PLN #12: What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents

The article, “What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents,” by Ron Clark, portrays the thoughts that teachers have toward the parents of their students and how they can get just as frustrated as the parents can.

Ron Clark explains in “What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents” that the parents of students they are teaching a presenting a real problem in education today and could be resulting in kids not getting the education they need. A point that is made in the article is that the best teachers don’t give the best grades, because they have higher expectations for responsibility, therefore it is harder for kids to get good grades. This is an interesting point because I always thought that the classes I did the best in were the best classes and I learned the most from them, but now I know that that might not be the case anymore. Another point made in the article was that when a student gets a bad grade on something or a teacher gives them a bad report on behavior, the parents of the kid usually try to stand up for the kid, prove the teacher wrong, and make the grade higher just so their child will do better. I can see why this is so frustrating for teachers because they know what they are doing in the classroom and since it’s their class, they should be able to justify what should be going on in that class. I can sympathize with these teachers because personally, I hate it when people try to prove me wrong and I always make sure I have a reason to back myself up. To add to the problem, when parents try to raise kids’ grades by talking with teachers, that not only teaches the student that it is okay to use excuses to get by in life, but it will limit their futures because they will not have the work-ethic and hard-working skills they need to get jobs in the future. Overall, I learned that it is important to respect teachers and learn to trust them because they were the ones trained to teach the kids, and they know more about what the kids will get out of it than the parents do.

PLN #10: In Praise of the F Word

The article, “In Praise of the F Word,” by Mark Sherry, explains how the threat of failure to some students can be very motivating and result in success rather than failure.


Mark Sherry’s reasoning behind the statement in “In Praise of the F Word,” that kids respond well to failure, is well-backed up and is interesting to think about in a perspective that many people aren’t used to looking at. The article says that if kids get the threat of a failure in a class, then they will definitely be more motivated to work hard to do well in the class they know they’re doing bad in. The author even had examples in his article that proved his theory right. The article also expressed that many kids who have graduated or dropped out of high school go back into school to re-learn what they were supposed to learn in high school. Many of the graduated people admitted to receiving their diplomas even when they didn’t actually learn what was being taught. They were basically saying that they shouldn’t have passed the class, but the teachers let them anyway. I think that threatening students with a failing grade is an interesting way to motivate them because it’s not a way that teachers would normally come up with but it really drives kids to get good grades, and they will be happy in the end.

PLN #9: Teens, Sleep, and School

The article, "Teens, Sleep, and School" by Gisele Glosser explains the many causes of sleep deprivation in teenagers and how it affects everyday teen life.

“Teens, Sleep, and School” by Gisele Glosser very accurately portrays the reasons teenagers tend to lose sleep-- procrastination, social media, and even puberty comes into effect when teens should be sleeping. I can relate to this article very well on a personal level because I know I don’t get as much sleep as I should and the reasons are very accurate according to my nightly schedule. I am one to put off homework until the last minute so I usually end up doing it later at night than I should. Also, social media has been taking over my life and I am involved in more apps than I should be. Although they shouldn’t be able to be very time consuming, I usually can find myself on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, or any other piece of social media I can get  devoured in time after time. This is definitely a weakness of mine because once I get sucked in, it is hard for me to back out and let self control take over, so I am up later than I should be. I think the author of this article really knows what teenagers’ weaknesses are, therefore the information is accurate and the solutions to extreme sleep deprivation might be legitimately beneficial. Some of these solutions include going to bed earlier and keeping electronic devices out of bedrooms at night. I think that if teenagers with sleep deprivation problems try these solutions, they won’t have to worry about extreme outcomes such as depression or even suicidal thoughts.

PLN #8: What's Wrong with the Teenage Mind?

The article, “What’s Wrong with the Teenage Mind?” by Alison Gopnik explains the idea that puberty in kids today is starting earlier and ending later than it ever has before, resulting in “teenage weirdness;” however, it also explains that the systems of teenage brains need to adapt more and therefore are becoming more efficient.

The main idea of the article, “What’s Wrong with the Teenage Mind?” by Alison Gopnik, makes an interesting point as to how teenagers’ brains work and the desires that teenagers have.  Some of these desires include the need for rewards for everything they do.  Gopnik explains that teens feel better when they are rewarded with something, and therefore are more likely to do more risky things when they think they will be rewarded with something afterward.  This is something that many teens can probably relate to, even if it is just getting rewarded with more social status or more friends.  Teens aren’t getting less intelligent though, as Gopnik states.  They are actually getting smarter, because the longer period of immaturity they have, the more experiences they will have to learn from.  Learning from experiences is a major part of developing as not only an adolescent, but growing up to be the best person you can be.

PLN #7: We've cracked the genetic code, now what?

          The article, "We've cracked the genetic code, now what?" explains the fact that the technology of genetics has been advancing and scientists have figured out what to use it for, but now they don’t know what to do with the information that they have.  One idea that could come into the everyday lives of people is to be able to access their own genetic code right on an app on their smartphone. This idea could be beneficial, but science needs to wait because there are ethical reasons why it might not be a good idea to release this kind of information to the world.  If too much information is released, there will be consequences and government officials don’t know how to deal with the questions that will come up yet.
 
I think that the article, “We’ve cracked the genetic code, now what?” is very interesting in the fact that we have come so far in technology and genetics but there is still so much that we can do and discover.  I think that having access to our own genome would be so incredible, and there would be so much that we could do with it! We could find out what diseases we are prone to have and theoretically be able to find a cure for them.  There is also the possibility that looking at specific genomes could determine why aging comes along the way it does, and in the near future there could be a way to argue it.  It would be very cool to find out how to prevent aging, but again there would be major consequences for figuring out this kind of technology, like a new problem of population in the country.  There are also some cons in the situation of discovering personal peoples’ DNA, such as moving into the boundary of ethical beliefs and protection against personal information.  When and if this kind of personal information ever gets out, there will also be the question of when it is appropriate to share.  I think that it is important to try to get as far as we can in discovering the human genome and that if any problems arise, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

PLN Presentation Feedback

Thanks for listening! Here is my question:
If the world had listened to the feedback that teachers had on technology just a few years ago, what would your personal life be like without the technology that we have today?

PLN #6: What If?

The video, “What If?” by Karl Fisch, proposes the idea that the world today is made up of many types of technology that didn’t exist before, and that the new technology that is being invented and improved is a statement to show how much the world has accomplished throughout the past few centuries.  In the video, Mr. Fisch gives quotes that teachers, administrators, and other officials gave about how they thought that technology would fail or become a burden rather than an achievement in the world.  Many of the quotes stated that the technology that was getting invented (in the time era that the quotes were taken from) was taking away from students’ learning and that it would become an inconvenience to them as time went on.  However, with each quote that came on the screen, each one talked about more recent technology and how it was effecting the world, and they never dwelled on one subject, which showed that over time the “obstacle” with that certain piece of technology was overcome.  The first quote was taken from the year 1703, in which a teacher is complaining about how slates are too expensive and students shouldn’t be expected to use them.  The technology moves from slates to modern technology like cell phones, calculators, and laptops.  At the end of the video, Mr. Fisch asks the question, “What if we’d listened?"

 
I think that the video “What If?” by Karl Fisch is very interesting and is a good way to look at how far we have come in the world of technology in just a few centuries.  Personally, I use all kinds of technology every day and without it, everything I do would be very inefficient.  I do most of my homework and even some class work on my computer so it is very important in the sense to get work done.  My phone is also an important piece of technology to me because I can do almost everything I can do on a computer on my it.  It is also an essential way for me to communicate with family and friends.  Facebook is just one of the many sites that people go on to stay connected and live vicariously through others.  Many websites like Facebook as pastimes as well as time-wasters, but they are still a big part of what technology is today.  The internet is also a huge achievement in the world of technology because before the internet, people would have to research everything in books and find other ways to occupy themselves.  If we had listened to the people’s quotes on Mr. Fisch’s video, we would have never gotten this far so I am glad that people challenged these statements instead of gave up on what new piece of technology was yet to come.

PLN #5: A Single Lucid Moment (Rewrite)

“A Single Lucid Moment,” by Robert W. Soderstrom describes what life is like in Papau New Guinea and shows the deep love and care that villagers from the small village can have towards others across the globe.  As Robert and his wife, Kerry volunteered as Peace Corps volunteers in New Guinea, they were welcomed by the villagers that lived there and although weren’t as nearly as fortunate as Americans, lived a carefree life.  They had no knowledge or information about the “outside world” at all; they only knew about the world that they lived in, which is nothing like a world with many more problems.  One day, when they were telling stories, Robert passed around a picture of his hometown, Chicago, with two homeless men on the street.  The villagers were shocked and all wanted to rally to help these two men out of their misfortune.  They were so interested in the topic of homelessness that they went into action to see what they could do, and even tried to contact the U.S. government. They really wanted to make a difference even though they had never heard about this problem before.  The article says, “In their simple lives, it was impossible to comprehend that humanity was host to such an injustice.”  They genuinely wanted to help these people as much as they could, so they offered to make homes for them in their country.  Even though in the end they couldn’t help the two homeless men, they still continued to work on projects to help the less fortunate people in the world, even though they are some of the least fortunate people.  The villagers of New Guinea were very caring people who were caring to potentially anyone and helped whoever needed help with an issue of their own.  The personality and kindness of these people show that America can act caring towards everyone and if the countries of the world don't only care about themselves, then the world might actually be able to live in peace.

I think that the piece “A Single Lucid Moment” (by Robert Soderstrom) effectively shows the loving care that the villagers from Papau New Guinea show towards homeless Americans.  It was amazing to me that the villagers had such confidence that they could make things right for the two homeless Americans that they saw in a picture when they hadn’t ever heard of the concept “homelessness,” let alone knew of their backgrounds.  Many people outside of their country or village would think that such a small group of people couldn’t make an impact on such an important topic, but the villagers were extremely confident in their thoughts and had no question about not being able to make an impact.  This is very inspiring to me because I have always heard that a single person can make an impact, but not many people listen to that advice very well.  The people in the village didn’t think twice about trying to make an impact even though many people probably doubted that they could make any difference.  Even though they didn’t realize this, the villagers were probably just as less fortunate as the homeless people in the photograph, but they still wanted to help.  This is inspiring to me because they never gave up, so another question I had was what kind of other projects did the villagers work on, since they wanted to help in other ways instead of giving up?  I think that it is very interesting that different cultures don’t know about some of the concepts that we grow up with in America.

PLN #4: High School, Only Shorter

“High School, Only Shorter,” by Sue Shellenbarger, portrays ideas about how graduating from high school in three years instead of four is extremely helpful to some kids and how they are motivated to move far in life.  There were examples of many kids’ experiences with graduating early and they said that it was well worth it and in some cases it has already paid off.  Many of them said that it is good to graduate early because that one extra year is an advantage; “If I get out a year early, that's a year extra of pay, and that's a year earlier of retirement. That's a whole year of my time that I can do whatever I want.” Other students who graduated early said that college was the best experience of their lives and it was good that they got to go early.

I think that the article “High School, Only Shorter,” by Sue Shellenbarger, is very motivational in telling students that what you do with your education is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make.  Reading this makes me want to work hard in school and maybe even graduate early because of all the great things I can do and all the advantages I would get from it.  This makes me think that college is going to be a wonderful experience and now I can’t wait to go! This piece is influential to me because it emphasizes even more than I have already been told how important college and education in general is.  All high-schoolers should read this article because it will hopefully lead them to realize how much you can do with your life if you lead a good education.

PLN #3: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

“Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr describes how using the internet modern day is slowing down peoples’ brains and not requiring them think as much as they used to, resulting in being less effective readers and learners.  Today, when people need to find research, all it takes is a few clicks and they get right to their destination without having to read barely anything, whereas only a few decades ago people would sit for hours looking through books for what they needed.  Since people don’t spend very much time reading actual literature nowadays, it is hard for people to focus on articles or stories more than a few paragraphs long without losing interest or getting distracted.  Also, when people are researching on the internet and looking for something specific, they tend to skim the articles and pick out the information they need, rather than read the whole article and absorb the whole thing.  In order to be effective in learning, people need to start taking responsibility for their own learning rather than having the internet do it for them.

          I think that the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr shows very effectively that modern day technology can be incredible and very productive, but unfortunately, like most great things, it also has cons.  For someone like me (and most teenagers/adults, for that matter) who uses the internet and online resources on a daily basis, this is upsetting because I don’t want to think that all the wonderful things that I get out of the internet can also have a negative effect on my learning.  As much as I love the internet, I also find it upsetting that many people who grew up reading books are not reading at all anymore, and there aren’t just a few.  Many have even confessed to not reading books at all anymore.  It is very interesting for me to think about the concept that people don’t grow up automatically learning how to read and speak; they need to be taught.  If generations to come just grow up reading things off the internet and never actually learn how to interpret literature on their own, they might never get the education that they need.  It is also very interesting to me to think that even if you are an older person who grew up reading but today barely reads ever, your brain can still change and adapt to the life that you are living, so your education about reading could go away if it is not exercised enough.  Although these could be scary thoughts, we can overcome them by reading more the traditional way and trying to learn for ourselves (rather than having the internet do it for us) so that we can make the most out of our learning.

PLN #2: A Single Lucid Moment

    “A Single Lucid Moment,” by Robert W. Soderstrom describes what life is like in Papau New Guinea and shows the deep love and care that villagers from the small village can have towards others across the globe.  As Robert and his wife, Kerry volunteered as Peace Corps volunteers in New Guinea, they were welcomed by the villagers that lived there and although weren’t as nearly as fortunate as Americans, lived a carefree life.  One day, when they were telling stories, Robert passed around a picture of his hometown, Chicago, with two homeless men on the street.  The villagers were shocked and all wanted to rally to help these two men out of their misfortune.  They were so interested in the topic of homelessness that they went into action to see what they could do, and even tried to contact the U.S. government.  Even though in the end they couldn’t help the two homeless men, they still continued to work on projects to help the less fortunate people in the world, even though they are some of the least fortunate people.

    I think that the piece “A Single Lucid Moment” (by Robert Soderstrom) effectively shows the loving care that the villagers from Papau New Guinea show towards homeless Americans.  It was amazing to me that the villagers had such confidence that they could make things right for the two homeless Americans that they saw in a picture when they hadn’t ever heard of the concept “homelessness,” let alone knew of their backgrounds.  Many people outside of their country or village would think that such a small group of people couldn’t make an impact on such an important topic, but the villagers were extremely confident in their thoughts and had no question about not being able to make an impact.  This is very inspiring to me because I have always heard that a single person can make an impact, but not many people listen to that advice very well.  The people in the village didn’t think twice about trying to make an impact even though many people probably doubted that they could make any difference.  Even though they didn’t realize this, the villagers were probably just as less fortunate as the homeless people in the photograph, but they still wanted to help.  This is inspiring to me because they never gave up, so another question I had was what kind of other projects did the villagers work on, since they wanted to help in other ways instead of giving up?  I think that it is very interesting that different cultures don’t know about some of the concepts that we grow up with in America.

PLN #1: A Vision of Students Today

       “A Vision of Students Today,” created by KSU, expresses that our current way of educating students is not effective.  In the video, students made a collaborative document about what it is like to be a student today.  They concluded that they altogether have too many things to do; sleep, eat, study, be in class, and multitask through many other things so they have time to do everything.  However, while students are in class “learning”, many argue that the students aren’t learning anything from the methods teachers are using.  Educators and students need to think of a way that is more effective for learning so that students actually get something out of what they learn in school.  If students just sit in a classroom all day being taught things that do not relate to them, then they won’t listen and won’t get anything out of the lesson in the long run.  The point of the video is to raise awareness as to what is happening to education today.

       I think that the video “A Vision of Students Today” (by KSU) is a very effective video which explains very vocally the group’s feelings about student education.  This video caught me by attention; a large part of what it was saying was that in order to have time to do everything, students must be multitaskers.  I could relate to this section because sometimes I feel like I have too many things to do but not enough time to do them.  Although the main idea of the video was to portray that students aren’t getting the education they need, I thought it was interesting that there wasn’t a suggested solution to the problem.  One question that I wondered after it was finished was, “What is being done now to make sure students have the education that will make them successful?”  However, the video was effective on my perspective on education today and definitely grabbed my attention; it was interesting to look at students’ perspectives about their own education.

Summary of The Little Mermaid

      The Little Mermaid is the story of a 16-year-old mermaid named Ariel who always dreamed of exploring the land of humans.  Her father, King Triton, was the king of the sea and happened to be very over-protective.  Whenever Ariel tried to explore the ocean with her fish-friend Flounder, the king sent his trusty crab Sebastian to keep an eye on her.  One day, when she tried to explore above the surface, she got caught, and her father was so outraged that he destroyed all of Ariel's treasures from her adventures, including her prized possession, a statue of Prince Eric.  Ariel was so upset that she decided to pay a visit to Ursula, the witch of the sea.  Ursula gave her a deal; if Ariel gave up her lovely voice, the witch would grant her legs for three days; with a price.  If the Prince did not kiss her after the three-day period, Ariel would be Ursula's minion forever.  Ariel, of course, gave it no thought, and she found herself on the surface with legs.  After spending time with Eric, Ariel found out that he was getting married, discovered that it was Ursula, and concluded that she had to find a way to stop the wedding.  With the help of Sebastian, Flounder, Skuttle the seagull, and her other ocean friends, Ariel crashed the wedding, defeated Ursula and ended up marrying the love of her life, Prince Eric.  This story goes to show that no one should ever give up on their dreams, and no matter how hard it is to overcome obstacles, if they never give up, they will always succeed in the end.

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