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.

The Bigger Picture of Google

The article Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr is an interesting article for several reasons because it shows how over time we have become not as capable as we could be. First, the article illustrates the background of how the Internet came to be. Carr explains why we cannot focus on long paragraphs or magazines because we have so much going on and that since writings are usually in shorter paragraphs, it is hard for the human brain to focus on longer paragraphs. (I agree Mrs. Comp, this article is ironic because it is nine pages long). This article goes deep into how Google and other mechanical perfections affect our lives whether it be good or bad.

As I read this article, the author points out that his mind isn't going--so far as he can tell--but it's changing which led me to think that our brain is always learning and changing. For example, he said, the brain has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions." The main idea I get out of the article is that we spend so much time searching the Internet and research that it could take hours our days to get what is now accessible to anyone in just seconds. This article also shows that we no longer can take a while and leisurely read content but now it has to be short and to the point be for we loose interest and focus. It's kind of sad how aspects that are popular today have to be fast and not take too much of our time. Nicholas Carr's quote saying that he once was a scuba diver in the sea of words, but now he sips along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski, demonstrates this aspect. The author was being a little dramatic when he said, "I can't read War and Peace anymore; I've lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it." Perhaps it is easier than that (at least for me). With some self-control anyone can read even if it is long, but I can understand why some just can't focus. From witnessing my aunt and uncle who have four children all under the age of nine, two of them twin girls at age three, I can tell it is much harder for them to focus on anything because they have so much on their minds and they are a busy family. Maybe if we just make an effort to set those thoughts aside then maybe we could concentrate on what is in front of us better. Another topic I notice while reading this article is that time is everything. On page six, the second paragraph shows how much technology is changing and how we must make the best and most efficient of our time. Why do we always have to compete? In the article, it says that the human brain is an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive. Our brains being not as fast as they could today is partially our fault. The references to Plato's phaedrus by Socrates, saying, "He feared that, as people start to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue's character, 'cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.' Also, because people would be able to 'receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,' they would 'be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.' They would be 'filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.' However, I believe that we are not growing less with our mental capability because of Google because it provides information we would never have access to. It is up to you to decide if we are "pancake people" or not?

Community vs. National Institutions

David Warlick's We Don't Trust What We Can't See  is about the decline of a satisfactory level of confidence on the education system. He expressed and showed his thoughts using infographic on IGad and also created a graphic called Public Schools Compared to Others Institutions on We Don't Trust What We  Can't See. This shows America's community percentage of confidence vs. our national institutions percentage of confidence. David Warlick asks various questions addressing what is really going on outside the classroom; what provoked the unsteadiness of education; and how do we overall inspire confidence? He also says, "We need to sell learning to our students into the 21st century by showing it to them which leads to a previous blog about my opinions of Michael Wesch's A Vision of Students Today. This blog post got me thinking even more. This blog is attention grabbing to me because education is an important part of our lives because it directs us to where we will be in the future.

  What most surprised me after viewing this blog was the Public Schools Compared to Others Institutions. It shows that the military has 78% confidence from Americans following small businesses and the police at 64% and 56% and so on, but after watching A Vision of Students today it makes sense that public schools would only have 34% of our confidence and teens do have a higher chance of to go to jail/prison rather than graduate high school. To me, we don't have confidence now because school isn't relevant to us and it doesn't make sense to learn it if we may not even need it in the future. Another part of this is maybe lack of connection between teacher or parent. This kind of irritates me because I know we have a great military but what happens when very few pay attention to bullying, which causes people to do poorly in school, bad teaching skills, uncaring of both the students and the teacher, and what about stuff that goes on out of school that makes a student do poorly. Why do we not focuss on making school over all a better and welcoming place? When I came to AHS the teachers where inviting, willing, and cared; which really helped coming from a school of 450 students. Like David Warlick said; that we need to teach 21st century learners with 21st technology. I think how David Warlick shows our confidence in education fluctuating over years, is really explained well and gets teachers and students involved. What I also noticed was that the things that were more relevant to our lives had higher percentages like religion. This has changed my perspective greatly on school because I never really focussed about the outside world. I just thought this is the way we have to learn so this is how it should be, but the graph shows that what ever gave people confidence in the high points of this graph is what we should be doing now. So the question David Warlick is asking and I am for sure asking is how do we inspire confidence?

Students of the 21st Century

"A Vision of Students Today" by Michael Wesch was about the students of the 21st century and how they learn and what makes them not learn. Through this video we established that technology is the way to learn for 21st century students. After viewing this video, it made me think about many topics. First of all, I noticed that no one was talking the whole time, but it still made a huge impact and really expressed the main topic of over all saying that students learn better with technology.

Do we really use technology that much? Using technology for this era of children/teens comes easy to most. Watching this video, to me, was like a wake up call of how much technology is in our lives, how much we rely on technology today, and how its has made an impact on our lives. Before, we would wright letters to one another to communicate, but now we have cell phones to talk to close ones or text. Facebook is also a huge communication site that not only lets people chat with friends but also shows pictures of past events and status posts for a person's everyday thoughts or actions. I think what teachers are missing most about educating students is that students today, as 21st century learners, learn better with technology. It seems as though teachers teach students how to learn the way they did when they were our age, but they need to learn how to teach students with technology, after all students do spend most of their time on technology (like shown in the video). Another thing teachers are lacking today is how to make education relevant to the lives of students because when I was reading "U.S. Puts Values in Ditch" I don't believe we are putting values in ditch, but our values have changed over time and now it seems that most students wonder why they are learning this if they can never apply it to their own life. Is school really preparing us for the future? This is why technology should be the way of the 21st century learner.