A New Answer

The article Steve Jobs - A Great Idea by David Warlick expressed the sadness of the death of Steve Jobs and how he affected the whole world. A quote that was stated by President Obama in the article said, "Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it." In addition, David Warlick stated that people should change their prompts from "the right answer" to saying "that is a great idea!"

As I progress through this article, I notice how much of Steve Jobs' creations are used throughout the world. Jobs not only stuck up for his idea in making a computer as easy to operate as a telephone, but also he created many other devices to make life easier and more efficient. One idea led to other remarkable ideas. Steve Jobs had a creative imagination and following in his footsteps will be the next "Steve Jobs." Throughout history, many people help the U.S. progress and to think about what the future holds for all of us! We are always creating and reusing. For example, I heard of an experiment where there were monkeys in an enclosed area. If they climbed the tree to get a banana, they would get squirted with a water bottle. Sooner or later they would just give up and learn not to reach for the banana even though they wanted it so bad. This experiment can apply to our lives. We could possibly have a dream or an idea, but for some reason, others shoot down our ideas. They think that it's crazy and that it will never work. There will always be people ready to shoot you down, but that's what makes Steve Jobs a great role model because he kept true to his idea even though I'm sure people have doubted him.

I agree with President Obama's quote because it is hard to get out of the status quo because of what people might say about others. Once people are out of the flow, it enables people to reach for what they believe in. When David Warlick said that he thinks there should be more Apple equipment in our schools, this links back to David Warlick's blog about We Don't Trust What We Can't See. This is where American's puts its confidence and shows that we were paying more attention to our military and neglecting schools and their needs. I agree that we should shift our confidence and spend more time and money (rather then mostly on military) and improve our public education system. I like how David Warlick said that we should change our prompts from "that's the right answer" to "that is a great idea!" because many teachers today will make students feel dumb if the answer they wanted to hear was not given. This proves that nothing is impossible with hard work and determination. There will always be people ready to bring others down, but don't let them. Steve Jobs didn't let people bring him down and look what he achieved. Nothing is impossible.

The Machine is Us

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch is a video post on YouTube about anthropology. During this video, Michael Wesch expressed the use of technology and how many opportunities open up just because of it. It showed, not told us the definition of technology, which is defined as the application of tools and methods. The foremost purpose of this video is to present to the people that we are the web; we are the machine.

After observing the video Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch, I had various thoughts. At the beginning of the video, there was a pencil and a paper. Someone was writing sentences down, but the point was that he couldn’t do what he could of done with technology, like linking websites, bloggers, or just about anything. Technology creates so many possibilities for us in the future and in the present. Right now, we can search for jobs, learn new content, the sky is the limit with technology. It also enables us to connect and collaborate, which can lead to products, solutions, and new information. If I thought about the time I was at the age of seven and think about the age I am now, there have been so many more ways to be capable of doing what you want or need to do, quickly and efficiently. Technology continues to progress and every year we discover and create something new. More and more people are learning the twenty-first century ways and educating others about it; as the video put it, “The machine is us.” Technology is almost like another language with all different symbols that mean different things like <p> as a structural element referring to “paragraph.” We are constantly creating, discovering, and learning. The web assists us to make all the knowledge easier to understand and enhances our knowledge worldwide.

Internet Explore No More?

              The blog post Internet Explorer's Share of Web Traffic Drops Below 50% by Zoe Fox on CNN. This blog explained that Internet Explore has lost 50% of its users because of the other browsers such as Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. It provides information on the percentages of the other browsers and how they are advansing beyond Mircosoft's browser.                
              When I read this blog, Internet Explorer's Share of Web Traffic Drops Below 50% by Zoe Fox on CNN; it was cool to see which internets are progressing while others aren't. I wasn't surprised that Firefox was the second best because it's fast, efficient, modern, and reliable. It states that Firefox accounts for 21.10% of traffic. Google Chrome is the next best, which is also fast and efficient. This browser accounts for 16.60%. Safari holds 62.17% of mobile traffic. Safari has their browser on the most popular technologies making it soar and gain about 6% each month. The point of this blog, to me; is that it is interesting to see which browsers people prefer. Even though this may seem small and people may think, "Oh it's just the internet." It is so much more. In a way it can show us what's coming next in the future and who will be our next role model for the advancing technology like how Steve Jobs is to all the apple lovers. He inspires us to create and discover new things. I remember when I used Internet Explore and we thought that this is such a cool tool, but the other browsers found away to advance and be faster, and more efficient. It shows us how much technology changes over time and how much we progress. Progress is always occurring. We will always be changing, reusing, and learning new things. I'm just excited to see what's next!
              

Strive to be the Best

             "Remarks by the President in Back-to-School Speech" spoken by President Obama is about reaching your goals and trying your hardest. The point President Obama is trying to get across us students is to strive to be the best. It touches various topics such as trying to put a lot of effort into school and life, pusuing your future career, and getting involved and making a difference.

            When I read "Remarks by the President in Back-to-School Speech" spoken by President Obama, I liked his advice. It inspired students to perform 110% in life. When he told us about his personal experience of how he struggled in Ethics class. An idea I had while reading this is it’s weird how we remember how we struggled in our past. Some reasons for this may be that we look back at our mistakes to learn form them, to see how far we come with accomplishments, and to see what we’ve learned and what came out of that experience. President Obama also said that if he didn’t tune in to the Ethnic class, he would of missed out. When he said this, I interpretated it as we shouldn’t rush through life and not take any thing in or out of it. We should learn from our mistakes, ask questions, have curiosity, and make discoveries. A reoccurring theme I read throughout this speech was to strive to be your best. I have read many articles this year about how America should be number one and that we need to work harder, but again I ask, “Why do we always have to be the best?” When I was in middle school, I did this elective where we would serve ice cream to people in the nursery home next to our school. I was getting involved and helping people out. It doesn’t sound fun really, but I was! What i'm going to take away from that experience is that surving  people will kind of pay off like when people work really hard then it pays off by getting involved and seeing peoples reactions. When people get involved and do things that they like, it can very enjoyable.  

The Shift

Will Richardson’s “Footprints in the Digital Age” informs us on ways to learn being 21^st century learners. He states that people are being “Googled” all over the world whether it be through news articles, blog post, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, or even Facebook groups and most of it is beyond our control. “Network is the New Literacy” is what Will Richardson believes; “This maybe be the first large technological shift in history that’s being driven by children.” This article also questions how educators are teaching instead of a “supply-push” model to a “demand-pull” approach as Richardson says. He thinks we should connect and build networks in order to communicate with people who share the same interest as us. Throughout the article, Richardson converses about a girl named Laura Stockman who creates a good remodel for what a “Google” person should look like. It is up to us educators to take benefit of our technology and to connect with people who share the similar passions as us.

In response to reading “Footprints in the Digital Age” by Will Richardson, It got me to consider networking and Google. It’s a scary thought to think that if any one searched my name they could probably find out a lot about me, but we should not let that keep us from finding out more about people who share the same interest too. One of a many reoccurring words I saw in this article was shift. It is the 21^st century and teachers can’t be teaching us like we’re from the 20^th century because we learn different from how the 20^th century learned. Even though figuring out how to help people create, navigate, and create great networks, technology means that all of creating, navigating, and creating networks. One quote of Will Richardson I like that relates to this is; “The shift requires us to create engaged learners, not simply knowers, and to reconsider the roles of schools and educators.” Instead of stating that we are not the best and it’s because of the teachers not doing a great job a teaching, parents not parenting, and students not wanting to learn ("U.S. Puts Values in Ditch"), this article offers ways we can change and make teaching a learning better and more suitable for 21^st century people. These ideas apply to me because I have been taking "footprints in the digital age" most of my life. I agree that we should find other people online who have the same passions as us and to share our experiences on blogs or YouTube. I noticed when people share a part of there life; they can connect better with others. It draws our attention because it is relevant to out lives and we can connect with other people’s experiences. As we start our blogs about our interests, we should question questions and ask other questions relating to what others have said. Collaborating and working with people who are similar to us I think could be the key to success.                                                                                                                           

16 Year Old Me

Karl Fisch's post about Dear Sixteen Year Old Me by DCMFCanada gave many helpful tips. This video is about Melanoma cancer. Cancer is very common among people today whether it be inside you body, hiding but spreading everywhere like a fire spreading in a forest or outside of your body. Melanoma cancer is caused from excessive sun without sunscreen or from tanning beds. This video showed people who have experienced this or had close ones who have experienced this and maybe it was even fatal. That's why they made this video to show people to be aware of this cancer and to stop it before it's to late.

After seeing this video, it made me aware of how easy it is to get cancer. Melanoma is a tumor that attacks melanin, which gives you your skin and hair color. Even just going to the pool without sunscreen and even getting just one bad sunburn can double the chances of getting this. This is very important to me because this is the second most found cancer in kids and teenagers. Many people my age aren't even aware of this cancer and really need to be educated about this. I never knew this before, but now I can help others who could eventually get this be aware and to stop this cancer before it gets bad. It is so crucial that people are aware because Melanoma is only treatable at the early stage when the tumor can be surgically removed. If people don't know that they have it, Melanoma can spread very fast to parts of the body where it can't be removed making it harder to treat. One of the quotes a lady said in this video that I liked was, "your skin is like an elephant; it remembers everything." This proves that in general; be nice to skin because it will show if people don't. People are so oblivious to this because everyone wants to be tan therefore they don't put on sunscreen. Signs of this cancer are usually shown throw skin and so if should be noticeable but sometimes it can be hard to fin so that can make people more oblivious. The people who were in this video gave tips to wear sunscreen and check every month to see if there are any signs of Melanoma. "Dear Sixteen Year Old Me" made me appreciate all the people in the video who were calm and gave great advise. It helps to see that there is hope even if people do have it. There are many varieties of cancer in the world and this is one step closer to finding cures for even a bad sunburn or a person who has gone to the tanning bed.