Emilee's SLCC ePortfolio

Emilee Sorensen

     For my FHS 1500 class, I submit my final paper that I wrote which talks about myself and key events that have let me to where I am today. I chose to submit this assignment because it relates my personal life to the concepts that I learned all semester long. It was interesting to see how the theories I learned about in class really applied to myself as I grew and developed.

     Also included is the final PowerPoint I made that serves as an introduction to myself. It shares my interests and touches on the key events of my life.

     This class really taught me key aspects of human development from birth, all the way up until death. Also, I learned to analyze and evaluate personal and dynamic relationships found in individuals, groups, and the environment relative to the process of aging.

Below are three papers I wrote for my English 2010 class, followed by a relection of what I learned in the class.

For my Study Abroad class I was able to go on a trip to London and study a variety of things. The link directly below is a reflection of some things I learned while I was there. 

Below is a paper I wrote for my communication theory class. I feel that I wrote a good paper and it helped me relate to my other classes and life. The theory I talked about show how people communicate in group/family settings. I deal with these settings at school, home, work or everywhere I go. The theory really helped explain why certain things happen in certain situations. The movie Little Miss Sunshine did a great job proving the theory to be true. 

Emilee Sorensen

COMM 1050

Reel Paper- Interactional View Theory

            “You are the most beautiful girl in the world,” is what Olive’s grandfather tells her as he reassures her that she will do just fine in her beauty pageant. In Little Miss Sunshine, a young girl (Olive) is determined to become a winner in a beauty pageant located in California. Getting to the pageant with her crazy, dysfunctional, bankrupt family would be very adventurous with many bumps and bruises on the way.

            In this film, each family member plays a key role to the family system. Olive Hoover, daughter and main character, was a determined young girl to reach her dreams with the support of her family. Richard Hoover, father, was the provider for the family and was doing a poor job. Sheryl Hoover, mother, was the emotional supporter and helped the family hold together through rough times. Dwayne Hoover, brother, stopped talking and was bitter at his entire family. Grandpa Edwin Hoover was a huge support to Olive, but added to family tension. Frank Ginsberg, uncle, just recovered from trying to commit suicide and had a big influence on the family. Each family member played a critical role in Little Miss Sunshine. These characters all made up one family system. Even though this family may be considered “dysfunctional” and “weird”, they all contributed to the status quo. This was normal behavior for this particular family. If even one member was missing, the status quo would be off balance. The film illustrates how the Interactional View theory is used in family systems.

            The film starts with Sheryl bringing Uncle Frank to live with them because he needs somewhere to recover from his recent incident of trying to commit suicide. The rest of the family doesn’t hesitate to fight and argue as they eat dinner together as a family. They discuss where Uncle Frank will sleep and argue about the chicken they are forced to eat for dinner. During dinner, Olive shrieks with excitement as she receives a phone call that a place in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant has opened up for her. The rest of her family is not enthused about going, but for her they say yes.

            Every member of the family packed up their belongings and started their adventure to California. Along the way they faced many problems such as car trouble, leaving Olive at a gas station, finding out a job offer isn’t being accepted and most traumatic of all, Grandpa Hoover passed away. Throughout all of the trials this family faces, they all stuck together to get to California to make Olive’s dreams come true.

            When the Hoover family finally makes it to California, things don’t go as planned. Olive doesn’t do well in the pageant and even gets kicked out. The journey taught the Hoover family that outsiders may not accept them, but they all accept and love each other just the way they are. All of the trials they went through helped them grow closer as a family.

            A major example of the Interactional View theory in this film is Olive’s brother Dwayne. He decided to stop talking until he could reach his goal of flying airplanes. Though he chooses not to talk, he still uses gestures, writes, and makes eye contact. These are all great forms of communication whether it is noticeable to him or not. All of his family members were still able to see his emotions and thoughts based on his body language and actions. This proves that no matter how hard you try to not communicate with people, you will still be sending them a message.

            Another example of the theory is right from Olive. She wants to be in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant and believes in herself. The rest of her family first encourages her. Her father puts pressure on her to be a winner, while her mother encourages her to do her best and have fun. This puts Olive in a position where she gets stressed and nervous because of the expectations from her family and wanting to impress them. In the middle of the pageant, her family doubts Olive’s ability to win. Her father becomes nervous that she won’t be a winner and wants her to drop out. Her mother wants to tell her that whether she wins the pageant or not she will still love her. The content and the relationship of the communication are key factors here. The content from Olive’s father is that she must be a winner, but the relationship is different because he is meaning that as long as she tries she is considered a winner. Both the sender and the receiver interpret messages differently and therefore it can change the meaning of the conversation.

The Interactional View theory also states that relationships within a family system are interconnected and highly resistant to change. In the film, it proves the theory because all of the family members had specific roles in the family system and they were all connected. Even though people from outside of their family tried to change the way that they acted, it didn’t stop them.

Interactional View theory is a tool that demonstrates how family systems communicate and the rules that are followed in the relationships. You see real life examples of this theory every single day. Every family system communicates in this way. They are all highly resistant to change.

Little Miss Sunshine clearly set an agenda for further discussion of how communication works in a family system. I would recommend this film to all of my classmates as an example to fully understand the Interactional View.

Below is a project that I have done for my Natural Disasters class. I was directed to find earthquakes using Google Earth and find where they occured, what type of tectonic plate boundaries they had, what time they happened and the date they occured. I found it interesting to look up earthquakes and be able to tell these details from what I learned in class. The hardest part was probably figuring out how to use the technology, but once I figured it out the assignment was more fun than difficult.

1. Each team will submit ONE report.
   1. Writing the report must be a team project. All members must participate.
   2. The report must have a consistent tone. That is, it should read as if one person had written it.
   3. All members are responsible for the accuracy of the report. Read each others' contributions to be sure you agree to what you are submitting.

1. In the body of the report, cite references in parenthetical notation, included right in the same sentence where you refer to the material
2. At the end of your report, include a section titled Works Cited in MLA format. Here you will list your sources in alphabetical order, according to authors' last names. Use the guide in the learning packet for correct MLA format.

• you have successfully completed all the steps of the reflective thinking problem solving sequence
• your problem analysis was conducted thoughtfully, using effective critical thinking and analysis
• your proposed solution is achievable and will solve the problem adequately
• your report includes all the required content
• your report follows the required format

• a short title for the problem your group selected
• (skip two lines)
• submitted by
  • list all actively participating group members, in alphabetical order by LAST name
• (skip one line)
• college name
• class and section
• date submitted

1. a copy of your Team Contract
2. a copy of your Comparison Chart which you used to analyze your potential solutions

• Part I: P= Problem
  State your problem question
  • "What is the best way .... "
• Part II: A = Analyze the problem
  Describe your research about the problem. Summarize what you learned about each of the following:

1. Characteristics of the problem
2. Stakeholders
3. History
4. Policies/politics
5. Resources available

• Part III: C=Criteria

• What is your general goal?
• List at least seven realistic criteria that your solution needs to conform to
  • Some of these criteria should include references from class materials
• Part IV: B=Brainstorm
  Brainstorm possible solutions
  • List all the solutions you brainstormed
    • Some of these solutions should include references from class materials
• Part V: O = Organize
  Organize your solutions into a chart that will help you choose the best.
  • Explain how you narrowed your solutions to your top five to seven
  • Explain the chart you used for analyzing the solutions. You may either insert the chart here or include it in the attachments section.
  • Answer the question: "How does this solution excel over the other solutions that you proposed?"
  • Discuss potential negative consequences and how you will minimize them.
  • Revise your solution if necessary.
• Part VI: Y = Yes we can!
  Choose the best solution and implement.
  • Describe how you plan to implement the solution.
  • This plan must be realistic (something that you as students could actually do in the available time frame).

1. How does this assignment illustrate the growth/change/progress you have made in

2. How can you apply what you’ve learned in this class to other classes, to the

Reflective Questions:

     This assignment was the largest project this class was assigned. Since it was a group assignment, it really helped me get to know people that I might have never talked to and learn to work as a group. Since I had group members depending on me to get parts of the assignment done, it made me become responsible to get my part done. I liked that we all came together and performed our best. I learned to communicate very well in class to accomplish as much as possible, but also became very efficient in communicating through text and email. In the end, we ended up creating friendships and feeling good about a hard project.

     Every skill that I have learned from this group project, is a skill I can use again in my life. Communication is very important and used everyday. I am glad that I learned how to effectively get work done over email and texting, as well as in group meetings in person. I learned that I have to give out trust to others to get things done. Also, I need to remember to be responsible and reliable to anybody depending on me. Personally, I think these are very important skills to have and they will help me succeed in all of my classes, jobs, etc.

 I took a tennis class. The document below outlines what I learned throughout the class.

  I learned that Stephanie had a harder time in her first few years in school than I did. I also learned that in her culture they have different custons like Chinese New Year. I also learned that once Stephanie finishes school and has a stable carreer she is expected to provide for her parents. This assignment made me realize and opened my eyes to the fact that everyone in the world is very different. Everyone has had different experiences growing up. Everyone celebrates different holidays. Everyone enjoys different types of food. And Everyone has their own way of doing things and living their own lives. The only real assumption about the Asian culture I had is that they always eat rice. However this is true I also learned so much about the culture and I am happy that I had the oppritunity to do so.

 For my biology 1615 lab, I wrote a summary based off of a scientific article.