Motivation of the Ages

The article "Rigor Redefined" by Tony Wagner is basically about the "seven survival skills' for academic learning, it shows what is really happening in the classroom. School is not just a place where you go to five days a week, seven hours a day, to be given information so you can forget it in just a short time span. One of the problems is not only the students, but the teacher or instructor also. I know from my own personal experiences of teachers that not all of them are challenging enough. One of the most important aspects of a teacher is to have your students question themselves to a further extent. And have the ability to not only interact with piers, but be able to have the ability to ask the right questions. I mean without asking questions and engaging yourself how are you ever supposed to learn? Another great skill that Wagner pointed out was the lack of general leadership. Although, how do you teach leadership? How do you teach students to collaborate with one another, constructively and effectively? Teachers are finding more and more students are lacking the requirements of basic spelling and punctuation. Are we just simply passing by without the basic skills needed for the future job field?  Not only that, but actually remembering the information learned in schools. "Of the hundreds of classes that I've observed in recent years, fewer than 1 in 20 were engaged in instruction designed to teach students to think instead of merely drilling for the test." As Wagner stated, we need to find better and more intuitive ways to teach students without boring themselves to death. Could people solve that with more of the use of technology? Or is that maybe the cause of the disengaging of students? With all the distractions such as the use of cell phones, Facebook, or Myspace it can be easy to stray away from what is truly important.

The Mind of the World Wide Web

Web 2.0 the machine is Us/ing changed my perspective for the way the computer actually works. What caught my eye I think was how they mentioned that each time we use the computer for a task, we are teaching it a new idea each time. So what does that exactly mean? Always, from my perspective, the computer has had a "mind of its own." But now I realized its really the other way around. WE are the ones who make up the machine. Each day we add more and more information to the web. Increasing its knowledge through a database. What they were trying to explain was that digital text used today, used to be a simple part of our world. I not only think that it has become a part of us, it has defined our generation to do bigger, and better things for the future. It's not just part of the digital world, It's part of who we are.

The Power of Good and Evil

 "The science of good and evil" by Sam Harris,http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-10-02/sam-harris-on-the-moral-landscape/ instantly caught my attention as I was viewing my Google Reader. When you were a little kid, your parents taught you the difference between good and bad. But as I thought about it even more, who knew there was actually science behind morals? But are people naturally born evil, or do they choose their own fate? The truth is there is both good and bad in everyone. It is really hard to not engaged in some of the evil in the world. We are faced with everyday. And sometimes it is easier to be bad to others than to treat them good. The forces of evil are a lot stronger than the force of kindness and caring. Why is that? But what amazes me the most is when people are thrust upon life experiences that  that actually make them better people. The people who that wear smiles and a positive attitude everyday even though they are handicapped, poor or abused . These kind of people are the ones who are the reason there is good in this world. Because without them, we would be without hope.

Society and Social Statuses

As I was pondering to myself on what to do for my personal learning network, I came across an article called "Cheerleaders, Nerds, and Football Players OH MY!" by William Rosworth /blog/archives/2010/05/social_status_a.html/daily/beast about Social Rankings and High School. So what exactly makes us have such a drive to be "popular"? Is it for our personal happiness? Or just the approval of other people thats makes us happy?  The sad part of it is it's true for some people in high school.  And it's not just in High School, its also in the society. In the past, it mostly had to do with how much money you owned. Although I'm not saying that there still isn't that mistreatment today.  People are should all be treated equal, and shouldn't be used for your own personal gain of popularity. This also made me think if society is shaping your own personality. If your not the perfect picture, you don't "fit in with the crowd." But why do people have the tendency to stereotype? Is it just simply human nature? Although for my own personal high school experience I plan to do what makes me happy and to make as many friendships as possible. You should never be taken back by someone, or take someone for granted because one day they could be gone in an instant. In 2006 my friend/classmate McKaila J. Steffes had passed away due to leukemia when she was just 10 years old. Through the years she has taught me so much on the meaning of friendship. I still regret to this day how I wish I could have known her better. She taught me not to "judge a book by its cover" and look beyond people. I mean why do we have friends in the first place? To help us get through life situations where maybe you can't deal with them yourself, or just to simply make you laugh. Because you could miss out on a lot of extraordinary life experiences if you pass them by.  "Forget the wrongs of the past, but treasure the moments with the ones you love. "Expect for the future for it is YOU who makes your destiny, and live for the present, after all thats why it's called a gift." -Me

New Ways of Learning

"Footprints in the Digital Age"  by William Richardson, truly challenged me on my critical thinking on how we need to shape the students of todays age into a deeper thought process. "Some of it may be good, some may be bad, and most it beyond your control," is how Richardson described technology for the most part. I couldn't agree with him more. I mean can you imagine how many debates and discussions there have been on the use of technology? It seems like everyday, in every class, we're discussing the use of technology. Another good point that he makes is figuring out new ways to instruct students. And we need to come up up with new intivative ways to improve students skills for a better future. Technology I  think really does have a big impact on the education society today. It can help students so much to get more involved and collaborate with their piers.  But technology isn't the only thing  that we must depend on. Although technology can be a useful tool, we still need to learn the basics of reading and writing. Like everything theres a consequence of course. Although technology has a great advantage, it can also make students lethargic. But I think my favorite part was reading about a ten year old who has made such a big difference. She has donated to multiple charities, plus has shown off her gift to the whole world. She inspires me to become a better writer, and even in my youth I can still have a big impact on this world. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised when I read this article and hope that i only grow from this inspiration.

Your Personality Says Everything

As I was reading through all the articles of my choice of topic, I came across the article

"How Your Personality Affects Your Health." http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/heart/articles/2010/09/22/how-your-personality-affects-your-health.html

Hostile
"One of the aspects of the impatient, hard-charging Type A personality that is known to increase heart disease. Hostile people eat and smoke more and exercise less than other personality types, says Redford Williams, head of behavioral medicine at Duke University Medical Center and author of Anger Kills. They're likelier to be overweight in middle age and have higher cholesterol and blood pressure. Williams's past research suggests hostile people are also more likely to develop irregular heart rhythms, and to die before reaching their 50s. Most of these problems can be traced back to elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as increased inflammation in the walls of the coronary arteries, which leads to a greater risk of heart attack."


Relaxed
"If you're a Type B, you roll with the punches. You're relaxed, take life a day a time, and handle stress without cracking. That translates to a higher quality of life and lower likelihood of heart disease—less anxiety strengthens the immune system. The more we chill, the better off we are, says Miller: "You don't want to get locked into a stressful, tense state of mind." Over the long term, he adds, relaxing and managing stress effectively will lengthen your life, help your heart and gastrointestinal system, and just make you feel better overall."

 It made me think how I view my perspective on how to choose to live my life now. Even though your "born" with your personality, I still think there comes a certain point in your life where YOU get to choose what path you'd like to take.  I also think some of the part is the people influencing you. So do other people make up your personalities? Is it truly your choice? But you have to remember sometimes that you really do influence yourself. Theres so many difficult decisions a person has to make at some point during his/her lifetime. It's the simple things that make up your life. Now it's your choice. What will you do?

The Land of the Intelligently Lost

When I first read the article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicholas Carr, something really clicked in my head. So much of this article reflects on the current controversy about technology. Does all of the "easy access" to the world-wide internet really outweigh all the consequences? The one thing I noticed most about this piece that I would like to emphasize was that if we're reading more than we ever did. How are we becoming more "stupid"? We have so much knowledge in the palm of are hands, shouldn't we be the smartest era?  This made me truly analyze it to a further matter to where I had a hard time answering this myself. When students study or do homework, when the going gets tough, what do we do? Look it up on the internet. But when we're reading text are we truly and initially analyzing every piece to where we actually memorize it? The answer to this question is, no. Like in the article I think a majority of people partake in a different kind of learning when they're reading the millions of texts a day. Or reading Facebook pages, it's not exactly a learning process. A lot of students today really don't have a deep thought process on how to actually think for themselves. That's what worries me the most. If we just let machines learn everything for us, at the end of the day what will happen to you and your future?

Just Keep Dreaming...

Have you ever wondered why you dream, and how they can affect you? Dreams are actually an essential tool to your brain. According to http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/heres-why-we-dream_100396077.html “One theory is that it’s a way of allowing your brain to recover and consolidate all the memories and activities of the previous day, like filing time,” So what's so important that we have to remember? What happens to the other things that gets lost in our mind forever? This made me ponder for answers and reasoning. Our dreams have so much meaning within them. It's random elements that make them so intriguing. Do they reflect the bits and pieces of the day, or do they have a deeper meaning?

 

According to the Dream Moodsonline Dream Dictionary climbing a ladder means achieving a lofty goal or higher status, and a butterfly means transformation. Cutting your hair signifies that you may be changing your thinking, and seeing an old man means wisdom. Although some dreams seem to be universal within and even sometimes across cultures, most everyday dreams seem to have more to do with an individual's mental debris than with inspiration or telling the future. So, in order to know what your dreams mean, you should reflect on them yourself. Our dreams can affect us in so many ways.  Its up to you to decide what you will make of it.

Changing the World One Step at a Time...

After viewing the video "A vision of Students Today"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o  it really changed my perspective on the education system today. So much of technology has influenced our lives. I think some people from around thirty or forty years ago still don't grasp the understanding of students today. Things have changed. "Some say technology can save us" but could it destroy us too?  Today's classrooms, I truly think a lot of students don't have a voice in their classroom. They are consumed with cell phones, laptops, or even i-pods. Teachers will give you an assignment, you do it, and turn it in. Is that it? What is actually the percentage of students who actually take away from the assignment? What's the chance that they will apply it to their own lives and change the world? Pretty high standards I say so myself, but I think every student should think about. The world is in our hands now.  Theres such a big difference we can make. If we just set our minds to it, we can do anything.