Objectives Met

Upon the completion of Literacy and Family History, I find that acheived the six main objectives of the course.

• Adhere to accepted ethical and legal principals. Though there was little required of me in this area, I took care to create original materials, give credit to my sources where applicable, and to keep much of the family history research confidential, which is to say I only discussed findings within the context of the class and among my immediate family members.
• Use appropriate rhetorical tools and technologies tailored for specific audiences and purposes. For the family history project, I compiled data into a 20-page document that could be used by other family members as they continue their family history research. Also, for the graduate discussion and class facilitation portion of the class, I finally learned how to use Power Point to create a presentation for our class.
• Integrate verbal and visual elements in composing family history projects. Here is where I struggled the most in class. Without a clear structure for an 8-week project, and not nearly enough time to accomplish what I wanted to for this project, I found it difficult to compose a document with both visual and verbal elements. Though I did create charts and add photos to my final project, I did not feel successful in this aim of the course.
• Evaluate, interpret, and document archive materials. For both projects this semester, I evaluated photos, letters, and Internet artifacts for usefulness to my project, interpreted each through several lens to get more than a surface-level understanding of each, and carefully documented and labeled where and/or from whom I acquired each artifact.
• Collaborate with a non-profit organization (the LJHP) in producing something that meets their needs. For this portion of the course I have accumulated, documented, and organized a binder of research materials on Camp Pokagon.
• Keep an active research journal in which [I] reflect on the process of writing [my] own family history and of helping the LJHP write their manuscript. This entry, as well as all the following entries, illustrate the reflective practice I used throughout the entire semester.