PLN 21

In the video “Changing Education Paradigms” by RSA Animate and Sir Ken Robinson he talks about how our education system is degrading and our kids aren’t relying on education as much as they maybe should.  One point made in the video was that millions of kids are forgetting the purpose of going to school and the system is “alienating” them.  Another point was that the current education is designed for a different time in the past.  The system is not progressing as it needs to.  I find this videos to be one of the most opinionated videos I have watched and I like the points Robinson is making.  This effects education because of the opinions and challenges that he gives them.  He believes we need educational reform.  This affects the world around us because kids are finding less of a purpose to go to school. This could decrease the progress being made.

PLN 19

In George Will’s “Lost in Electronica” he worries that the constant source of electronics are lowering our attention span and the time it takes for us to feel boredom.  He thinks this is especially true with boys.  I agree with him. The time it takes for me to get bored is slowly decreasing and I can feel it.  This effects education because school is sometimes the most boring thin in an adolescent boys life.  This effects the world around us because eventually boys’ “time it takes to be bored” will be almost nothing.

PLN 18

In “A Quarter is More Than a Fraction” by Karl Fisch he talks about how impoverished some of the countries in the world are and how much money we have.  his idea stated in his post was that we all should be considerate of the people who have less than us and give money no matter how small.  

I agree with Mr. Fisch because we all have more than these people and we all should be willing to give.  If we were in their situation we would want someone to care enough to give to us.  This applies to education because we are doing a toy drive at our school right now for a less fortunate school and we are a ways behind our goal.  It would be great if everyone could spend a little of their time and money to get these kids a toy.  this affects the world around us because it is almost Christmas and people are not thinking of others.

PLN 11: 2020 Vision

In “2020 Vision” by Karl Fisch, it addresses our technology and how much it will change in the future.  He makes predictions like the merging of companies and a single Arapahoe high/college.  He also thinks technology will continue to increase until almost everyone in the world owns their own laptop.  I think he did a great job with the presentation of this video.  From a philosopher's point of view Karl asked a lot of great questions about our future.

This affects the world around because we will likely live through 2020 and some of his predictions could come true.  This effects our education because if technology really gets that much better we could all be using laptops as an incredible learning tool in the future.

PlN 12

In the blog post ”You Know This is True” by Will Richardson he talks about how we are becoming less and less prepared for the tests in school.  Schools are reducing the pressure on kids’ testing and this is causing them to become worse at it.  Parents are also not helping very much because they are focusing more on what their kid is learning  instead of how well they do on tests.

This effects education because testing is a big part of education.  Without tests we would never know we needed to improve something.  This effects the world around me because I have to take the tests and be well prepared for them.  Dr. James G. Bilkey once said "You never will be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life.”  With this said we need the system to continue to help us by putting pressure on our testing.

PLN 10: "Third Grade is the New Cut Sport"

In the blog post “Third Grade is the New Cut Sport” by Anne Smith she talks about how some people are being exclusive in activities for kids as young as the third grade. She got the idea to write this post when her daughter came home disappointed that she didn’t get a speaking part in a class play after trying out for over 10 parts in the third grade production. A quote taken from her post states “In an era where we can’t get kids to participate in many activities, why are we cutting kids out of opportunities they want to succeed at?” I think this summed up the entire post. It is very disappointing that our society has become so competitive that we denied a little girl a part she wanted in a third grade play. A question in the post that really added to the argument was “At what point did we decide that 8 year olds don’t get to do something creative and important to them?”
This affects education because it has been more and more of a problem to get kids to participate in class and other activities. If we aren’t giving kids opportunities will they ever feel reach their potential? This affects the world around us because we all want to be a part of something and we need the chance to do it.

PLN9: Rigor Redefined

     In “Rigor Redefined” by Tony Wagner, he talks about how modern classes are beginning to lack some of the skills necessary to be successful in a workplace.  Tony asked many business leaders what they looked for in the best worker and made a list of qualities.  When he observed classes he began to see how little of the qualities were shown in students classes.  This article made me think about how I could apply these qualities.  This article influences the world of education because it is about the effectiveness of it.  It effects the world around me because I am a student and this article talks about our education.  Tony showed characteristics of being a philanthropist by writing this article for us.  The problem is that we can't do a lot about it.

PLN8: "Medics investigate possible disease on DIA-bound flight”

In the article “Medics investigate possible disease on DIA-bound flight” by The Denver Post talks about a kid that could have been transporting a contagious disease from Puerto Vallarta to America.  They landed at DIA where paramedics examined him.  This sounds to me like America is trying hard to prevent another disease like swine flu from us.  This article affects me because I am in sports and don’t want another big contagious disease going around.  It matters to education because thousands of students were out sick over the course of swine flu.  This effects everything around me because we could all get sick and it would but our normal lives on pause for a few days.  

I hope in the end it will all be resolved and we can continue our lives as usual.

PLN7: “Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us”

In the Youtube video “Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us” by Michael Wesch it talks about how we are programing the web even when we don’t know it.  The web has been mad to understand what we are looking for.  Each time we search something it gets smarter by figuring out what we were trying to find.  This matters to me because I am constantly on the web for school and life. For education this effects the way we use the internet for projects and everyday homework.  This effects the world around me because the internet is beginning to be the world around me and many other students and employees.  Every day we use the web we set it up increasingly more for our future.

PLN6

In the Denver post article “Alameda High students going home after lockdown” by Howard Pankratz it says that a school was shut down and evacuated because a student reported seeing someone with a gun in the school.  No gun was ever found and no other students said they saw anyone with a gun.  It made me wonder if the student made the incident up to get out of work or if the threat was real.  

This effects education because it shows how seriously schools take the threat of weapons on the campus even if there is no proof. It effects me because I go to a high school and there has been crimes committed with guns on campuses before.  The world around me is also mainly high school so in the same way the event effects me it also effects the world around me.  I hope with all the safety precautions in schools nothing ever happens to endanger a school’s students.

PLN5: “Footprints in the Digital Age”

In the article “Footprints in the Digital Age” Will Richardson talks about how important our trail that we leave behind on the Internet is.  Having stuff about us on the web can be beneficial or harmful to us.  It is important that it gives a positive look on our life.  It made me reevaluate my work I turn in for this class and generally what I write on the Internet.  

In the world of education our digital footprint can affect what school we go to and how our teachers view us.  If a school was doing research by googling you and they saw all of your accomplishments you would hope they are seeing positive stuff.  If you were a misanthrope and didn't trust others you might not want anything about yourself on the web. 
It also affects the world around us by making it easier than ever to look someone up and know about their whole world.  In the end our digital footprint, positive or negative, can affect our life in many ways.

PLN4

In the blog post “Dear Denver Post-You’re the disappointment” by Karl Fisch, it talks about how the Denver Post is putting to much of a negative spin to returning to school.  The headline from an article about high school football started out by pointing out the disappointment of starting school.  Karl thinks that it sets a bad example for students and Colorado readers and I agree. 

This topic directly relates to how people view education.  He talks a little about how most people are excited to get back to school even if there are parts they don’t love.  It doesn’t really effect our world all that much.

I believe that influential people and media should be more considerate towards schools and what they do.

PLN3: Is Google Making us Stupid?

In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” author Nicholas Carr tries to convince readers that we are loosing interest in literature due to the internet.  This made me wonder if we should or shouldn’t be using the internet.  He says in his article “Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose.”  He goes on to say how more recently he has had a hard time staying focused along with others he has asked.  

The whole article is on how our brains are changing and I have begun to wonder if it is true.  It makes sense that we are provided with whatever we want to know and it has changed the way we live dramatically.  If we really are loosing are reading abilities and getting dumber how do we change it?

PLN1

“A vision of students today” by Dr. Michael Wesch, makes it clear that we live in a world of technology that is helping us with things we may not even need help with.  Many  things we are privileged with will never be seen by people in poorer countries.  Technology is used for entertainment when it could be used as a tool for learning.  I think students today have so many resources today that didn’t exist a year ago and we don’t always use them.  There are so many different uses of technology and we take advantage of it.