PLN 6- See My Student Inventions

I had been glancing through the Cool Cat Teacher blog and I found one blog that caught my eye called See My Student Inventions. This article is about student's inventions for a project they are doing. One invention called iCoach has a preset of routines on a ipod that you can listen to and give feedback at the same time. Digital recordings can be added to this and Coach customizes that routine on a website. Another invention is called DigiDock, this forms a cellphone into a webcam, makes skype calls, shares everything, and is inserted through a USB. One of the last inventions I thought was interesting was called Perfume Pal; on the computer people can talk to their celebrity about their favorite perfumes and customize their own by the holograms and perfume scents combined on Microsoft surface.

This matters to me because students just like us open up their ideas and share their creativity. Inventions expand you're imagination and can create a world of new ideas. I thought new inventions are very unique and fun. This also relates to me because our class last year had an invention convention and created inventions, but unlike this we basically just threw stuff together.

This is important to the world as well because these new inventions can be sold to people and could make a lot of money. They can be useful and helpful to people in the world.

Reading about new inventions can be fun and got me thinking about what new things will be created next or what will be the next big thing in our generation. I love reading about these unique inventions when they are created by young adults.

PLN 5- Is Payment for Good Grades Legitimate Motivation in This Day and Age?

I have recently read an article called Is Payment for Good Grades Legitimate Motivation in This Day and Age? This article is about the motivation that drives kids today in school. They talk about whether or not paying kids for good grades is good motivation to them. Students today aren't pushed enough to work hard and tends to be easy for them to slack off or give up at any point. Motivation would be very helpful to help kids to work hard at school and push them harder. The adults are making an effort to motivate kids, not only in school but in anything else.

This matters to me because sometimes I know I really need motivation to try and keep up my grades, sometimes I want to slack off but I know that dosen't do anything for me. Being paid would be a good motivation, but I still try hard even when I don't get money because I know that its worth it now and will definitely help later on in life. Getting good grades is essential to me, my parents tend to give me a push once in awhile.

In the world, kids try to take the easy way out and not try at all in school. It is important to do well now because it helps later on in life. If we don't try hard now, it makes a mark in our lives because we wouldn't get into a good college, then we won't be able to get a job; this highly affects our future.

"In this day and age, we need to prove TO kids that the work they are asked
to do 'today' actually has a recognizable relationship to the life they are
actually living and experiencing 'today'."

PLN Entry 4- Putting them in a bubble

I was looking through the Thinking Stick blog and one article called Putting them in a bubble looked interesting to me. In this blog it is talking about how educators are trying to put students in a bubble aside from our generation. In this generation right now, a lot of us download music illegally, use Youtube, and have a myspace or a facebook. Adults try to protect us from these certain things and attempt to keep them out of our bubble. They are okay with us doing those things at home and not at school; adults are afraid that the new things in our world is affecting our learning. When our "bubbles" pop, we will have to deal and face the real world ourselves without any direction or guidance.
This connects to me because I know that I personally do those things that everybody else does, but parents dont really understand our new generation and new technology. I have been in a Christian school my whole life, and they have been putting us in a Christian bubble; entering into a public school is like entering the real world for me and I feel like I am no longer in this bubble. They shouldn't criticize the things we like to do and think that it might effect our learning. And relating to the world, a lot of people are so caught into stuff like computers, cellphones, ipods, etc. that they lose their focus on the real world.
One quote stuck out in this article:

"What happens when they graduate and go off into the world?"

PLN entry 3- Could It Happen Here?

I read an article that is called Could It Happen Here? by David Warlick that is an article that is about a conference to build the future of schools for students to attend at in Shanghai. This conference had been sponsored by ACAMIS, Association of China and Mongolia International Schools, the people are wondering if something like this could occur in the United States.

What Matters?
What's important is the future of kid's education in schools they summarize about. Everybody's education is important of course, but this conversation in the article leads up to talking about the future. And also, how this should be effective to kid's learning environments, it's important that it helps kids to learn.




Here's a quote I liked from the article:

“Come join the search as we together build the future of schools.”

PLN Entry 2-Nata Children recieve new shoes

I was looking through the Nata Village blog and I saw one story that seemed like a good article to me, called Nata Children recieve new shoes. This blog is about two travelers from London that are part of an organization; The Nata AIDS and Orphan trust. They distribute shoes (donated by Flamingo High school) to the children in the village and try to find the right shoe sizes for them. A lot of children are poor all around the world, and I think its important that we share and help them. It is very sweet that organizations take the time to give to children who don't have food, clothes, or shoes. It matters that we should be thankful for just about everything that we have, to not take advantage of it, and to not complain about the smallest things. The world around us can be greedy, and we must not follow that. We have every reason to be thankful even if we dislike something, like school. It's essential to be generous and sharing to everyone, and not take in of any selfishness.

PLN Entry 1- 10.2

Looking through the different blogs on "2 Cents Worth", one in particular caught my eye: "10.2" this blog talks about all the jobs a man named Doug has had. It appeared interesting to me about all of these jobs. It says that people hold on average 10.2 jobs between the ages of 18 and 38, but Doug has had alot more then only 10. He has washed cars, made picture frames and stamps, delivered newspapers, and played music in bands. He's worked as an operator and set up man in a machine shop to moving furniture and playing guitar. I could not imagine how many jobs he kept up with, and takes much hard work. I think having jobs builds up your character and perseverance as you get older. It makes young adults know what working actually means and what it is like to work for something they want. Doug taught himself many things- playing guitar, writing software, coding web pages, and self-publishing a book. Also it states that kids need to be taught to teach themselves rather then being taught by others, having a job and working at it; step by step, teaches you something is what matters. This would relate to our class because we need to work hard in every way we can on everything and learn new things and apply them to ourselves; possibly teaching ourselves something. This would connect to the world because many people have experienced more then one job, they can define what it is like to work for something. Some have taught theirselves many things from their childhood growing up.