what Matters Final Presentation

PLN 26

I read an article called "Pocket Texting and Open Phone Tests " on Weblogg-ed which talked about how a boy named Isoo decided to use technology to benefit his education. This boy uses his cell phone to send an SMS. He composes an entire text message and turns on the PC. He then uses this to communicate with others. Let's say he has a difficult math problem as homework. He posts it up on Naver Knowledge iN, a popular online Q&A service with some 70 million entries. Within about 10 minutes of posting, someone chimes in with a good answer, and he them with some “Knowledge Power” points — knowledge-based economy in action among 14-year-olds. I think this is a great idea since teens are so into using new technology and their phones. It also will be nice for people to communicate to others and to help with others. Though it shouldn't always be that they are getting straight answers.
Though it could be a bad idea because it could encourage students to text more often about nothing. So maybe it could only be used at home. Overall, I think this is a really cool thing to do.

PLN 25

I have read an article called "Why are kids Failing" by Michele Davis who talks about how many of her students are failing. I also wonder why some students fail or rather why they choose to. To me, I take my grades very seriously and I know that some people just don't care about school or grades. Well, the question is why? If you are failing, why do you choose to fail? Why do you not care about your grades? I believe that your grades are so important and can determine what you do in the future. I remember someone talking about this in my class and had said how it is kind of an insult to the teacher as well because they spent a lot of time trying to come up with new ideas for work and try to make it more fun. But for you not to do them is like saying that they waste their time working to help you get a good education. My only advice would e to work harder, though I know that you don't want to work. But just think about who you want to be when you are older. Maybe a boss of your own company or maybe you still don't care and you choose to be a garbage man? Your choice, make it wisely.

PLN 24

I found an article off of ethanl's blog called "Town may criminalize online harassment" by Greg Toppo about a young girl named Megan Meier who died over an online "boyfriend".

Megan Meier was said to have been friends with one girl and their friendship seemed to have faded off. However, Megan, age 14 found a great 16 year old guy named Josh Evans on myspace. They became pretty close after awhile, but then something went wrong. He began to call her names and harass her and other people even joined in on the harassment! They were calling her names and saying how she wasn't a good friend. (This was related to her recent problems with her friend). Megan became so depressed over this "boyfriend" and decided to commit suicide! It turns out that the parents later found out that Josh Evans never existed. It was the mother of Megan's old friend and the mother wanted to find out what Megan was saying about her. 

So what do you think, is this suicide the mothers fault for harassing her, or do you think it was totally un-necessary? Personally, I think it was ridiculous for her to commit suicide over a boy.  No boy is that important when you are a teen to want to be with him all the time or do everything he wants you to do for him. My parents constantly remind me of how their will be many times where guys will pressure girls into doing certain things and a lot of girls are o effected by them. Just like Megan. Though you could also argue that the mother should not have done something so mean. There are so many problems with harassment online. I'm not sure this will or can be stopped. All I can say is to be careful to who you are talking to. 

PLN 23

I have read an article called Giving thanks by MFerrill who talks about how he feels thankful for having such a great experience here at Arapaho as a teacher and how he feels thankful that we are a school with new and great opportunities with technology.
I agree with Ferrill about feeling lucky to go to this school. I have been introduced to many new things in our classrooms that many other schools have never seen or won't ever see. I am lucky to be able to use a laptop in my English class. I am lucky to be able to take notes from a PowerPoint while a teacher gives their lecture. There are so many new opportunities on the computers today that help us expand our learning, the Internet especially. Also blogger, and PowerPoint, and others. However, just thinking about this makes you wonder how much of this we are truly thankful for and how much we take for granted. I think we take to much of this world for granted without ever stopping to think about how we would survive without it. I'm not saying we need to think about it every single second, but once in a while, just stop and think about how blessed you really are compared to most others.

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.

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.

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?