I found an article called "What Kind of School so I want?" by Brian Hatak. This article was about how this teacher wants to be remembered as a good teacher and teach in a good school. He asked some questions about this.

"When I leave this school, I would like to be remembered for..."
"I want my school to be a place where..."
"The kind if school I would like my own child to attend would..."
"The kind of school I would like to teach in would..."

I think these are good questions because teachers should pay attention to how they are teaching and how their students respond to them. they should care what their students think because it effects how they are learning. If you teach badly and without care, then they don't learn anything. It is also important that the teachers that enjoy teaching should find a good learning environment where they feel comfortable teaching. Hopefully, they can find a school that has a good learning curriculum that they can agree with so that they would put their own children in too. Like Mr. Hataks question saying that he would want the school to be the kind that he would want his child to attend. Last, teachers should act in such a way that students and other staff can remember them as a good teacher. I'm sure teachers don't want to be remembered as the kind of teacher who always lost their temper or didn't teach them well. So all these questions are important for teachers to think about.

PLN 5

I have just read an article from the Fischbowl called "Speaking from the Soul" by Karl Fisch. He talks about how teachers are always trying to build relationships with their students through different activities. I think that if teachers do this, it will help students with learning because they know their teacher. So, I agree with Mr. Fisch that sharing experiences with students, can improve their learning. It's a good thing that here at my school, that the teachers are always looking for new ways to interact and learn more about their students. I personally enjoy that, and I think all teachers should try to accomplish this too. I also think it is important that teachers share their writing pieces with their students. Not writing pieces that have to do with a specific assignment, but ones that involve their one lives in the past or present. In the article, Mr. Fisch also comments about Karen Gerlich's blog about how she had decided to share her poem that she had written. She said,

But, I figured if 9th graders could share their writing, if Lary could do
birdcalls, I could take a chance and share my poem. So I did. Even for a
seasoned professional (or, ancient veteran teacher), I found it hard to
recite my poem in front of the kids. Eye contact was hard to make and my
stomach lurched, but I did it. Then Lary challenged me to put it on my blog.
So I am. No eye contact, but my stomach is lurching...

Another good point is that she had said that she was nervous about reciting it in front of people.Well this reminds me of how in my English class (Ms. Smith's English 9) how we have just started to present our blogs in front of the class. The first few people had said that they had felt pretty nervous. Well of course we all have those butterflies whizzing around our stomachs. But, like Ms. Gerlich had said, it is hard to make eye contact with everyone in class, usually you just stare at the back of the classroom or at the teacher. Overall, I think that it helps to have a teacher who tries to make learning fun and interesting, who tries to learn more about you, who links learning to your life, and loves their job. WOW! This sounds a lot like my teacher Ms. Smith. No wonder I like this class!

PLN 4

I read an article from Cool Cat Teacher called," How The Web Posted On the Web is Causing Talk about Spiders", by Vicki A. Davis. It was about a GIGANTIC spider web that was found, and how scientists are arguing about it over the Internet instead of going to see it in person. Though, this 200 yard web might not be around for much longer because most of the spiders will be dead. The point of this story she has posted have a couple ideas. She says,

1) Sometimes you have to see it in person.

Well, I agree with her. A lot of things you see on the web aren't as good as just going to see it for yourself. It's sort of Like Anna K's first blog about taking your own pictures verses getting them off the Internet and calling them your own. It is so much more interesting to actually go and experience it, you can remember this experience so much easier to when you take a picture. I mean wouldn't you want to experience it yourself instead of looking at someone else's experiences or memories? She also states,

2) The Internet Facilitates Rapid Awareness
Look how the posting of this one
photo has literally set the world's entomologists abuzz, particularly
when
it is a phenomenal occurrence. Why more of them don't go see it in person is
beyond me.To me,
the greatest credence in the debate should go to those who
have observed in person.

I also agree with this. Well, for one thing, the Internet is such a great resource and influences many people. So, why don't people want to go see the real thing? There is only so much you can see on the Internet, but why not go and experience it for yourself?

PLN Entry #3

I read an article called "Could it Happen Here" by David Warlick. I agree with him about the idea that we too need to have conferences with teachers all around, and to discuss our future of our schools. He had been travelling and he said that he had been following a conference in Shanghai. The conference consisted of Shanghai educators who came together to discuss ideas that involved mostly private schools. Here is a quote from him.

So here’s the question that just occurred to me. Could something like
this happen in the United States?

Well, could it? I think it could if we cared more about how our future schools and education for our children. I think that we need to try to improve our schools so that we have a better education. It would also be nice to learn with new technology. But we not only have to discuss our education in our own country, we should also make an effort to improve the education of other countries who are deprived of the special treatment we get here. Even though our education is important, we still need to pay attention to others, not only ourselves.This is important to my life, because this can effect the way mine and other's futures are put out. It could effect where I go to school and maybe even my job. This article was very interesting and made me think about what would happen if we discussed our future in education.

PLN 2

In an article called weblogg-ed, I read about a man and his family that had travelled to Australia. The article was called "Diving In" by Will Richardson. This story was about he and his family had gone scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef. He talked about how his son Tucker was really frightened from the fact that he was in the middle of the ocean. So the swim instructor comes to come help him and soon Tucker begins to enjoy himself. He says he learned a lot just by watching his kids experience the fun events they participated in, like feeding wallabies and chasing kangaroos, and even trying scuba diving in the beautiful waters of the Great Reef. He says,

It was, as my son said, “so cool,” and I feel so very fortunate to have been
given that opportunity. I learned much as well.

How this relates to me is just the fact that we should all try new things and the idea of family. Will's son was afraid to be in the water, but had to trust his dad and the swim instructor that they wouldn't let him get hurt. Oh! This reminds me of a story we read in English nine. It was called "The Lady or the Tiger". The What Matters in this story was the idea of trust. The lover of the princess had to trust her that she would choose the right door for him that would be the best idea for the both of them. The question? Was it the lady or the tiger that came through the door? Anyway, we all experience new things, right? And sometimes before this we are afraid to do it. I remember how I was about to go on a giant swing and I was so freaked out about how high it was and I had butterfly's in my stomach. But as it started and I had gotten through the first swing, I began to relax. And guess what!? I went again! this has to do with family to because they were on a family trip. I think that it is very important for families to spend time together around the world, because we usually need to be with someone and to talk with someone. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article and the picture was great and the water looked BEAUTIFUL!

Teen Can't Hold Flower in Yearbook

I have just read an article in the Denver Post about how a girl in New Hampshire could not hold a flower in her yearbook picture. It is said that props were forbidden because there was an incident where a boy had wanted to pose with a gun. So now they are reminded for school pictures, that no hats or props are allowed. Well, I think this is ridiculous because I cant see why she couldn't be allowed to hold something as simple as a flower. I can understand why they put the rule up, no one should be holding a gun in their pictures, but I don't think they should ban all props.

But,I don't think this article is just about this incident. If something so simple as this is banned, I am sure they will come up with more rules. Last year, we watched this news channel called Channel One. A lot of times we would hear about different schools receiving new rules. Some of the students agreed with these rules and said that they would help the school. but others were in protest and often said that they were unfair. I think that some of these rules are limiting their (sometimes our) freedom in what we can do. I remember talking about in my history class about how we had a lot more freedom now that we are in high school. But we should remember that freedom comes with responsibilities and that if we aren't responsible, we may lose some of those freedoms.

So maybe these schools have lost their freedoms because they haven't used them responsibly, and maybe not. But what about those other students who have acted responsibly? Should they lose their freedoms too?