PLN22

“Confidence Lost” by David Warlick is about how confidence from education is disappearing. Warlick Talks about how he was studying a professor jotting down notes about his students. This affects education because teachers need to be interested in their students motivation and education. Also In the article he talks about how his friends daughter came home from the school the first day of sixth grade and said her principal told the student will not have fun this year, instead all they will be doing is learning. Educational learners need to realize kids do care about education but the majority of learning is no fun at all. If their teachers were motivational to their students and a fun person to learn from then kids would do better in that certain subject. Students don’t want a boring teacher giving them two hours of homework and do this every night. This matters to me because I need those teachers to motivate me in doing well in school and well in my future. Learning is a necessity but it also needs to be a fun thing to do also.

PLN20

In David Warlicks “Education Reform is Re-establishing, Redefining and Retooling”, is a story about how kids are being taught as an assembly line. David says he takes a break away from school one year and works in a factory and his job was to measure each part to make sure each was the same size and worked the same. When he does this he realizes kids are beaing taught this way. He states kids are treated as raw materials and just graduates of a finished product. Also, children are run through assembly lines being installed with reading, math and science skills just under the theme of a “Race to the Top” attitude of the schools. This affects me because this makes me think that my school is just making me learn and do well just to make the school look better and not actually make my future look better. It makes me think schools are just selfish and corrupt. However, I do believe the majority do plan to help the students to a brighter future than make themselves look better. This affects the world because if you do attend a corrupt school then you do not have to learn and get good grades to make your school better but do it for yourself and make you look better. So I ask, are the schools just selfish and corrupt or do you think they are here for the better good?

PLN23

In Clay Shirky’s “ How Cognitive Surplus Will Change The World” it talks about how people need to use the concept of the Cognitive Surplus to better the world. He talks about how peoples creativity, and the idea of using free time to do something productive other than just sitting on the couch being lazy. This video matters to me because it shows me that I need to think outside of the box and not thing like the average person. To go with that statement it also proves I need to work harder to accomplish my goals. As a student I need to do everything I can to succeed in school by getting good grades and being a motivator to my peers around me to do well in school. Also, as an athlete I need to give 110 percent in everything I do to make my self play better and to make sure my teammates around me are motivated to give everything they have to make them and our team better. This motivation is just like Sir Ken Robinsons video Changing Education Paradigms to help motivate our selves and other students around us. This deeply affects the world because with hard work and creativity people will live a better and more brighter future.

PLN21

In the video “Changing Education Paradigms” by Sir Ken Robinson it talks about how public education wants to change how they teach the students of the 21^st Century. The video talks about how the way kids are learning are not motivating them. In fact, kids are less motivated in today’s world and they don’t have any motivation to go to college or they do not pay attention in class. this affects me because if teachers and public school systems are trying to figure out how to motivate children then what does that make us students today? Are they just using us to figure out how to help the next generation? Or do they just expect us to get motivated ourselves? Well I do not know if these are the intentions but as a student this means I have to work as hard as I can and get motivated to do well in school. This affects the world because kids need to find motivation in them selves and not seek help from anyone but them selves. Students need to realize education is the key to having a better and brighter future. So I ask you, do you expect to find motivation in yourself or expect someone to tell you what your motivation is?

pln18

In David Warlick’s Is the New Landscape Changing our Shopping Practices, it talks about how online prices and online products rose this year on Black Friday. Prices rose from an average of 170 dollars to 190 dollars this year. This went up 12 percent from last year. The most shocking percentage is the fewer pages viewed by shoppers on purchasing an item and the fewer the items visited. This means that people are knowing what to buy and they are doing reasearch on the product before they buy it. This matters to me because even though the world is going into recession people are still spending their money. I think this is a good and bad thing. I think this is a good thing because people are starting to get more confidence back into the economy and they are starting to spend the money they earned.  This is a bad thing only if people are buying unecessary products. Like instead of buying a new sink they need for their home, they buy a flatscreen for their own pleasure. This matters to the world because these statistics show that the economy is getting better. They show that people are gaining confidence back and they can start having a new hope.

Boys And Boredom by George F. Will is about how the boy human brain craves junk nourishment just like their bodies crave junk food. The article states that boredom fifty years ago was a stretch of just doing nothing for hours, but now  if boys having nothing specific to do they can get bored within thirty seconds of it. It talks about how because of all of these electric crazes like cell phones, and computers, kids are over stimulated and they are always having something going on. Because of this if kids don’t have something exciting to do then boredom occurs. “Amusement has sucked all of the boredom out of life” is a quote from the article. I agree I think kids now a days are way over stimulated, especially me. I am always on my phone, computer, iPod, or my X-Box Live account. If I went one day without my electronics I would to be “bored”. This affects the world because if people are getting over stimulated and always having fun, then people will always be bored and lose motivation in their life. People need to use electronics still in their daily life but not blow off something very important because it’s boring and play video games, get on the computer, or call someone on the phone. I know I sometimes don’t do my homework to play video games because I get to bored when I do certain work. Boys, including me need to realize the fun in life and not always think we are bored because we don’t have video games to play when we are bored.

PLN17

in Mr. Fisch's What If, he talks about how information can be misread by others. His big example is the new sign around the building that says turn of cell phones, iPods, and all electronic devices in class. He explains how kids read this sign and deliberately disobey this rule to kind of battle against the system. He talks about how if we really followed this rule then we couldn’t use laptops we use in class and teachers can not use their overheads or projectors in class. Mr. Fisch said instead of posting up signs and making kids do a vs. the system kind of thing they should have just talked to the students. The staff should have just sat down and explained to the students why they want this to happen and I totally agree with him. Kids would listen more to an adult saying something than a big sign telling them what they can and can not do. I agree with him when he says kids will disobey this sign and rule because they want to and they want to “stick it to the man”. This affects education and the world because this proves we need to take a more hands on approach to problems in the world. Schools need to stop being so had on kids and stop enforcing rules that they know kids will break.  If everyone took a more hands on approach to things instead of being passive aggressive we would learn to solve more problems than we ever have before.

pln12

In David Warlick’s Qualities of an Effective Teacher, he talks about the necessary skills for an effective educator. He believes they should be creative thinkers with an ability to inspire and empower all learners. He also believes they need to be compassionate, understanding and unwilling to give up on a child. I agree with all of these characteristics as well. As a student I do not like to go to school everyday and learn, but with an understanding and outgoing teacher helping me learn, I get a little more excited to come everyday. With a good educator kids get motivated to come to school and they ultimately do better in school. This matters to education because schools need to find those outgoing teachers willing to have fun in class but at the same time teach us the necessary skills to succeed in life. With a little fun and education kids will be more motivated to come to school and learn.

pln16

In Lauren Lee’s The Problem of Motivation students are not influenced to learn and go to school. She talks about how kids were lazy even four hundred years ago. She uses the quote from Shakespeare, "the whining schoolboy, with his satchel/ And shining morning face, creeping like a snail/ Unwillingly to school”. This matters to me because even back then kids were not wanting to go to school just like I have no desire to go. But this matters because even though they did not want to they did and they succeeded in their lives. On some days when I just want to go home when I am school I need to man up and stay because of I do it just brings me closer to having more success in my life. This matters to education because they need to try and make school a little more exciting. They need to make kids want to come to school and want to learn giving them motivation in life. This connects to Alfie Kohn's, School Would be Great if it Wasnt for Kids in saying kids need motivation to come to school and learn.

pln15

In Alfie Kohn’s School’s would be great if it weren’t for kids, it talks about how students are to blame for doing bad in school and not the teachers. Truth is, kids don’t put all they can into school and when they start to do bad first thing they do is blame the teachers, even though they are the ones to blame and not the teachers. This matters to me because if I do bad in school its me to blame, not the teachers. It just means I am to lazy to do my work and I am just not motivated. This matters to education because everyone needs to realize that students are the biggest problem in education problems and not the teachers. Kids need to buckle down and start to do their work and stop blaming their teachers and tutors for them failing a class. Kids need more motivation in school and when they do, education will be even bigger in our everyday life.

pln13

In Jonathan Rosenberg’s Our Googley Advice to students: Major in Learning it is about how we need certain skills to work for Google. They want their workers to have their workers to be creative and non routine problem solvers. Google’s workers need analytical reasoning, communication games, willingness to experiment, be a team player, and passion and leadership which are qualities that apply to most of the jobs in the world. This matters to me because if I want to have a successful job in life I need these skills. This matters to education because teachers need to put these certain skills into their curriculum and teach s these necessary skills. If teachers provided us with this information we wouldn’t end up being malovent human beings.

pln10

In You know this is true, by Will Richardson it talks about how people don’t get motivated to learn or gain knowledge we just want to learn it and move on. All you want is to get a good grade and pass school with good grades and move on. People usually just forget what they learn and never use the information again. This affects me because if get out of school and I get a job that requires me to do no information I learned in school then why did I waste my time to go? I mean I guess I understand if I take a job that requires me to do trigonometry and when America joined world war two but what kind of job requires that? This affects to the world because some kids or adults wont have the drive to go to school and learn information we will never again use. So why should we go to school and learn pointless information?

pln8

I read Littleton man who fell to death in Rocky Mountain National Park identified. It talks about a Littleton man hiking in the mountains and falling to his death. This affects me because I am from Littleton and I could have been the one hiking and the one to die. It is weird how someone from my own neighborhood is found dead. This affects the world because it shows anything can happen to them and no one is invincible. It shows that the world is small and you cant always think someone close to you can not be hurt or something bad happening to them. So this affects the whole world because we always have to be careful in what we do and always remeber that what we do in our lives will afect us and others for a very long time.

pln11

In Karl Fisch’s 2020 Vision it talks about how school will change drastically in our lifetime. It shows how we use to use basic learning tools and then we started using laptops in class and then we started to be able to chat with people all the way around the world. On of the things it says in the future we will not be learning from classes but from Google directly. This matters to me because when I have children they will be learning from a completely different source then when I was in school. I will not be able to answer some of their questions because I might not know what they’re talking about at all. This matters to the world because when kids are in school they will be learning from teachers and then within that year or the next they will have a completely different learning style. This could highly affect someone who is trying to do well in school and I think it is just a bad idea.

pln9

In “Rigor Redefined” by Tony Wagner it is about how new jobs are looking for specific skills to do their jobs such as problem solving, leadership, adaptability, initiative, communication, analyzing information, and imagination. He also talks about how teachers are “spoon feeding” their students and not letting us apply ourselves for the future. This affects me because if my teachers don’t teach me the necessary skills to succeed in the future than that’s exactly what will happen I will not be prepared for the future. I will not learn all those specific skills like problem solving and analyzing information to get these jobs because my teachers have failed to teach me. This affects the world because if all teachers do this to their students then everyone will not learn these skills jobs are looking for.

PLN7

In the video “Machines Are Using Us” by Michael Wesch is about how digital text is much simpler to use. The internet is a very good tool to write paragraphs, blog about ideas and just post anything. The web has expanded from simple html of web pages to using xml to make WebPages more accessible to other internet sites. This is important to me because it means when I start to grow older the internet will expand and so will the “machine.” It will be faster, more intelligent and even more efficient than other sources. This is important to the world because in some very short years we computers will be more resourceful, helpful and smarter than a human being. We will not rely on a human source about an vent but we will rely on what the computers have to say.

PLN6

 I read the article “Dang! I Just Missed It” By David Warlick is about seeing Mars as big as the moon to the naked eye. This kind of closeness between these two planets is never going to happen again until 2287! David searched on the internet only to find the whole thing was a hoax. It has just been an email sent every year since 2005 but it originated from the 2003 email when the encounter actually happened even though being 55 million miles away from us was only just a bright star. In truth Mars could be seen as big as the moon if you used a 75 power magnification telescope. This proves that not everything you hear on television and the internet is not always true. This has changed a lot since the 1960s because they had no internet and everyone just started to own a television. They would believe everything they heard because they didn’t question anything they just believed what they read. This affects me because if I am doing a homework assignment and I search on the internet for help on a question how do I know the answer is right? I think everything in the world would be so much easier and simpler if people wrote the truth and said what was actually going on in the world giving us the truth and giving us the real facts about current events than making up some fake story to grab attention and get everyone paranoid about a false statement. I hope things will change and people don’t have to question if what they hear and they don’t listen to the misanthropes trying to lie.

PLN5

"Footprints In The Digital Age" by Will Richardson is about how posting one thing on the internet good or bad can define our futures. He states that students need to post things on their blogs that will help them in their future to seem smart and very intelligent not dumb and ignorant. If you posted things that got an A+ and you keep getting those grades constantly then people will think you are intelligent and very wise and want you to come to their school or you get that certain job. If you fail and get average grades you will be looked down on by some and you will not get that scholarship or get that job you wanted because they have given it to someone who worked for it. The National School Boards Association took a test in 2007 and more than 80 percent of adolescent tens are using the internet. That means that all these kids are posting things on the internet that everyone can see. This affects me because I am always on the internet. I get on face book at least four times a day and post comments constantly which everyone can see. If I post something inappropriate or disturbing and someone happens to see it could take away a scholarship, job, sports etc. this affects to the world because everyone in the world uses computers and the internet.  More than 90 pecent probably have some type of social connection on the internet that everyone can easily access. People all around the world need to be safer on what they do on the internet.

PLN4

I read the story “Technology for the 21st century: part two (is it a literary machine?) that is about how the iPad is more of an entertainment machine then a literary machine. This article is about the author David Warlick stating that an iPad is good to look at and fun to use but is it really made for educational purposes also? Warlick asks the question “What is the iPad really great at — best at” and he says it’s a great machine to watch. I agree, I don’t think the iPad was made for educational purposes I think it was made just as another money making machine from apple. this means when people buy an iPad to use as a educational piece they get ripped off. I agree that the iPad is a lot of fun to use and play with but that’s all it was made for. Sure it can go on the internet and search for the links you want; sure you can download books on to it, but what cant now days? I can do all of that stuff on my CRICKET phone! I think that it was just made for money purposes and for entertainment purposes to play apps and blog on a cooler version of a laptop. I agree definitely with David Warlick saying this machine is fun to play with but it does not have a lot of educational purposes, the device was made for money making purposes.

IS GOOGLE MAKING US STUPID

Is Google making us stupid by Nicholas Carr suggests that we spend to much time on the internet and have lost our common sense about everything and we let computers do our thinking now. He gives an example saying he use to be able to sit down to read a book and make connections for hours but now he sits down and reads a couple of pages and gets bored. Carr says that “For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind.” I totally agree with this quote. I think people are starting to believe everything the internet and television are telling them even if it is a complete lie. People are relying on almost everything in their life on technology instead of just looking through a phonebook to get an address they get on Google and can find it in under a second. Scott Karp and Bruce Friedman both said they use to be everyday readers but now that they use the web so much they can barely open a book. I think this is because the internet creates shortcuts for people and now instead of reading and absorbing the text people try to just skim through absorb the most important information. All in all, I think the internet and Google are making us stupid.

The video "a vision of students today" by Dr. Michael Wesch proves technology rules peoples lives because it is very easy to use and very entertaining also. The video shows that students today are spending a lot of time online. Students spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to attend school every year, but most of them never even open textbooks they got or do the class work that is assigned to them because they are spending so much time on socail activitities on their computer. What this means to me is that technology will run everything in this world and on education even though most kids use technology to chat with friends instead of doing actually work assigned to them. I think the world will soon become so involved with technology that any machine or type of technology built before the 21st century will become obsolete and nothing will be used past a couple of years. I think this because in the video it shows a quote from Josiah F. Bumstead saying the creator of the chalk board had made the biggest contribution to learning and science to mankind and now we use computers and smart boards to teach our classes. We have made a huge jump and now chalk boards are rarely used now it is dry erarse boards or a smart board. The video “a vision of a student today" proves technology rules peoples lives because it is very easy to use and entertaining.