PLN 11-2 (22)

An interesting post that caught my eye is called Pocket Texting and Open Phone Tests by Will Richardson which reveals a story of a 14-year old boy who uses his available technology to help him get answers for school like his cell phone and his computer. The 14 year old boys name is Insoo and he is able to send texts without taking his phone out of his pocket. “

Insoo doesn’t even have to take the phone out of his pocket to send an SMS. He
knows how to slide it open, which buttons to push how many times to reach the
“Send SMS” menu option, compose the entire text message, and hit the send button
— all without even looking at the phone. This is especially handy when he needs
to send an SMS during class.”

Also, there is a website on the internet called Naver Knowledge iN which is a popular online Q&A service with some 70 million entries. All you have to do is post a question you have on the website and in a couple minutes, someone will post a legitimate answer. In this article, Will Richardson asks a highly debated question that asks, is it cheating when students use the technology around them to help answer a test question? Will Richardson makes a good point when he says we should teach them how to make good use of those resources instead of pretending they don’t exist, but I feel like it is cheating. Using these resources is very helpful while studying for a test, but actually using them during the test is considered to me cheating. I believe we should be taught how to use these resources and acknowledge there existence, but I believe we should do that while studying, not during the actual test because if the technology is being used during the test, the only knowledge being demonstrated by that student is their knowledge of the technology, not the actual test material. In my school, the majority of the students own a cell phone and/or computer which they are able to access easily. Useful information can be passed or searched through these devices. During tests, some students do send text messages to find the answer to a certain question which I believe is horribly wrong. Many students know this and I’ve never witnessed it before, but I’ve heard of instances like this occurring. Students around the world have access to this technology as well and hopefully are using it wisely. I believe these technologies should be used for the purpose of learning the material, not just copying the answer because you will never fully understand those concepts by just copying them down.

PLN 11-1 (21)

While skimming through some interesting posts, I came across a post titled Maine's 1:1 laptop raises writing performance by Dan Maas which talks about how studies are showing that students that have access to laptops in everyday classes, perform better in writing by writing more and better. I believe that using laptops is very beneficial for writing skills. In my English class, I have access to a laptop everyday. Because of this, my vocabulary and grammar skills have improved drastically because while I am writing, I am able to look up synonyms to common words and enhance my vocabulary and also on word, you are able to spell check what you have written and learn from your mistake. I believe that many of my classmates fell the same way and have also improved. Having access to a laptop everyday also increases our knowledge of facts that even out teacher might not know. There is an infinite amount of information available to us with a click of a button on the Internet. We are able to expand our knowledge even beyond our teachers. People around the world are able to communicate with each other and learn from each others ideas by using programs like blogger and leaving comments on posts about how they feel about the blogger's ideas. Since our world is becoming more dependent on technology everyday, I feel that it is important for my generation to have access to as much information as they can by using this technology.

PLN 10-2 (20)

While skimming through some interesting posts, one caught my eye that was posted by Dave Warlick titled How Much does this Really Matter? which talks about how many people in the United States don't understand science but how many people believe in pseudoscience (pseudoscience is a theory, methodology, or practice that is considered to be without scientific foundation).

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF, www.nsf.gov/statistics), the average U.S. citizen
understands very little science. For example:
66% do not understand
DNA, “margin of error,” the scientific process, and do not believe in
evolution.
50% do not know how long it takes the earth to go
around the sun, and a quarter does not even know that the earth goes around the
sun.
50% think humans coexisted with dinosaurs and believe antibiotics kill
viruses.

On the other hand, according to the NSF, the general public
believes in a lot of pseudoscience.
88% believe in alternative
medicine.
50% believe in extrasensory perception and faith healing.
40% believe in haunted houses and demonic possession.
33% believes
in lucky numbers, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, and that UFOs are
aliens from space.
25% believes in witches and that we can communicate with
the dead. *

He asks a question at the end that states "Should we be concerned?" I believe we should be concerned because maybe being able to obtain this knowledge isn't a necessity in someones work, but this shows how little education was given to them or how little knowledge matters to them. The only way we will be able to understand our world is by having the knowledge to understand what we already know or think we know. Many things we believe in like ghosts and witches comes from our religion. We might never know if this is true, but to be able to back up your thought, you need to be able to support it with some kind of evidence and knowledge that we already know. In schools like mine, we are taught many subjects not only to figure out what we want to do in our life but also to be able to use some of this knowledge that we accumulated sometimes in our lives. Around the world, people are using the knowledge we know to help improve our lives. You never know when this useful knowledge is going to be needed. Knowledge is power! You can't improve our world without knowing the many important facts science provides for us.

PLN 10-1 (19)

I recently read a post by Katy Human and Jeremy P. Meyer titled Do schools have birth-control role? which discusses the reasons for high schools and middle schools giving their students birth-control pills.

"Of every 1,000 girls ages 15-17 in the city, 54.5 will become pregnant,
compared with 24.3 throughout Colorado, according to the campaign. The
recommendation comes from a task force created to help define the future of 12
school-based health clinics, six in high schools and six in middle schools."

In my school, I know that many students are sexually active which I personally believe is not right, but there is no way of really stopping them if they want to do it. I believe that they should had out birth control because, in Colorado, teen pregnancy is one of the largest reasons for girls dropping out of high school, but I believe middle school is way to early for kids to even be thinking about that! Around the world, many teens are sexually active which shouldn't be the case. Maybe giving the birth control pills at high schools will cause more people to start becoming sexually active, but that could possibly be better then teens getting pregnant and not only they are in trouble, but their kid is also in trouble. Since we are so young, the men usually run away and the girl is left to raise a baby by herself which almost forces her to drop out of high school. But teens should also understand that just because you use birth control, it's not 100% effective. You are still able to become pregnant while using birth control pills. The best solution would be for teens not to be sexually active, but since this is a huge goal that is almost impossible to achieve, handing out birth control pills might help prevent many high school girls from dropping out and will help keep less unwanted kids from being born because they have to suffer their whole life because of it.

PLN 9-2 (18)

While skimming through some interesting posts, one caught my eye called Brazil: 5 years old boy dressed as Spiderman saves baby posted by Paula Goes which talks about how a 5 year old boy saved a little one year old girl from a fire dressed as spiderman in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

“5-year old boy named Riquelme (named after an Argentine soccer player), rescued
a one-year old girl from a terrible fire in a neighboring home, while clothed in
a Spiderman outfit. When he saw the fire growing, he yelled, “I'M SPIDERMAN!”
and ran into the house and saved the girl."

This is an amazing story! A little boy was influenced by spiderman how he saves the world and saw that someone was in trouble and saved their live. It was a miracle that he didn't get hurt though but this shows how much superheros can affect children. Around the world, their are famous superheros that fascinate children who want to become a hero themselves. Personally, I've always admired cat women because she was one of the only superhero women and I adored cats. I thought it would be amazing to be her and save peoples lives and get rid of all the bad guys. The truth is, everyone can be a hero if they want to. You don't have to have a mask and cape or have a cool name and capture all the bad guys, you simply just can help around and be a great example to everyone by doing the right thing and who knows, maybe someone will be inspired by you and save someones live or become a better person.

PLN 9-1 (17)

While perusing through many interesting posts, one caught my eye which was titled Why Wireless? posted by Karl Fisch that discusses why specifically at Arapahoe High School they are allowing students to bring personally owned devises that will be able to connect to the internet like a laptop. I believe that this is a good idea because technology is becoming a big part of most peoples life's and it is important that we know how to use it. The school can not afford laptops for everyone so you need to bring your personal one. There are many uses for having access to the internet for students. Personally, I'm a student at Arapahoe High School and I use the internet constantly. My teachers assign assignments that you need to access from their website and also our grades are online. People worry that this could be a big distraction for students, but this is prepairing us for the real world. There will be tons of distractions is the real world that no one will try to stop us from being distracted by them. The internet is used daily in most jobs and it is necessary that we learn how to use it and be able to work with it. So much can be accessed from the internet and so much information can be saved.

"Our students must know what to do when they don’t know what to do. They will
need to know how to learn how to learn."

The internet also allows us to communicate our thoughts and ideas with not only the students in the classroom, but from all around the world. We are one world and we have to break away from our isolation and share our ideas with the world not just our teachers and classmates. Also, we are able to see others views on matters, not just our classmates or our teachers because there are different sides to everything.

We are moving from:“do your own work” to “work with others”“just in case” to
“just in time” learning“hand it in” to “publish it.”- Will Richardson

PLN 8-2 (16)

While skimming through the blog 2 Cents Worth, I came upon a post titled Parents & Internet-Using Teens which was by David Warlick which talks about how parents are more concerned about what their teens are doing on the computer.

"Parents today are less likely to say that the Internet has been a good thing
for their children than they were in 2004. However, this does not mean there was
a corresponding increase in the amount of parents who think the Internet has
been harmful to their children. Instead, the biggest increase has been in the
amount of parents who do not think the Internet has had an effect on their
children one way or the other. Fully, 87% of parents of teenagers are online —
at least 17% more than average adults."

I believe that the Internet offers helpful information and useless information to everyone and it just depends on what you are doing. Parents have become very aware of what their teens are doing online because of all the bad things they hear about in the news that relates to teens interactions with others online. This can be a very bad thing because you never know who you are really talking to and if they are telling you the truth, but if you know who the people are and you know they are safe to talk to, it is fine to talk to them online. This blogger account is an example of interactions between people. This is a very good idea to share your views with other people and have them comment on them. You are able to let people who are interested in your views hear what you have to say. I have people posting on my blog that I know are safe and it is really interesting to hear what they have to say about my beliefs. Their are people all around the world sharing their ideas with others which helps make our world feel more connected to each other.

Presentation Evalutaion 2

Over all my presentation was ok. I was nervious so my voice stumbled a lot so I need to work on being more calm while presenting. Also, I touched my face a lot so I need to remember not to do that anymore while presenting. Finally, I didn't keep as much eye contact as I did in my first presentation so I have to remember to try and memorize what I am going to say better. Over all though, it was not horrible, but I could have done better.