Changes

The major changes that will occur in our world over the next 50 years will be concerning technology, and the way of living. There will be different types of technology, and they will be more advanced than the modern technology available today. Our lifestyle will also change, as seen in the article from the 1950s. What is considered "modern living" will be extremely different compared to today, because of the way society develops over the years.

Digital Story

My digital story tells the story of my life, using pictures mainly, and music. The story reflects me as a person.

Rubric

My reflection of my digital story:

Making this digital story was actually pretty fun. I was able to learn how to use new programs,  and they were very easy to operate. What was hard about this project was projecting the image in my head onto iMovie. While creating a movie is easy, it takes a lot of work. I knew what I wanted it to look like in my head, but I couldn't create it virtually. I'm happy with how my project came out, though. Another thing that was hard was formatting my pictures, and finding the right ones for my project. Because I didn't use voice, I used text which meant I had to properly describe my pictures. The experience of making this video was something I enjoyed. I used multiple new programs, which can only help me in the future. Now I can use my lovely new video to project the image of I have of myself. Overall, making this project was very fun, and my project came out the way I like it.

Family Story

For my cousin's sweet 16 in March, because she lives in Albany, my entire family had to drive all the way upstate in time for her party. My family who was attending and driving up was my grandma, mom, dad, sisters, and brother, and my cousin. My parents and siblings planned to drive up alone, my grandma would drive with other extended family, and my sister and I would drive with our cousin. But my parents and siblings were all sick the week before the party, so it was a bit obvious they weren't able to drive upstate for her party. So my cousin, sister and, I drove up and had to suffer at her party alone, and then got lost coming home. Needless to say, my cousin does not like upstate New York anymore.

We can feel the pressure, it's getting closer now.

Health officials are taking this years flu season extremely serious. Well, more than usual. Ever since the outbreak of H1N1 last year, everyone is becoming a little more health obsessed and hygienic. Health officials are saying that if you're sick you should "stay home, cover your cough, wash your hands and don't touch your face". However, the majority of the public didn't listen. Most people still go about their day as normal. Officials are trying to wean teachers off such high expectations of their students, so that sickly children will stay home, and not be pressured to come into school, and infect more people. The same is happening with business places. Most of the time, the only thing keeping people from staying home sick is the amount of work that will loom over them when they return.

I have to agree, mostly, with this article. I mean, come on. It's common sense if you're too ill to get up and go about your day normally, you should stay home. Most people I know get up and go to school or work with a common cold. In school, I constantly hear sniffles, sneezes, and coughs. I even have a cold, and I'm going to school regularly. As fun as the idea of staying home all day in bed is, we have to be realistic. School is chop full of tests, notes, quizzes, and work, work, work. Our health is constantly put in jeopardy because of the pressures of our school/business environments. Officials that are attempting to have teachers/bosses wean the workload off the people who are being pressured to work while sick have the right idea. Less pressure on the average Joe will help us as a society overall.

Baby steps, Barack. Baby steps.

President Barack Obama made a speech directed toward public schools. The speech included how the youth of America should be spending more time in schools, and I quote, "if they're going to have any chance of competing for jobs and paychecks against foreign kids." He insists that grades are dropping across the country, and that more hours in school is the solution.

In my opinion, Obama has the right idea in mind. He is trying to help our country succeed, and while trying to compete with other countries isn't exactly the best idea, he's attempting to raise our grades in general, and help make our country better for the future generations. The only thing is that he's going about it the wrong way. In his speech, he mentions how the idea of more time in school is not appealing in most families, including his. He's right about that, but it's not just that kids don't want to spend more time in school. It's about how our nation has been struggling with this idea for years. Obama's attempts at changing our nation are pure in essence, but change isn't going to happen so quickly and smoothly. More time in school should mean longer vacation time. It's also not a secret kids skip classes. By increasing school hours for unnecessary reasons, it's going to cause for a more public student protest, and even the teachers are going to join in. It's not possible that teachers are going to receive enough pay or work benefits once the school hours are extended. Basically, Obama has the right idea, but he's not thinking realistically. Our country is large, and we're not just going to change right away. Baby steps, Barack. Baby steps.

Blogs in Education Final Draft

Blogs in Education

        Blogging is beneficial to education, teachers, and students. It is beneficial to schools by helping structure their school. Schools will be able to post their policies and rules online for the students and even parents to read. Blogging also helps benefit education. Because there's so many students and usually only one teacher, most students don't experience one on one time with a teacher. In response to that, teachers can post up extra help on the blog, and students can comment on them asking questions for help. This is also beneficiary to the students, as they can use this blog by communicating with other students to discuss things such as homework.

        Blogs in schools allow the school to become more structured, such as using the blog to post their policies and rules online. Some schools tend to having something similar to a handbook, or a guidebook. Because it's common for students and parents not to read the handbook and follow these rules, schools will be able to post their most important rules online on a blog. This will make it easier for students, parents, and even teachers to access much easily. In recent events, there have been budget cuts on public schools. This makes for a lack of paper to spare. To assist with this, blogging can help reduce the amount of paper being distributed schoolwide. The teachers will have more paper to use for tests or homework. Not only will it help with policies, it can help spread the word about school events, such as basketball games, bake sales, fundraisers, etc.

        Teachers can also find use in the blogs, such as helping their students more. It's plainly obvious at how many students there, and how little teachers there are in one class. Because there is only one teacher, and so many students, the teacher is often unable to help every student that needs help. Some teachers set up after school tutoring sessions, but sometimes they get cancelled or students can't make them. To make this situation better, teachers can post up extra help on their blog. Students can also post up questions they have about tests, homework, etc. Students and teachers can also build better communication on blogs. Students can message questions privately, which is easier then meeting after school sometimes, depending on the situation.
        Students benefit from blogging as well. They can communicate with other students and teachers online, which sometimes is easier than communicating in real life. If a student has extracurricular activities, or just simply cannot schedule a time to meet with a teacher during given hours, the student can simply post on their blog asking for help, or comment another blog. This is also a helpful tool if teachers do not provide an email address for the students to email them. Sometimes teachers do not want students to email their personal emails, so setting up a blog seems like a good alternate. If it's a weekend, or an odd hour of the night, students can post a blog that teachers or students can respond to. Not every student communicates privately, so a blog will allow that to happen, and not cause any social conflicts.
        Blogging is very useful concerning education, teachers, and students. Schools are able to keep their student body and staff well informed by using a blog to keep up with school events and news. Teachers can assist students more frequently online using a blog. Students can communicate with other students and staff if they are in need of any help. Blogging proves useful in education, and is more modern and common in modern times.

Blogging in Education

Blogging is beneficial to education, schools, and students. It is beneficial to schools by helping structure their school. Schools will be able to post their policies and rules online for the students and even parents to read. Blogging also helps benefit education. Because there's so many students and usually only one teacher, most students don't experience one on one time with a teacher. In response to that, teachers can post extra help on the blog, and students can comment on them asking questions for help. This is also beneficiary to the students, as they can use this blog by communicating with other students to discuss things such as homework.