PLN18

I just read the article "Morning commuters in Denver should brace for snow" by Kieran Nicholson in The Denver Post. The National Weather Service says that the snow storm is supposed to come in tonight and last until Thursday night. The Front Range from Fort Collins to Castle Rock could see up to 14 inches total with some mountain areas getting up to 2 feet. The snow is supposed to be wet and heavy which could make driving difficult.

This obviously doesn't matter to the world. It does matter to our state because we need the snow for the ski industry. People see/hear that Colorado is getting hit by a big snow storm and it makes them think about coming here to ski. This is a good thing for our mountain towns. This also matters to people along the Front Range. The difference is in the Metro area, it is dangerous and frustrating. Heavy wet snow means bad driving conditions and the possibility of many broken tree branches.

This matters to education BIG time. A big snow storm could mean that school has to close early and possibly for an entire day. This matters to me because I don't live close to Arapahoe and the driving conditions could make it difficult for me to get to school. This also matters to me because the varsity soccer team is suppose to play its first playoff game tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. Let's hope that they're wrong again!!!!!!!!!!

PLN17

Today I read an entry from Mr. Fisch's blog, The Fischbowl, dated October 7, 2009 entitled, "Anne Smith One of 20 to watch". In his post, Mr. Fisch tells us that, one of our very own, Mrs. Smith is one of twenty teachers to watch, IN THE COUNTRY. She is being honored because she is finding different and unique ways for her student to use technology in her classroom.

This is important for the Littleton School District because they are being noticed for the kinds of teachers that they are hiring. This is important to Arapahoe High School because they have teachers like this on the staff. This is important for education because Ms. Smith is trying to get her students to be better learners through using technology. This is mostly important to me because Mrs. Smith is my English teacher.

In our 1st hour class, Smith is helping us become better writers and thinkers by using different tools of technology including: blogger, google earth, wordle, and google reader among others. I do think that her philosophy has helped me be better and less afraid of writing. WAY TO GO SMITH!

PLN16

For this PLN post I decided to go across the pond for some news in the world of football, that's soccer to us. Today featured many games in the Champions League play-offs all over Europe. There were some shocking scores so I thought I would see what the BBC had to say about one game in particular.

Today I read an article from the BBC Sport titled "Liverpool 1-2 Lyon" written by Phil McNulty, the Chief football writer at Anfield. Obviously this article is about the Champions League match up of Liverpool (England) vs. Lyon (France). This was a huge game for Liverpool because their manager is on the hot seat right now with 3 losses in a row. The article sums up the game well for both sides stating that both teams had played well and each had several chances to put the game away. The most interesting thing is that the Liverpool coach, Rafael Benitez, decided to make a controversial substitution after already having subbed his injured captain, Steven Gerrard. With 5 minutes remaining in regulation play Benitez subbed his only goal scorer, Yossi Benayoun with Andriy Voronin, a realtively unknown player. Lyon ends up scoring the go-ahead, game winning goal in the 90th minute. Losing this game puts Liverpool's ambitions of winning the Champions League in great jeopardy. Rafael Benitez was booed and showed much disrespect today on his home field by his own fans. Having now lost 4 matches in a row Benitez faces an up hill climb as his side now faces the BPL champions, Manchester United in league play this coming Sunday. Many analysts believe that Benitez will be fired if things don't turn around soon!

Obviously this match does not matter much to people in many countries, especially ours. However, to many others, mostly in Europe, this game will be talked about for weeks to come in the footballing world. It matters to me because I am a HUGE football fan and I watch as many matches from England and Europe as I can. Soccer in Europe is like a cult, and it is very addicting and much better than anything the US has right now. This also matters to me because my uncle's favorite team is Liverpool and I can't stand them. Now I have some good ammunition to give him a hard time about the next time I talk to him! COME ON YOU REDS!!

PLN15

The Blog posting from Google "Our Googley advice to students: Major in learning", says pretty much the same thing the article "Rigor Redefined" by Tony Wagner says but in a different way. Companies are looking for employees who can "think outside the box". These people need to be able to have analytical reasoning, good communication skills, a willingness to experiment with ideas, be a team player, and be passionate about something in their lives. Goggle's phrase is "people who can solve non-routine problems in non-routine ways".

The blog also states that learning does not stop when you grauduate from school. That most real learning is done "on the job". This is true in just about everything we do. It is called trial and error. I have a problem thinking and solving "problems" unless they involve athletics. Give me an issue on a sports field (almost any arena) and I am all over it, in the classroom is another story. I need a lot of time to think about it and have someone explain it to me in different ways before I really understand it. We are all wired differently and some of us "get" somethings while others of us "get" other things. I think that is a good thing.

PLN14

In the article "Rigor Redefined" by Tony Wagner in the Educational Leadership publication, Tony is bothered by the way teachers are teaching students today. When he talked to business leaders about what qualities they are looking for in new employees today they all answered with: the ability to think critically, have good communication and collaborate well with others. This is very different than what future employees are being taught in school. Teachers today are "teaching to the test". They care more about memorization and recall than actually teaching and making sure students understand what they are supposed to be learning.

Students are making learning more difficult than it should be also. Like Fisch and Dr. Wesch have pointed out before, technology is taking over, especially in education. This article says that technology is actually making learning more difficult. This is because students today do not communicate or spell well due to cell phones and texting, e-mails, facebook etc. Nobody sits down and actually talks to anyone face to face anymore.

I have a cell phone but my parents dont' let me use it for my "personal" use. I use it to communicate with them when I am away on a soccer trip or to get information from my teammates. They have been trying to tell me for years that it is not a toy and it can easily get out-of-control. I agree with this as I have gone overboard a few times without realizing it. My Dad sees this everyday because he is a high school teacher. Students actually bring cell phones into P.E. classes! Now that I am in high school I see that this is a real problem with students. It has been like an addiction of sorts.

PLN13

In the article "The pen may be mightier than the keyboard" by Joel Schwarz, he states that kids writing with a pen and paper are better than those writing with a keyboard. I personally do not agree with this study. I believe that it is a total personal preference. Writing when I was younger was bad because I would spend too much time trying to be neat instead of making sense of what I was writing. I would get confused and then end up erasing and re-erasing to edit what I had written. With typing, I can type out whatever I am thinking at the time and then go back as many times as I need to to edit. I also don't have to worry about trying to read my own writing and figure out what I was trying to say. I think it is important to be able to write with a pen, whatever it may be and not totally rely on the computer, but I prefer the computer because it is easier to do just about everything that goes along with the writing process.

PLN12

In the article "Footprints in the Digital Age" by Will Richardson, what matters is that right now students are teaching themselves all about personal networking and that teachers need to catch up and start being the teachers again. It is important what we do right now in social networking while we are growing up because it will be with us forever. Being Googled when we are older by whoever is interested in seeing what we as people are all about, we basically need to have a good digital footprint and look good. "How well do you Google?"

Educationally, teachers (and parents) need to step up, start experiencing networking themselves and start being the teacher instead of watching. Teachers (and parents) need to be the ones who help students learn how to network correctly, be responsible and learn something about someone or something else, or yourself while doing it.

My parents have a blog about my soccer involvement with the US National Team so that our whole family can keep up with my activities. Personally, I am not allowed to do any social networking. My parents feel that I need to be more responsible and learn about it before I am actually involved in any way.