PLN 20

Today I read a post by Ms. Moritz that talked about students and how the just focus on their actual grades. This post explained how instead of going through teachers comments, students just look at their grade, and don't care about anything else.

Ms. Moritz,
I enjoyed reading this post because I completely agree with the points you make. Being a student here at Arapahoe I see students around me everyday just looking at their grade and not caring about reading comments on it. Rubrics are made for the purpose of improving the student's learning and thinking. Looking at a rubric carefully students should notice where they went wrong and how they can fix it next time. Why go through the time of making one when students are not using them? Students are not going to improve unless they learn that they can change the outcome of their grade by taking in and paying attention to what teachers say they need to work on. I myself am thankful when teachers comment on my papers and assignments because when I go over it, I realize what I should have done, and can do better next time. Their are always going to be students who do not care about improving and are fine with the overall grade, but for students who want to learn and improve this is extremely beneficial. Going back over our work will tell us what we did right and wrong, this is essential because our work will just keep getting better and better. I think that students need to be pushed and motivated to succeed and want to learn why they got the grade they did instead of just that.

PLN 19

I read a post about students and their learning...

I agree with you points on how their are several ways to improve the learning of students. Not giving homework over weekends is an idea that has been around for a long time now, but not very many teachers use it. I think that giving homework over weekends is stressful because this time should be for relaxing and recovering for the next week. Personally I think that doing work together in classrooms helps students focus more and actually absorb what they are trying to learn. Over weekends students do not care about their work and are focused on other things, this leaves room for slacking and not nearly as good of work. I enjoyed reading this post and seeing things through a different persons perspective, great post!

PLN 17

Today I read a post about High school Drop Outs. This was an important blog. Having a High School kid dropping out every 26 seconds is astonishing. A million students a year is ridiculous, students need to be reassured how essential school is. If they want to succeed in life, they cannot do that without finishing high school. They are throwing their lives away, and their parents are to busy watching the newest episode of American Idol to care. We need to have classes or speakers to let students know the difficulties they will face if they do not finish. Four years of high school goes by faster than some students think. Just finishing it can change a life dramatically. Parents need to talk to students who are struggling and they need to help them out, so that they do not make the mistake of dropping out.

PLN PRESENTATION REACTION

I thought that overall my presentation went well. One thing that i think i could have worked on was maintaining more eye contact. Another thing i think i could improve on is giving more detailed personal information on my views of the PLN's. I think i did well with maintaining a steady flow, speaking clear, and loud. For my next presentation I will be sure to add more information in my PLN's and keep more eye contact.

PLN 16 S2

Today i read a blog about Bringing the World Together like it shoudl be. It is a good idea for our world to come together because it could solve many world issues. Countries, continents and cities coming together could bring people of different ethnicities and lifestyles to see each other in another perspective. If we stopped fighting in our world we could help each other get rid of bad things such as, communist leaders, and cruel rulings in such countries. Coming together could also help us learn more about everything in our world today. We could learn about so many different ways and techniques from other countries to further ourselves and our careers. Breaking down the barriers and not have the differences between us all serve as a blockade would be an outstanding experience.

PLN 14 S2

Today I read a post about Usage of Textbooks.


Mr. Fisch,I agree with your idea of using textbooks as merely a "cover". Technology is and has become so advanced why use textbooks with limited information when we can have unlimited info with computers? We have been using textbooks for a long time now but they are becoming athing of the past. Computers are so much more efficient. Textbooks are just another book for students to carry around school and at home. Almost all of us have computers at home that we can use for homework and e en textbooks online. We need to realize that technology is a part of us all and we need to advance with it. Textbooks should now only be used as tornado protection.

PLN 13 S2

Today I read and posted on a new article called Phoning it In. This was a very interesting post that I enjoyed letting my thoughts out on. My post said...

This goes to show how much technology is advancing and how every where we turn, it's right there. I agree with your statement of how teachers are leaving students "unsatisfied" with restraining the use of cell phones with internet during class. If we have the ability to make learning easier and more accessible then why not? Cell phones are a great alternative for classrooms that do not have access to laptops. This post caught my eye because I myself am a student in the 9th grade. Thinking about what we could do with just using a simple cell phone for internet access could do more good then a lot of people realize. There is always room for development and improvement and this would be a great way to achieve that.

Being able to post directly to the author was new and exciting. This article made me think about what we could do with cell phones and how much easier it could be.

PLN 12 S2

Today I read an article about Making kids Googable. This post talks about how a man named Will went and asked several administrators and principles if when they were looking to hire someone, they googled them. Many of the people he asked said that they did. They did this to learn more about the people they are about to hire. This helps them find out anything negative, or positive things that can help them make their decision. Then the discussion goes further when Will asks the administrators about how their students will be googled in the future. This relates to me and society because a lot of us have things about us on the Internet. Whether its for assignments, sports or simply facebook or myspace, most of us can be googled. Thinking about this makes me wonder if i would be googled in the future. I decided to Google myself and i found that i had three assignments from English posted under my name. This was interesting because anyone can view those assignments and learn more about me. This is a new way to learn more about people and can help in various ways. I think this way of googling people can be very helpful in making decisions about applicants.

PLN 11 S2

Today i read an article about 7 Simple Ways to get out of Bed in the Morning. This article's purpose was to help adults and teens get out of bed with much less hassle and energy. This relates to me because i have to get up extremely early in the morning which my body and mind aren't used to because i usually get up much later. Reading these tips helped because i have never tried most of them and maybe they could help. A lot of us aren't morning people and have difficulties getting out of bed, so i think these could impact us. We always want to stay in bed longer and with these we won't need to. This won't only help getting out of bed, but keeping us awake and energized for the rest of the day. These tips could help several people who are unaware of how to make it easier on themselves.

PLN 10 S2

Today i read an article about an 8 year old sniffing sharpies. This post talked about how an 8 year old boy was sniffing a sharpie in class. At first I thought that it wasn't intentional and that the boy wasn't aware of the health risks, but then I read that he still sniffed it after being told not to. I don't think that many people are aware of the fumes and danger with simple things like markers. This relates to me because my friends and all the people around me use markers on a regular basis and maybe some of them don't know of the dangers. Even though the boy sniffed dangerous fumes I don't think he should be this harshly punished.

PLN 9 S2

Today I read an article called Quiet Student. This article talks about how a teacher named Kristen L had a seminar for her students but struggled with getting them to participate. Kristen wondered if it is more important to encourage her students to participate or giving them the grade they earned. This relates to me because in my history class we so seminars for each new unit of study. At the beginning of the year when we started them there was little conversation and many kids were afraid to speak up. As we progressed to now everyone speaks out and it leads to a detailed be informational discussion. I think that if kristen continues to have seminars then I think the kids will learn and want to participate more. I think right now she should encourage the students to participate and worry about their grades later.

PLN 8 S2

Today I read a post about Earth Hour. This post talks about how on March 29, 2008, several major cities turned off all the lights. It doesn't matter if it was in homes, schools, or buisnesses, all the lights went out at 8:00 pm for one hour. This has a major impact on the world because of the energy it saved. If every city did this at least one a year, there is no way to explain what it would do to the earth. Something as simple as turning off your lights for merely one hour can make a huge impact. This matters because the world needs to be conserved and saved for years to come, and this is one way to do it. People will now be able to see what they can do to help save our planet.

PLN 7 S2

Today I read Teacher ok'd Beating of Tardy Student. This post talks about how a 22 year old teacher physically abused one of his students. This teacher allowed his students to beat one student for not being able to complete the exercise the teacher made him do. This was simply ridiculous. No teacher, student or any other person should be allowed to do this to someone. The worst part is that police are not even sure yet if he is fired. Behavior like this should be punished appropriately and it doesn't look like it is. What matters from this is that people may get the idea that they can get away with anything they want. By not firing him immediately shows that police may not be taking it seriously. This is not the first time the teacher has done something like this either. I don't understand how someone can treat children like this. The teacher broke the law, and he should pay for it.

PLN 6 S2

Today I read an article called "Schoolboys Face Court in Racial Taunting" by Myung Oak Kim. This article talked about how a minority was taunted and followed by three boys that continuously chanted "KKK". This suprised me because no one should be treated like this. Society has come to far and progressed to much to go back to this kind of treatment to other races. Though racism will always exsist, no one should be treated like this. Just because the boy was different doesn't mean he should be reminded of how African Americans were treated by saying "KKK". The KKK was a group of people who brutally murdered African Americans just for their beliefs and color of there skin. Even though this was long ago, it clearly still exsists in this society, when it shouldn't. We are all the same, and we should all be treated equally.

PLN 5 S2

Today I read a post about how newspapers are becoming less popular. This post is important because it talks about how technology is becoming the main source for information. This relates to me because I use technology everyday, and I never read the newspaper. All of the information i hear about comes either for the television or from the internet. It is hard to believe that newspapapers are becoming less used when they have been around for so long, but technology is advancing. It is much easier to use the internet to find any information, and that is what people are doing. This relates to the World because we are all starting to get information and learn about things through the internet. This is just another way we are all connecting. There are new sources that we are learning from and this makes the future unpredictable, we never know whats going to happen with the technology we have today.

PLN 4 S2I

Today I read a post about how students pay a price for cell phones, literally. This post talks about how technology is all around us and how we use it all the time. This relates to me because every day I use technology, at home and at school. In my english class we use laptops everyday to further our learning experience. I also have a cell phone and iPod that I use everyday as well. Technology has been growing and using it each day will allow us to grow with it. This relates to the world because technology connects us all. Doing pln's connects us all. We have the opprotunity to read and learn about what's going on in ourown city or across the country. We use technology without even realizing it. Having a cellphone or iPod is normal for a teenager, we are so use to having one that we don't even realize what we could do with it or how advance it is. Technology is all around us, we use it every day at home and at school, it is a part of our lives.

PLN 2 S2

Today i read a post about the future of technoloygy for children. This post talks about how growth in technology for youth is unclear. It does not seem like tecnology is advancing enough. Is technology preparing us for the future? We do not know how much or how little tecnology is going to advance in the future, because that time has not come yet. We know that is will be...

"More collaborative
More globally aware
Less dependent on paper
More active
Fluent in creating and consuming hypertext
More connected
Editors of information"


We have no idea how technology will help us in the future. It could advance in ways we never thought it could, or it could stay at the stages above.

PLN 1-S2

Today I read a post in the Thinking Stick about how students are talking about projects outside of the classroom. This post talks about how teenagers are taking the conversation and thinking beyond the walls of the classroom. I think that it is important to have such creative and innovative projects that it causes the students to get involved and want to learn more and discuss it with others. If the students are interested in the things that are going on in the classroom they can spread there ideas and involve others. This relates to me because I have seen students that have homework and projects that they are excited to work on and want to tell their friends about it. Learning should be fun and it should be an exciting experience. This post was important because it takes things that happen in the classroom and opens more doors.

Goals for new Semester

This semester in English 9 my first goal to achieve is to sustain an A. I know that i can do this as long as I do not fall behind and do all my work to the best of my ability. Last semester my final grade so a C and i am not happy about that at all. I know that i can get an A if i don't fall behind like i did last semester. Last semester i didn't really care about my grades, this semester i am striving to get an A. I have the motivation and encouragement i need and i can achieve that. I want to expand my learning and get good at reading and writing and hopefully an A will come out of that. Getting an A in English is just one step forward to achieving the goal i am working towards. This semester i need a much higher GPA and hopefully i can succeed and do that.