Teaching students to use the Internet.

"Footprints in the Digital Age", written by Mr. Richardson, talks about how important the internet has become. It talks specifically about how useful it is when it comes to interacting with the world around you as well as being a great source of information. It seems to hint that educators need to help guides students more when using the internet so that they do make wise choices and learn how to interact and absorb information.

To me, it appears as though Mr. Richardson believes that by the time his children are grown up, that Google will be the new way for employers to find information on their potential employees.  If that is the truth then students need to be encouraged to use this relatively new source of learning to further their education and make a name for them. Not only will the internet do that, but it will also help them connect with people around the globe whether that is by playing games or socializing on social sites like Facebook, and this will help them learn to accept other people’s opinions and beliefs. This is a new generation with new technologies and resources, but some people are still too stuck in their ways to take advantage of this and it is now left to the younger generation to keep driving us forward. I will admit that even though the younger generation is the drivers we still need advice from our teachers, parents, and role models to keep us from abusing this new source. In some ways it will allow us to take information given to us as well as absorb and gather our own. One of the main ways this is useful to our learning is that it allows reacting with other people and gathering new knowledge from them.  On a moral view, it allows us to share our beliefs and what we do so that others might either follow our example or give advice to how we may better ourselves. Although it is an amazing new source of information and a new way to interact, many students still need to learn caution when writing and to think before they write something; because even if they meant it for only a few eyes many will eventually see it. The only questions I have are these. What will educators do now? Will they take the advice this article offers, or will they ignore it and teach as they have always taught? What will happen if students are not taught how to be safe and balance their time in the internet wisely? All in all, the internet is an amazing new source, but it is up to us to decide what we do with it.

Iranian president supports 7/11 terrorist attack conspiracy theories

The CNN Wire Staff brings us the article, “U.N. delegates walk out during Iranian president's speech”, that tell about how Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, tells the U.N General assembly about how he believes that the American 7/11 terrorist attack conspiracy theories are true. “Some segments within the U.S government orchestrated the attacks”, Ahmadinejad told the general assembly. He followed the claim that the attacks were aimed at reversing “the declining American economy and its scripts on the Middle East in order to save the Zionist regime. The majority of the American people, as well as most nations and politicians around the world, agree with this view." He also touched on the incident where the Florida pastor threatened to burn the Quran, and he also included a defense for Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

When I first read this article I tried my best to get angry about these accusations; to find some form of nationalism in me, but I just couldn’t because I can understand why he might make such accusations. I can understand why he would because he has seen the suffering off these two neighboring countries and has probably seen his own country suffer economically as a result. I can also see how he might be angry at how the Florida pastor threatened to burn the Quran because that seems to be claiming that Christianity is the true religion, and in that claim insult the people who this war has hurt so much. As for the nuclear ambitions; it doesn’t surprise me that they would want that; after all countries with nuclear power are generally left alone unless there is a serious threat from that country. I have only two questions for this article? Will someone like the pastor do something reckless like actually burn the Quran? My second question is what actually will it take to make the tension that seems so heavy right now explode into violence; if it does?

Messing with the brain.

The article "Is Google making us stupid?", written by Nicholas Carr, talks about how the the internet is actually affecting our brians and how it changes the way we think about things we read on the internet and how, instead of reading a whole article, we just skim form topic to topic and we rarely return to the same article again.

This probably has had the strongest effect on me of all the aricles I've read so far for several reasons. The main is reason because it makes me look at how I actually read books myself and it startles me how I truely can't stay focused on the book for more than an hour and a half, tops, before I have to go to a new assignment or go listen to some music. The other reason it had an effect on me is cause it has me worrying about my reading because I've loved reading for as long as I can remember and I still do, but I've started to notice, since I read this article, that I have lost interest in the actual story line of the book and I now just read it because I feel as though I have to to get to the end. The last reason this had an effect on me is because I've always been taught that the more you read, the better your writing skills will be, but I've also noticed that as I write, even while doing this blog,  I make mistakes that I have never done while writing before. And this opens up a couple questions for me. The first is, what will happen to the books if no one cares about reading them anymore? And what will this do to us if we dont have the focus to do something as simple as reading anymnore? All in all, my answer is yes, the internet is making us stupid.

More soldiers off to Afghanistan

CNN talks about this event in the article "Sources: As many as 2,000 more troops may be going to Afghanistan" , specifically about how even though it hasn't been publicly announced, it is believed that this is the case. There hasn't  been a set date for when this will happen, but it will probably happen in the next few weeks. The man who has propose this idea is General David Petraeus.


         This opens up several questions for me. What is the situation actually like in Afghanistan? Will there be an aggressive reaction to this? Does this mean that leader like General David Petraeus think that the war won't end as soon as some people seem to believe? The worst thing about this situation is just the fact that we are sending even more troops instead of bringing them out. I am not at all in agrrement that we should leave that country completely unstable to handle its own affairs, but sending troops to me seems the exact opposite of progressive. It also makes me think that maybe we haven't been getting the full story and it's just being toned down as not to make people more upset than they already are. Is this the truely best course of action we can take or is there another one? It seems to me that this has the potential to make feel more disgruntled about this war and maybe even form some groups completely opposed to the war and will do anything to stop us from sending more troops. All in all, I still do not know if this will fix problems or make more of them for us.

           

The effects of a traditional classroom

The video proided by mwesch, " A Vision of Students Today" made me think about my own education. This video talks about how the use of traditional teaching methods such as textbooks and classrooms isn't always useful. It also talks about how people spend money on a text book that they might not open or a class that they might not attend.

This opened a couple of questions for me that, in some ways, worry me. What is an effective method for learning, then? If a classroom isn't the most effective method, then is there really any point for me going to school? Once I had thought about it some more I found one main thing that he had left out and this was the fact that this only applied to a portion of students. For some a classroom is the only way to truely be able to focus on there studies. At the end, where it talked about how technology alone could save us, was another point I disagreed on. In some ways it can help us, but it can also serve as a distraction and a temptation. The one thing I can say I truely agree with is that it might be time for a change, maybe not as big as they imply they want but a change nonetheless.