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.