PLN9

In the article “32 boys and me: Tales from the all boys’ class” by Anne Smith, introduces her thoughts on her all boys first period class from having to rethink plans, enforcing a no “D” policy, really slow down and focus on the students needs, and above all improving them. She states in her article, “I don’t know if I could have prepared myself more for this class other than growing up with three brothers of my own, but this class has been and continues to be a mental challenge.” First, she was finding that at the last minute she would have to change plans because then she could encourage and motivate them. Next, she believes that taking out a possibility for “D’s” making the boys set for a higher standards and eliminate their poor quality work. Along with letting her students create their own quality of A, B, and, C work instead of telling them what they have to achieve to get a good grade. On top of that she gives the opportunity to redo assignments until they receive the grade they want as long as it is within the same six week period it was assigned. Then, she realized that the students didn’t understand what they were supposed to be doing so she had to start slowing the class down and putting more explanation into what was going on in the class. Last, her whole goal is that she can improve the writing of all her students so that they are better prepared for writing classes in the future and for their careers ahead of them. Proving that she is a teacher for the right purpose and actually cares about the students as she stated, “Why does it seem I care more than they do about their work?” which is a very sad statement. Obviously the gender class can be really frustrating and hard to deal with when there is that many boys together but she seems like she is doing a good job working with them if she can just get them to care a little more.

PLN8

The article “A vision of students today,” By Dr. Wesch is the same concept or message as “The machines are using us,” by Dr. Wesch and “Did you know” by Mr. Fisch because they all send a message about how important technology has become to the human race. First, in “A Vision...” most of the students in the video commented on doing more reading on facebook then in actual books or more pages of emails sent then pages of assignments. Like in Wesch’s other video “The machines …” Google has 47 billion searches a month and but what are the people searching for something they are interested in or something that they need to know for their job, or education. Or as Mr. Fisch’s “Did you Know” says through the presentation are minds have got to be able to relate it to something else that we liked. Next, technology is just a luxury that we have come to love but in Wesch’s class the students were saying that they were using the computers for entertainment not for the class they were taking. In “Did you know” the opposite was expressed saying that technology would change the jobs that were available for the near future and is important. In those articles the points that were presented either clashed or agreed with each other.

PLN7

In the article “Some showerheads rain respiratory peril, CU study finds” by Colleen O’Connor tells about a germ that collects in your shower head, Mycobacterium avium that leads to pulmonary diseases but it is not supposed to make people concerned because it mostly just occurs on the first blast that is really cold anyway. I think that it is crazy to think that something we use to clean ourselves with has bacteria that have even such a slim chance of giving us disease us. It is odd to think that they only studied the shower heads because of studying the air and water in public buildings, schools, and homes.

PLN6

In the article “King Soopers with employees expires” by Tom McGhee explains how workers at grocery stores like King Soopers and Safeway were negotiating contracts until midnight September 13, 2009 when their employment contracts expired. Now they join Albertson workers who have been on the job with no contracts since May. However, King Soopers is trying to get new agreements that would include raises for employees that have been on the job longer (65% or 9,900 Colorado employees would get raises), employees can’t collect their pension until they are 55 instead of 50. I think that the workers are at this point hoping that they get good benefits and pay check since King Soopers hold all the cards in their hands. Then, the contracts were the only thing that was allowing them to fight King Soopers since they had to be paid no matter what and now without the contracts they can be fired without pay.

PLN5

In the article, “The New Literacy” by Clive Thompson repeats what Mr. Fisch’s “What Matters” power point about how technology has become such a big part of society. First, a professor John Sutherland says that the kids these days can’t write because of the technology they are surrounded with. Others say that it is improving the students writing because it is written to a bigger audience. Next, there is that the students feel it has more meaning than just another assignment it was reaching the world when they text, facebook, blog, and email like it has more meaning in Mr. Fisch’s when it relates to the general audience. Last, it seems everything that 13-25 year olds do is wrong if it doesn’t involve education in the article but with Mr. Fisch’s power point it was a good thing we are learning all the new technology to keep up to date. Clearly some ideas from the two different sources clash but for the most part both the articles are true or stereotype a group of people.

PLN4

After viewing “The Machine is Us/ing Us” by Michael Wecsh the feeling is wow the Sci-Fi movies of computer take over could happen at the rate we are teaching the machines. First, the computer is learning are mistakes and fixing them like when we are in word and we type hos instead of his it automatically is fixed for the user. Next, the computer is replacing memory like to find a website the address is placed in the address bar and stays there until it is completely deleted from the hard drive of the computer. Then, it is used to link the world but it isn’t user friendly like word and fixes your errors it just places them on the web to permanent like concrete and that could real hurt someone in the long run. Last, we are the machines because without us they wouldn’t be able to learn, help us, and mostly without us the machines wouldn’t exist. In the end the humans have created the systems of learning to make it easier for them to create, recreate, and uncreated.

PLN3

In the article “Mercury spilled in Denver’s Lincoln High School” by Kieran Nicholson a student brought a vial of mercury (mercury is a toxic meal [little exposure can cause tremors and impaired cognitive skills]) to school September 2, 2009. When it broke in a class it contaminated him and had the fire departments hazardous-materials unit on the way for clean up. The school didn’t announce whether the student is facing a discipline due to the accident. No matter what the school feels I personally think that the student should face some sort of punishment just because of the whole situation. First, he put himself in danger by carrying the vial no matter where he went it needed to stay at home or even given it to a hazardous waste department to be disposed of. Next, the student put all the staff and students in the building at danger by bringing it to school when there is absolutely no reason to ever bring a dangerous substance to school. Last, it isn’t even legal if the student had more than 17 kilograms in that vial. Clearly, either the states need to enforce the policies better for stuff like mercury or just totally out law them unless it is just part of something like paint, batteries, and other house hold items.

PLN1

After reading Mr. Fisch’s “Did you know” the world should realize how important technology is to us and how fast technology is improving. First, the future is predicted to have two big creations. Of those two first comes a computer in “2023 when 2nd graders will just be 22 year olds starting the first careers.” And then a super computer comes in “2049 that will be smarter than the human race.” Next, the technology the world has created has become such a big part of the world and that’s why “MySpace had 200 million users in 2007 (which would be the 5th biggest country)” or the fact that “each month Google gets about 37 billion searches.” Last, the world is evolving we must evolve with it, we must prepare for jobs that don’t exist, and we must prepare for the technology of the future. Clearly technology has become very important to us and the future has a lot to hold for us.
“No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age.” - David Warlick
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." - Alvin Toffler
“There is one thing worse than not being able to see. Being able to see, but having no vision.” - Helen Keller
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”- Albert Einstein

PLN2

In the gender Articles “Quiet gender gap hits collegiate balance” and “Women raise bar at college” by Tamar Lewin, I found that they have the same meanings of that the girls succeed and the boys slack and don’t succeed. First, they say that the colleges are mostly made up of girls like 60% girls while boys only take up 40% on most campuses. Next, they say that on any campus the majority of graduates are girls. That may be true but for some of the guys they just get picked out of college to go straight into a professional sport, like Paul Stasny who was in the middle of his junior year when the NHL picked him out for the Colorado Avalanche, before they can finish college. Last, they say that girls are graduating more because the guys party more while the girls stay home and study. Although in the end when you ask girls that are in college they party just as much as the guys for the most part the only difference is that the girls absorb the information better in class and don’t need to study as much. Yes the guys do need to do a little better but these articles left out important information to be stereotyping most guys as failures in college.