PLN 20

I read the weblogg-ed blog and i commented on the article Blogging Legacy:

This thought of leaving a trail of information for others after you are gone is a  interesting concept. I also like the avatar concept. Ideas like these are great because they start out as good thoughts and then you can see them grow into reality. These ideas would be helpful to have in existence in the future. It would be nice to know more about people from the past using primary sources. Being able to track a persons thoughts and work on the internet would really help people understand our history better. I think that this is a lot like having an online diary. Except anyone can look at this diary and anyone can add feedback or input to this online diary. While reading this post this makes me want to continue blogging and contributing online so there is a trail of my works for others to see where I come from and what life was like. I hope in some way these ideas are fulfilled in the future. It would be nice for families to realize things about there relatives and to learn from others. 

PLN Presentation reaction 2

I thought that the comments i received for the most part reflected how I felt how I did on the presentation. I feel I did pretty go on this presentation. I felt like i knew the material pretty well and presented it in a easy to understand manner. I think for being the last presentation of the year it was really good. It was good to end on.

PLN19

I commented on the Weblogg-ed blog on the article Many Models:

I believe that the outer model of a school is not the real thing that matters with schooling but I tend to think that when one who continues to support the factory model of life continues to support the factory model in every aspect of thinking. There are some places that this statement is false but the real battle in schools is keeping teachers and administrators thinking differently with new and improved ideas. "Factory model" thinking is not good in any aspect. For learning to continue at greater levels the teaching has to evolve and therefore thinking has to evolve. Times change and so should teaching and learning. Teachers should not teach the same thing the same way for years and years. Change needs to be made. Everything evolves, if things do not evolve they eventually die off. If learning does not evolve it will have the same fate as everything else it will die off. This would be a terrible thing, which would most likely not happen because someone would come along and change the way of thinking causing learning to evolve and continue on. This is what everyone needs to do and if everyone did try to change the way of the thinking learning would evolve to be very strong. 

PLN 18

I commented on the Weblogg-ed blog on the article: And No Blog Tatoos Either:

I think it is ridiculous that one person gets upset about something and then it is ruined for everyone else all because of one person's wrong actions. Having your blog on your e-mail signature isn't bad at all. In putting your blog address in your e-mail signature this only helps people know more about you and your ideas. I do not believe there should be a ban on promoting personal learning networks. Some people are inappropriate with the items they put on there blogs but not everyone is inappropriate with the items they post online. The school districts should not ban putting your blog address on your e-mail signature. This is a ridiculous precaution to take just because a few people put inappropriate links or things on their signature. The school districts need to check these people out before they hire them and if they do not find anything inappropriate when they conduct their initial search then there should be no problem in allowing these people to put their blog addresses on their e-mail signatures. Also the blogs on the e-mail signature should be limited to strictly educational blogs. If someone wants to find out what their personal blog address is they can e-mail them.

PLN Reaction

I felt I did a fairly good job on the presentation. I am happy with the grade i got on it. I agreee with all the comments i received and was happy to find that there was little criticism. I hope to make my next presentation as good or better then this presentatin. Overall I am proud of the work i did on my first PLN presentation.

PLN17

I commented on Mr. Fisch's, the Fischbowl, blog. I commented on the artcile: A Need For Textbooks. Here is what I wrote:

Dear Mr. Fisch,
I found this idea very interesting. It seems to be that textbooks are losing their power to newer technologies. I think in the near future text books will be out dated and all text books will be online so they can be accessed anywhere. Without text books the world would be a lot easier for many people. For one, there would be no more hauling of heavy books to and from school. Another reason no more physical textbooks would be easier is there could never be any lost or damaged textbooks. It seems as though the online textbooks seem to be superior to physical textbooks.

There are some negatives to put all things digital though. For example if a computer someone was using shut down he or she would not be able to access the information that they need. Another problem with making textbooks all digital is for the time being it would not be practical cost wise. Not everyone can afford to by there own laptop and the school would not be able to provide enough laptops to accommodate every student. I think the concept is a great idea but that this concept will not become a reality for several years.

PLN16

I posted a comment on the Weblogg-ed blog by Will Richardson entitled: "Clueless in America." Here is what I wrote:

It is a shame that a big portion of Americans are "clueless." I wonder myself many times of how people can be so "clueless." I also wonder what is going wrong with America's education system. I am in school now and seem to know the basics. I wonder how others around me do not know things that I would call basic. Education needs to be improved in America. I think a big issue in the American education system is that they allow kids to go too far along with out fully understanding the material. The fact of the matter is that American education needs to be a bigger issue then it is. Many things push its way to the front of political debates but education is not one of them. If we have poor education our future will not be bright, and if we want a government in the future that is strong and educated then education needs improvement.

PLN 15

I commented on the Weblogg-ed blog. I commented on the article Teaching Googleableness (Cont'd) Here is what I commented:

This article goes to show that everyone can be looked up online and should expect that they will be. I think schools and places of employment searching their employees is a good thing. If a teacher like the one is this article does not even care that they display themselves in a negative way online then they do not seem like the most responsible types of people. Many people feel that they are safe online and will not be found out because nobody can see who it is, but the fact of the matter is that anyone can find anything posted online. Posts should be made as if the poster knows that the whole world can and will see everything they put online. People should be cautious of what they put online. If a person wants something to be private they should not post it on the Internet. The Internet is not the place for private matters.

The woman in this post also did not feel as if she did anything wrong. If a person wants to be a professional and be hired by professionals they need to act like professionals all the time. The Internet is no exception. If a person wants to function in the adult world they should act like an adult everywhere not just in person. If a person acts childish and foolish online and does not care of what they have done they do not seem like the trust worthy people. People need to be more careful of what they put online.

PLN14

I commented on the article on Weblogg-ed about a man using 'Twitter' to escape froma Egyptian jail. Here is what i commented:

Cell phones continue to be referred to as a device that its only use is for social activities. Many teachers want cell phones to be banned for the reasons that their students will use them to socialize and will not pay attention to the lesson plans. Cell phones are very useful. They are just like computers in that cell phones have ways they can be used for good and ways that they can be misused. Computers are well accepted in schools and can be used for the same purposes that cell phones are banned from a lot of schools. This situations shows that cell phones are a very useful tools and can be used in very productive ways. Cell phones should be aloud to be held in schools for many reasons. This article is an example of where if someone has a cell phone they can get out of some bad situations in a hurry.

PLN13

I read the Webloog-ed blog by Will Richardson and commented on the article “Making Kids Googlable”

I think this is a big idea that needs to be addressed more in schools. Many people do not know how to make themselves “Googlable.” I would be one of those students. I have wondered many times of what employers or schools would think if they searched me. I do not always know if what I am posting is a good thing or not and how to change my online portfolio if I find bad things on it. I want to “Googlable”, so that I can not only have schools or employers search my name and find no bad items but to also search my name and find good items in the search. I think that there does need to be some education on how to become “Googlable.” I know to fallow the general rule that if you post something, make sure you are aware that anyone can access it. The only question is from there how do I improve my online portfolio? I do not only want to have a portfolio with no bad things on there but to also have things on my online portfolio that are good.

PLN12

I read the article Praying Passenger Kicked Off United Flight on the Denver Post blog written by Ken Belson which talked about how a man who was praying at the back of a United plane was kicked off the plane because he refused to fallow flight attendant orders. Reports say that the man began to pray at the back of the plane when a flight attendant came up to him and told him to go back to his seat. He did not answer and continued praying. The prayer he was praying according to two other people traveling with him was a Jewish prayer that once started could not be interrupted until finished. The flight attendant came back with a few other flight attendants and again asked the man to go back to his seat. Keeping with his beliefs he did not allow to be interrupted until he was done with his prayer. He returned to his seat after his prayer which according to an eye-witness lasted only about two and a half minutes. He was kicked off the flight without any fuss when a costumer service agent told him he would have to get off the flight with refusing to listen to flight attendants. I think this was blown way out of proportion. People should be able to fallow their religion whenever and where ever they want. I do believe that the man should wait for a better time to do his prayer but if it lasted only two and a half minutes it is not a big deal to let him finis his prayer. I think that after the attendant saw that the man had returned to his seat that he should of allowed him to stay on the plane. He still should have been told that he needs to listen to flight attendant instruction. This whole issue caused the plane to be only a few minutes late. 

The man did eventually go back to his seat, so I do not see why he should have been kicked off the plane. He did, however, pick a bad time to do this prayer. The whole prayer only lasted tow and a half minutes. It seems that the flight attendants acted too quickly and blew this whole issue out of proportion. This man should not of been kicked off the plane since he eventually did return to his seat but he should have been told that he has to listen and obey all flight attendant orders even if the doors of the plane are open. I hope that issues like these will be handled better then this one was.      

PLN11

I read the article The Wisdom of Student 2.0 on the weblogg-ed blog by Will Richardson which was simply a comment of a student who cannot access any of his school documents because the school sever is down and he says that he is going to star using Google Docs. A question was also posed by a commenter on this blog of why do schools spend a lot of money on these big servers when they could use Google Docs for free. I think the answer to this question is that if you used Google Docs, there is no way that a teacher can look in your files if needed. Another issue is that you would need the internet. The internet goes down just like the server did sometimes. Our server at Arapahoe has some good features to it like the drop box feature. You cannot have that with Google Docs. I think that schools should continue to use server but should also encourage students to back-up their files on Google Docs or on a USB. The school should not blame the students though for having a crashed server. A new policy should be adopted to end these headaches though. I think schools should require you to back up your work somewhere else. Since Google Docs is free I think this would be a good option to use. If all of the information was backed up somewhere else the server crash would not effect anyone and life would be able to continue on normally. I do think Google Docs is a good source to keep your files for back up but I also think that school servers need to stay. 

PLN10

I read the article Making Kids "Googlable" on the Weblogg-ed blog by Will Richardson which talked about how schools need to teach the students how to make themselves "googlable" or make them have a good online portfolio when google searched or searched  in some other online search. I found this very interesting. Now many business owners and place that are going to hire employees will google search there candidates or use some other searching tool such as Myspace. The article brought up the issue of helping kids get a good portfolio so if they are searched by an employer they will give them a good impression. There are times where I personally would not know if what I was posting online would give a good or bad impression. 

Some teaching needs to be done to educate people on what would give a good impression and what would give a bad impression. I know anything on the internet needs to be posted in a way that the poster would not mind everybody seeing it and realizing that everybody can see it. I do not think many people know what would leave a good impression and what would not leave a good impression to a future employer. The bottom is line is somehow future generations are going to have to be taught this skill to succeed in this age of technology where you can find a plethora of information on someone by searching their name. This skill will be needed for my generation and for generations to come.  

PLN9

I read the article Dispatches from the Front Lines #346 on the weblogg-ed blog written by Will Richardson which talked about how this student who was forbidden to text while on school grounds texted his teacher for help on homework and she told on him and got him suspended for even longer then he already was in for. I think this I very wrong. The student was only using the cell phone to get help from a teacher not to socialize or mess around. Maybe the student was messing around with their phone too but the fact of the matter is that the student tried to get help from a teacher by using an easy and convenient tool and she told on him getting him an in-school suspension for two more days.  The student only wanted help with his homework and the teacher just gives him two more days of in-school suspension. 

To me, as a student, i find this frustrating. The only reason students are not allowed to use cell phones is because they will not pay attention and will use it for social purposes. The student used his cell phone for useful reasons. He just wanted some help on his homework. He never got that help because of a rule. We need to remember why rules are in place. If anything the teacher should have told him to talk to her later and to put his cell phone away without getting him punished. She could of also given him help and then told him to not use his phone. Many things could have been done differently and more effectively. 

I think a national cell phone in schools policy should be adopted in schools. Cell phones are not allowed if used for social purpose or to goof off. This would be hard to determine if the student was using the phone for a good or bad reason though. The use of cell phones like in this instant should be aloud. The teacher should not have told on this student. All he wanted was help which he never received. 

PLN8

I read the article When Are We Going to Stop Giving Kids Tests That They Can Cheat On? on the Weblogg-ed Blog by Will Richardson which stated only the question in the title: When are we going to stop giving kids tests that they can cheat on? The reason we do not do this now is because if there is a test a kid will figure out a way to cheat on. Every form of test is able to be cheated on. If you wanted to give kids a test they were not able to cheat on you would have to put each child in a sound proof box. Then you would have to check each student to make sure all they brought in was a pencil. A check of the child's hands and arms would also have to take place to make sure the child didn't write any thing on his or her arms. The Sound proof boxes would have to be made of one way glass so you could see what the student was doing but the student couldn't see out. This is the only way tests would become cheat proof but even then a kid would come up with a way to cheat. They would slip paper in there shoe or put a cell phone in a place not able to be found by a quick search. As long as there are tests kids will find a way to cheat on them. That is how people are. There never will be a way to have a test that there is no way for a student to cheat on. 

Even though there is no way to completely eliminate cheating there are ways to prevent cheating. Prevention is the only thing that can be done. Elimination is not possible in this time. Kids will come up with more creative ways and innovative ways to cheat. A question i pose is what would the world be like if these people used there thinking to come up with ways to help instead of finding ways to cheat. Cheating will never be eliminated but only prevented.

PLN7

I read the article The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It on the Weblogg-ed blog by Will Richardson which talked about how the internet is headed in the same direction it was headed in four years ago. The internet has not been changing. It has stayed the same and has not been improving and getting better. It is up to the new generation to change this. They need to think creatively to revolutionize the way the internet is run. There again is not teaching at all on this issue. People continue the old ways of the internet because it is comfortable to them. For me I would not know where to start to try to revolutionize the internet. I do not know what needs to be changed or exactly why the internet needs to change. I know al things need to develop and continue to change but it is hard to see where sometimes. More education on the issue is needed. The world needs to be taught on the issue so collaboration can take place so revolution can take place. 

Education on technology such as this needs to be increased so everyone can help in the revolution. The internet is a valuable tool that needs to be updated with the times and to keep up with all the new technologies that are ahead of it. There is nothing like the internet so it will never become obsolete but the way it is used can and will be obsolete unless something is not done to stop it.

PLN6

I read the article Dispatches From the Front Lines #324  from the Weblogg-ed blog written by Will Richardson that talked about how difficult it is to get money for technology these days even harder to spend it accurately. In this blog it spoke of a school principle that finally got a good amount of money to spend on technology but could only buy laptops that were two-thousand dollars. Schools do not need two-thousand dollar laptops. They only need about one-thousand dollar laptops. Why do they have to spend twice as much as they need to? I cannot answer this question. I would like to receive an answer to this question. They good get twice as many laptops to accommodate twice as many people. With a school the size of 1,300 students it would be a lot better to get 100 laptops instead of 50 laptops. 

The city should not be able to tell a school the price they have to pay for technology. If a school has a low budget it should be able to purchase the technology the right price for the school. Every student should be introduced to and familiarized with technology. It wrong to take this privilege away from students because the state think a certain price is right for all schools. A school is like any business. Some are more well off then others and it depends on how many students and funding for the school to determine how much they can spend on technology and in other areas.

The state should not control the price that a item has to be to be purchased by a school. If a school gets funding they should be able to spend it the way they want. I is a shame that only half the students will be accommodated  because the state thinks the school needs to pay a certain price that is not necessary. I hope this changes so all students recieve the privilege of technology. 

PLN5

I read the article Students Pay Price (Literally) for Cell Phone Ban by Will Richardson on the Weblogg-ed blog that talked about how these 9th graders at a New York high school who were paying thousands of dollars for there cell phones. When asked why they used there cell phones they continued to say safety issues. Three dollars a day for a safety issue is a lot to pay though. It was discovered that there were other reasons why these students wanted to keep there cell phones. These reasons included such as for pictures, videos, and even for writing. Will Richardson was at the school leading this conversation on and he showed how the cell phone could be used as an educational tool. He sent a text message to a number also known as GOOGL. In the text message he put,"Spain population." He got a text message back giving him the population of spain. I never knew you could do that and access that kind of information using my phone. He brings up that there should be some school education teaching about cell phones and there educational uses. I believe that it is a good idea to have this taught but cell phones should still not be aloud to be openly used in school.

 There should not be a tax to hold a cell phone. The policy that Arapahoe has is a good one where students can use there cell phones in the halls and are aloud to carry them free of charge. If they are caught with a cell phone thought it is taken until the end of the class. Sometimes it is even given to the office and can be picked up by a parent at the end of a day. 

Cell phones should still not be aloud to be used in a classroom because most students will not use it for educational purposes but for social reasons. Students can not hold that responsibility with that technology very well. It is like most other technologies. If it is a great technology there will also be a way that it can be miss-used. This is what it is  like with computers. They are great tools but are miss-used. 

Cell phones are a great technology but it is a technology that is not ready for open use in class rooms. It can be used for good like all technologies but it is often miss-used by others and there for it should not be aloud in a classroom. Although, it should be aloud to be carried by a person in the school free of charge   

PLN4

I read the article U of SA? from The Fischbowl written by Karl Fisch that talked about the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who is spending 12.5 billion dollars on a graduate research university. In the article Mr. Fisch wrote that the King of Saudi Arabia realizes that even though much of Saudi Arabia is oil but it will not always be oil. I think this is very wise of the King. He wants to bring some of the worlds smartest research scientists to Saudi Arabia to brightens it future. This is a great idea but because the Middle East is not the safest place for freedom of speech and thought it does not seem like the place a lot of research scientists. The Middle East, right now, is a place of turmoil and is not ready for a thing like this to succeed. 

Although this seems that it will be a failure it does show that there is a "downward slide of U.S. universities' dominance." The U.S. may not be the place to go to get an education now. This is the start for the rest of the world to increase their spending on education and realize the importance of education. The King of Saudi Arabia realizes the importance and the effects of a good education for both the present and the future. 

All in all I think that the King of Saudi Arabia has the right idea but the rest of the nation is not ready for it. The Middle East in general is not ready for this great university in a place where there is not much "academic freedom." 

PLN3

I read the article Yet Another Reason We Should Be Teaching, Not Blocking, Wikipedia from  weblogg-ed written by Will Richardson which talked about how Wikipedia needs to be taught not blocked. The article stated how Wikipedia is a source of knowledgeable information which needs to be taught how to use correctly. It ca be a great source of information and it can give you invalid information because anyone can edit it or write on it. It is key to check this source with other sources to guarantee accuracy. This source should not be "passed off" as unreliable or as a bad source. I am glad that i was taught how to use Wikipedia correctly because I can now use it and know that I will use it to its full potential.   

Wikipedia needs to be taught in schools. It is a skill everyone needs to understand how to use properly. It should not be ignored and just blocked from schools. Schools need to take the time to teach students that Wikipedia is a good reliable source of information especially the pages that get visited a lot.  Those pages are edited by so many people that the false items are almost Immediately edited. 

Overall, Wikipedia needs to be taught as a usable and a reliable source for information. It should not be ignored. I am glad I was taught about it and I hope that many others will also learn how to use it.

PLN2

I read the article A "Publish Then Filter World" on Weblogg-ed. This article was written by Will Richardson where he talked about how children need to be more educated on how to function in this "Publish then filter world." This means that when it comes to function in a personal learning network that you will have to edit published things by other people and vise versa. This world has come to the point where you must "publish" your document and then others will filter it or edit it. There is nothing you can do to stop people from leaving their opinion on the web. Our generation needs to be taught how to deal with this and how to "filter." Even though you can't stop people from speaking their mind you can "filter" it or try to change their opinion. Children need to be taught how to do this and what exactly this entails. The only way to learn how to handle these situations is to be taught to do it.

It was brought to my attention in this article that Presidential Candidate Obama has a strong web support. If he became president it could be that this idea of post then edit will be made known to more people and education of it will increase. This could also be any presidential candidate. Something that the President should do is increase the standards for new technology education.

I have not heard of this idea till i read this blog and ii realized the significance of the personal learning network and of the post then edit world we are in. These ideas need to be taught so others will understand and so more students will flourish. Personal learning networks need to be kept going and so the post then edit idea needs to be taught. 

PLN1

I read the article The Ultimate Conference Attendee from the blog weblogg-ed written by Will Richardson. It talked about how that sometime in the future conferences between business will be held using all free Internet technology. The business call will no longer be in affect but what will be in affect are the things that we see in the movies where the companies have video conferences. The only thing is all of this technology is free. Anyone and any company could hold conferences this way. So why don't they? They do not hold conferences this way because the old ways seem to be easier. They work and the businessmen know how you use the old ways of the conference call so they continue that way. The future will probably be using these technologies. Another reason why these businesses do not use these sources is because they would seem too childish or they would say. Since there kids are using it, it probably is not suitable for the professional world. That is wrong. These sources are available and should be taken advantage of. If modern business used these easy to use and ready technologies the business world would be much more productive. Live video conferences would allow people to see reactions and expressions of all the people in the conference and they do not have to travel to a specific place. This would say businesses thousands of dollars. Without having to travel to meet for conferences this would save cost and would be convenient for all people involved. The only thing people would have to worry about would be at what time they would have to hold this conference. It would be great to have a business that utilized all of these free tools. Anyone could use these tools and improve their companies production and lower cost. All companies need conferences and being able to have them where ever and when ever they need one. It is like the conference only you could see everyones reaction and without the long distance phone bill. Bottom line is that these tools should be utilized by companies to cut costs and to increase productivity of the business.

Second Semester Goals

My goals for the second semester include several things. My first goal is to get use to using a laptop everyday in English instead of using the old-fashioned hand. I want to get use to the new way of writing and organizing my thoughts. I figure this will not be as hard because a computer organizes your thoughts all in one place. I will not have to worry about losing anymore of my work.

My second task will be to keep an “A” grade throughout the semester. I have had this goal in all of my classes but I want to keep up what I started last semester. I plan to keep on top of things, become more computer savvy and improve my writing skills. I will accomplish this by becoming more organized.

I am sure that this semester of English 9 will be as great as the last semester. With my goals and ambission to reach these goals it will be a good semester.