PLN 22

 I found and article called"I need answers: What will the home of the future look like?" by Vicki Davis who talks about she will be able to go to a meeting where they will discuss the fundamental question of 

     What will the future house REALLY look like in 10 years?

I think this is a very interesting question because of the new and always changing of our technology. I have seen us go from tapes to Cd's and now to ipods! We have cell phones that are MUCH smaller and skinnier than before with new things being added to it. We can text, listen to music, watch videos,use as walkie-talkies, it even acts as a mini computer. Oh, I almost forgot, it's also a phone! All of this awesome technology stuffed into a tiny little piece of metal and wiring. Technology now even helps us with daily house chores like washing dishes and clothes and cooking dinner. I mean, who could live without the microwave. Oh, don't let me forget about TVs. Now bigger, much bigger and skinnier and can hang on your wall. Now you can even record TV shows with a push of a button and watch them over and over again. It's amazing at what we can do now, and to think we could do more. We could have robots doing all our work at home and assisting us with our more dangerous jobs! The group that plans to do this say that they will try to build this home to not only focus on the new technology, but also to try to focus on having the house be energy efficient which would help a lot for our earth, because if we keep treating the earth worse and worse, it may not last as long. Hopefully if all this new technology keeps pilling in, there is a way to recycle all of the old stuff which also could help the earth stay clean. 

So the thought I will leave with now is, what do you think the future house will look like in ten years?

PLN 21

I have read an article called Grading Practices by Crosby who talks about how he would want his students to look at their grades. There are two ways, you can look at your overall grade and say, Oh I'm doing pretty good! Or you could look at the separate categories like Crosby had said, you could look at Participation (in class and on the blog) ,Objective and Written Exams, Content of Formal Essays and, Mechanics of Formal for example. This could help you see what you need to work on if you have a lower grade percent in one area, say Objective and Written exams. Then you can focus on getting your grade up by knowing where the extra help is needed.
I also thought about how teachers now have put up our grades in separate categories which is really nice. Like I've said before, it helps to see your grade in chunks vs. seeing the overall grade and not knowing why you may have a B or lower. Or you can see what you have improved on, to. Grades are so important to us students even though some don't always care. But we or at least I always worry about not getting a good grade and it helps to have infinite campus to tell you all the assignments, how you did, and what you are missing. it even shows some of the upcoming assignments. All teachers should post grades in categories if they don't already and all students should check their grades because it could help them improve so much by knowing it. It sure helps me and I will keep doing it. By the way, I should go do that now!

PLN 20

I just read an article called Technology=Engaged Learners By Jeff Utech who talks about how he had some science students use the idea of a wiki to expand their learning.
I am a student in Ms Smith's class and she also has used this idea. I think this does help us because we get to share the knowledge we learn and share it with others. Jeff had his students come up with a wiki page to expand on what they learned.

PLN 18

Not many classes have the opportunity to work with laptops everyday in class at school. Though I am not one to complain. In Maine's 1:1 laptop raises writing performance by Dan Maas, it talks about how students who use laptops in class, have done better in writing.

The study is showing that kids write more, write better and perform better
on tests after having laptops for their use in every class every day.

Even though I use a laptop in my English class, I can not see how laptops can improve writing performance even on paper and pencil tests. Yeah, it can improve your writing skills with spelling and grammar check, but how does it improve how you decide to write your paper?

However if this does help improve writing, then I think that all classes should get a chance to use a laptop, and maybe it would help them improve to.

PLN 17

I am sure all of us have been to an art museum, whether it be a modern art or some other kind. However, have you ever looked at a piece of art and wondered, What is that? or I could have done that! Well I read an article called "Christie Davies looks at three massive works of art parked outside our art galleries and is amazed at British art galleries' gullibility and moved by the sensibility of the Chinese: Sculptures by Doris Salcedo, Louise Bourgeois and Zhang Huan" by Christie Davis. She talks about some of these pieces of art, Shibboleth, Maman, and Three Legged Buddha . Shibboleth is a piece of art that is a giant crack in the floor. What Christie says is that she does not understand is what this really is supposed to represent or mean.

It is a meaningless crack in the concrete like the one I saw in the railway station in Skopje after the earthquake there...It was just a crack in the concrete, like this one. A crack is a crack is a crack.

I agree, some pieces of art are completely meaningless. Just the other say, I went to a museum and saw some really beautiful things. Then i came upon this wall with crepe paper mountains or something and fox fur thrown all over. then on the wall were these pictures of dead bloody pigs flying down. WHAT?! One of the people who worked there said that the artist was ,"Still unsure about what she meant for it to be"
I think art should have meaning to it. I think it makes it more interesting. Then again, some people just go to look at the art at a brisk pace and don't take time to study it.