PLN: Week 8- Post 15

I read a recent article written by Jason Welker titled, "No YouTube? No Problem! How to view any site you want from within China." This article talks about how we again are angry with the Chinese Internet policies that are blocking another site that many people use during class time, YouTube. People are so angry with this because many teachers like using sites like this and Blogger and even Wetpaint, during class time to connect students to the outside world through technology.

This article relates to my as a student because in our classrooms we use sites like these, specifically Blogger, to do work and we have our own blogs that we post on, therefore causing it to become difficult to do these assignments and such. Also during class our teacher uses blogger to post things about new topics we are learning about and if we are not able to use these sites, how are we going to get all our information? I totally agree with the frustration of this because as a student these sites are very important to my learning because of how we use them in class and if our access to these sites is denied I will not be able to do what is required of me.

This article also relates to the world because in our day and age people are using technology more an more so restricting the use of technology in classrooms is absolutely ridiculous . Not only in my school, but in many others I know that they are using sites like these and I have a feeling that the teachers and students who are restricted from them are very frustrated by this.

PLN: Week 7- Post 14

Read a recent article written by Dave Warlick titled, "Bringing your Heart with You." In this article Dave talks about a business conference that he had spoken at a few weeks earlier. In this conference a man by the name of Steve Farber had give the opening "keynote" and in this he talked about the word love and loving what you do. Dave looked at this and put it in a teacher/student perspective. He mentioned how he felt that it was very important for a teacher to have love for their job and what they do. They need to bring their hearts with them to work everyday.

This article relates to me because I can tell when I have a teacher who doesn't enjoy what they are doing, and I feel like a good teacher is one who is eager to come to work everyday, and who loves making a difference to their students. When I have a teacher who I know loves their job, it mkaes me so much more excited and eager to coe to school everyday and endure the work and lessons because I know that my teacher is their for a reason, which means that what they are teaching me must be important. On the other hand, if I have a teacher who I know hates their job and hates the kids and the people they're working with then I feel like they don't care. Then I get the mind set that if my teachers and educational leaders don't care, why should I? So I totally agree with Dave when he says that teachers need to "bring their hearts with them" to work, because if they don't like what they are doing, they need to do something else.

This article relates to the world because not only in schools do the leaders need to love their work, but in any business or work place, all employees and employers should love what they do. I feel like if you love what you do, you will want to work hard and you will have motivation to do a good job. So in all places of work people need to bring their hearts with them!

PLN: Week 7- Post 13

I read a recent article written by Jeff Utech titled, "I'm Struggling with Tech Standards Again...". in this article Jeff talks about how he feels like it is unnecessary for people to have standards or skills that we need to assess when using technology. He thinks that because technology is a tool that we use, in classrooms and offices, we don't need to have strict standards for our use.

This post relates to me in the very first paragraph when he brings up the idea of using technology in the classroom. As a student I use the computer a ton in school, whether its to check my grades or do an assignment, I use technology as a tool everyday. I agree with Jeff in that if we use the technology properly as a tool then there isn't any particular standard that we need to live up to as far as how we use it. Sure there are skills that teachers teach their students in the classroom as far as technology goes, but why is it necessary for us to have standards? I see what Jeff means. He also brings up the question of, what is so exciting about visiting websites? Is it the use of technology, or the content that is important? If we are using the technology we should be excited about the content in what we are leaning not what we use to learn it. We have tools today that allow us as students to share what we learn with global audiences and a teacher is not going to grade us on whether or not we use our tools, (a.k.a the computer) they are going to grade us on the content put in.

This article relates not only to the student, but also to the teacher. How will they grade us? As I said before, the teacher will grade on our content and what we learn, not how we use the tool of technology, therefore why are standards needed? Teachers should keep this in mind as they grade their students on future assignments where the students will use their tools.

PLN: Week 6- Post 12

I read a recent article titled "Computer Safety and Security Wiki", written by Vicki A. Davis, this article talks about how she is having her students in her current classes, get online and edit work done by previous students of previous years.

In this post, the importance that I puller out was that doing this exercise with her students allows them to look at how other people their age do things which allows them to increase their ability to do good work on their own because they see what is expected of them through the other students work. Vicki said how the point is that students should not only create from scratch, but they should also edit other students work, which allows them to ask themselves questions on how they can improve that piece of work.

This article relates to me because, as a student I am asked to edit things and proofread other people's, and my own work, so I can make it the best it can be and through this we see this is also how Vicki feels as a teacher. I think that starting from scratch is good, but I also think that editing someone else's work is sometimes even more beneficial. The reason being that you can see what exactly is expected of you in your work because you can see what the other person was graded on. On the other hand, starting from scratch allows what you are doing to be completely original and something you can call your own.

This article relates to the world because in our world today for adults at work, they constantly have people analyzing their work and it is most beneficial for them as well, to have someone edit their work before it is analyzed. Sometimes when you are working you don't catch your own mistakes, but if you have someone else look at you work, maybe they will catch the mistakes you missed, allowing you to have a top notch performance.

PLN: Week 6- Post 11

I read a recent article titled "Supplementing My Kids' Education" written by Will Richardson, this article talks about how Will feels like in his children's education they are not getting quit enough. He feels like there is not enough connecting going on in the education so he has been given the opportunity to speak at his children's school, which might allow the school to change and allows him to help. He also talks about how his children have computers in all of there classrooms.

This article relates to me because as a student I can see that sometimes in my daily education there really isn't very much "connecting" going on as Will expressed. I think it would be beneficial to come up with a way to connect what we are leaning in English to what we are learning in History and so on. As he mentioned in his post, his children have computers and other forms of technology in each of their classrooms, but he also said that they are not used very well. Maybe it would be good to use the technology that is put in front of us to connect the things that we are leaning. One classroom that uses technology is our English room and I feel like it is such a blessing to be able to use the laptops to learn and it also gets us better prepared for college. Maybe if we used the laptops to also connect what we are learning, we would be better off.

This article also relates to the world because through out the years our daily lives have been altered with the new production in technology and it seems like there are ways to be able to use the huge amounts of technology to broaden students learning connections. Also this article does a good job reminding people that what students learn every day really does need to be "connected" whether it's to the world or simply to what they learned in a different class, so that they realize there is a pattern and that everything they learn is important.

PLN: Week 5- Post 10

I read a recent article titled "Voters Want More from Schools" written by Dave Warlick, this article talks about a nation wide poll of registered voters that revealed that Americans are concerned that schools are not preparing young people with skills that they will use in the real world.

This article relates to me because as a teenager I am at the stage of my life where I am needing to be given all the appropriate skills that are going to be necessary for me to compete in the world as a business person and if America is concerned that kids my age are not being shown these skills then maybe we need to take a look and see how we can change that. In just four very short years I will be done with high school and be moving on to college where I will be looking at what I want to do with the rest of my life and if I don't the skills necessary for me to survive in the business world then my choices of what to do with my life may be limited. This article said brought up the idea that the skills needed for jobs in the 20 century are very different from what they were 20 years ago and many people feel like schools need to adapt to those changes and find a way to give students these skills.

This article relates to the world because as the world around us is changing our administrative staff at schools need to realize that changes need to be made and they need to do something about it so their students can succeed when they leave school and go out into the real world.

PLN: Week 5- Post 9

I read a recent article titled "New Literacy Article" written by Dave Warlick, this article talks about new literacy e-mail that was sent to Dave, in this article I feel it is important to learn more about the literacy techniques so people are able to navigate the World Wide Web.

This article's importance is because as our world goes wireless and people begin using the Web for more and more of their work it is important that people know how to use the Web appropriately and effectively. This "New Literacies" e-mail that was sent out is very useful to people who are not comfortable using the Internet because it shows them ways to not only comprehend what they read online, but it also teaches them new skills that are necessary for the use of the Internet.

This article relates to me and the world because as I said our world is quickly beginning to use technology and the World Wide Web more and more. Because of this it is important for people, especially those who use computer technology in their daily jobs, to be able to comprehend the things that they are reading and it is also important for them to feel comfortable navigating through the Web. In our school systems it is becoming more and more popular to use computers instead of text books, as seen in our English class. Also in my Algebra class we are able to access our books online so we don't have to take them home. It is important for us as students to be able to work our way through the Internet and it is even more important for our teachers to be able to get around the Web.

PLN: Week 4- Post 8

I read a recent post titled "How do You Feel About What You Know?" written by Dave Warlick in his 2 Cents Worth Blog. This article talks about the relationship Dave has with what he is teaching. He asks the question, can a student have the same kind of relationship with what they are learning, as a musician has with a violin?

In this article I found it interesting how he expressed that when he graduated high school he never would have chosen to pursue history. He found it boring in high school and he didn't see how he would be interested in teaching it. that was what he thought until he reached college. He brings up the idea that teachers always say that they learn more about the subject when they are teaching it than when they learned about it in school so he asks, can the same thing be true for students? Is there a way that teachers can make it so students learn more in the classroom? Can they possibly come of with a strategy that would allow students to feel connected to what they are learning? If so would this require a change in curriculum?

I feel that this article relates to me and all children that are currently under education. When I was reading this article one thing that really jumped out at me and made me feel interested in the article was when he said that he never really was interested or enjoyed history in high school and that is exactly how I feel. History seems like a waste of time to me because everything that we learn about in that class has already happened and there is nothing that we can do to change it so why should we have to learn about it? I was thinking about this and it made me wonder the same thing, is it possible to make students more interested in History or any other class for that matter? If our teachers and the staff at schools could come up with a way to make the students relationships with what hey are learning stronger, then I think we would have a better percentage of students interested and willing to put in more effort to what they are learning.

This article also directly relates to the world around us because anyone who reads this article that is a part of an education board or a school, can perhaps think about what Dave is saying in this article and maybe they cn come up with new ways for schools to make students more interested in what they are learning.

PLN: Week 4- Post 7

I read a recent article titled "Can your Daughter's Picture at a Car Wash be used for an Ad Campaign?" written by Vicki A. Davis. This article is regaurding the company Virgin Mobile using a picture of a girl at a car wash for an ad campaign.

In this article it asks the question of whether of not Virgin Mobile should be allowed to use this young girls picture, that they found online, for their ads. The teenagers parents think it is very wrong what the company did and they feel that they should press charges in a lawsuit. Also through this issue she has recieved ridicule from her peers and now people have the freedom to look her up on Google.

This article does actually relate to me in ways such as with our use of technology and personal webpages, such as myspace and facebook, we need to take this as a reminder to be careful of what we put on those pages and how we display ourselves. You never think that putting a cute picture of you and a bunch of friends on your personalized page could be turned around and used in other ways such as the one in this article. This can be used as a simple reminder to be careful online.

This article also relates to the world. In our world today there are so many people that use pictures online for different reasons and it is important for all people using this type of thing to be careful what they put on the intenet and to make sure that no other companies can take their images. :)