Working on 4th revision of Chapter 2

Ok it has been a minute but I am back.  I have been traveling for my work with Pryor but I am off the road for a few weeks and I desperately need to catch up.  On my last post I had submitted my work to Margaret and was awaiting feedback.  There was some sort of problem as she sent feedback but I had not received it.  Finally, when I received it I had to do some traveling and then when I was ready she was busy so now we have both decided to talk after the Christmas break which is next week.  Today is my first day working on this chapter since I submitted.  I was able to work for 5 hours and got into a groove although there was not much in the way of writing.  I spent this time reviewing Margaret's comments which at first glance seemed like a lot but after reading them in detail and re-reading my paper it was not as bad as I thought.  I have devised a new plan to get a revision to her and I will start that work on Sunday. I have not set a goal yet but I should be able to get a revision to her by Friday especially if I make good progress on Sunday.  This is it.  No more breaks.  This is my number one priority.

Latest Chapter 2 Submitted.

Today I completed my revisions and submitted my paper to Margaret!

Chapter 2 Revisions

I am back at it.  I have my revisions based on Margaret's feedback.  I worked on my paper for 3 hours today.  I will take a break now and go back over what I have taken into consideration the notes I received from Margaret before.  That may take a couple of hours.  But I am pressing submit on the paper tonight before I go to sleep.

http://www.acm.org/runningonempty/findings.html

Margaret has given me feedback on my paper.  My next order of business is to respond to her.  After that I will devise a plan to make my changes.  Once I finish that I will start the design of my chapter 3.  I am ready to do this now, but I want to close the chapter 2 chapter first.  Here is another link that I may use as well.

1.  Read pages 1-28 to see what she means.

http://www.nitrd.gov/About/NIT_Workforce_Final_Report_5_29_09.pdf
http://www.aging.unc.edu/programs/wane/pubs/minoritiesinIT.pdf

Want to add these 2:
http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2012-07-26/lack_of_minority_representation_in_science_and_engineering_endangering_us_economic_health.html

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/stem-education/2012/06/28/minorities-need-stem-role-models-too?fb_action_ids=10150867671071266&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366

Today I submitted my paper to Margaret.  It is not perfect.  But it definitely shows a lot of work.  I was also able to check it against TurnItIn.  I believe I got the score down to about 25% but I need to submit. She now has it.  My next order is business besides getting her feedback is to continue to work on the paper so that I can get my score even lower.  I need to have that done before I work on chapter 3.

Tonight I converted the paper to word and submitted to TurnItIn.  I should have a report in the am.  My first order of business will be to check the report by reading my Pepperdine mail.

I was able to work on my paper today for a couple of hours.  With regard to my last session which had the outstanding items:

• Finish through to page 76
• Flesh out and firm order based on outline, new sections, condense, what.
• Check against outline
• Run against TurnItIn
• Read for typos, edit
• submit

I was able to complete the review.  I made it all the way to the end. (page 76)

All of my citations are there

The outline looks good

What I need to do in the next session and I may do this tonight.

I need to write a summary of the chapter

and I need to submit to TurnItIn 

That is it.  Then I can submit.  I am thinking about submitting what I have but continue working.  I should be able to write the summary in a hour.  TurnItIn should not take long I just need to submit it and then make the corrections.  The problem is figuring out how to do it.

today I wrote for several hours.  I was able to get to page 70 of 76.  There are a few citations that need to be verified and that should not take long at all.  Here are my remaining pieces of work before I submit:

• Finish through to page 76
• Flesh out and firm order based on outline, new sections, condense, what.
• Check against outline
• Run against TurnItIn
• Read for typos, edit
• submit

I probably will not be able to work on my paper again until Sunday but much should get done in that session.

I was able to work on my paper today for about 4 hours.  Whew!  After the weekend of traveling to Austin so that my children could attend a party.  I had plans to write while there, but that did not workout.  It does not stop me though.  So, I could not write until today.  So, I did.  I was able to get up to page 62 of 76.  I am very excited about that.  I am in the stretch run in terms of what I am going to send to Margaret.  I need to find a few citations and I will do that tonight or before I start to write on Tuesday.  I should get to page 76 in my next session.  That will wrap up the final work of editing the content.  What is left is I will need to read it for flow, grammar, etc, which I should be able to do in a day or so.  The other thing that has to be done is that I need to run it through turnItN.  If that comes back I will submit, if not I will make those corrections, run it through again and then submit.  I hope I can get through the paper part in the early part of the day on Tuesday.  If so, I may start the reading and editing on Tuesday.  Then I can run through TurnItIn on Wednesday and submit on Wednesday night. The sooner the better.

I spoke to Margaret today regarding my chapter 3.  I must get chapter 2 to her this week.  And I will.  But I also really need to get my design down for my chapter 3.  I am going to look at connecting with a couple of universities in the Houston area as well as San Antonio to see if I can get a list.  This will be good.

took a step back.
rewrote up to page 52 of 77
made it through the steel stuff
goal was to hit page 60, got to 52.
Thursday's goal is to get to page 70
Next session I will pick up where I left
Chapter 2 is submitted on Sunday, no matter what

Made to page 50
Still need to work on the Riel piece
27 pages left
need to find the steele piece and craft and integrate
on Wednesday go from 50 to 70

I spent a few hours on the paper today.  I will get an earlier start on Tuesday.  Today I was able to:

1.  Correct the Warschauer
2.  Advance to page 50

For next time I need to:
1.  Check the Riel piece
2.  Locate the source for Kleiner & Farris and (Fairlie, 2002;Puma, Chapin, & Pape, 2003; Solomon, 2002;Wilhem, Carmen, & Reynolds, 2002). and several other sources.  I will look the papers tonight
3.  Keep pushing toward page 50 and even 60.

Today I made it through to page 41.  By Friday, I WILL get all the way through, read again for flow and transition, send to TurnItIn and by the end of Friday night Margaret gets it.  Sunday I WILL start chapter 3.

add to paper:  http://dailytrojan.com/2012/06/26/incomes-higher-for-minorities-with-stem-degrees/

I worked on my paper for 4 hours today.  I started off at Jitterbug for a couple of hours but then they closed and I headed over to the library and worked for a couple of hours.  I got to the point where I am tired of looking at it so I am stopping now.  I did not find my Warschauer book, so I ordered another as I have several references that I need to check.  I did the find the other article mentioned in the previous posted and cited it correctly.  My goal for today was to reach page 40.  I did not make it.  I reached page 38 and I cut the paper down to 80 pages.  So, I feel good about my effort.  For next time, I need to:

1).  Check the source for Warshchauer
2).  Rewrite or check the Riel piece
3).  Advance to page 50.
4)  I hope to write on Sunday, but that is Father's day so I may spend with the family.  But look out on Monday.  I should have time to check the references before then and hit the ground running with the writing.

Today I worked on my paper for a couple of hours.  I finished the section on the economic divide and now I am writing the educational, equity piece.  I made it up to page 30.  That is great.  Almost half way.  My goal for Friday is to get up to page 40 or 50.  I will take 40 but if i can get to 50 that will be great.  However, before starting my next session I need to do 2 things.

1.  I need to find my Warschauer book to make sure I rewrote pieces
2.  Find article that references ACM, CSTA, and the student Leigh Ann Sudol

I will do that either before the next session or right at the start.  My goal is to write 10 pages on Friday.

I am back working on my paper today and I am very excited to be doing so.  The plan for today is to pickup where I left off with the writing but the first order of business is  to add the citations that I went home to get on my last session.  I have located those citations and that is the first thing I will do.  After that I will continue to work through the paper. I also have my digital divide book which I simply must add information from since it was so good. I am referring to the book by Lawson.  Well Cathy just called.  It is her birthday week.  She wants to get her hair braided.  So much for writing today.  Cathy changed her appointment to Thursday so I did get some work done.  And I am still working.  Right now I am incorporating Lawson's book into the chapter.  I have been re-reading pages 1-20 from my last session and I have corrected and fixed the citations and rewritten a few things.  The goal now is the add this piece and advance to page 30.  I will let you know whether I make it or not.  I did not make it to page 30, but I made it back to page 20 and those 20 are tight.  Right now I am integrating the material from Lawson.  I am very pleased with my work today.

I actually did work on my paper on Monday for 4 hours and I made great progress.  I redid pages 1-20 fixed the citations and got the point where I am integrating the Lawson source.  I am very excited about this resource for two reasons.  First it is a source of great content for my chapter 2 and second it is a great example of the kind of writing that I need to do.  I will refer to it while I am writing in terms of referring to articles as articles as well as the examples of transitions, summaries and just how the reporting is done.  There is a great example of this on page (need to find the page where she writes about what was done her view).  Today I was not able to work but I was thinking and two things came to me.  First I am absolutely sure about my design now.  I wish to survey/interview African American male college students who are entering college with a major other than science or  STEM.  This  is absolutely the group that I need to connect with.  And I can ask them when you were choosing a major what made you NOT choose a career or computer science as a major.  The other thing that I am very happy about is that I now have a strategy for a title for my dissertation.  On page 17 of the Lawson book the reference to the title of the book "Bad Blood:  The Tuskegee Experiment".  The subjects were told that they were looking for Bad Blood.  I need to keep my eyes open when I am collecting data or as I am reading or writing to figure out my title.  For example Opting Out which is another book I am reading.  Maybe one of my subjects or folks that I am listening to or as I am reading will utter a phrase that I can use.  Like Glenn said Technology is the new hip-hop.  Wednesday I am back to writing.

Today I integrated the information from Mack.  So, I did not advance in the paper but I added content that I thought was very important.  I added my section on Fear of Science and Technology by African Americans to include how technology has been used against us as well as how privacy is a major issue for us and not trust the mainstream society.  Powerful stuff.  I rewrote most of it, but there is more work to do there.  I will finish that on Thursday as well as bolster my economic divide piece from this source and that should do it for Mack and I will be back to formatting and rewriting the other sections.  Again that does not take long.  I also want to make sure I include my content from Margolis.  Thursday should see that I complete the work from today and move at least up until page 40 of the rewrite.  I should get to 60 by Friday.  No later than Sunday should I have gone through the entire deal.  If I don't submit on Sunday, the only thing I will have left to do is run through TurnItIn.

Today I continued to go over my first 20 pages.  I integrated and rewrote all of the Mack material and fixed a few citations.  I am now on page 21 and I noticed my section on economic divide needs more.  That is where I focus my last hour of work today.  I have several sources that I can refer to here.  I will integrate those in for the rest of this session.  Once I get home I will look for all that I have on economics and and add that to the section.  Next session I will begin here.  Shoring up that section and moving into digital equity on page 21.  Slower than I would like, but I will feel good when I press send when I send to Margaret.

Worked on the paper today.  Did much work on my 'Economic Divide' section.  It looks much better.  I probably have another hour or so of work left on it before transitioning into the 'Digital Equity' section.  This section looks much better.  I spent most of the day working on the paper.  From now, anytime I have any spare time I am working on the paper.  This is it.  I must graduate in 2013 and I have every intention of doing that.  That gives me a year and I am very close to submitting my chapter 2.  I am very excited to see how much work I get done on Sunday.  Even after it is all written, I need to make sure I proofread and run it through TurnItIn before submitting to Margaret.

I can not believe I have not worked on my paper since the 11th. Wow. That is not good. But I am back. I worked for a couple of hours today and decided I need to stop because I need access to my source materials. So, I am going how now to get those. My digital divide book and my Warshauer book and look up some citations. However I did get to page 20 of 75. My goal for Tuesday is to at least get halfway thorough so I am shooting for page 40. It took me awhile to get going today but I am back on track now. Once I have rewritten I will print and read and edit and decide if I wish to add anything to it in terms of other sources or if I am happy with it. I am back on Track. Considering I am back in the game I should be sitting pretty by Thursday.

The last few sessions I finished going through my sources. I now have a 75 page document that is my chapter 2. Yesterday I rearranged my outline. Today I began the process of rewriting the document in terms of order, flow, format, citations. Today I made it through the first 10 pages. I intend to stay on this track for the rest of the week starting with Thursday. I should be able to work on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I should be sitting pretty by Sunday.


http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/apr/09/missouri-st-leader-has-eye-on-diversity/

Include this in chapter 2.
http://news.fiu.edu/2012/03/national-study-looks-for-insights-why-do-minorities-drop-out-of-doctoral-programs/38043

this too:

http://www.tnj.com/news/business/google-looks-boost-minorities-science-technology


http://www.tnj.com/news/business/google-looks-boost-minorities-science-technology

Today is a great day. I have finally made it through all of my sources and they are now in my chapter 2. Some have been integrated very nicely into my outline and others have not. But at least that is complete. I have other sources that I have learned of since starting my chapter 2 but I am not going to worry about integrating those at this point. There are at least 2 that I would really like to include. What I am going to do is build a list of these and continue to analyze them and decide if they even have a place. I now have 75 pages of chapter2. What I need to do now is:

1) Finalize my outline based on the information
2) Rewrite the pieces and place them in the right part of the outline
3) Proof read for flow, citations, and the like.

So, how very exciting this is. My next session I will spend time reviewing and improving the outline. Once this is done I will do the rewriting. When I feel good about that, I will submit. My goal is Thursday. I have Wednesday and Thursday to strive for this goal and I intend to. Once I have done this I will print the paper and re-read a final time before submitting to Margaret.

I spent a few hours today working on finishing my sources from my original doc. I have 25 pages to go. My goal is to complete that in my next session which is tomorrow. I have also have 2 of my 3 members for my committee confirmed. I need to add one more. My hope is that I can get Linda Polin or Paul Sparks. Saturday is should finish the sources. Once I do, I will start the rest of my plan which has been written here several times. I intend to submit the next version to Margaret on Sunday. That gives me 2 full days to work.

Today I continued to integrate my sources. I made it to the halfway point. I am on page 40 of 80 pages of content. I think Wednesday will go much faster as much of the remaining content has already been incorporated. I have decided the I will submit based on this content and come back and add evidence from Opting Out and The Digital Divide after hearing Margaret's comments about what I submit. My main goal now is to get done with the sources. I also spent some time thinking about the last part of the outline. I made some progress there. That will have to take place in the last section as well. So, here are next steps:

Finish sources
Fix Outline
Rewrite
Wordsmith

Goal is to finish this by Thursday's meeting and have it in her inbox before our 6pm meeting. I also need to update my page on the site.

Today I did nothing but continue to integrate my sources into my chapter 2. My goal was to complete my sources doc as I have a few more I would like to add but I did not get that done. I complete about a third of that work. On Tuesday, I will work as hard as I can to integrate the other two-thirds. I simply got tired of looking at it. I have come across one book that I simply must include. A second book looks interesting, but I am not sure I will bother including it. I have a few new web articles that I may include but I have not had time to read them as of yet. Perhaps I will do some reading before my next session. I will still have to go back and wordsmith as I am just adding the sources. So, there will be some cleanup. But I can't focus on that until I am done integrating the sources. I may finish that on Tuesday as some of the sources have already been integrated. I started from the top of my source list, but at some point I will have bumped into sources that have already been included. Then there are a few articles that need to be included.

Today I continued to work on my chapter 2. I incorporated 2 new sources. I need to continue to integrate what is remaining. Once I have done that I will edit it and finalize my flow and adjust the outline to fit what I have. I should get this done this week and get it to Margaret. I have also contacted Farzin about the Delphi method and I am starting to build my list of AA computer science students as I have given up on the idea of studying the Microsoft program. I also continued to build my list of AA CIO's. I met with Margaret on Thursday in a Google+ hangout this week as well.

interview CIO's and students
talk to higher education teachers
track students based on high school computer science teachers
survey students in bdpa
study bdpa's hscc

do they have to be black

This weekend I was only able to work a few hours on Sunday due to family obligations. I was able to work on Saturday but I simply did not get much done. I did make progress today and spent most of my time writing in my digital equity section. I also reorganized my outline section and I have given much thought to my research design. I need to make a decision very soon on that. I will talk to Margaret about that on Thursday. I can do a mix. I can do CIO'S. I can do students. I can do a case study of the MSFT program or I can do a Delphi. Those are the two that I am thinking of. I finally made contact with Microsoft and I am waiting to hear back from them. I need to read more about Delphi so I can determine what makes the most sense for the question I am attempting to answer. I also reached out to Farzin regarding Delphi on Facebook but I have not heard back.

include in chapter 2:

http://www.insidevandy.com/opinion/article_06628392-4559-11e1-9790-001a4bcf6878.html

Today I started off the day reflecting on my conversation with Margaret regarding my research design. I am seriously considering doing a Delphi study. The only problem is that I need to have someone on my committee familiar with the method. I have also reached out to Microsoft one last time. The two other folks I would love to have on my committee are Linda Polin who I had asked when I completed my comps and Margaret likes working with her and someone who I have just met who shares my research interests, LaVelle Hendricks of Texas A&M University-Commerce. I have reached out to him. I then spent a few hours working on my literature review from where I left off. While I was writing I came across this question raised from the New Image of Computing Initiative:


Why isn’t a high school interest in computer science translating into enrollment in college computer science classes?” (p. 17).

I could find students who were interesting in computer science in high school and interview them as to why they did not persist? This is something I could get from the Microsoft attendees. They were exposed, and they attended the programs so they were interested, but they are not in college right now or they are in college in another major. What happened? I could form an interview or a survey around that?

I was able to get through all 26 pages. There are still a few citations I need to find but for the most part they are all done. Now I need to go back through my sources and flesh out my outline. There are a couple sections that are empty. I may even need to reorder and modify my outline particularly that last part. But that is good. I also reached out to Richard Tapia again and the folks at New Image of Computing. It may be easier for me to interview students even though that requires IRB.

Today I spent time continue to develop my chapter 2. I rewrote sections that needed to be rewritten based on my new outline. I got to about page 18 of 29. I need to continue arranging and organizing and rewriting the pieces that need to be written. I am looking forward to getting all of my content in the chapter and in the right places in the outline and in the right order. I did not get as far as I would have liked but I did make significant progress. I have much more work to do. But I am progressing. I won't send the new revision to Margaret until I have a complete offering. I also need to respond to Margaret regarding my committee.

Focus for next section:

Complete Historical Overview

Today we:

Came up with the working title for my paper:

Access Denied: The Underrepresentation of African American Males in Information Technology

Started working on chapter 3 up to research design. stopped.

Now I am back on chapter 2 and we will get back to chapter 3 later today

Created a good outline that I can now use as the template to work each section using the new format from Margaret.

I also uploaded a revised semester plan to dropbox and disscircles

Can I add: http://broadbandandsocialjustice.org/2011/12/stem-jobs-are-the-future-but-what-role-will-minorities-play/

Today I finished fleshing out historical overview section of my literature review. Although I
think I still want to add a technical education section using Wharton as the source. I will do that on Monday. The work below still needs to be completed:

1. Add new section on racism
2. Rewrite other sections
3. Add CNN special
4. Other sources that I added
5. ggt entire chapter 2 done with all sources, check the ones at home with the new format
read, edit for flow, transitions, etc

30+ pages in write format compare to notes from MR

review edits and incorporate.

Send to Margaret

Talk to Margaret during the week
I want to submit these changes during the week.
Next week. Sit down with Dr. Diop and write chapter 3

does the CNN piece on Silicon Valley fit into chapter 2
find and read the piece from Linda and decide: does it fit, if so where, then claim, evidence, take

need to figure where these go and format as well

video game link: where does this information go.
Betsy DiSalvo is a Human Centered Computing PhD candidate at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Interactive Computing looking at the ways in which culture impacts technology, and how we can leverage cultural practices into designing constructive learning interventions. Her focus is on urban African-American males’ use of video games and why they are not turning their passion for video game play into a larger interest in computer science.

Young African-American men and Latino men actually game the most hours per week of any other group, but they are not well represented in computing or other technology-related fields. The common wisdom at the time, which was if you get people gaming like young Caucasian or Asian men then they will go into technology, wasn’t really proving true.
We decided to form a game-testing group after a number of iterations and co-design processes with young African-American men in Atlanta.
There is a lot I’ve found in my research that will apply specifically to how we work with and teach young African-American men and the kind of things that move beyond what I am looking at, which is their motivation to not learn. They are actively choosing to not learn in schools because it’s not cool...the Glitch Game Testers was a way to get them to move beyond that.
Out of the 16 men who graduated from high school, 15 have gone on to college, and of those 15, 13 are in computing-related majors. These are unheard of results for a computer science program to increase participation in computing, especially with this demographic, which is probably one of the more difficult to reach.

http://dmlcentral.net/blog/whitney-burke/young-black-males-learning-and-video-games

work this in up top somewhere or in the paper. rewrite using the new format:

In July, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic & Statistics Administration (ESA) published an eye-opening report on the status of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers in the United States. The report revealed that there were 7.6 million people working in STEM industries in 2010, representing about 5 percent of all employees nationwide. It also noted that the number of STEM jobs is growing three times faster than the number of non-STEM jobs, with a projected growth rate of 17 percent between 2008 and 2018.

This is why the White House introduced Educate to Innovate, an initiative dedicated to improving participation in and performance of U.S. students of all ages in STEM subjects. So far, the program has partnered with stakeholders in the public and private sectors, educators, and STEM-focused foundations to ensure that all of America’s youth, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, have the educational opportunities and resources necessary to participate in STEM education and compete for STEM jobs in the future. This type of initiative is especially important for low-income and minority youth, many of whom attend schools that lack the resources to provide significant STEM offerings.

The stakes for getting these policies right are very high, especially within minority communities. Americans with STEM degrees boast incomes that are, on average, 26 percent higher than non-STEM workers, regardless of whether or not they work directly in a STEM occupation. However, a 2010 Bayer report revealed that minority chemists and chemical engineers gave the nation’s K-12 education system a grade of “D” when it comes to encouraging minorities to pursue STEM careers.

ESA’s July report observed that STEM jobs “play a key role in the sustained growth and stability of the U.S. economy, and are a critical component to helping the U.S. win the future.” In order to enhance innovation – and increase the number of STEM workers – in the U.S., policymakers and educators alike must do whatever is necessary to ensure that more women and minorities are pursuing studies and careers in these lucrative fields. These stakeholders must also focus on bolstering broadband adoption within minority communities.

Closing the digital divide will ensure that minority youth grow up well-equipped and well-prepared for STEM-focused higher education opportunities and careers. Without such a comprehensive commitment to broadband adoption and STEM education, our nation will continue to fall behind in economic growth and innovation.

------
david drew, read these links
There were two reports released in September 2010 about how to improve STEM education, one by the National Science Board, which said that the United States does a poor job of identifying potential STEM success students and should cast a wider net earlier on, and another by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which said we should be focusing on developing master STEM teachers, rewarding them, and opening 1,000 new STEM-focused schools over the next decade. Which of these would you say is more likely to be the answer? Or what are they perhaps missing?

his answer:
I totally agree with the first one. I believe what they’re saying is there are many people who could succeed who get discouraged from STEM or never encouraged, which is the main thrust of my book. I feel that often that happens because teachers and counselors—and sometimes even parents—believe that a girl can’t do math, believe that a student of color can’t master math and science, that a white student from poverty cannot become a scientist. All of these are false beliefs. That’s all garbage. The whole thrust of my book is that in the emerging high-tech global economy, we switch from the manufacturing era to the information era, and pretty much everybody should be learning at least some of this in high school and many people could go into STEM as a career. We have to get away from a model from the industrial age that says: a) we only need a few people in this area and those will be the geeks; and b) only a few people can succeed in this area. Those are false. So my whole book is about broadening participation, and I feel the achievement gap is based on false factors and can easily be eliminated.
claim
evidence
my take

I list four factors in the book and talk about a number of programs that have done this. One, recruiting into STEM, which maybe isn’t the best verb because it sounds like marketing. It’s making young people aware that college is an option for them and STEM is an option for them. Two, mentoring is critical. Three, in high school and in college, finding ways to create study groups and peer support groups that are focused on academic excellence. The main thing is not to discourage kids and to encourage them to study STEM. Some of the key decisions occur in middle school because they’re heading into algebra. I used to work with Carl Sagan and one of the things we struggled with is that kindergarten students and first-grade students have a natural interest in science and they’ll ask questions about it and get involved, but then if you look as they get older, their interest declines. Where it becomes critical is in middle school because there students are making choices about what they will take in high school and that affects whether they will go to college and where they will go to college. A lot of the avoidance of STEM by teachers, counselors, parents—steering students away from STEM, or avoidance by the students themselves—has to do with anxiety about math. What you have to do is get beyond psychological barriers to broaden participation.

Yes, but I don’t think it’s enough. I understand that there are constraints. I also think that there are some myths that everybody buys into when talking about reforming education. There are four. Here’s something you’ll hear high officials in government saying: ‘American high-school students perform dismally in international assessments.’ Which is true. ‘This shows how much American education has declined. We have to take steps to restore American secondary and elementary education to its former glory and here’s how I think we should do it.’ That’s false. There was no period of former glory. We always were at the bottom. Now it’s become much more important, and we’re more aware of it now. Another myth is that the way to fix this is to spend a lot on curriculum. I don’t think so. Curriculum reform is fine, but we’ve spent huge sums—for example, the new math after Sputnik. Given the choice, I’d rather have my child taught by an exciting, creative, involved teacher using a science curriculum from the 1950s, as contrasted with a hostile, critical, boring teacher using the latest curriculum. I think it’s all about the teacher. Another myth is that the key is we’ve got to recruit more young people into teaching. That’s good, but it’s not the key in my opinion. The problem isn’t getting young people into teaching; it’s keeping them in teaching. But it’s all about the teacher.

claim: better teachers
evidence: what he said
my take:

That is the right conversation to be having. There are things that would surprise people. I think the fundamental barrier is that people are worried about erroneous beliefs that some students may not be up to it. And I feel that virtually any student can master these subjects, at least at the high-school level, and many in college. As far as surprises, many students can benefit from technical training—community college technical training. There are many STEM jobs that don’t require a college degree. I am not saying that some students are not smart enough to go to college—my whole bid is that everyone can learn this—but some students don’t want to go to college. Some want to go to work right now. So take STEM courses in high school and some community-college courses, and there are jobs that are in demand now such as underwater welders, all kinds of jobs where you can get excellent training. I also don’t think enough attention is paid when discussing STEM [in relation] to reading. I haven’t ever met an outstanding mathematician that can’t read. I think there are still a lot of uninformed ideas and prejudices that certain people can’t do this. And that’s just wrong. When you have the president of Harvard saying that women maybe don’t have the intellectual fire power to succeed in STEM, that’s pretty serious. It’s a battle that I feel is the central battle, and I think we’re in an era now with respect to women in STEM, with respect to underrepresented minorities in STEM, with respect to white students from poverty in STEM, that’s kind of like a previous era with respect to civil rights where the rhetoric was one thing but the reality was different.



         

I received feedback from Margaret on my chapter 2. I basically need to rewrite what i have done thus far. My goal is to have this done by Sunday. That is aggressive but that is my goal. The email was full of information and links to resources. It was a lot to absorb so I started today's session with reviewing the materials. It is not hard to understand just much to absorb. It was however very helpful and reduced my confusion. It actually made me look forward to future research. Below is the message I received from Margaret:

Hi Kai,

You are writing and that is good. And I can see you are struggling to find organization.

You have a two section lit review with a paragraph long introduction and no conclusion.

I have two big comments that affect the whole paper.

1) you need structure -- this will help you organize what you have written.

Both sections need structure and each paragraph needs structure.

You are building an argument -- it goes like this...
Section 1: topic
subsection 1 Topic
Paragraph one
Claim
data
what you take from this
Paragraph 2
Claim
evidence or data
What you take from this
Paragraphs x-x (with this structure)
Summary paragraph
what I took from all of these supported claims
Sub section 2 Topic
Paragraph....
So for each paragraph.. find the claim... support it with evidence and start building your arguement.

2) And the next thing is that you are over quoting. Think about quotes as illustrations.
They make your point stronger and provide additional information but they are NOT
instead of writing. The most common mistake a graduate student makes is writing
through the voice of others. You need to find your own voice. You are telling us
what you have learned.

This screencast I made for the MALT students might help...

http://screencast.com/t/SkULeX6yg

Also go to

http://ccar.wikispaces.com

Go to lit review and read what I have written... especially the part about when and how to quote.

Now is the time to go to the website and put up a plan for what you will do this semester. I
gave you credit for your flurry of work at the end, but I need a pattern of regular work.

You need to be making progress... (edits are in the dropbox)

Margaret

After reviewing the material, I started the process of the rewrite. Instead of starting where I left off I started at the beginning using Margaret's comments. This way when I get to the end I have it in the form and using the suggestions before I move on. Also I can go forth with the rest of my sources in the proper fashion. On Sunday I continued to work on the new format. I did the first section which is Historical overview. I still need to finish that and then I will rewrite the rest and work on section titles and order and transitions and rewrite intro. I have also started thinking about interviewing African American IT leadership perhaps at the CIO level. I have 2 in mind thus far:

1. Thomas Sneed
2. Shellye Archambeau

Perhaps I can tap ITSMF (Information Technology Senior Management Forum). I sent an email via the website to gain a contact. Perhaps I can survey them and report the findings.