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Dear Mr. Will Richardson,

I read your article “And What do You Mean By Learning” and I never thought of learning this way but you said that learning is on the child not the teacher. Students need to have a greater desire to learn because if they do not how will they be taught anything. It is like your daughter and how she perseveres through her own problems like the high jump. I also believed that you had some very interesting thoughts about nobody knows how to define learning but that you do think SAT is not supposed to be in the definition. I am a high school student in a class that to be honest has a lot of slackers, and it is not because they are not intelligent but more that they do not apply themselves in learning. That need to practice learning and like you said nobody knows how to practice learning but many students will keep trying to learn and that is what our school needs.

PLN 5

Dear Will Richardson,

I read your article “Have Schools Reached Their Limits” and it surprised me that you think we could personalize learning so much that it would help every student with he or shes every needs. I agree with part of what you are saying that we need to help the students more so they can do good in school and have a right to “learn.” The part I am disagreeing with is getting most of the big stake tests abolished because I feel as if there was nothing that would make or break their grade they would not try as hard. In my eyes the test is a part of school that will always be needed because it is the motivator that helps students better understand the knowledge of the content they are studying because they have to memorize some of the facts. I am a student myself and as much as I do not like tests I do learn from them and my mistake from them. The other part of your article that I half agree with is the on line learning to make communities. I think that is a great idea in itself but the part I disagree with is not going to a physical learning space because if students are at home I believe they will slack off. I believe we do need to update the learning system but also keep some of the old ways because if it is not broken then why fix it?

PLN 4

Dear Will Richardson,
I read “The “New” Normal” your article and I agree with what you are saying about how education systems in the United States needs to change its education system to a system personalized for the student. Right now in school our education system is standardized and it is not helping every student to their best potential. Political figures feel that if we just teach the student how to beat the test we will learn what we need to, but I know that it will never work. Richardson says that we need to personalize education and I agree if we meet the needs of every child then our country would do much better in education, because it is not always the grade that matters. In the your article you talk about how our education system has nothing to build itself up from and it does not, because we are still teaching standardized like in the good old days. But how will we reform our education to fit every student’s needs it is a big task that has to be done?

PLN 3

Dear Mr. Karl Fisch,
I read your article “The CSAP is Dead. Long Live (err, TCAP)” about the transition between CSAP and the new test being put in place on 2014. In your article it states that nobody will know if the test will show our children’s traits that parents want them to have. I am agreeing with what Mr. Fisch and Will Richardson are saying about nobody knows what this test will teach our students or if will teach them anything. Education these days needs a test that will truly show what students need help to improve on or the United States is going to fall farther back in education. People want to know how this test will show students best qualities and what they need to improve on and I am wondering how the test can do this? I have been taking CSAPs for as long as I can remember and I don’t see how they can change this new test the TCAP to help learn from the material. Hopefully I am wrong though and they can change how it works so it is a personalized test. Will this test help the students instead of just a school trying to be the best? But nobody knows. Students, parents, and teachers will just have to see if this test helps out the education of students in a positive way.

PLN 2

Dear David Warlick,

I agree with your article “Are We Wasting Children” because schools can’t kill off their own students.I do believe that this nightmare of yours is not just a frightening and scary thing that may be happening in schools. I believe it is going to foreshadow that schools are going to soon be throwing out children that are not able to keep up with the standards that the schools have. Right now few students have dropped out that I know of but if teachers do not encourage their students and help them like in a bad dream then the schools will be losing students very quickly. The schools will be killing off an already dying breed the student. So I believe that the schools need to encourage students to work hard and help them when they really need it. Even if the student is not as intelligent as his or her peers they should not be murdered for a small defect, because everyone deserves a chance. Along with that point if a student is thinking about dropping out then the school should have a serious discussion with the student to discuss the options and see how this will affect his or life. A horrifying nightmare you encountered and it hopefully has showed how to prevent the murdering of more students.

PLN 1

I read Mr. Fisch's “The Learning Studio” which talked about how students have taken a different approach in college to learning medicine. Instead of being lectured by a teacher for an hour students prepare themselves before class and then rate themselves on how they understand the content. They then break up into teams and work on a patients problems in the learning studio. This way of teaching has greatly helped students learn, work as a team, and increase their grades in the class. If this is how colleges teach then how come our kindergarten through the twelfth grade don't teach like that. If we started teaching like that now in our own schools students could possibly learn more and develop needed communication skills. I think learning studios should be put in schools all over the country.

PLN 23

In Clay Shirky’s How Will Cognitive Surplus Change the World? He talks about people will be able to contribute their unspent time to help and build a better and safer world for the coming generations. Ushahidi is one of the technological advancements that Shirky supports because he it helps people around the world and anyone is able to contribute to it. Ushahidi helped Haiti in the recovery from the earthquake and the controversial election of Kenya. Everyone who contributes will be helping the cause. This matters to me because if there is 3 trillion hours of unspent time a year then I would like to try and contribute some of it to helping others even if it is online. This matters to education because maybe someday students could use it to communicate with students in other countries to learn what they are studying and how things are done there. They could also communicate and have a world wide school system. Cognitive surplus matters to the world because if people need help around the world and people contribute a small amount of their time to potentially save another’s life is always good. I believe cognitive surplus is leading us in a good direction to helping the world.

PLN 22

In Lauren Lee’s The Problem of Motivation she talks about how students today do not face the same struggles as students did in history. Sure students back then hated their text books and everything else to do with school. Today students are losing their lack of interest in school because schools are so focused on the test. She also explains that the lack of interest in school was also present in school 400 years ago and they did not have CSAP. This matters to me because if students 400 years ago did not have the focus and interest in school then how do people think we feel. We have added test, more stress on grades, and colleges who won’t accept us if we do not have a high GPA. It is no wonder we have no interest in school all of the joy has been sucked out of it. This matters to education because if students are losing motivation then how will they provide a stable future for their lives. This matters to the world because if students are not motivated then how will anyone be able to learn about other customs and cultures to help them communicate with the rest of the world. If there is no communication then it may lead to mass chaos. This article is also like School’s would be great if it weren’t for kids because in that article students are not motivated to work either. Schools need to provide a little more entertainment for students and students need to be more into their studies.

PLN 21

In RSA animate’s Changing Education Paradigms it shows us that the world is trying to reform every kind of education. The video also showed that the education system now is causing students to come down with a epidemic called HDAD. The schools are making lessons so boring that students are not able to pay attention. This matters to me because I don’t want to be diagnosed with HDAD because then I think teachers will treat me differently. To education, if students are becoming so bored that they can’t pay attention then the school needs to change their ways of teaching for the students. Schools also taught in the movie that a college degree is a necessity for a job when it is not always true. I believe schools need to let students follow their own paths and try to succeed. To the world if students are being told that they are stupid will they try? The schools need to come up with a way to meet every students needs. If all of the students needs are met then the school system would be perfect and would be able to produce students more fit for the modern world.

PLN 20

Admin’s article ‘Tis The Season for Technology was an article about what to get children and teenagers get for Christmas that might also help them in school. The article stated that many gifts can help students in school such as ipods, robots, or defective toys for podcasts. These toys could help students to improve their abilities in school by creating mvies or downloading helpful podcasts. Receiving Christmas presents that will also help me in school matters to me because if I get a Christmas present that would be able to help me in school then it would be like killing two birds with one stone because I would be receiving a gift but the gift would also help me in school. This matters to education because if parents give their children toys that would help them in school then test scores would be better, students would be more involved, and the school would even have a better graduation rate. Presents using technology would help the world because young children would start playing with toys to help them in their education as a result there would be a smarter generation that would achieve great things in our world. Imagine if a child with a toy that helps their education was playing with it every day and his or her mind developed more. It would be so easy to get smarter students in schools.

PLN 19

In George F. Will's Lost in Electronica boys are bored more often. The article states that boys are now bored after 30 seconds of not having anything to do; it used to be that boys were bored after 2 hours of not having anything to do. The article states that boys are now becoming bored more often because they are playing more video games and becoming more involved with their electronics. This matters to me because I know that I am bored a lot of the time now and that it will affect how my mood is and how I focus. It also means that I am using electronics to much now, which is affecting my brain. To education,boys that are becoming bored after 30 seconds is not good for learning because that means that the teachers will not be able to teach as well because boys will be day dreaming. The boys will not be able to focus as well in class because they are getting bored more often. To the world, boys being affected by the electronics has made it so that they are losing social skills and are putting themselves at a disadvantage in life because they are not able to communicate with people. As a result boys that are bored could be lonely and unemployed. This article is like Is Google Making Us Stupid? because the brains of people and boys have been changed by electronics. Electronics have changed the way boys and people think, are they really helping us. Or are they a benevolent device used for resources.

PLN 18

In the article We See This as the Future of Higher Education by Karl Fisch, was about how many classes in college are now being taught over the web just like some of AHS Algebra classes. Many college students are now taking classes that are broadcasted on the internet so it is easy for students to watch and “attend” class. If colleges are now starting to teach this way then it will be very important for students in college and in high school to uphold their part in this privilege because if students do not watch the podcasts of class then they will not be able to figure out what is going on in class and will not come in to ask the teachers questions. This matters to me because I have a class where our teacher posts podcasts and you have to watch them or class the next day will not help because it is all based on the podcast the day before. Also this way of learning helps some people learn better and if it helps me understand the content better I would want to try this way of learning. Online podcasts of class matter to education because many people are not able to attend class once in a while and this would help them not miss everything in class. Also it is a cheaper way of teaching for many colleges and is saving them money. This matters to the world because maybe one day anyone could attend a college class anywhere in the world and still participate in class while in a different country. Online learning could revolutionize school.

PLN 17

In Karl Fisch’s What If the students are not permitted to use cell phones in school and that all electronics will take away from learning. The video shows our progression over time and how technology has become a big role of education over time. Since technology is not permitted in school then how will we be allowed to use laptops for research or papers, and if we keep our homework on our phone what will we do. If all electronics are not allowed in school then how will we use computers for notes. The teacher also runs class most of the time on a computer and projector. This matters to me because if all electronics are not allowed then I won’t be able to use our laptops in English or take notes off of the projector in social studies. Schools are always bragging about how they are becoming more technologically advanced but then tell us to put all electronic away. To me it seems very contradicting. To education, if all technology is banned then everything the schools have worked up to is gone and we won’t be able t use computers or projectors. The banning of all electronics will hinder education more than it will help. Many schools depend on technology for learning but if it is not allowed anymore many students will not do as well. To the world, if all technology was banned there would be mass chaos because there would be no source of communication. People would not be able to e mail or call on cell phones traffic lights would be destroyed and there would be more crashes. If all electronics are banned we would move back in time and would be like the stone age. If electronics are banned in school, than is school in the stone age.

PLN 16

            I read Will Richardson’s A Turn of the Phrases(s) and it was about how students are supposed to receive an education and that education is provided but also that we need to figure out that we provide the education for ourselves. Sure education is provided by the school but I know that I need to make an attempt to learn and so does everyone else to take anything away from what I was taught. In the article Will also talked about how schools also need to help students figure out the best way to prepare them for learning. This matters to me because if I know how to prepare myself to learn then I know I will do better in school. To education, students who do not understand what is being taught in class might struggle more because they do not understand how to take all of the information in because one size does not fit all even though the school’s teachers thinks it does. To the world, struggling students won’t help make a good impact on the world. The students who make the most of their education will be the most successful people in life doing what they want to. Think about it do we want college graduates frying burgers because they did not take anything away from college Will also stated that technology is now a big role in education and that we need to use education to shape technology to help students have a better advantage in learning. If students have the resources on a computer they need to use it their advantage but if education shaped technology then we would never have to question sources or validity of our searches. There are many factors that play into the role of a successful student.