Apple Ipads Available for Bulk Purchase

This article talks about the Ipads that are being sold in India. In India they are selling Ipads for a cheaper price. The only catch is that you have to buy the Ipads in bulk. This would be able to provide Ipads to buisnesses or schools for a cheaper price. I think this would be a great way to get Ipads for our school. They are only sold in bulk which is great because every student will need one. The Ipads are also cheaper which benefits the students who pay for them.

Assign-A-Day

Assign-A-Day is a great tool teachers can use to benefit students. It is an online calendar teachers can create. On this calendar teachers can post assignments and days of tests/quizzes. This can help students view assignments that they may have missed. It can also help students who were absent. This calendar allows them to view assignments due on the days they were out of school. Lastly, it can benefit students because they can see the days that tests will be given so they will have ample time to study for them instead of doing it last minute. Assign-A-Day calendar would be very helpful if all teachers used it. I think this should be required for teachers to use. If this calendar was used in all schools, I think that students would do better in school because this allows them to be more organized and it informs them on what assignments they have to do.

School Bans Pens and Pencils

This article talks about a school principal in North Brookfield, MA who banned pens and pencils in school. Mrs. Scott wrote a letter home to students and their parents informing them that the students were not allowed to bring and carry around pens and pencils. They banned students from bringing school supplies because they could be used as potential weapons. Students were provided with pencils from their teachers when they arrived to school, and they were collected upon leaving. In my opinion I think this is rediculous. These students are in sixth grade, they should be able to be trusted carrying around a pen. I could understand if this was a rule with yonger students in kindergarden, but not sixth grade. Students should have the right to simply carry around a pen/pencil just like every other student does in school. I feel like this is a lack of trust in students. Just because a couple of students have used pens/pencils inappropriately does not mean that every other student should not have the privledge to carry around necessary school supplies.

Should We Be Good at School?

I just read this blog by Tony Baldasaro. It talks about if being good at school has any relation to our futures. In some ways I do think being good at school can be beneficial to our future careers. Most people figure if you get good grades in school, then why wouldn't you be successful in the future. I also think that just because you were good at school does not neccesarily mean that you will be good at your career. I feel like schools have has the same routine for a long time. Students sit in assigned seats, listen to teachers talk, and go home and do homework assignments. In my opinion I don't think that really teaches us anything for our futures. Also, most schools do not educate students based on what career they would like to get into after high school. I think that being good at school is mostly irrelevant to being successful in our future careers.

Be Careful Posting On The Internet

Websites like Twitter and Facebook can be very useful and beneficial, if used correctly. Last January a man joked about bombing an airport on Twitter. Things like that can be completely prevented. People definately have to have good judgement when posting things on the internet. Even if something is posted as a joke, others can take things the wrong way. It just takes one person to be offended by a post and report it. Even though this man claims he was joking, it is still serious. People should not joke about things such as a bomb threat because someone is going to read it and report it becasue they may be concerned for others safety along with their own. Lately I have been reading a lot of articles on people getting into trouble for what they post on the internet. It is so important to be careful and to really think before you post something on the internet for everyone to see.

Ipads for every student

I think the idea of students having their own ipad next year is good and bad. The ipad can be a very helpful tool. It contains many applications that can be used for educational use. You can download different types of calculators, text documents, periodic table, and note taking pads. These applications can be very helpful in the classroom and it would make it easier on the students because they would not have to carry around textbooks and notebooks. The downside of the ipad is that not all people like to use touch screen electronics. I am not a fan of using anything that has a touch screen. I would much rather use a laptop over an ipad just because I feel that it would be less difficult for me.

A Student's View

I read the article A Students View about a high school freshman Katie who is not a fan of high school. Of course no one likes to wake up early everymorning and go to school five days a week, but I do believe it is worth it. Getting an education is so important. Katie says she hates school, it's boring and meaningless. I feel the exact opposite of that. I actually like going to school, yet some days I absolutely dread it, but for the most part it really isn't bad. Some classes can be boring but there is always going to be one or two classes that jist dont interest you. I disagree that school is meaningless. I think it is very important for everyones future. Education can help people get into college and eventually get a job later on. I do understand that a lot of people have the same feelings as Katie does about school, but I think at some point they will realize that school is not meaningless.

Formspring

Formspring is a website which allows people the create their own page for others to post comments. These comments can be posted anonomously or you can choose to have your name shown next to your post. I think that Formspring is not a good website. People use this for the wrong reasons. I have seen other Formspring accounts and the comments people make are so negative. There is really no point to having a Formspring account in my opinion. I have not made one and I do not plan on it. I don't know why someone would want to know all of the bad things people think about them.

Skloog

http://www.skloog.com/

I think Skloog is a great tool. It is a tool used for online bookmarking. Skloog allows you to add a bookmark of all of your favortie websites. This tool makes it easier to bookmark your favorite websites instead of having to save a website toy your favorites. I think it is easier because it is a whole page with pictures of your bookmarked websites, so it makes it much easier to find the website your looking for instead of reading a whole list of your bookmarks, which could take forever to find. I think this could be extremely beneficial for projects. Students should use this tool to bookmark the websites that they use for their projects. This can help when students have to site their sources at the end of the project. All they have to do is open up their Skloog and all of the organized bookmarks are listed.

Why do I have to study [Fill in the Blank]?

I disagree with the students who think that math and english are pointless to study in school. No matter what students are going to do in the future, I believe that math and english are imperative courses to take. I agree that certain math classes like triginometry and calculus are pointless. In my opinion I do not think most people will ever need to know that in order to succeed at their job. But, I do think math such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing are crucial for people's future. I also think that english is one of the most important classes to take. English helps people with reading and writing. I think that english allows people to do well in their other courses also. I think that some students think this way because of influence from past teachers. Some teachers may not take their class as seriously as other teachers, which is why I think that students think this way as a result of that.

Change In The Classroom

Next year every student in my high school will have a laptop. I think this is a great idea and I think it will be very beneficial for both students and teachers. In my classes now everyone sits in rows but when we get laptops i think seating should be rearranged. Maybe the desks could be set up in a circle or maybe there can be groups of desks together to allow students to interact with others. A new seating arrangement can be beneficial for the techers because then it could possibly be easier for them to make sure students are not on any websites they should not be on.

My Montage 10/28/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Livebinders

Livebinders is a web 2.0 tool. It like an online binder. In this binder you can keep certain web pages or documents in. It is very helpful in terms of organization. I think this would be great for students and teachers to use. This binder could be helpful for learning, teaching, and studying. This could potentially help some students be better learners because I think that teens are more likely to study or do schoolwork on a computer because it is something they are very familiar with and it is less boring. The only bad thing about using this tool as a way of learning is that students get easily distracted and will end up on other websites.

RSA Animate Video

I really liked this video about the problem with education in schools. I think there definately needs to be changed in the way students are educated. I agree that students should not have to sit in rows and just listen to a teacher talk. I think that when students are in a class where a teacher just talks the whole time, they are less likely to pay attention and to learn. They are more likely to zone out and not absorb any of the information. This video talks about how students should not have to be in the same grade with the people their age. I disagree with that. I think that students the same age should be in the same grade, even though some are more advanced than others. In school students can be in different level classes and even take different types of classes which I think solves that problem. There definately needs to be change in schooling because as Ken said common knowledge in people deteriorates. This was proven with the paperclip experiment, asking how many different things it could be used for. The older they got, the less they could think of. In my opinion I think that schools need to do more hands on learning.

Google Docs

Using Google Docs can be very beneficial. Google Docs is like Microsoft Word. It allows you to create a document, slide show presentation, spreadsheets, forms, and drawings. You are able to email your work to someone else or you can share it with other gmail users. Google Docs is great to use for group projects because it allows everyone to be able to contribute to the same document. It is less of a hassle because you dont have to be with the al of the people in your group at the same time in order to work on the project, you can just do your portion at home.

Get a Voki now!

Edutopia Opens The Virtual Door On Our Classroom

http://bhsweb20.blogspot.com/2010/10/first-hand-evidence-of-what-connecting.html

So far web 2.0 has been very beneficial for me. Before I took this class I would always go on the internet to just go on Facebook, I never really thought the internet could be used for education. This class has introduced me to blogging and Twitter. I would have never made a blog or a Twitter account if I was not in this class. Not all schools offer web 2.0 or are even going to start to use social media for learning like we are, which is why we are lucky.

Principals Learning Through Social Media

http://www.convergemag.com/training/Principals-Learn-Through-Social-Media.html

I think it is great that schools are starting to use social media for learning. I think it’s very beneficial for the students because we can relate to all of the social media. Most all teens use technology now and know a lot about it. However, I think most students just use it for communication purposes and not educational purposes. Most parents probably dislike the idea of using social media for learning. I think they just need to give it a chance because in the long run, it could be very beneficial. For years students have been sitting in a classroom listening to the teacher talk and learn by what they are saying and writing on the board. With social media students can talk to others about what they’re learning in class and also connect with other students or even other teachers. I think that using social media will take a while to get used to, but once schools have had it for a while I think it will really work out and maybe parents will have a different perspective on it.

Bullying

Lately, I have been hearing about lots of suicides due to bullying, more than I ever have before. I think that this is terrible. Bullying has been going on for a while now and so many teens are committing suicide in result. Schools, parents, and police need to be more aware of bullying and find effective ways to fix it. I do not think bullying can be prevented completely because you can’t control what other children do or say, but I definitely think there should be harsh consequences. In the past month I have heard of five different teens committing suicide. Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, and Eric Mohah all committed suicide after being bullied due to being gay.  Eric Mohah was one of four teens who had commited suicide because of bullying in his school. I think it is terrible that four teens in the same school have all killed themselves.  After one suicide, the school should have been watching out for bullies and making sure it didn’t happen again. I think there should be laws against bullying or at least serious consequences because it is terrible that bullying can get so bad, to the point where someone takes their own life.

Twitter as a PLN Tool

http://gvcprincipal.blogspot.com/2010/09/twitter-as-my-primary-pln-tool.html



I completely agree with what Scott is saying. I just recently got a twitter and I also thought it was pointless. Posting things on twitter when no one is following you isn' t the greatest thing to do if your trying to create a PLN. I am sure that as time passes and you begin to follow people with the same interests as you, you can talk to them through twitter. I think twitter can be beneficial for high school students in order to help them create their PLN. There are so many people on twitter that could be interested in the same things as you and are willing to share their thoughts and ideas, you just have to put yourself out there in order to get it started.

Regulating teachers tweets and facebook

http://www.bradenton.com/2010/09/28/2609663/social-networking-topic-of-policy.html

In Bradenton, Florida the school board is considering regulating what teachers post on their twitter or facebook accounts. They decided to create this policy because last year a teacher posted how he hated his students and jobs. I think that this is a great idea. Most parents and teachers really focus on how the students online activity should be regulated and they worry about what they post. Not many people seem to think about regulating the teachers online activity, which is why this article interests me. I think that both students and teachers should be regulated online. I have never even thought about this until I saw this article.

Teens Online Lack Ethics

I think the internet can have a postive and negative effect on teens. Teens use facebook a lot. They have to be careful with what is posted on their facebook, because certain things could get them into trouble. Also, facebook or any other social media website can be very distracting. If a teen has to get on the computer to do homework or write a paper they will also go onto another website and the homework either doesnt get done or it takes twice as long. Social media websites are also good. They can help to further educate students. I definately think that teens need to be more careful with what they do on the internet.

PLN

Using a blog, twitter and facebook are all ways to start your personal learning network. The internet is full of information, so it is helpful in terms of creating a PLN. My two major interests are fashion and the medical field. Google reader makes it easy to look for blogs about both of these topics. I have subcribed to a few blogs about nursing and fashion. The nursing blogs give me information about all of the different types of nursing which can help me decide what I want to go to college for. The fashion blogs are updates on the latest fashions, designers and fashion shows going on around the world.

endangered animal blog

http://ecological-problems.blogspot.com/2010/09/endangered-animals-definition-and.html

"Principal bans facebook"

I think that facebook should not have been banned from this school. Facebook, along with other websites on the information are important for learning and comunication. Some people do misuse the internet at times but not everyone does. I think kids should be allowed to use facebook at school and teachers should just make sure they are using it for the right resons and not innapropriately.

5 Easy Steps For Students To Establish Their Personal Brand Using Social Networking

5 Easy Steps For Students To Establish Their Personal Brand Using Social Networking


I think that facebook can have both a postove and negative affect on people. Some people misuse facebook. They put their personal information and pictures on their facebook pages that anyone can see. It could affect them getting into a certain school or even getting a job. Facebook is good because it is a place for connecting. The internet is very effective. It is a tool used for learning and connecting with others.

Web 2.0 is an interesting class. I like this class because I enjoy working on the computer. I have made accounts for gmail, twitter and delicious so far. This class has shown me helpful websites on the internet.