On Communicating and Collaborating
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A REFLECTION
ENGL-2010
April 27, 2017
I chose to write about teenage pregnancy this semester for my social justice issue because I have personal experience with pregnant teenagers, as I was once one myself. My perspective was shaped as a result of my own experience both then and in the twenty years since. I had a basic assumption that not much had changed in the state of Utah with regard to sex-education, access to contraceptives, and overall mindset on the topic, but I was open to other possibilities. I had seen one set of statistics that showed the rate of teenage pregnancy had come down a little from when I became pregnant in 1997 to the year 2010 so I was open and hopeful there were other areas of improvement that I was not yet aware. I initially began my research on sexuality education in this state because I felt that a more comprehensive approach could have helped to prevent my early, unintended pregnancy. Ultimately I came away with an idea similar to the one I had when I began, which is that there is still much we can do to reduce the pregnancy rate among Utah teens further, while at the same time gaining a better understanding of the argument preventing any real change. I think this is seriously important so future rhetoric on the topic can be most impactful in persuading those against sex-education in schools that it is something that needs to occur.
Writing about teenage pregnancy from different vantage points this semester helped to increase my own awareness to an issue I’ve always been somewhat passionate about. The memoir gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own experiences with teenage pregnancy and young motherhood, and describe some of the thoughts, feelings and the impact it ultimately had on my life so as to educate others on why teenage pregnancy is a negative thing. I wanted to convey the fear and shame I felt then by sharing some of my innermost thoughts. The information effect helped me to uncover new details pertaining to my issue, which I have came to realize is much larger and reaches far beyond the life of the teenage mother by affecting society as a whole. I needed a way to connect my issue with people who have no exposure to it and feel as if it doesn’t affect them. I chose to focus on them as the taxpayer, the provider of government funded assistance programs. It seems as if people only listen when it hits their own wallets. The profile effect allowed me insight into someone who vehemently opposes any changes to Utah’s current sexuality education curriculum, and helped me to better understand the messaging future campaigns must adopt in order to make the necessary changes possible at the legislative level. The persuasion effect really gave a place where I could connect everything that I had learned about my issue and transform that knowledge into a message capable of inciting thought provoking conversation geared toward positive change.
I chose to include my memoir, as well as my information effect and my persuasion piece. I felt these pieces were my strongest works and were the best representation of my social justice issue of teenage pregnancy. While my profile piece was also a contender, I thought it best to exclude from the magazine as the presentation was a bit weaker than the other three and it did not directly help to bring awareness to my issue, however, the information I gleaned will most definitely be helpful in the future as I continue to pursue positive changes in the arena of teenage pregnancy prevention. My memoir was probably the most difficult for me to revise as it was written from a time period in my life twenty years prior, so the details were harder to recall. Also, quite a bit has happened in my life since then, directly related to my teenage pregnancy, so it was challenging to know what to include and exclude to be relevant to the project and most effective. For the persuasion effect I chose to expand on what it meant to have a comprehensive sexuality education course. I refer to it often throughout that piece, but it was lacking in definition and I needed all readers on the same page so they knew exactly what was being advocated for. I had created my information effect project as a video, and when viewed would finish in just under three minutes. I felt it was pretty complete and didn’t want to add to the length of the video because I worried the audience would lose interest if it were longer. The few revisions I did were of a technical nature, extending scenes a bit to ensure the viewer could read all text before transitioning to the next scene.
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For the magazine project, I was assigned the role of Visual Editor, which I enjoyed immensely. I have always loved design in any capacity, so I was thrilled to be able to provide more input on the final aesthetic of our magazine. I also enjoyed working with the Wix platform, which we used to create the pages of our website that housed our magazine. We primarily communicated through group emails, and for the most part, we did well in keeping on track and replying quickly to each other. While having my project group members review my work for revision suggestions, I found perspectives that offered more opportunity for clarifying my message, or expounding on a section to provide a greater impact. I was also fascinated to learn about my group members' social justice issues. I really believe that multiple perspectives create a well-rounded look into a given topic.