacher at Kearns High School, he brought up some points that I would not have considered of why school start time stays the same. He said, “It allows students to be able to volunteer at elementary schools, also it’s more of a convenience matter. Because parents have to give their kids rides to school that usually start earlier than high schools.” Also he told me, it would cause trouble for all the teens responsible for little siblings. If teens are not there picking up little kids, they could easily be kidnapped or harmed by strangers. If school ended later then we would not have time to for home responsibilities. Cleaning the house, practicing instruments, having a job, helping siblings with homework, and doing our own homework would be a challenge because we would not have time. With being a senior I have had a hard time balancing, school, homework, and a job. I never have enough time in the day to get everything done. Having school end later would kill me. ConclusionStarting school later has shown that teenagers get more sleep. But on some nights teens will pull an “all-nighter” in order to get homework done. In the past, schools have been made shorter on certain days so teens can get home to do homework earlier. Administrations have had late starts on Mondays for students to get more sleep. Sleep can be good for teens but, there really is not a solution to this problem. Administrations have to consider the consequences for either choice, keeping school the same or having it later. But no matter the choice, it does not guarantee students will still attend. Students always have to motivate themselves to get up and go to school. If school started later, would students still come? Or would they sluff because classes would be shorter or go till later. Teens being sleep deprived is a big problem because it affects how well they do in school, which can determine how much financial aid they can receive in college. A student getting better grades is more likely to get accepted into college than someone who gets lower grades (depending on the circumstances). But how are students going to receive good grades if they cannot function during class because of them being tired constantly? Sleep deprivation is a huge problem, and schools need to do something about it. How are they taking care of it? No one knows because there will always be consequences to choices, both good and bad. It is up to each school to make the right choice for their students. But is there a right decision?Work Cited:Beaumont Health System. “Later School Start Times Better For Teens.” Beaumont Health System. The Beaumont Blog. 25 Aug, 2014. Web. 4 Dec, 2014.Danner, Fred & Phillips, Barbara. “Adolescent Sleep, School Start Times, and Teen Motor Vehicle Crashes.” US National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health. NCBI. 15 December, 2008. Web. 23 November, 2014.Finley, Edwards. “Do Schools Begin Too Early?” Education Next. EdNext. Summer 2012. Web. 22 Nov, 2014.Owens, Judith A; Belon, Katherine; Moss Patricia. “Impact of Delaying School Start Time on Adolescent Sleep, Mood, and Behavior” Jama Pediatrics. Jama Network. 5 July, 2010. Web. 24 November, 2014.Nelson, Libby. “The Students Who Get the Most Out of College Wake Up and Go to Class.” Vox. Vox. 23 November, 2014. Web. 30 November, 2014.Steinacker, Ryne. Personal Interview. 27 Nov, 2014.TheLipTV dir. Does School Start Too Early For Teenagers? 2014. . Web. 26 Dec, 2014. ................
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