PLN 6

I just read an article by Mrs. Syers called, "Biology In The Real World...The Colorado Pine Beetle Problem" where she talked about how she was trying to relate their studies to the real world. They had been learning about pine beetles at the end of their plant unit, and had made an arrangement for an entomologist from CSU to come and talk to all of her students about the pine beetle problem raging in the mountain. This reminded me about how in my English class and in these blogs, my teacher is always trying to find ways to relate our lessons to the real world and for us to try to see why what we learn is really important. I think this is important because it helps us see why we learn all of this. Most of us probably think that school can be pointless. I personally don't see how history is supposed to help me in my future. But when we relate our topics to examples in the real world, then we can better understand the reality of it all and how to use it in our futures.

PLN 5 semester 2

I read an article called "Students Pay a Price (Literally) for Cell Phone Ban" on Weblogg-ed where the author talked about how he talked to a group of students about how the students had technology present in their lives everyday and how they used their cell phones all the time.

We talked about the technologies they used, how they used it, and what they
might use it for, and the conversation was fairly predictable. Many of them had
a decent Internet connection at home, but many had none. Despite that, they
guessed almost 90% of the school had MySpace pages, that they went there every
day, that they used it to communicate and get information about homework, and
that, of course, it was blocked in school.

They alsotalked about their cell phone use and how they were able to use it since they were banned from the school. They said that they always needed it for communication but if it were brought in, they would be tooken away. So they now have to pay three dollars to bring their phone and haveit kept away till the end of the day. I think this is not nessesary, but then again tomany kids text.

PLN 4

I just read an article called "Quiet Students" on Kristen's Blog where she talked about how she wonders how to grade those students who don't want to speak up in class, but might actually deserve the grade if they just spoke out once in a while. Some students don't talk because they just don't care. But what about those who really have something good to say and are to shy to say anything? Should they get a low grade on participation, even though you know they tend to be the smarter ones and really do deserve a good grade? It tends to be that if they were given the choice to write down their thoughts, they have a whole lot to say, but when it comes to a class discussion, they don't say a word. I can see how this might bother teachers. However, because I am one of those people who talk and participate a lot in class, I'm definitely not the one to sit back and listen. Though I do understand why some people don't want to talk out of experience. I used to be really shy about sharing my ideas, afraid that they were not good enough to be spoken out loud. So, do I think those who do not participate should get a zero on for their grade? Well, that is a hard question. I guess one solution could be that for those who do not say anything, a short summary should be written to see if they were paying attention and if they understand what is being taught. After all, that is the point of a discussion; just a different way to show what you know instead of having to take a quiz or notes. I think discussions are a funner way to learn from your classmates and hope that we continue to have them.

PLN 3

Today I read an article called "Give Me An S-L-A-C-K-E-R, What Does That Spell? " on Mrs. Syars' blog where she talked about how she had taken a class for credits and now the importance of telling students what's expected and required up front and how sometimes just doing the minimum is all we want to do. She had to do a certain assignment for her class where she was to receive at least a B-. She had said that of course she had done as little as possible to make the B- while her instructor had tried to persuade them to do a little extra to bump their grades to an A. This reminds of some of us teens. We always want to do the least amount of work, sometimes regardless of their grade. Others, who we might like to call over-achievers, like to be the ones to go above and beyond what is expected. She also mentions that she now focuses on telling her students what is expected in projects and assignments. I think this is really helpful because it allows us to see the whole outline of the grading process and exactly what the teacher wants to see.

PLN 2 semester 2

I just finished reading Ms. Smith's article called, This is Your Brain on PSAs, where she talked about how her 9th grade English class had done PSA's (Public Service Announcements) after completing their position papers. Well being one of the students who was able to do this, I can say that it was very fun to create. At first, in my group, we had a hard time deciding on our topic. We had after all just written a position paper with many facts to support a new PSA of our own, but we all wanted to do our own. We finally came upon the topic of Animal Abuse. It was a great experience and I was introduced to a program called Movie Maker which is what we used to create ours. We used still, slow music, and our voices to try to create a feeling in which people would stop and think. The challenge of making this was trying to not make it so long and to get straight to the point. We had to condense what we were going to say to make it about a minute. I think other classes should try this to, it is a good way to learn how to be persuasive and to get to the point,not to just ramble. I am glad Ms. Smith had us do these, it was fun and creative.

I AM POEM

I am gifted, friendly, different
I wonder what my future holds
I hear the laughter of my friends
I want hate to disappear
I am gifted, friendly, different

I pretend to be real great
I feel the love of those close
I touch the world around me
I worry about my education
I am gifted, friendly, different

I understand there is no perfect
I say "hello" to those who pass
I dream to be the best I can
I try to always know what's right
I hope to have the strength I need
I am gifted, friendly, different

PLN 1 semester2

I just read an article called "Why the time in hallways is time well spent" by Jeff Utecht who talks about how much you can learn, just by having a few chats in the halls at school.  Well, maybe not so much for us teens, but he talks about how he was just doing his normal morning routine on his way to get a cup of coffee before his next class. In that time he had visited with two teachers and had talked about the things that they were teaching their students. One of them was the art teacher of one of his students who did digital art for him. He there learned about how they were studying Friedrich Hundertwasser and were doing their own works by using his style of art. He then talked to an AP English teacher where they talked about how she loved forums that help encourage students to think before they responded. Also, on some of the discussions they had, the students would bring up the same topic in their other discussions, relating one to another. This reminds me of my English teacher Ms. Smith who encourages us to relate our blogs to not only ourselves and the world around us, but also to our other blogs that are on other topics but still have some related points. So, what did I find important? Well, I thought that sometimes just taking the time to stop and talk with someone can give you something new to think about. I kind of see blogging that way to. When you stop to read someone else's blog, you not only get to read something on another person's view, but learn something new from them as well. Since there are so many different opinions, it can become very interesting and it is even better when you get to add your own thoughts in the picture and have other people learn from something you wrote.