PLN 16

I read "Not Your Parents' Parent Teacher Conference"by Karl Fisch that discussed Ms. Smith's new method of conferences. Ms. Smith had all of her students write up a paragraph to have be discussed instead of having the teacher discuss what the parents probably already know, like the students grades. In this paragraph, the students were to discuss what they had learned, what they had improved at, where they needed help, if they were happy with their grade, and a few other things they wanted their parents to discuss with their teacher. Then it was printed out to give to their parent to read over before the conference.
I think that this way is a very good way to come around with conferences because this way will help the parents and event the teacher out a whole lot more. It helps the parents because they are better informed as to what goes on in that class. It helps the teacher because then they also know where to help that student instead of watching their grade slowly decrease and not know how to help.
I think that all teachers should try this, because it might help with grades and keep parents happy when all they get after school was that school was "Fine".

PLN 14

Do you feel that school is just to hard to manage? Or maybe you don't understand what you are supposed to be learning and feel that you can't do it. Well, I read an article called, " A Conversation About Failure" by David Warlick which has some similar ideas toward these questions.
Mr. Warlick discussed how he had been to a New York school board conference where guest speaker Henry Winkler gave an inspiring speech on his problems as a child with dyslexia. He had talked about how he had not felt that he lived up to the standards for his learning and this resulted in him feeling that he was always doing something wrong. Well this effects many children, when a child has a problem with learning, he/she may feel that they are failing those who are watching to see us succeed, and that can put a lot of presssure on them. What they need is moral support from teachers and parents, maybe even friends. I think that they would need this because students may think that since they can't do the work, that they can't succed in anything and can lead to dropping out of school.

How many of our children are dropping out of high school because they feel unable.
How many of our children are being made to fell unworthy!

Another problem for them that teachers should work on (if it is occuring) is to not ignore that one person or center them out. they should get as much participation in class as everyone else. I don't think it is fair to single someone out just because they don't learn and process things as quickly. Oh, another thing is, is I don't think they should be singled out as being slow either, they arn't. We all learn at different paces.

Yet, when a person has difficulty reading, regardless of other exceptional skills, they seem to be labeled, automatically, in traditional classrooms, as slow.

PLN 13

Have you ever been asked to try something, something that you thought was really hard and you did not want to do it? Or maybe there was something you didn't want to do unless your friend did it. Has that ever happened to you? Well I read an article called "If my friend Scott, a double amputee can run an ironman, what's your excuse?" by Vicki Davis, about a man who pushed to succeed his goals even when he doubted himself at times.

The man was Scott Rigsby, a man who had lost half of both legs in a truck accident as a teenager. However, this did not stop him from acheiving this ironman triathalon. This ironman triathalon consisted of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and then 26.2 miles of running in 17 hours! What amazes me is that he swam without legs (where most of your speed comes from), biked without legs, and then ran all that way with prosthetic legs!

What Matters
We should learn a lesson from this. And what would that lesson be? Well I think that achieving your goals is a great lesson to take away from this. Also, try new things. "Oh, but it is so hard!" So? try it! What can you loose by trying something? Yeah, you could fail the first time. Just look at Scott Rigsby, he failed the first time he tried, but he got back up and tried again. Also, don't be a follower, be a leader. Instead of trying to persuade your friend to go first so you can see what it is like, go see for yourself. Why not be the example? There may not be another chance to have an experience like this.

What Matters To Me
I am not that much of a daredevil, so I suppose I should take up my own advice. But sometimes, I get scared to do something like for example , going into the scariest Haunted House like the Asylum. Well time to face those fears! and to achieve my goals. GO through that Haunted House, GO do that presentation in front of the class, GO try out for that sport! What's your excuse?

PLN 12

We all know how important essays are for tests such as CSAP's and SAT's, but when you have to complete three of them in two hours, don't you feel a bit overwhelmed? I have read an article called "Ready, Set,Write" by T Sale who talks about making sure his/her students have enough time to complete their essays and actually make them sound good still. It is always a pain to write an essay. just hearing the word makes you groan in displeasure, but it is even worse when you don't have enough time to finish it or to actually think about it if you don't know very much on that topic.

Where else in the real world, except perhaps as a journalist, would you have to
pound out an essay in a certain amount of time with no chance to revise and
polish it?

I think this is a good point to bring up that T Sale brought up. Where would we have a timed essay in our future other in college? What job gives you only two hours to try and do your best? They would probably give you a few days to give you the time to show all of your skills to impress the "judge". Only getting a couple hours doesn't give enough time to revise and edit or to think about a plan for the essay. So should teachers change the amount of time they give their students on an essay? Or should they make them practice spitting their ideas out faster with timed essays?

PLN Presentation

For my PLN presentation,I think I did pretty overall, though I was a bit nervous and could have practiced more so that my presentation was more informative. I also should have been more prepared. But I think I presented it pretty well and had a good question.(Have you ever had a bad day or bad decision that effected your future events?)

PLN 10

I have read an article called ACLU decries school cellphone searches, by Kieren Nicholson which talks about how school administrators are violating students' rights to privacy when they checked students' cellphone text messages. I had started when a teacher was checking a student for cigarettes and did not find any in his pockets or backpack, so the teacher checked the students texts. The student was then interrogated because the teacher found some of the texts suspicious! Many other students' cell phones were checked too. I think that having a teacher checking students' text messages is unnessesary. They should not go into and read them for no reason. As for the student and and him smoking, why does the teacher need to get involved, and how does looking at text messages prove he was smoking? If the teacher found nothing when searching his pockets and backpack, then why did the teacher need to check his phone? This is like how at my school, teachers and the principle can look at peoples e-mails that they wrte at school. Well, some people don't like it, but they could say, Hey at least they only check the ones here at school. But why would you write something that you don't want teachers to see? I think that it is good to check e-mails at school to avoid threatining and such, but not text messages.

PLN 9

I read an article called "Field Trip to CNN: Cool Cat Teacher Style" By Vicki A. Davis that talked about how mistakes and bad days can affect the rest of your life.I agree with this because it really it does.

Lies, Mistakes, and Bad Days can ruin our life now

I am sure we have all had days, but have you noticed that it could affect other things in your life? For example, when you have a bad day and you don't really feel like talking to anyone and you end up hurting your brother or sister and you get in trouble. Then your parents may end up punishing you and then you could end up missing that party you wanted to go to. And who knows, so and so could have been there, right? Well, there are other examples of how your actions in one event can alter the way other events happen.

I don't know if we comprehend or are ready to live in a world such as this...
where every citizen is a journalist. For do citizens naturally know the ethics
of what they do? Or do we understand that just because we can doesn't mean we
should?

We ,as humans, always make mistakes, but are there times when, like Ms. Davis asks, we do know that what we are doing is wrong? Well if we do, then why do we do it? Our gut tells us NO! and our mind says, "I Don't Know." But if we put more thought into our actions, then just maybe we will make better decisions. and when our decisions are better and benifit you and even others around you in a positive way, then it could effect the rest of your life in a positive way.

PLN 8

What sorts of classes are you taking? What do you plan on taking through your four years of high school? Are four years of math and three years of science included in your academic plan? Well, if not, that could change. I just read an article called "Class action on Graduation" by Jennifer Brown. It was abut how graduation requirements may change. You probably already know that you have to take 4 years of math and three of science, but did you know that you would also have to take 4 years of English and 3 of social studies? This also includes 2 years of foreign language and 1 of each of physical education and art(or music). Well, do you think it is necessary that you have to take all these classes, or do you think you could just get by without some of these classes?
Well, I think that it is important, because you need to know this information before you are "released out into the world". Some students complain about all the classes they have to take, but isn't it worth it? This is an opportunity for you to expand and to grow more creatively. This is important to us all because the classes you take and the amount of credits you earn, determines the path you take in your future.

PLN 7

What would you think if your parents had received a phone call from your teacher about how well you were doing? Would that shock you or would you feel proud. Well i read an article by one of my science teachers this year, Cara Syers. the article was called "In the words of Nemo the Clown Fish: "First Day of School! First Day of School!" She had talked about different things that we learned in preschool as she has a child in preschool. She talks about how in preschool there are many things we learn, like our colors, the alphabet, and other things, but there are more important thing that we learn while we enjoy finger paints and silly songs during circle time. We also learn life lessons, like how to share and cooperation. So then she thought about how she tried to think of the goals and the most important points that she teaches in her class. Is it just the basics of biology or is it more in depth than that? she wants her students to walk away knowing the big picture and how it relates to the world and such. Just like my English teacher.Ms. Smith, she has focused our lessons on what matters; what matters to us and to the world.
Mrs. Syars then goes on to say how she realized how important it is for teachers to communicate with their students parents. She says how it always makes her feel good to hear that her daughter is doing well in school and is getting along well with others. I'm sure your mom or dad would like to hear this information too. And wouldn't make you feel good to hear that from your teacher? Well, I think it is important that teachers should communicate with parents because it would help them understand what is going on and what they are teaching. Kids aren't always the best communicators. Then again they could work on communicating with their parents (something that I could work on) I'm not saying that you need to spend an hour going over every detail of what you did at school or tell them the latest gossip, but just enough to make sure you are doing OK and to help in any way.