The Discipline of the 6 A.M. Gym Community

The main idea is that I wake up at 5 am to start working out at 6 am. and its about me helping out the community by going to the gym at that time and helping people with their workouts and diets but mainly describing the idea of why I go at that time. I go because its more relaxing, their is also less people and your day becomes longer too. Also its about dicipline too because its a war fighting agains your mind because no one wants to wake up early and no one likes the easy stuff. so this is the main idea of the essay. I’m also very close to God and he has helped me a lot trough my life too.

intrsuction: You have had the chance to write a personal narrative. We are now going to build on narrative skills by adding another mode: observation. When we describe, we stop looking inwardly and start looking more closely at the outside world, as ethnographers do.

Ethnographers choose specific groups of people to observe/study, and you are going to do the same. Specifically, you are going to choose a community of people to study. Please follow these guidelines when choosing:

• Your community must be accessible to you, so dont choose a community in the Dallas area if you dont have a way to get there.
• This is a learning experience, so choose a community to observe which you’d like to learn more about.
• Dont choose a community that engages in illegal or dangerous activities (drugs, alcohol, strip clubs, etc.).
• Choose a community in which you are honestly interested, such as a club/organization you’d like to join on campus.

Purpose

To be an independent learner, you must be able to find, analyze, and use information by yourself. In other words, you dont have to depend on a teacher, supervisor, or social media comment to give you information.

The skills you learn as you write this essay will give you the tools to become a life-long learner who can think and act with confidence.

What Skills and Knowledge Will You Gain?

To study another group of people you must gather knowledge from many sources, and finding this knowledge will give you the chance to develop some important skills:

Observation

Life happens fast, and we all need to be able to listen closely, watch carefully, and record what we see and hear in useful notes. As part of this project, we will talk about different methods of notetaking, and how to decide what details are worth recording.

Interviewing

When other people have information we need, we must ask for it. We will practice writing questions that get us the information we need because if you can answer questions, you can be an independent learner. Consider interviewing members of this community to find out more about it.

Thinking Critically

Sadly, we can never assume that information we receive is accurate, truthful, or complete. To use information to act or make decisions we have to be able to use our critical thinking skills to separate fact from fiction, reality from exaggeration, and incomplete from complete. Research the community on your own, and visit many times to describe what you experience.

How Will Those Skills Benefit You in Your Courses, Lives, Future, And Career?

The skills you need for this task are skills you can use every day.

School

Work

Life

Observe

Listen and take notes during lectures.

Listen and take notes during meetings.

Learn to notice important details that others miss.

Interview

Ask your instructors questions that get you the answers you need.

Ask co-workers questions that help you do your job more effectively.

Ask questions and listen actively to build strong relationships.

Analyze

Understand your assignments fully.

Solve problems effectively.

Make informed decisions.

What Do I Need to Do to Complete This Task and How Do I Do It?

1. Get to know the people within the community:

• Do a spontaneous interview of one or two people.
• Talk to the communitys organizer.
• Take pictures and record answerswith permission.
• Visit the events/places that this community gathers and take field notes of your observations.

1. Write your rough draft.
2. Give your Observation Essay an interesting title.
3. Write an introduction that includes
4. A hook
5. A thesiswhy is this community important and to whom?

Help! Not sure how? Read pages 31, and 81 in Steps to Writing Well.

Write body paragraph one:

1. Summarize your what your learned from your observations of your communitys place in your topic sentence.
2. Provide supporting description, examples, and images.

7. Write body paragraph two:

1. Summarize what you learned from interviewing members of your community in your topic sentence.
2. Provide evidence and examples. Use dialogue.

8. Write body paragraph three:

1. Write a topic sentence that summarizes what you learned from your observations.
2. Provide support for your findings.

Help! Not sure how? Read pages 203-221 in Steps to Writing Well.

9. Write a conclusion that summarizes the main point of your essay.

Help! Not sure how? Read pages 88-92 in Steps to Writing Well.

10. Peer review your draft

11. Submit your final essay to Canvas.

REMEMBER | These instructions provide guidelines, NOT a template. If you find your essay taking a different direction, thats okay!