PLN 14: Learn Something. Pass It On.

In the blog article “Learn Something. Pass it On.” by Karl Fisch, what matters is helping the people around you to discuss their lives, whether they are going through a hard time or just had the best day in their life. The article said that this Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the National Day of Listening. This means that on Friday, people all over the world are going to ask their neighbors, spouses, friends, or even long lost co-workers what is going on in those people’s lives, and give them a chance to talk.
So many times in this world, people don’t take the time to care about other people around them. So many people just deal with their own problems and don’t have time to listen to others. So many people are happy for themselves when something good happens, but don’t take the time to be happy for others. That is how our nation, unfortunately, has become. People get so caught up in their everyday lives that nothing else seems to matter, and then when they need someone to talk to after something tragic happened, they don’t have anyone because everyone else is still too busy. I think that it’s a great idea to recognize one day out of the 365, to take a moment and listen to someone else. We can clear our schedules for one day and take the time to listen to those who have been trying to talk to us for such a long time. By nationally recognizing this one day in the year, so many friendships, marriages, jobs, workers, and so much more can be saved. Once we get all of our troubles and our accomplishments out in the open, and we have people to go to with our hearts, then in the future, people will be more open to talk to you when you need to talk. More people will take the time to listen to you when you really need a friend. The world won’t full come to peace, but this is once step closer towards it.
I know that on Friday, I will make sure to listen to those who come to me, and to not be afraid to go to others is I need to talk. I often take for granted my busy schedule, and I hope that by dedicating a day to talk to others, it will not only help me, but help millions of others to listen to someone who is struggling, and to lend a helping hand.

PLN 13: Get. Off. Paper.

In the article “Get. Off. Paper.” By Will Richardson, what matters is advancing the economy so much in technology that we no longer need a pencil or paper, but instead we would do everything via computers, whether in Microsoft, or blogs online. The article talks about different conferences and presentation where 50 some people came and took notes with pen and paper, rather than using a laptop. He questions where those multiple pages of notes are now, and how they are used.
Many young people would agree that it is time to move on from paper, and to use computers for everything, including school and work. They agree that the advance in technology would be great for our economy, and would be a convenience to people everywhere. In some ways, they are correct. By using more and more technology, we would be saving rain forests and other trees by not needing so much paper. We could “go green” and help with the environment by not using things that cause pollution because we would have all our information on the computer.
The other side of that is that it’s not time to make such a drastic change as to skip from lots of paper to virtually no paper at all. There are elderly people living in our nation who grew up with pen and paper, who haven’t the slightest idea on how to work a computer. I am not saying that the article said to completely get rid of paper, but it suggested that its use become more minimal, quickly. There are people who wouldn’t know how to do anything with technology, because all of their lives have been without it.
I think that the best solution to this is to simply wait. Our generation has grown up with things such as iPod’s, computers, DVDs and other things. We should wait until technology becomes a part of more people’s lives, before we try to make it run the world. If we wait until more people become familiar with it, and know how to use it, it will be easier to convert over to using mainly computers.
The advance in technology has affected many things in our everyday lives. How long will it take to be an even greater part in which we hardly use paper? How long will it be until the people of the future think that we should move onto something greater, beyond the computer? Is the technology going to help us or hurt us in the end? Something to think about.

PLN 12: A Prayer for the Day

In the article, Prayer for the Day, by Natavillage, what matters is religion, and the coming together of people to praise God by singing to him and praying. This shows real faith in the community in that they can come together and thank God for all their blessings. Even though they are not as fortunate as most other people in the world, they are grateful for what they have, and they show their gratitude by praising and thanking God.
I think that it’s really neat when there are people out in the world who know that they don’t have as much as others, but who are extremely grateful for what they have been blessed with, and who aren’t afraid to show it by thanking God for all their success. If we all took a moment to think about how much we have been blessed, we would all be amazed. Every one of us has a home to live under, heat when we are cold, food to eat daily, family, plumbing, and running water. There are places in the world who eat once every two to three days, who have to walk three miles to get water, who have weak roofs so they are not protected when it rains, and who have to suck it up when they are hot or cold. There are even people who eat what they can find on the street, and who live in boxes with no blankets during the winter. They don’t even think about owning such things as an iPod, a camera, a TV, or a computer. To them, that is dream world. To us, that’s reality. We have all been blessed with so much more than we really need to get by. We should be extremely thankful for all that we have today.
I know that my family blesses food before we eat, and we say our prayers before we go to bed, thanking God for everything we have been blessed with. I know that I feel especially thankful to be placed in a Christian family with God-fearing parents. I have so much to be grateful for, that I have nothing to be ungrateful about. I know that I often take for granted all the blessing I have. Around this holiday season, I would like to do what I could to help the less fortunate, whether it is giving food to a food drive, or giving a toy to a sponsored angle child, I am going to do what I can to help the less fortunate have as good of a holiday season as I have. Then more people will have something to be thankful for. By helping these people, I am helping bless another human being.

PLN 11: Kids Prefer Reading Online

In the article, "Kids Prefer Reading Online…", by Will Richardson what matters is taking the best standpoint on what to do with the new importance of learning technology, and how it should be used, particularly with online reading. The article discusses the pros and cons of having students read online, and the debate on whether that should be “taught” in school.
The first point that was brought up was that of how students standardized test scores have been decreasing as the use of the internet has been increasing. There are some parents who think that there child is spending too much time on the computer, which in turn is causing them to spend less and less, time reading and writing, which in effect has decreased their grades in school. As pointed out, these parents are against incorporating the internet any further into education. They are the people that would like to stick to traditional pencil and paper, plain old textbooks.
There are also the people who are for incorporating more technology into education, especially for online reading because they say that it is better is their child is reading on the computer rather than watching TV or doing other ineffective/lazy things. They think that in turn, technology could help students focus more on education, and could help raise test scores because their students are actually learning in their free time, instead of just lying around at home.
I, of course, have to put my two cents into the matter. I think that education should be incorporated into education to a certain extent. I enjoy the freedom of having an assignment that allows you to explore, and you are not confined to the same textbook that everyone else has. When all our assignments aren’t the same, for example our PLNs, where we can write about any article, not just one, we have the freedom to pick and choose what articles we want to read and write about. As the world is advancing in technology, and as our generation grows up living in a world in technology, it is extremely important that we know how to use technology, and that we are, in a sense, educated by technology. I really like the quote of one woman in the article, who said, “Nobody has taught a single kid to text message. Kids are smart. When they want to do something, schools don’t have to get involved.” I think that explains my perspective on the matter as well. Since we have grown up in a world with technology, we know more how to use it than our grandparents know. It is time that we start to incorporate that knowledge into our education, but we need not forget the traditional ways of read and writing, because those will still be on tests such as SATs and ACTs. I agree that we could do more work on the computer with the current technology, and I like that we have the option to be in laptop classes for classes such as English. We could learn a lot online, but we need to know where the line is that says where we are using technology to our benefit vs. letting it take control of our whole education.
The debate is still in the air about whether technology should be used as an online reading source. There are pros and cons to both sides, but eventually, we must face that the world will be come an almost entirely technology world, so why don’t we allow it to be used in our every day education?

PLN 10: Obama

In Will Richardson’s Obama, what matters is supporting our president. Though the article was very short, many things can be taken out of it. For one, Barak Obama just made history this past Tuesday. Many people were happy about that, while another group was disappointed, and yet another group is somewhat scared.
All those political ads for Obama, online, on TV, and around town really helped the Democrats. This election is considered to be the most advanced election yet. The campaigning was taken to another level from both sides. We saw advertisements on billboards, on TV, but this year, the major campaigning came online. Candidates from both parties used the internet to point out the good points about them and also to trash the other candidates. We have never before seen the internet in play so much as we did this election. I think that this is what made this election as close as it was, and as interesting as it was. Exaggeration was passed along via internet, claims were made, and assumptions were assumed. I had a lot of fun following all the rumors that went around, and I think that the people who enjoy politics thought that the results were rather surprising.
For all those people for McCain, I must say that I thought he was the winner, hands down. With Sarah Palin as his running mate, I thought he had hit a home run and was going to be our oldest president. Myself being a Republican, I was disappointed when Obama won. I don’t have anything against him; I just think that McCain is better fitted for the job.
For starters, McCain is a war hero. He fought in the Vietnam War, and served his country by fighting. He has also been in the congress for over 20 years. He has had lots and lots of experience on government and in politics, and I thought that that would make him a hand down winner. His running mate was also someone who connected to the people. She was a hockey mom with five children who was just like any other American. She could relate to the crowds she spoke to. She had the image of a person born in a log cabin, just like Abe Lincoln. She was a true American, and I thought she would make a great VP of our country.
Then there is the majority of America who obviously wanted Barak Obama to win. I think that Barak would make a good president……just not yet. As we are in this time of troubles with the economy and the war, and all of our tax money, I feel that we really need someone who has a little more experience. I personally believe that someone who has been involved in politics a little longer would be the best choice to pull us out of this almost-depression, and then somebody like Obama would be a better choice as president after our country was up and running again. The preponderance of the country thought that Obama would do a fine job of getting our country out of its lead on the path into depression.
As the next generation, it will be our job to get our country out of debt, and to keep it protected just like the generation before us. Now that we are in even more debt with the war, and the price for gas has been raising and dropping faster than you can fill your car, we have been going in and out of more and more debt. When this generation grows up and gets jobs in the real world, it will be our responsibility to make sure that our country stays safe, just like the generations before have done. We will have to build up an army with younger people and train them to be as good as the military is now. I personally don’t think that Barak Obama is suited to do that just yet. I think that with a little more time with the government and Obama could have potential to really help our country and its money issues.
We saw in many of the campaign ads that change was the main word theme. Candidates on both sides promised change for our country. Whether that meant to lower taxes or to raise them, to get our country out of poverty, or to help save our environment, change is what is going to happen. Too much change is a scary thing, but these men used propaganda to open up people’s mind to welcoming change rather than shutting it out. Change is what won the election for Obama. His two main slogans were “Change is Coming”, and “Hope”. He sold these ideas to many people around the country, and influenced them that his ideas of change were the best for our country. He used smart political strategies, and that’s why he won the election.
So now that the Democrats have control in the White House, and in congress and the senate, our country will be a little different for the next four years. We will see many changes, and the people who voted will see if they made the right choice in voting for Obama. We will see within the next four years.

PLN 9: The Next Election

In Karl Fisch’s blog article, The Next Election, what matters is educating all those people who are currently in high school, who will be eligible to vote in the 2012 elections, and making sure that they know what they are voting for and about. Mr. Fisch asks three questions that I think are really good critical questions, that make us think about what we are really going to do by the time the next election rolls around, and 17.5 million more students that will be eligible to vote, whether they choose to or not. He asks:
1. What are we going to do to prepare our students to be engaged, intelligent, informed, and competent voters in a world that is very, very, very different than the one we grew up in?
2. How are we preparing them to be successful citizens in a publish-then-filter world?
3. Are we transforming our classrooms to reflect real-time, instantaneous access to factual and political information?
After taking these questions into consideration, I think that I agree with his expression of opinion about educating all high school students in the information that they will be voting on in the next four years. It is a good idea to inform students of all ages in politics and their political issues and standpoints. I know that there are those people, such as myself, who really enjoy and get into politics, and like to follow current issues, but there are also those who could care less. It is important to educate all people so that they know what they are voting for, and won’t regret their votes later.
I decided to take two different perspectives on the matter. In doing so I asked my family what they would to do educate high school students in the next election, versus what students would like to see happen. From the information I gathered, students like me would like to see technology used in more classrooms, and to learn more about political events straight from the truth, without all the bias of sides that just makes matters more complicated. We would like to be able to learn about political issues based on how they apply to us, and what will be good or bad for us and our economy.
Our parents on the other hand, have had more experience in voting, and have a better idea about the economy, so they vote more towards things that will affect the country as a whole, and the future of our tax money. They think that students should inform themselves on political matters and to branch out to their own opinions. By researching matters in their own hands, they find what they believe to be true and to personally express themselves in what they believe, whether or not their parents agree.
The first question asks what teachers and other adults are going to do to prepare students for the next election. Again I chose two different perspectives, one on what adults are going to do, and another on what students would like to see happen. Here are the results I got:
Adults and Educators: As I was talking to my parents on what they would to do educate students in political issues, they had views similar but yet opposite to what students want. They think that politics should be discussed in class, and that students should be taught how to see past political advertisement, and into what the matter is all about. In the political campaigns, we often see opposing campaigners say things like “so-and-so voted no on helping so-and-so people raise money for clean water”. What we don’t take into consideration is the reason why they voted no on certain issues. They could have voted no because part of the deal was a raise in taxes for the average man in a percentile range that is unreasonable. For all that we know, by voting no for that issue the candidate could have saved their commonwealth millions of dollars in tax money.
This is an issue that adults and educators would like to be taught to students. They think that it is important to make sure that students know what they are voting for, making them educated voters.
Students and Future Voters: From the information I got from the students around me, I found that students would like to learn by technology and their parents. Many of the people that I talked to said that they will have their parents inform them, along with interacting a discussing with the people around them. This gives students the opportunity to get multiple perspectives, just like I am doing now, and to choose what they think will be the best for them in future years. This also allows students to get an idea from adults and educators, aka experienced voters on what will be best, or what entries on the ballot are reasonable or not.
Students will also be interested in learning from technology. With the current advance at the rate of change, ballots may be able to access online by the time of the next two elections. Some students view this as a good way to learn about current politics. While others think that it should be taught based on the basic understanding of our government and how it works. The people that want technology to play a bigger part in politics in the upcoming elections are more open to change and the future. They welcome new ideas and are open to trying new things. They think that politics will be best understood in such a technology based fashion since our country is being based in a technology based fashion. The people that want to stick to the traditional fashion of teaching politics like it is, with the campaigning verbally, and choosing your own side of the views that are being presented in plain paper are the best way to learn. They think that by not changing the way politics are taught, we will learn like our parents learned, and will understand the ways that they feel about such political issues.
Just based on this first question, we can see the difference between parents point of view versus the students. The second question that was asked was “how are we preparing our students to live in a publish-then-filter world.” I again got two different viewpoints on the matter.
Adults then Educators: As I talked to adults again, I found that they felt that students should be careful in a world where anyone can post on the internet, whether factual or not. Anyone can express their opinion and their feelings on a matter, no matter what the truth may be.
Adults would like students to be able to filter what they believe, and the biases of the internet to be known as bias and not fact for fact truth. By the law of freedom of speech, it is not illegal to stretch the truth on any matter, especially in politics. Adults want students to be able to decipher the difference between fact and opinion on such matters. They want students to be careful and not to believe everything that they hear or read, because it could be false.
Students and Future Voters: After talking to new voters who will be voting in 2012, many people thought that by having the internet, they could get many different views on what other people thought on different matters. By having freedom of speech and press, and by allowing others to publish their personal opinions, students can pick and choose what they want to believe, and have their own opinions on matters that they will be voting on.
Students have the opportunity to grow up in a technological world, and be able to see many points of view on matters. They are allowed to see many different bias’ on matters that they will be having a say in, allowing them to choose for themselves on what they want to vote on, and not being forced to vote what their parents vote for.
The last question that was asked was asking about classrooms are being turned into real life situations, and more and more discussion are reflecting what’s happening in the world. Once more, I chose to take two different sides on the matter.
Adults and Educators: Adults think that by discussing politics in class is doing no harm because it is all part of education and understanding the government and how our country works. It is good to be informed and to get new ideas on what we as students can do to make our country better,
The only concern that they have is who is leading the discussion and if students are being allowed to express their opinions without feeling pressured to base an opinion one way because that’s what their teacher and classmates are for. If a student has the write to feel and express their own opinion, then the adults that I talked to are all for political discussions in class.
Students and Future Voters: From the student point of view, it is good that it is becoming easier to access real-life information and to be able to discuss it in the classroom. It gives students a chance to express themselves and personal opinions in the classrooms, allowing us to view others perspective, and to create our own opinions on matters that will soon be into our own hands. Some students enjoy talking about matters that affect our economy, and enjoy expressing their opinions in what to do with our country.
By educating students in class, teachers are preparing us for the election in 2012. We are being able to choose our bias on matters and what we think is right or wrong for our country, including the president and the majority of congress and the senate.
As you can see, there are many different points of view between educated voters, and new voters. I have found it interesting to see the comparison between parents and kids. This will prove to be a different type of election with all these new voters taking their stance on politics.

PLN 8: The Weight Station

In the Nata Village blog, "The Weight Station", what matters is helping others support their family when money and jobs are scarce. Once a month, parents take their baby to a “weight station”, where the baby is weighed to see if they are in good health. If the baby is healthy, the government will give the family a food basket and baby formula. This is very helpful to those people who have very low-paying job, and find it difficult to provide enough food for them and their family.
By the government giving food and baby formula to those families with a healthy baby, it is showing that the government cares about the new generation, and is willing to put forth some help to keep them, and their families healthy and nourished. The government is involved in individual family’s lives, and takes note that jobs are very rare, making food harder to keep on the table. The government has taken a step into leading their village out of poverty. They have leaded the village into the idea of giving food and good drink to the hungry and to those who have large families and cannot afford to buy enough food need to support themselves.
If more and more individuals also donated food to those people in the world that have very little, it would help bring the world out of so much poverty. There would be less and less people who eat only once or twice a week, pr who live on the streets without food and good water, except what they can get from trash cans or the money that they get from begging off the side of the road. Places like food shelters, such as the Bread of Life and the Denver Rescue Mission are made up of people that care about those living on the street, and have done something about it by opening a place where canned food is collected and given to the homeless and the poor. By just giving a can or two around Thanksgiving, and Christmas, we can all make a difference in solving the issue of all the hungry people in the world.

PLN 7: Helping the Less Fortunate

In the blog “Helping the Less Fortunate”, what matters is giving to others that can’t afford most things. In the Nata Village Blog, it says that the Department of Social and Community development and the Nata Orphan Trust helped more than 60 children by giving them a healthy breakfast and lunch, and also granting them with 400 pula (about $100) to buy brand new school clothes.
This really shows that there are people in the world that aren’t greedy and are willing to help those who don’t have very much money whether its because they live in a poorer community or if its because they don’t have a big paying job. There are people who recognize others living conditions, and have taken a step to help.
I know how much I love shopping for new school clothes, so I couldn’t imagine not getting a back to school outfit every year. Some kids in poorer villages are lucky to get a new outfit every couple of years, so I am sure that when they were given $100 to but new clothes, they were thrilled.
As we see homeless people living on the side of the street holding a piece of cardboard that says “Homeless, Out of Work, No Food, Anything Will Help, God Bless”, we usually just drive by them, and occasionally we will think about how lucky we are to have a car, and food, and shelter. We make the excuse of not giving them the 58 cents in our pocket because “they will probably go waste it on alchol or something”. I agree that there are people out there who have plenty of money and still stand out on the streets like a beggar, and there are people who waste every penny that people give them, but there are also people that really need that money to live on. Do we ever think about what it would be like to live without any of that, and to just have a jacket for warmth? What if we never knew when we were going to next eat because we depended on people to give us some loose change as they were driving by in there brand new Hybrid. We don’t realize how blessed we are. All of us have clothing, food, warmth, shelter, and clean water, plus all the technology we now have, such as computers, cell phones, television sets, and every other blessing in our house.
It was very pleasing to read about someone who has a heart willing to help others. These people recognize all that they have, and they have given graciously to others. They were not selfish or greedy, like so many others in the world. So next time you see someone who looks like they could use a helping hand, instead of just ignoring them, why wouldn’t we go over and help them. That’s what Jesus would do. It would make our world a better place to be.