PLN 23

I watched How Cognitive Surplus will Change the World by Clay Shirky. In this he talked about websites that make accessing constantly changing information easy. He mentioned a website that was constantly being updated for the news in Kenya. The website used maps and the information to make it more easy to understand. He also talked about how once easy websites like these start, it permanently changes society. This all matters to me because easy websites help me when I am in a rush to find certain information. This matters to the world because the world need websites that are quick to use and get the point accross fast. Lastly, it matters to education because society needs to be educated of worldly news like the news in kenya. The video was very informative.

PLN 22

I read Drawing on My (family) Past by David Warlick. In this he talked about how his uncles started building a book of his family's ancestral past and he is now building on it. This matters to me because I believe it would be cool to get to build on my family tree. I don't know much about my family's past so that would be interesting to do some research on. This matters to the world because so many people in the world don't know about there family tree. I think it would be beneficial to be aware of this in a family. This matters to education because maybe it would be a good connection while learning to know who your great great great great grandpa was during the revolutionary war! I enjoyed this article.

PLN 21

I watched Changing Education Paradigms by The RSAorg. This video talked about how medications and certain other parts of education won't work to assist students to be successful. I thought this was a good video because it described all the wrongs in our education. This matters to me because if I had issues sitting down for extended periods of time, I don't just want to be druged. This is not an answer I would like even considered. This matters to the world because these same students are who are going to be the work force and political leaders. We want these people to be somewhat educated. This matters to education because education is the force that is packaging us up to go lead the world unprepared and half-high!

PLN 20

I read Education Reform is Re-Establishing, Redefining, and Retooling by David Warlick. This talked about certain changes that should be made in the education world. David talked about how the education system is like the factory job he had for one year . His job was to make sure that the parts that were being made matched the blue print that he had for those peices. This is like schooling because it says that teachers act like students are the raw materials and graduated students are the final product and the teachers measure them to see if they match the blue print of what a student should be. This matters to me because I want to be measured for the progress I have made not the progress they think I should have made. This matters to the world because the world should be full of individuals who are good at certain things and not at others, not full of robots who are all alike. This matters to education the most because education is what is causing this contreversial topic!

PLN 18

go to a comment of it

PLN 19

I read "Lost in Electronica" by George Will. In this he talked about how life back then had it's peaks and vallies of boredom and excitement. Now life consists of only peaks. This occures mostly in boys. With television, texting, videogames, and computers, boys are constantly doing something. This matters to the world because boys i n the future will be the men leading our nation. I don't think that we want leaders that don't know what to do when they are bored. We want leaders that will take life by the horns and will do something useful during that free time. This matters to education because in our somewhat corrupt education system, we have technology absorbing our time. With computer based homework and required internet research, make it easy to get distracted while trying to do homework with things like facebook, youtube, and twitter. This matters to me because if boys are becoming too involved in technological devices maybe I should try to involve myself in less of those things and more in traditional entertainment.

PLN 17

I read "What If" by Karl Fisch. Although every article he writes does not fail to confuse me, I think it was about that technology today has been banned, but not truly from classrooms. He talked about how it is a rule to not use technological devices. Yet, we use them in classrooms every day. This matters to the world because we are growing up in a world that is constantly going against the rules. This matters to education because the education system is going against it's rules. "A house divided amoung itself cannot stand." -Teddy Roosevelt. This matters to me because I don't want to be growing up in a world that can't hold itself accountable to it's own rules.

PLN16

I read "Evans murder suspect still on the lam" by Howard Pankratz. In this he talked about a murder victim who they found a picture of. They wrote this so the public would look at the picture and identify the suspect. This made me think, am i constantly walking amoung unknow killers? Should I worry about my safety in common places? This matters to the world because all this bad stuff is happening in the world currently. This means that the world could possibly be filled with killers that have just still been around form old murders that cops and the llegal system have given up on and tossed into the folder cabnet of thousands of unsolve cases. This matters to the me because I don't want to have to wonder about things like this. I want to know that I sould be secure and safe in thins world that I live in. This matters to education because people should know about things like this and be informed sooner. Maybe they would have caught the person if the people had know about this situation sooner.

PLN 15

I read "Schools would be great if it weren't for the Kids" by Alfie Kohn. It talked a lot about what motivaties a student to do certain things. It said that if students are given an incentive for doing something, they will be more motivated to do it. This matters to the world because life won't always give us incentives for doing work so we might as well try not being so lazy as to need an incentive for doing a feat. This matters to me because if subconciously I have the same dismal tendencies, I should work on doing great things with out eraning an incentive for them. This matters to education because this bad tendecy will lead to a lot of laziness in the education department in our society.

PLN 14

For my free choice read, I read "Quatlities of an Effective Teacher" by David Warlick. In this he revised the words of a lady that wrote a paragraph on the qualities that a teacher should have. The qualities she seemed to believe are necessary in a teacher included all things that would have a positive affect on a student, instead of a negative one. For example, she said that flexibly generous was one of the things that she found necessary in a teacher intead of getting impatient with a student. This matter to the world because when teachers use the righst meathods of communication towards stuedents, it is the same kind of communication that students in the next generation will be learning from the previous generation. This matters to education the most, obviously, because teachers using these methods are effecting the education in a very positive manner. I think that parents should really try to find teachers like this for their children. This matterst to me because, personally, I would like to be learning from teachers that are having a positive effect on me not negative.

PLN 13

I read "Googley Advice" by Jonathan Rosenberg. In this, he discussed the characteristics necessary in a job and in the world. He said that analatical reasoning, communication skills, a willingness to experiment, team players, and passion for learning are neccessary features to have. This matters to me because I should learn to acquire these if I want a good job when I grow up. This matters to the world because people with these traits are what hold this world and work force in our nation together. This matters to education because maybe this is what we should be learning in out schools today. Not kindness and friendship. Even though those are also necessary in the world today.

PLN 12

I read "Challenging the Flow" by David Warlick. In this article, many controversial topics are aroused. For example, the main topic he wrote about was an author who approached writing in a much more different way than many other authors that we see in libraries today. That authors writing was seemingly confusing until you started understanding the points of view at which he was approaching characters. This is relevant to education because if teachers had the gut to go against the flow to find different useful methods that could be used in the classroom, then maybe we would have a more outstanding education program in the United States. I feel if Obama wants us as a nation to be higher ranked on the education chart, maybe adding days on to the week is not the answer. Maybe the answer is changing the way the students are learning. This matters to the world because if people in many different industries decided to change the way they go about things, the economy would be good. I feel if someone went against the flow as to look at things with a more positive eye, that would have a beneficial effect on society and the economy. I do agree that to a certain extent knowing about the bad things occurring right now is ok for a certain amount of awareness. I think that we need to go against the flow by being a positive light in a world of negative darkness. Lastly, this applies to me because while I am going to a high school in which many bad things are going on, it is good to go against the flow because if I choose to be a part in all the inapropriate junk that occures in schools, I will just be another student. But if I go against the flow as a positive influence, I will be a role model for many other students.

PLN 11

I read "2020 Vision" by Karl Fisch. His pridictions make him sound like a bit of a philosopher.In this he talked about what the future has in hold for us and how drastically education shall be changed in the future. This matters to the world because all these changes are happening in the world and in some of the things he talked about, environmentally the world will be altered. This matters to me because I will be growing up in this world of change and I will be a part of it. When it talked of all the electronic advancements, it is scary some of the things that now seem like dreams that will be probably a reality in the future. This matters to eduducation more than anything because it talked about all the changes that teachers and students deel with. He said that by 2017 there will be no grades and the only thing recorded will be student advancement instead of performance. Free laptops and other things will be given out for free and the whole educational program we have today will be old fashioned history!

PLN 10

I read, "Fort Collins woman missing under suspicious circumstances"by The Denver Post.(No specific author was listed.)This made me wonder why we have so much bad stuff going on in the world. Why can't we all feel safe in a society in which nobody gets hurt by another citizen. This matters to the world because we need a safer society. This matters to me because I do not want to grow up in a world that is crumbling down due to people who have a problem with staying as a law abiding citizen. I think that if our society keeps going in the direction it has been headed for the last 10 years, then I think by the time I am a llegal adult the world will be a chaotic one with out any morals or ethics. This matters to education because when we learn about the mistakes people made in the past, and we don't learn from them, our children's children's children will be learning about a war that will happen in 20 years from our stupid world's mistakes!

PLN 9

In Tony Wagner's "Rigor Redefined", he communicates the bad changes made in the world today. He talks about how back then you improved yourself in stages, but now one is constantly trying to improve himself because the business world has sped up so significantly. It takes toime until someone can be a philanthropist. It is crazy how true this is. I believe that this matters to the world because the world is speeding up so fast that people are starting to fall behind. This matters to me because if the world is constantly speeding up, I do not want to be the one who has fallen behind by the time I am an adult. This matters to education because he talks about how students are becoming lazy as technology and such increases. If the education is lazing itself, how lazy will I be in a fast paced world.

PLN 3 (REDO)

"Is Google Making Us Stupid" by Nicholas Carr is a truly thought provoking article. It goes over how the effects of the speed at which humans are now accessing information through the internet is actually changing the way we think. Instead of having to ponder information until we find an answer, we can now access it in seconds through the internet therby making us not obtain the information. This matters to me because, personally, I want to be able to read a book when I get older and get something out of it. I don't want to mindlessly speed through the information like it is nothing. For me, it is like reading the summary of the book but not the actual book. When you read the summary, you don't gain as much information. When you read the book, the information you gain is considerably higher. If you read the answer on the computer screen, you won't get the same amount of information as you would if you were to actually read the 'why' part of the article. This matters to the world because we need to obtain information. You have to have the information to understand it. We have the information, we are just too lazy as world to delve deeper and actually understand what you are reading. How will the world think in a thousand years if the typewriter, a common machine not used for anything but typing, had a noticeable effect on someone? We are now dealing with a machine that gives us the already typed information! I wonder the differences we have from the people back then! This matters to education because we use the internet a lot in education. We type, blog, and learn of the internet. If students get the answer to a question, but don't actually understand it, we will become stupid. We will become a generation that learned the answers but not the explanations! The article made it clear the differences in our society today due to the internet. So is the internet making us stupid or the human tendency to be lazy?

PLN 7

Sorry Mrs. Smith, I had the same problem as Marco. Please go to the comment section and that is wher you will find my real PLN. Thanks. Sorry about the hassle.

PLN 6

I read "Arts and Living Spaces" by David Warlick. In this article, he firsts talks about the differences between the two terms creative and inventive. He said that creativity is taking what you are given and making something better, while inventiveness is the base or the original idea to start off with. In his words he says ,"Resourcefully solving a problem or accomplishing a goal." This all matters to me because I sometimes can relate to it when I make my art pieces. Because I am very interested and talented in art, it bugs me when people don't use their own ideas. Instead they make wealth out of the beauty of someone else's idea or art piece. This matters to the world because it truly makes us think that creativity is not all that bad in other areas beside art. For example, it started with ambition, rolled into a big chunky thing you talked through, went through thousands of modifications, and is now in my pocket and is known as a cell phone. If people did not build on the ideas of others, we would not be anywhere as a society or world right now. This matters to education because if we were not resourcefully solving problems or accomplishing goals, we would not be learning anything. To get the smarts, you have to learn from other people's mistakes. I think what David Warlik said is significant to all these matters and more.

PLN 3

"Footprints in the Digital Age"by Will Richardson is very relevant to today. Near the top of the article, it explained that many many kids are interested in interavtive websites. This is true because we as students like to not be spoken to but to speak. The article talked about how important it is for students to share their interests and to discuss topics. This is very important and significantly true. It talked about how students need to not only have their own space to learn, but to be able to obtain information from it. Things like this are the ones that are going to have and effect on us for the rest of our lives. If we are going to keep this information for ever, we might as well make it useful.

PLN 3

Is Google Making Us Stupid? Some may argue yes and others no. Scientific studies show a difference in the human brain from computers. Some results didn't even need deep scientific studies to show the results. For example,one man found that his friend's style of writing changed after the friend took on writing with the new typwriter. I believe that google is not what is making us stupid, it is the natural human tendency of taking short cuts. When one is typing, it takes them so much less time to get something on the page than when one is writing by hand. After we got used to getting work done fast, we started losing our vocabulary and other things just so we could get our job done faster. The article very deeply discusses this. I disagger with that notation. I believe we are making us stupid, not the internet.

The vision of students today.

The video that our class watched discusses the contreversy of good and bad aspects of modern day technology. Created by Michael Wesch, this video is called, The Vision of Students Today. For some students, technology can be used for many acedemic purposes, but many use it for entertainment which might be the cause to all the problems shown in the video.
For me, it is hard to not be distracted by facebook, youtube, email, music websites, etc. while I am working on my studies. This is a common problem for students internationally. In the video it talked about things involving technology and other distractions that have big distracting impacts on the lives of many students. Some times, I take my education for granted. In the video, a boy held up his lap top and it said,"This laptop is worth more than some people make a year." That means that some people can't reach basic necessities for schooling and here I am writing this blog on a nice computer acting like it is no big deal.
The education aspect of the world has been largley industrialized over all the ages. This means that over time as technology and new teaching methods sprout everywhere, students are learning new things than past generations, learning how to take advantage of new technologies, and other things. But as all these monumental changes occur, it seems that normal fundemental learning is becoming more of a fun activity than a task that needs completion. The video adresses this problem.
Labor jobs,buisness jobs, active jobs, social development jobs, and an innumerable number of other kinds of jobs have direct connections to education. If the world keeps going on this advanced technology track, we might end up in a corrupt world of slakers who never really learned how to use their minds. As technology grows and levels of distractions in highschools and colleges grow, students will start thinking less about school and more about fun in school. Schools will become social scenes instead of a places to learn. If this modern day crises is not solved soon, who knows where the world will be in 20 yoars.
The video made these problems vivid and clear. Maybe we should take advantage of this knowledge and try to make a change today.