PLN 19

For this PLN I read an article on Roger's Personal blog called, "Retakes" which clearly discussed whether retakes for students should be offered or not.

Mr. Hess,
None of my teachers allow retakes on almost anything and I wish that sometimes they would. I believe that I am a hard working student, but sometimes I can just totally bomb a test on account of either being nervous or just unsure about a topic. Therefore retakes on tests could be very helpful in saving a grade sometimes. Then again like you were saying many students’ grades wouldn’t even change from the first test to the second test showing that not much of an effort change was made. Honestly if someone gets a very low F on a test chances are they aren’t going to get an A on the retake because obviously they were missing a big portion of the knowledge needed. Still a retake could make the difference from a C to a B which is a pretty big difference, and if that did happen that shows that there was more studying and a bigger effort in the retake than in the first test. So, then the question remains is it a good idea to have retakes available to those students that truly will try harder the second time around, or just eliminate that option and not deal with the hassle of the students whose performance remains poor on the tests? Honestly because I am not a teacher I can’t really say what I would do in that situation but as a student I think that retakes should be available because there are those students like I said who will really use that opportunity to improve their grade.

PLN 18

I read an article on Will Richardson's blog called, "Study; Young Kids Online" which was talking about how the internet is a "highly commercial medium" even to kids as young as ages from 2-8 years of age.

Dear Mr. Richardson,

I found this article to be surprising that already companies are trying to reach out their products to children at such a young age. I actually clicked on the links provided and did notice that you had to purchase a membership to either join the online learning and communicating site, or be able to access certain “abilities” that maybe a certain game had. There are advertisements everywhere, even in the most unexpected areas like these websites that will then connect you to another site that is sponsored by yet another site that just wants you to buy their products. The thing is it is not actually the kids who are paying for these products it is the parents! Last time I checked an eight year old doesn’t have a credit card which is what you usually need to purchase something online. It is total manipulation of the children and the parents, the kids want to be apart of the online community to maybe play the games or chat with other kids, and the parents can’t say no to a “learning” experience.

PLN 17

I responded to Kristin's post titled, "Quiet Student" which talked about the problem teachers have with having class discussions with students who do not participate.

I made many connections to this blog with mixed feelings about these situations. In many of my classes we have large discussions and have used the “fishbowl” technique. This reminds me of when we would have Socratic Seminars in middle school and my teacher would actually have us write down who we thought was the “Captain Obvious” (person who stated obvious facts that didn’t help the conversation), the “Silent Bob” (person who never talked), the “Chatty Cathy” (person who would non stop talk taking up the entire conversation), and the “Doctor Brilliant” (person who made very good points and contributed well to the seminar. Then he would actually read the names aloud of who got the most votes for each personality. Looking back at it I think that this was a horrible thing to do, because if someone was voted the “Chatty Cathy” then next discussion they wouldn’t say a word in fear of having that title again. In my opinion I think there are a few students who choose to not participate simply because they have no interest in the subject and don’t care all that much about their grade. Then again that is not fair to those students who do care but are too shy to speak their opinion. Therefore I like the idea of having alternatives to the discussion, that way if the student really does want to participate they will have that opportunity to do so. For example maybe the class could write down their views on a piece of paper and then the teacher could read what they wrote to the rest of the class, then to those who do enjoy speaking could respond verbally to that.

2 Presentation Reaction

For my second presentation I think that I did a little better on making smooth transitions through my PLNs and topics. I still need to make a little more eye contact but I think I did a little bit better this time. I spoke loudly and clearly and made good points and connections in all of my PLNs. My question seemed to spark a good conversation too so I was pleased with that. Overall I think I had a fairly good presentation the second time around.

PLN 16

I just recently read a shocking blog about an Elementary school teacher who had posted inapropriate information on their personal webpage. This blog was posted on Will Richardson's page titled, "Teaching Googleableness (Con't)".

When I read this I was quite shocked and appalled that an Elementary school teacher would say such things on a public site. At first I was skeptical on the whole “Googleing” people thing because I thought that it might be taking background checks a little too far, but now I think that it may be necessary. It kind of seems absurd that the school administrators had not seen any red flags before finding this online webpage. This relates to me because I am always being told to be careful about what I put online at all times. There is nothing ever private on the internet (in my opinion) so you always must be aware of what you are putting out there for everyone to see. I am not saying that this person should have “hid” there information better, but to those younger people especially must be cautious about what they post online.
On the question asked about whose to blame, well honestly I think that the people who hired this teacher are at fault a bit. Even though it’s not like they really could have seen this coming, I guess it just goes to show you never really can know what someone could be hiding. I still think that they did make a mistake on hiring what could have been a danger to these young students. This person obviously lived a life that was clearly not appropriate for children to be around. If they had done a more in-depth search on their employees I’m sure that just by typing their name on Google, MySpace, or FaceBook could have easily brought up this information before hand and saved them from dealing with this trouble. Therefore I have changed my opinion a little on making kids and adults “Googleable” because apparently it can be very useful in these situations

PLN 15

I responded to Jeff Utecht's blog called, "Back from Digital Darkness 2008". He was writing about his experience from going "Screen Free" for a week, and how this made him reflect on how much he uses technology.

Reading things like this just makes me realize how obsessed the world has become with technology. Maybe we have to be constantly involved in technology because it is the future. To keep up with society you have to always be involved in the new trends and technology is the biggest trend of all. Sometimes I don’t think it is really our decision to be so attached, sometimes a cell phone or email is the only way to communicate. Or a lot of my assignments in school require me to use a computer, so what am I going to do, say “No, I can’t finish this project because I’m trying to distance myself from technology.” Yeah I don’t think my teachers would be too happy with that response.
Then again some of this attachment is all free will, (even though no one can really make you use technology) choosing to check your web page, like MySpace or a FaceBook is completely optional. Or texting your family member that dinner is ready instead of walking those few steps to tell them yourself. I also liked how you pointed out that technology isn’t going anywhere, because I think that many people feel that if they don’t constantly check the internet for the latest news and updates in technology then they will miss it. As you put it,

“There is nothing that happened last week that is not there for me this week to
learn. There is nothing that happened last week that I can not search and
find out about. What I have come to understand is the web waits for you.”

That is such a brilliant and true statement, obviously technology is here to stay, that is until we discover the next big thing, but we have all the time to learn and do what we will with it. We all need to learn to not let technology control out life, and know that it is possible to live with out it, even for a week.

PLN 14

I decided to respond to Mr. Fisch’s post called, “The Need for Texbooks” which discussed the importance…or in this case un-importance of textbooks these days.

Mr. Fisch,

When I read this post I have to admit it made me laugh a little that textbooks’ only purpose is to protect our heads incase of a tornado. In a way I hope text books stick around because I don’t think my teacher would be too happy about me using a laptop to protect my head… in fact my body would probably be instructed to protect the laptop. This obviously saying that technology will soon completely replace all textbooks and maybe paper used in school altogether! If you think about what would be the harm in having online tests, or worksheets that you can just email the assignments to your teacher. It could save a whole lot of trees. I honestly can’t remember the last time I even brought home a textbook; I have always just accessed the online version from my computer at home. Then again what about the schools that are barely keeping up with having enough textbooks for each student, how could they afford to use laptops, or put the homework on a CD? I guess only time will tell what advancements will be made and how they will all work out.

PLN Presentation Reaction

My presentation went pretty well and very smoothly. I needed to make a little more eye contact with my audience and not rely on my notes so much. I got great comments back about how I did a good job on going into good detail on my posts and relating them to myself. For next time I will just try to be a little more confident in that I know what I’m saying so I don’t have to read off my notes so much.

PLN-13

As a student I see the effects of poor teaching from the receiving end. I have had many teachers who use the same exact curriculum year after year with the same projects and same work ethics. The point of school to me is to learn, practice, and then succeed, now learning being the first thing means opening your mind to new ideas and criticism to better your skills in Math, Language Arts, Science or any other class. Obviously over the years I have gathered more knowledge and improved my thinking skills drastically. If I just kept my thinking in the same spot for my entire school career then, well, I would still be in first grade not going anywhere. The same applies to teachers; they must be constantly changing their ways in teaching every day. Learning from what teaching skills work and which ones don’t, every student learns in different ways so a teacher must conform to fit the needs of those children. Also keeping in mind in how our world and society, in technology especially, has been changing and developing into new things that no one has ever seen before. Not learning from the changes around you and just sticking with the same old teaching styles will only hurt the students in the long run because they will not be prepared for the future. There is always room for improvement.

PLN-12

In an article I read titled, "The State of American Education: Not so great" by Will Richardson which was talking about how millions of kids are dropping out of high school or failing out and this problem needs to be addressed everywhere. He pointed out that many cities might be oblivious to the huge amount of kids dropping out of school in even the biggest cities. Mr. Richardson was saying how he worked in a district that graduated over 90% of their students and how many of them went off to college, but that is not the case in many of the inner cities of America. In those schools it is about a fifty-two percentage of students graduating from school.
This relates to me because luckily I go a school where the teachers and staff work very hard to have the students make the best possible future for themselves. Meaning this we are always updating in technology and getting supplies that will better our education. The thing is that in less fortunate schools that are unable to get this kind of supplies, so should that really effect the learning? Do you really need the latest technology to get the same education as somebody from a very wealthy private school? Unfortunately I think that is true, which upsets me thinking that just because someone is born into a less wealthy home that they will not be able to receive the education that they deserve. All around the world I think that students may be denied a proper education because of the income their family makes, or the city they live in. I do not think that is fair at all because it seems that all that potential is going to waste, but then again if someone truly is trying to succeed as much as they can in life they will find a way. At the end he said, "We’re failing millions of kids." So to me that seems that all schools and districts or governments need to work together to make sure that every child has that opportunity to succeed. This means that something needs to change whether that is giving more money to schools to purchase the supplies needed, or hiring more teachers that are equipped with the skills to teach these kids even with out all of that fancy technology it can be done.

PLN 11

I found a very interesting article called, “Making Kids “Googlable” written by Will Richardson which talked about getting kids prepared for a good “resume” for the future. First it talks about how Will had gone around and asked some Principles and Administrators if they have ever “Googled” a potential teacher that they may hire. Many to his surprise said that yes they have searched their name on Google and even on MySpace. They said that the reasoning for this was just to make sure that no negative background would come up, and if they happen to come by a very positive thing about them that that information could also come useful in the hiring decision. It then went on to talk about how adults especially teachers and principles need to get the students “online portfolio” looking good. I predict that more and more employers will be using Google and other online tools to find out more about people so why not make your online pages look good.

To me it makes sense because in the article it did say,

“Almost all of them admit, however, that finding positive things about their
applicants, as in portfolios or collaborations or even social sites, does or
could make a positive difference in the process.”

So if you have some impressive “stats” online than that could be a plus. Even though I do not quite understand what these portfolios would include, it is important for students all over the world to at least start thinking about the future and how getting important but obviously safe information online could be useful in the future.

PLN 10

I read an article called, “Bridging the Difference” was talking about how to make kids in school actually want to learn. It was saying how so many kids do not feel the need to even go to school anymore. They think, why go somewhere that I hate, get yelled at, picked on, and always stressed? This relates to me because I feel like that sometimes too. When I get home to do my homework (that is just piling up) and I look at my history homework that I have to name the officers in a war I wonder how this will actually help my life. Or, do I really know how to find the circumference of a circle in my life? Honestly the only reason I go to school is because I have to, and I want to succeed in life and go to college (even though that is just more school).

More and more kids are dropping out of school each year. This needs to be cut down but how? Teachers and schools need to start taking a different approach in teaching. First of all, we have had the same curriculum for the past 40 years it seems. I am doing projects that my mom did over thirty years ago. If our world is changing so much and we are advancing so much then why isn’t our learning changing too? School needs to be more interesting and reach out to everyone and their learning needs. If those changes happen our schools will be a better more interesting place.

PLN 9

In an interesting article I read called, “Shifting Again” by Karl Fisch was about how our world can take that shift into bettering our earth. Some ways he talked about were having electric cars on the road instead of cars that emit harmful gasses into our atmosphere. Or a way to gain more energy by using windmills. These windmills can pick up a lot of energy at night when the wind picks up.

This relates to me and the world because well obviously I am apart of this world that I think could be in danger. We need to start making these changes to help our world, even I can make a difference, maybe by just recycling more. In my science class at school the topic these past weeks has actually been out global change. We have talked about global warming, greenhouse effect, energy, and a lot more that has made me more informed on the subject.

PLN 8

I read an article called, "Revealing Your Inner Superhero" written by David B. Bohl which was talking about how people fear failure too much so that it keeps them from trying. I found this article very facinating and creative in the way that almost everyone at one point or another has maybe not wanted to be a super hero but at least wanted to be someone better than they are now. Instead of being a plumber, wanting to be a lawyer, or instead of making JV football, wanting to be the quarterback on Varsity, everyone wants to be at least a little better or more successful at something in their life. So what is holding them back from fulfilling these goals? Fear. The fear of losing, the fear of that embarassment and dissapointment. This is the fear that we need to get over to succeed at life.
For me I am constantly doubting myself thinking I am just not good enough to do something. I was afraid I would not be smart enough to be in an honors class this year which kept me from even trying out. I was afraid my times just were not fast enough in swimming which also prevented me from trying out. Both of those I regret not doing now because I never even gave myself a chance to at least try. People all over are always making the same mistake I made out doubting themselves and not having enough faith in themselves. Maybe in sports someone did not think that they could make that final shot at the buzzer and lost the game. Or, a doctor not trusting that they could have much success in a dangerous procedure and never knowing if that life could have been saved. Not saying to take careless choices, but just believe in yourself a little bit more in life, and you will see how much of a difference it will make.

PLN 7

I read an article called, “Teenagers as “Teamagers”…What do You Think?” by Will Richardson which was discussing how working in groups can be more productive than alone. The idea that I was getting from this was two brains are better that one, or three, or five, or ten. Working in a group is a way that tasks can get done more efficiently.
This relates to me because well honestly I am not a huge fan of the group work anymore. The reason is because I find myself doing all of the work, and not because I want to, but because I am the only one that will. Recently I have been in numerous group projects where I have done majority if not all of the work, and my partner(s) receive credit for my hard work. Though there have had times where a group project has worked wonderfully. Everyone had a job got it done, and we all were able to discuss our ideas and collaborate them. So I suppose it really just depends on who you are working with. Obviously that is how it relates to me at school, because most of my group work is based around school. In all of my classes we have had an assignment at one time or another where we had to partner up or get into groups. Like I said before I have had great results, and not so great results, but it has definitely helped me learn to work with others and learn from those situations.
Working in groups has really prepared me for the world, and my future. I plan to get a job and unless I am running my very private own business I am going to be working with people. That means working people that I may not get along with and people that will not pull their own weight. So working with these types of groups now good and bad is good “practice”. People all over the world are constantly working together trying to get a task completed. Whether that task being a group of constructions workers building a tall skyscraper, or a band playing in harmony to please a crowd, everyday people are working together as one. That is what community is all about, helping each other and living as one no matter how independent out country may be. That is how working together not just on school projects as a teenager, but completing tasks as a hole is a magnificent idea.

PLN 6

I read an article called, ""Schoolboys Face Court in Racial Taunting" by Myung Oak which was article on recent racism in a school. I found this article to be interesting becuase just yesterday in my history class we were discussing racism in our world. We all thought that racism is in the past and our society has moved on from that, but I guess not. It sadens me that we still have this type of cruelty in our world.

The three kids who were faced in court because they were taunting a minority student at their school. They were following behind them with their hoods up chanting "KKK". That is just a horrible thing to do and say and I just can not imagine who would do such a thing. I do beleive that we have come a long way in our society and overall world in racism. This just shows that we still have a lot of improvement. Though I have never had to deal with this problem I still see it going on around me.

PLN 5

I read an outrageous article called, “Black Monday: Bloggers on Trial” written by Vicki A. Davis about a class whose blogger accounts and website were ordered to be taken down by the Department of Education and Children Services in Southern Australia. This was a class of young students; ages about 8 or 9 who were using a type of online blog for a project in class. Some parents and other authorities believed that this was a big risk to the children’s safety and wanted the site taken down. I think that this is ridiculous for these kids to have to just delete all of their hard work. The teacher says that he did send out a permission form for the parents to sign giving the “okay” to set up these accounts for their kids. The students never put out any personal information including their names and it was a well monitored project by the teacher.

This relates to me because I clearly have a blogger account I do not think that it is very dangerous at all. Like any information that is put on the internet you have to be careful, but these kids were so I see no problem. We use these accounts for school I find them very effective and efficient. My teacher and these students teacher is always keeping an eye out for any information too personal that is being put on these blogs. Those students obviously had put a lot of hard work into those projects online and they had to take them down which would be very upsetting to an eight year old.

All over the world they are trying to prepare the youth for the future. It is very apparent that computers will be a huge part of this future so why are now they trying to prevent young people from using the resources we have? I think it is a great idea for these children to be getting involved in these online accounts because they will be using computers in the future so why not prepare them now? This whole situation could have been handled better then just completely shutting down these students accounts. They should have set up a more private account, or something rather than just cutting them off from the valuable resource such as the internet.

PLN 4

Today I read an aritcle about how NYC students are now banned from using their cellphones or myspace. This relates to me because I have a cellphone and use myspace and I do not think that it is fair for someone to ban you for using what belongs to you. In school or at least in class we are not supposed to use cellphones or myspace which makes sense becuase it is a distraction to class. This relates to the world because this happened in New York and I assume that this is a problem in other areas as well.

PLN 3

I read an article called, “Student Information Online” written by Jeff Utecht Which was talking about a hot topic lately and that is cyber safety with students. This article was telling which information is safe to put online. This relates to me personally because I have a few accounts that are open on the web, even with private setting you can never be too safe. For me it is just common sense to not put personal information including last names, addresses, school, neighborhood, or phone numbers. Many mistakenly do this and sometimes the consequences can be very dangerous.

This relates to school a lot too because in my English class we do have a blogger account (obviously) which is public to everyone. Our teacher always makes sure that we never put our last names on our work or any other risky information. Putting your last name or phone number online is just not worth risking your life. This is the way it relates to the world because young girls especially all over need to listen to this and be careful about what they put online. Nothing is really private on the internet no matter what anyone says, hackers are everywhere trying to get information on you. In this day and age there are so many pedophiles out there so people have to always be cautious. It is quite unfortunate that this is the type of world we live in but it is something that exists so we have to deal with it.

PLN 2-sem2

For my second PLN I read an article on teen driving by Kieran Nicholson called, “Teen traffic deaths down in Colorado”. This article was about how the death rates for teen car accidents has gone down in the past year. This article really caught my eye because I have been doing a lot of research on this subject for pretty much this whole semester. I chose the topic of teen driving for my position paper for English class. In my paper I talked about the dangers in teen driving with distractions such as text messaging and other dangers like just overall being too inexperienced. Then for our recent PSA projects my group chose to do ours on wearing a seat belt while driving especially for driving and in the article authorities say,

“The number of Colorado teens killed in car crashes is down by more than a
third, but deaths could be even lower if more teens buckled up”

This topic relates to school in a way that many high school students are driving, and they are all at risk for accidents. So is everyone else on the road but teen drivers the most because they are the most inexperienced drivers. At our Arapahoe High School we have the Remember campaign reminding students to buckle up and take care of one another which I think that every school needs to do. I truly believe that this has helped a lot of the students to buckle up especially when coming or leaving school which is some improvement.

This relates to the world because every where in the United States there are teen drivers that are recklessly driving with out safety precautions such as wearing a seat belt. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for young people such as teenagers and majority of those people who died were not wearing their seatbelts. Just think that if all of those people would have just taken two seconds to buckle up they could still be alive today. Though there are improvements and the death rate has gone down it can always be better.

I am Poem

I am an adventurous girl

I wonder how many colors are really in the rainbow

I hear the wind whistling a cheerful tune

I want to sleep on a cloud

I am an adventurous girl

I pretend that my back pack is actually a jet pack

I feel so many emotions at once

I touch the snow and pretend its ice cream

I worry that when I get older my imagination will fade

I am an adventurous girl

I understand that with out laughter life is much more boring

I say anything that comes to mind

I dream that one day I will be a superhero

I try to fly but usually fall

I hope that others can feel my joy

I am an adventurous girl

PLN 1-sem2

For our first PLN for the second semester I as usual went searching for an article that caught my eye and I did. “What Do We Know About our Kids’ Futures? Really.” written by Will Richardson which was another post on yet again what the future holds. It seems that everyone is discussing and almost worrying about the future, our future, that is the future of the children. He was saying how we really do not know what the future holds and I don’t think we can ever really know what the future will be like until we are present in the future. That is how it always has been, if you would have told somebody 20 years ago that 9th graders will have their own laptop in class that person would have probably thought you were crazy. That is a big way that this effects schools, new technology is being put into classrooms to try and inform the young people today to get them ready for tomorrow.
The future is so unpredictable that I honestly do not understand why people are putting so much effort into trying to figure out what the world will be like 50 years from now or 30, or 20 years or even 10 years from now. You can never really know what will happen until it happens. This relates to me very much because I am the future that everyone (the adults) are making a big deal about. I am the innovated and unpredictable future that will change the world. But the problem is I do not think that I have the information needed to really prepare me for that future, and I don’t think that anyone will be able to give it to me.
This goes to how adults are preparing us for this new world that we are entering. What I wonder is how can they teach us something that we have yet to create. How can a teacher give a student a text book on all of the information we need to be successful in life if we are the ones that will be setting the tone for success in our day and age. They will only be giving us information on how to be successful in their time, which will only slow us down and not help us prepare for the future. It is almost a hopeless feeling knowing that you can not really do much to help us for the future, but I see it as challenge. This is the opportunity for us the youth of the world to create our own society, improve the things we don’t agree with, and truly change the world.

The Real World response

The "real world" to me means something different for everyone. It could be your life in school, your life in marriage, in a career, anything that is in your life is your real world. I do not get why people tell high school students that we are getting prepared for the "real world". Then what are we living in now? Is homework responsibility, relationships, peer-presure, and other high school problems and success that we indure in high school not the real world? If not then what is?

Goal for Second Semester

This semester I would really like to get that A that I have been striving for. Last semester I started out a little rough but I really tried but only got a B. I was still proud of my self because that is still a good grade but I know I could have gotten that A. This semester I know now that I need to just start off strong and work hard throughout the entire semester and be sure not to fall a little bit because then that makes it very difficult to get out that hole. Some ideas and tactics I will use to achieve this goal is:
1. Write in my planner every day to stay organized.
2. Bring home all of my work including my thumb drive.
3. Always come to class prepared.
4. Go in for help if I need it!
5. Do my homework every night.
6. Most importantly always do the best possible job!

I think that if I do all of these things and truly try my hardest, then I know that I will be able to get that A!