Honors Blog One

High wages in America, in comparison to other countries, led to many foreigners, such as those from Britain and Germany, leaving their homes to work in America, so that they could be treated more fairly. These movements helped to give birth to the first labor unions in the United States of America. One early example of a union was Knights of St. Crispin, which formed in 1867, and gained 50,000 members in just three years, making it the largest of its kind in the country. These workers were against new, unskilled workers coming in to work machinery, thus taking away jobs from those who once did it by hand. Unfortunately, this union was unorganized and fell apart not too long after its creation. The Knights of St. Crispin gave way to the Knights of Labor, which came about in 1869. This group worked as a united front, seeking fairness for all laborers and producers. However, these Knights fell apart as well, when, during the Haymarket Riot of 1886, their strikes failed and were simply misunderstood and confused with bomb-making anarchists. 

From the ashes of the Knights rose a new union, in 1886 - the AFL (American Federation of Labor). Founded by Samuel Gompers, this group set the organizational example for years to come as a national federation of skilled workers' union. Their ranks grew steadily over the years, increasing from 200,000 and 1,750,000 members between 1886 and 1904. This popular group focused on the rights of skilled crafts workers, rather than that of industrial workers. With an opposing view, the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), started in 1905, worked on industrial unionism. At most, this group contained 150,000 members, but faced such opposition during and after World War one, that many of its members were killed, and nearly 10,000 of them imprisoned.The IWW still exists today, with around 2,000 members, but had its main impact during its first fifteen years, during which it showed unskilled industrial workers that they could be organized, and gave them self-worth.

Despite the effects that it had on the IWW, World War One was a time during which unions grew drastically - the number of organized workers jumped from 2.75 million in 1917, to 4.25 million in 1919. The Wilson administration encouraged this growth of unions, as a way to energize the working class behind the war effort. To recognize the role laborers played in winning the war, the International Labor Organization was formed in 1919. Work conditions improved considerably, with the standard work day lowering to about eight hours a day, and the hourly wages rising. Similar things transpired during the second world war, when all labor unions supported the war effort. In 1947, the Taft-Hartley Act came about, which placed restrictions on both unions and managements. This act was a response to the postwar strikes that were said to have damaged the economy. Unions fought this change bitterly, because it prohibited unfair labor practices on their part, such as jurisdictional strikes. Strikes were a large part of acquiring the safety that unions give, and made great impacts. One important strike in history, for example, the Postal Worker's Strike, of 1970, consisted of  210,000 out of 750,000 postal workers striking, and Nixon having to declare a state of emergency. In the end, after two weeks of striking, the workers received many of the things they asked for.

Labor Unions are still alive today, as a way to protect workers from unfair treatment and work. However, union membership is becoming less popular, and has dropped 8% in recent years - bringing the percentage down to one not seen since 1932. While they are still active, people are seeming less interested, and striking has become nearly non-existant. Will unions die off soon, as workers become interested, and find it unnecessary? Only time will tell. 

Outstanding Ampersand Article Pitches

• http://tapandhthma.blogspot.com/

These pitches stood out to me, because they sound like actual pitches, not just thrown together ideas. Each article pitch seems solid and well thought-out, as well as interesting. The pitches seem unique, rather than just "my internship was at _________, and I did ______________.", and the pitches seem to contain some of the questions that he could use to drive his article, and so he has a good starting point for each of the three pitches.

• http://sasusakufan101.blogspot.com/

The pitches on this blog stood out to me, because the writer spent her internship as a teacher, as I did. So, these pitches gave me perspective on what I might want to do in my article, and I saw similarities between my pitches and hers. I think that all three pitches - how she grew during her internship as a teacher, how working with the students affected her, and she first had this experience as a student, and now as a teacher - are all well thought out, and would make a good article. 

• http://kgrant11thgrade.blogspot.com/

I think that the pitches on this blog were good, because all of the ideas were creative and stood on their own - there weren't any weak ideas. The pitches were unique, such as her first one, in which she proposed an article through an animal's perspective once they entered a veterinary hospital. The other article pitches, about describing a specific room or tool in detail, would also make good pieces of writing, because they aren't about your average internship experience. 

& Pitches

1) Use my mentor interview as my article. Expand my intro, add a conclusion, potentially go back and ask my mentor additional, supplementary questions.


2) Write an article about the differences between when I was in the classroom as a first grader, versus being there as a teacher. Discuss changes since then, as well as similarities.


3) Article about what I learned/gained from my internship - what the kids taught me, what my mentor taught me, and what I learned on m own from spending multiple weeks in a first grade classroom. Could be a regular article, or one that has an intro, conclusion, and bullet points or a numbered list in between.

Semester 2, Blog 4

http://www.paperarticles.com/2010/03/japan-confirms-cold-war-era-secret.html

This is an article that was once in a newspaper, and so the paragraphs are short in order to hold the reader’s attention – a technique that may be useful in my Ampersand article. This article on Japan also includes quotes, which gives the article more content, and I could find quotes for my article by looking through my Mentor Interview, or going back and asking further questions if necessary. Lastly, something I like about this article is that it provides many statistics and facts, which add some credibility to the article, versus just generalizing, which is something that I could do in my Ampersand article, based on the topic.

http://712educators.about.com/od/teacherresources/tp/teachergood.htm

I like this article because the layout is different, and has an encompassing theme. Instead of having multiple paragraphs about a general topic, the main theme/idea is stated outright, and the facts are given in bullet points. An article such as this could work as an article in ampersand, potentially, if an introduction/outro were added, and the bullet point section shrunk down. I think that if I could find a topic that led to a list of items, this could be a good type of article to write.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7834640_eliminate-land-pollution.html

This third article is a how-to article, which could be a type of article for Ampersand. This layout has a main idea that the reader will learn to do, which can be something super specific, like how to cook something, or generalized, like how to be a good teacher. If I could find a facet of my internship that is teach-able, either a basic or complex idea, I could use that as my Ampersand article. Additionally, I like this article because it is neat and organized, and includes pictures on the topic that is being discussed. 

Semester 2, Blog 3

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/blogs/culture/2011-02-03/michael-urie-angels-in-america/
- Has short, but informative introduction that introduces the interview subject and tells of their past and current achievements.
- Asks in-depth questions.
- Questions and answers have a conversational tone.
- The questions flow well.
- Only provides relevant information, doesn't go in-depth about personal history or background, focuses rather on occupation.




http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/elle-fanning/
- Provides quote from interview subject.
- Interviewer states when and where they met for the interview.
- Introduction is short, and contains relevant information regarding interview subject's career history and future plans.
- Interview contains questions about personal life and work.
- Interview has conversational tone.
- Doesn't really have a closing statement by the author.

Semester Two, Blog Two

Since last semester, I've read several books, and just recently started the book Impact, by Douglas Preston, all of which have been interesting. These books are interesting because they are examples of good writing, meaning they have good characters and plots, and hooks that pull you in. Although I have not gotten very far in it yet, I can tell that it will be a good novel just because of the way it starts off.

Semester 2, Blog 1

The big ideas that I am taking away from internship are just how the same skills are utilized both at school and in the workplace, and, as we used skills we had previously gained at school during internship, we can use newly gained skills from internship and apply them to the work we do at school. For example, although I had been required to be professional prior to my internship, being in a workplace for multiple weeks increased my professionalism, which can be used for future assignments and presentations. Similarly, during internship I became more patient, due to working with first graders on a daily basis, and that will help me in the future when preparing, or when trying to explain something to someone in a way they can understand. My plans for the next semester are to apply these skills I gained at internship to my everyday work, and continue to try the best at the work I complete.