Falcon Attack in Centennial!

It was a cool summer evening when all of a sudden we heard a commotion outside. A peregrine falcon had come down and attacked a helpless pigeon in our front yard. The pigeon struggled violently as the falcon held on tight. However, the falcon had the upper hand and smacked it against our front door where it left a trail of blood and guts from that poor pigeon and left a handful of the pigeons white and gray feathers scattered on our front porch and welcome mat. We managed to get a great picture of this mighty bird standing triumphantly on top of our fallen pigeon. The falcon later flew off as a car went by to finish off his well won meal.

PLN 20 semester 2

I read an article called "Study: Young kids Online" on Webblogg-ed where the author talked about how even kids at the age of 2-8 are being manipulated online when they are playing games for learning experiences.

We discovered that the digital world offers a wealth of opportunity for young
children to play and learn. But even in this small sample of 10 families we
found–too easily, in several circumstances–repeated examples of attempts to
manipulate children for the sake of commerce.

This is how I responded.
Well this is very interesting to me. My little brother who is seven thoroughly enjoys Club Penguin. I had no idea that they asked for you to purchase a membership or have you access other things on the cite. It is nice for kids to be able to play and learn online but it shouldn't be right for the sites to attempt to manipulate children for the sake of commerce as you said. I find it really annoying in the first place when ads pop up continually when you are online trying to tempt you to buy something that you don't really need. Like KellyS had said, the sites not only manipulate the kids but also the parents who are the ones who pay for the products that the child asks for. It doesn't seem fair for the kids to have to pay or buy something just to have fun and learn.

PLN 19 semester 2

I read an article called "Is Multi-tasking Impairing Our Students' Learning? " on Cheryl's blog where she talked about how multitasking and technology might effect students' learning. This is how I responded to her blog.
This is a very interesting topic being someone who does multitask a lot in the classrooms here at school. I guess I would have to agree though that some of us would learn a lot better if we were focused on one thing at a time instead of adding things in our attention to focus on. Then again, some people would say that we students learn better when we have to focus on multiple things. I only have one class that has laptops in it, my English class, and I don't really see a major change in the way I learn. However,
I couldn't see the same results in a science or math class where I need all of my focus on the teacher and the things they are saying for me to understand. My English class though, I have an easy time multitasking as I type on my computer and listen to my teacher or classmates at the same time. I know that some adults feel that we are too easily distracted when we have technology around, though some of us do. But I think that we have the ability to really focus on all of the things we are supposed to and succeed just as well if we did not use computers, maybe better. I do think it would be interesting to think about your ideas on future schools and how they would be set up with quiet places and sound-proofed walls, where we can think better, and allow ourselves to let the information process all that we learned.

PLN 18

I read an article called "Reflections" by Ms. Moritz who talked about rubrics for her classes. This is how I responded.

Dear Ms. Moritz, I thought your blog was very interesting to hear about how some students don't care about having a rubric and go straight to the final grade. I do focus a lot on my final grade, but I also find it really helpful to have a teacher make a rubric for the assignment. Why? Well I find that when having a rubric while you are doing the project and after the project, you see in more detail what the teacher expects for the overall outcome of the project. To me this is really helpful especially while you are doing the project or assignment. The teacher lays it out for you to follow so you are almost guaranteed to at get an A or a high B. It is also really nice to have it after the project is graded to see where you missed the points. I also think feedback is important as well. Having this information from someone who knows what needs to be done, can help you improve so much. So, I agree with you on how some kids who don’t choose not to look at the rubric with the specific points and to read the feedback are missing a lot. Do they not want to improve? I think that even though some students don’t really care for this information, I still think it would be nice for teachers to continue doing so, so that the ones who do care will keep improving

PLN 17 semester 2

I read an article called "PLN's Again" by Jessie C. who talked about Personal Learning Networks.
This is how I responded...
Dear Jessie C.,
I enjoyed reading your blog mostly because it was on a topic I was familiar with, PLN's. I am in Ms. Smith's class and we do PLN's twice a week as well. I agree with you about how this is a great way to give us a chance to open ourselves up to the world around us. At the beginning of the semester, I had no idea what a blog was and did not know much about the new and great way of communications on the internet. Like you had said, blogging gives us a chance to communicate with the world through our own words and can influence other people’s thoughts, by showing WHAT MATTERS to us. It really is cool see the world in a new technical way as we explore the new opportunities we have with technology. This gives us a way to expand on our thoughts about what we read and see and also teaches us to elaborate on what we have to say.

You also spoke about PLN presentations. Though I am definitely not a very good speaker, I do enjoy listening to the ideas of my classmates about what they decided to read further on a certain subject and how they responded to the author’s opinions. It also sparks some really good conversations in our class (once someone finds the courage to speak up). At the end of their presentation they are to ask a question to the class on a topic that relates to one of their blogs that they discussed. Then we are allowed to go on and talk about what we think which leads to a couple other topics. I think this part is really nice and gets us to speak up and share your ideas. The only part I don’t always like is when we leave comments on their blog giving them feedback on how they did. I think this is helpful but some people don’t really give you much. They might say things like “Good Job” or “speak up a little” but I still think we could do more.
Overall, I think the whole experience of doing PLN’s has been really good and has really helped with not only my writing but also using the technology we are so fortunate to be able to use.

PLN 16 semester 2

I read a blog today called "Imagine" by Karl Fisch who talked about a very interesting article called Pangea Day.

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.Why? In a
world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's
easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome
that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.. . .
24 short films have been selected from an international competition that
generated more than 2,500 submissions from 100+ countries. They were chosen
based on their ability to inspire, transform, and help us see the world through
another person's eyes.

I responded with this...
Dear Mr. Fisch,Like many of my fellow classmates have said, Wow! This really was a great blog to read about and was really interesting to see the videos. It is surprising to me that we can be so connected with the world at peace while in times of war and hate. Just imagine if we could do things together as a world that could settle out problems. It would make so many things so much easier! It can make us forget all the things we are angry about and bring all of our continents, countries, states into one whole peaceful continent, Pangea.
This also reminded me about how in Ms. Smith's class we had created our own Public Service Announcements to solve problems in our own state. It was a fun experience using video as well to get people to take notice of what was going on around them.

PLN presentation reactions 2

Today I presented my PLN 14 and 15. I think I did pretty well, but like a few people said, I needed to not look down at my paper so often which would help keep my voice loud enough for everyone to hear me. But, I think I did a lot better and made good eye contact. I also think I had a pretty good question and sparked a pretty good conversation.