Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Concern for Blog

I have my concerns that I wanted to post separately so that I can refer to them when I'm attempting to fix them. First is pictures, I wanted to put pictures up but staying in topic its hard to add pictures to my blog. But at the same time I dont want my readers to be sidetracked by little odds and ends on my page. The page is meant to be a semi-serious discussion and I dont want to take away from that.

Second is because I dont want to add a lot to my blog I'm a little afraid that I will get a lower grade because I dont have fancy things on my page. Now I know that's kind of silly to think but I think that my posts are the main focal point of the entire thing and I dont want to ruin that.

Third, does grammar count in these posts because I sure hope not.

Update 2

So I have discovered a fire plan for my posting times. Since I go off campus to Tolman I see a lot of the educational enviroment and how it works. When I go on my visits the first thing I do when I get back is blog about it. It allows me to keep my ideas fresh and helps me with my assignment for the off site visit. The things I see at school fuel my fire for my blog...they work hand in hand and its working out quite perfectly. I have also dicovered that my life is now being over taken by education. My job is in elementary school, my class is in high school, my blog is about education...I cant have any more education in my life. I'll go in education overload

Monday, September 28, 2009

Education blog status

So my education blog is going quite well since my change. I had it as NYS education and all its problems, but instead of being negative for 12 posts, I figured I should change it around and just do the quirks about education. I changed the description but my about me I decided to keep the same because it shows my passion for the topic. I want to keep my posts personal and conversational while discussing the bad things about eduation, the students and the way they present themselves in school, faculty and administration. Basically whatever I feel I want to discuss about education. Since changing it, it has become a lot easier to think of topics to discuss. I think my NYS blog might have been to narrow condisering that I'm not in the state of NY. I think this one will contiune to go smooth...hopefully

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

About Me Draft

Education is one of the most important things in the world and we are not using it the way we should. I am a secondary education major with a concentration area in English. I believe that our schools carry all the knowledge that we should be passing on to the kids, but we aren't, and this is a problem. The NY schools are slowly depleting in quality; our schools are run down and have poor curriculum. There are thousands of kids in the schooling system that we are supposed to be filling with knowledge but we can't because of numerous problems with the system. I want to become a teacher so that I can make a difference in the lives of children but to do that I sign myself up for a constant battle of inadequate resources and no one who's willing to help.

Why Me?

I chose my blog because I have a passion for teaching and I want to make a difference, the difference needs to made within the school district. I know that it will never be perfect but somethings can be fixed. I want my blog to be a discussion of interesting reasons why people think the school system needs to be renovated. I know that there are people out there that feel the same way I do about this. They most likely have kids within the system and see that their kids are suffering from the poor job of the school. I want this blog to encounter that and go deep within the reasons why.


Why should readers of my blog trust me? Because I have first hand experience of why the school systems of NY are failing. I was there to see the way the school was run, the curriculum was taught to me directly, and I see the way voters react to budget increases. I may not be a certified expert but first hand experience goes a long way. I am not just a previous student though, I am an education major who wants to make a difference in the school system so that when I finally get to be in my own classroom things will be better for the kids I plan to teach. My mother is a special education teacher and has been for 11 years now. I see her kids often and see how she interacts with them in their learning environment. I have been in schools as a mentor and have seen behind the scenes how all of it works. And now I want to fix it.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Enthusiast Blog Decision

For my enthusiast blog I am choosing to discuss problems with New York State Education. The audience that I hope to attract are teachers, students, parents, and concerned citizens of NY. I think that choosing this topic will help with the understanding of what is happening to the education system and the possible solutions to fix the problems. I think as an audience possible discussions would be ways to fix the problems, how did the problems arise, and how to avoid the same things in the future. On my blog I will have to have a professional tone to my writing, but I would also like to keep it casual as well. My readers I think will want to see that I care about this topic and that I have a strong opinion in the ideas that I hold. In addition to that my opinions are my own and I need to be careful not to impose on anyone else's opinion that may be posted on my blog.

Potential Blog Ideas:

Smaller Class Sizes
Teacher Aids In Regular Education Classrooms
Give Students who need outside classroom help (esl, reading, speaking) longer time with specified teacher
Raising standardized test scored
Possibility of exempting special education students of standardized testing
Special Education students & ways to better their resources

Friday, September 18, 2009

Information Architects Blog

I had an issue with this article in the sense that while I was reading it the page expired and I still cannot get it to work. So in my response I'll respond on how far I did get.

I agree with the comprehending information steps, I think that in order to understand information you need to test the information against ideas and concepts you already know and look at things from a different vantage point. I think that the article made this very clear and understandable. However, I do not agree with the author when he says that ignorance is something that our society looks down upon. We encourage our students and others to ask question and get answers. The author makes it seem that asking questions is a bad thing to do and I think he is relaying the wrong message.

On page 28 of the article he discusses how when we watch the news or some imformational tv program that we gain more knowledge watching the advertisment commercials and the celebrity gossip than we watching the actual news information. After reading this and creating my own opinion on it I must say that I do agree with him. I think people watch to much tv to begin with, not that I don't myself but it is true, we take in more useless information that we should. Who cares about the celebrities they are overpayed people who don't do much other than spend too much money and adopt children from third world countries. (Angelina Jolie)

I also agree with the authors responce to data and how it is organized and portrayed. With whatever data comes our way we intrepret it to be what we what it to be. The data is organized and put through a process only to show us what we are trying to see, not always what is actually there. I think that people need to see data as it is, without trying to find a deeper meaning in it.

Finally, the point that I couldn't agree with more is the author's statement on how we gain knowledge. We don't gain it through books or literature but we learn through experience. You must build your knowledge yourself and understand it in a way you see fit. We can be ambushed with books and journals and all sorts of things but without experience and the willingness to open your mind and take in the info you gain nothing.


I think this article was well written, I know it made me step back and say wow most of these things he is saying are true, and I think we all need to do that.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Potential Blog Ideas

1. Education--its problems and benefits and what can be done to fix the problems

2. Animal Cruelty/Rights/or just to talk about animals and how cool they are

3. TV Reviews--specific shows such as one tree hill and breaking bad

4. Music-- I'm always interested in finding new music

5. Football-- I'll watch football anytime especially if it's the Giants!!

Stefanic Response

When I first opened the article it was all out of order and it took me a little while to figure out what the correct order should be. While reading the article I came across a part that I found quite humorous. When Stefanac gives the terms that critics call bloggers and their work (dilettantes, amateurs, and cults) I found it funny that she could back it up with her infatuation for the English language by twisting their meanings into something good and positive. Right from there you can tell that Stefanac has a great passion for blogging and wants others to know about it. I also thought that the beginning of the article jumps right into helpful points on how to blog. The excerpts are quick and to the point which is good for the reader I feel.

When I got to the tip about not getting frustrated and sticking to it I got nervous. I am a very impatient person and I get bored easily. Blogging I think is a great idea but I have my worries about me staying interested in my topic and being able to talk about it for a certain amount of time. Then when Mr. Jalopy is introduced they describe his page as being clean, crisp, and full of graphics, this overwhelms me a little but because I don't think that I have the computer knowledge do that. I am a perfectionist and pay way to much attention to detail, this in a way is good but also very unfortunate, when I write I have so many thoughts going through my head that I forget what I'm writing and have to go back. It's kind of like my brain moves faster than I can type and talk...and I can do both pretty fast.

I really like the idea of enthusiast blogs. I think it's a great way for people to share their passion for something with someone else. And it's even better if there are other people interested in the same things. The blog on mother tongue annoyances I thought was really interesting and I feel that I could join that blog because there are definitely words that people say that annoy me.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Rebecca Blood's Response

When I first started reading this blog I was lost and confused on what I was actually reading. After continuing on I realized that I know less about blogs than I had originally thought. I thought that you had to be a computer whiz to know how to set up a blog and maintain it, but now with developing times literally anyone can set one up. I did not know that there were thousands of places that I could go and talk about basically anything; or that there were millions of people that have a common interest in one topic. The way I look at it is that blogging connects everyone in one way or another. After reading the article as a whole I get the main picture that she is attempting to explain blogging, but I still find what she is trying to say a little confusing. I am not a computer person and I would rather spend my time away from a computer, which is why I probably find her wording and explanation quite mind boggling. However the concept of blogging is quite interesting to me. The idea that at this moment in time there are hundreds maybe thousands of people commenting on one topic is amazing to me, I think that blogging is good because it connects people who share a common interest.

I have never created, seen, or created a blog but I know people who have and they seem very interested in it. I would like to learn more about the world of blogging so that I can maybe try it out and see if I personally enjoy it.