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.