HI DR MCVERRY

i had such a blast in edu 106 this year. it was fun being sarcastic with you and the class. hope all is well and you have the best holiday with your family! hahdfa;dsfafhsjhsdjfhaklsdjhfkjls

my last blog post for this class! big ole 20!

At first I didn't know anything that was going on in this class or how to mess around on the web with certain things. All I knew in regards to the internet were the basic things like Facebook, Twitter, MyMathlab, Myscsu, blackboard, etc. I never knew nor did I ever try to figure out more and dig deeper into the web.

At the start of this class I was very anxious and nervous about all of what was going on. I would email Dr. McVerry, what felt like every day to ask questions even after we have gone over it in class. As I started to get more comfortable with the class I emailed Dr. McVerry a whole lot less and understood after one discussion about it in class. As I got more confident and comfortable with the things we were learning in class I started to have more fun with the assignments.

My favorite assignment that we did was the 6 word memoir because I really got to be creative in the respect that I got to choose what things I wanted to put into the video and how I wanted to over-lap them, etc.

The hardest assignment that we did was the bio page. I'm still not the most comfortable with html and I still struggle with it but that's all about learning how to get better.

I can now say I know much more about the internet than the simple things!

LEGO GENDER REMIXER

I don't think that marketing towards girls or boys is a bad thing because it's not say girls can't play with the boy's toys and boys can't play with the girl's toys. It's just a commercial and it's marketing towards whoever wants to play with them.

However, no, educators should not include gender identity in schools because no matter boy or girl, at school you're both learning the same thing, gender shouldn't matter. Outside of school, if a boy wants to play with dinosaurs so what? If a girl wants to play with baby dolls so what? Or vice versa?

old communication; new literacies ;5

This article was very interesting to me because you don't usually find articles that focus on the positives that social networks have on young teens lives, and even their health by providing a safe place for them to present themselves how they please, as well as gain support from fellow network users. This article makes you think about what social networks do besides distract teens.

Since the century we live in now is becoming so involved with the internet and much of our education is via the internet, the people with less money that don't have internet access, seem to be suffering the most. the internet is more helpful than not. 7.4 million teens ages 13-17 live in low-income houses and can be having a lack of internet access and falling behind other students their age. This study focuses on what children of low-income families rely on myspace for, they found they use it to keep in touch with others and to have a place they would be supported.

Social networks are also used so that people can find out the interest of other people/friends. However, the word "friend" is loosely used in the social- network area. a friend is suppose to be someone that you can talk to and hang out with, however, a friend is someone that you can simply press add and they become a member on your facebook/myspace page.

"looking back to see ahead" module 5

This man, Nunez, suffers issues with his eyes due to a very dangerous fall from a mountain, which he is lucky to have survived. The exact diagnosis is "diseased eyes". The only solution to his situation is having surgery to remove his eye balls. Nunez doesn't like the idea of this. The school that Nunez attends doesn't offer extra help in reading for children that struggle, since the majority of the children learn how to read at a young age.

The author touches upon the situation of culture, and that the belief that all people the same way are in a culture together and understand each other completely and all face the same struggles. Although it's true that if you're going through something similar to someone else you can understand it more and be more sensitive to it, however, this doesn't mean that every single person in the "culture" feel and struggle the same way.

I believe that this article touches upon the important issues that come with difficult situations. People that have the same sort of disorder, issue, disability, etc. are placed into the same category (culture) by people that don't completely understand their situations. It;s sad that people on the outside are so quick to judge and put people with issues together and exclude them. It makes me angry that there was no extra help for reading in Nunez's school. this is making a culture of people that don't have any issues, the "normal" people, that learn to read at a young age, and discriminating against the kids that may need extra help. this is why i'm interested in going into special education so much, because people are so quick to judge and place "different" people into a category separate from the "normal" children. we are all different and all have our issues, why should we exclude people that may be seen as different?

technology and school; 5

Math isn't my favorite subject, as it's most of people's dreaded subject. I don't like My Mathlab either. It's such a pain cause unless you put the numbers in exactly how they expect it, they don't accept it. However when you think about it my mathlab is pretty cool and it's super helpful.

Math lab helps me more than my professor does sometimes. The reason it is so helpful is because it's super repetitive. Without the internet and technology this wouldn't be possible. I like math lab because it's like bringing a teacher home with me and i can click on the button to help me solve the problem, whereas if i didn't have math lab and had to do my math on a hard copy of paper and i couldn't figure it out i wouldn't have a button to click to "help" me.

although theres alot of negatives to how the internet is today, it's also super helpful and many positives come from it. As long as one doesn't let the negatives out-way the bad then the internet is all positive things.

back when i was a kid! 5

I walk around today and see all these young kids around the ages of 7 and sometimes even at the age of 5 with a cell phone. To me this is ridiculous that children this young have cell phones. The first thought that goes thru my mind is what do they use it for? They don't have anyone that they can text. since they probably don't even know how to read, there is no point for them to text. The same as calling, a 5 year old is not going to call someone on the phone and talk for hours. They don't have the attention span to do that. The only reason a child this age would want a cell phone is so they could play games. Well then get a Gameboy like I had back when i was kid.

Not only did i only have a Gameboy but i also wasn't allowed to bring it out of the house, to school. There was a separation between play time and school time. I feel that kids these day don't have this separation and that is resulting in them not being able to pay attention during class because their attention is else where, their phone.

You can walk around today and see a group of kids hanging out and every single one of them is on their phone. Children don't know how to hang out anymore or socialize in person because they have become so reliant on having a phone to keep them entertained. Kids these days don't even know how to play by themselves or entertain themselves without the access to the internet. shameful this world is becoming.

To show that this has become such a relevant  issue in the world today i looked up some articles that people have written about on the subject. I found this link --> http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/03/13/teens-and-technology-2013/. which brought me to an article with some stats on it. The one stat that stood out to me most was that 74% of teens ages 12-17 say that they access the internet via a cell phone. Not only are students and teens at young ages using cell phones but they have cell phones with internet access. My question is why do they need internet access on the go at such a young age? They don't have a job that they must make sure to be available for, they don't have professors they must keep in touch with via e-mail.

The way the world is now with all of the internet access and using the phone to communicate is going to take away from the ability to have face to face interaction. The sad truth is that although the internet has major advantages that the young kids are making all of the positives into negatives.

Module 4: blog post 4!

"Remix" focuses on how online music took off and became as popular as it is today. Instead of having to be able to play a piano, you can now use the internet to be able to make the same exact music with music players, re-mixers, producer, etc.

Not only can you make your own mixes of songs online you can also download any song by any artist that you like to your device and listen to it whenever and wherever you want. I used to download every song that I loved onto my iPod but now I don't even bother it has become such a hassle because everyone is doing it, it always runs so slow.

You can even put in a CD you like, load it to your iTunes, they load it to your device. The fear of starting all of this was that people would become disconnected, and unfortunately that has been what has happened for many of us. Many people keep their head phones in while walking around school instead of making friends and talking to people. They aren't experiencing being in the moment because they're listening to something else and tuning out the world.

Module 4: blog post 3!

"Working online is a fluid experience which calls for flexible learners.", stated in the reading, Construction and/or Creation of Online Content, couldn't explain better the way I feel about this EDU 106 course. I feel that in order to find a do what you need online you have to be a flexible learner, which I am not. I like everything to be written out in hard copy with a picture and a step by step description on how to do what is expected of me. 

Technology can be a difficult thing to figure and I for one can agree. This reading focuses on the Online Content Construction (OCC). This is all about trying to make students and teacher comfortable with being alone and to understand all of the concepts accurately. They try to take head on the Creation vs. Construction debate. Creation is defined as the act of producing. Construction is defined as the building of an infrastructure. 

They both require creativity and flexibility, which brings me back up to my first paragraph.  You have to be a very flexible learner in order to be completely successful while using the internet.  

Module 4; blog post 2!

I can't be the only one that is nervous for the ignite talk. Having to stand up in front of the class and talk about a topic for 15 seconds per slide is pretty nerve-wracking. Why is it I get nervous standing up in front of the class speaking but I have no problem shouting out in the middle of class and saying whatever I have to say via twitter where I know hundreds of people can see it. (277 followers if we wanna get technical). I think that many people, including myself, feel safe behind a computer screen.

I know that bullying has become an issue via the internet and that is caused by many different reasons but I think one reason being that you don't have to see that person face to face. I know that I sometimes become more brave when talking to teachers, employers and sometimes even friends when talking via the internet or texting. It's much easier to say what you have to say when you don't have to see the person face to face and worry about the possible fear of mumbling and stumbling all over your words.


I don't tend to be a very shy person and I say what's on my mind, sometimes a little too much, but I still get nervous when I have to confront someone about something in person. Whether it be a serious conversation I might have to have with a teacher or simply talking in front of a class I become more uncomfortable than if i was emailing a teacher or, like now, typing a post that I know the whole class has the ability to read.

I think that technology has taken away a lot of people's social skills. They have become so used to being able to hide behind a screen they don't have to ability to look a person in the eyes when talking to them or how to even talk politely for that matter. Technology can be an awful and yet wonderful thing. Oh, the love-hate relationship we share.

Module 4; blog post 1!

 I was sitting in the library with my friend today at school doing homework and looking around I saw everyone on their laptops and or phones. Not a single person was looking for a book on the shelves or reading a book. It seems that all our information comes from the internet these days. As a matter of fact, today i said to my friend, "I don't even know how to check out a book anymore". It's come so rare for us to use books in a library for research now, even books that would usually be used for free read are now being accessed on the computer, iPad, kindle, phone, etc.  


Even though you can access a book in a form of the internet and technology, do any people still read books? Since Netflix has come out I know for a fact that I haven't read as many books as I used to because I know have something that I can access on the internet that takes up my free time. This is sad to me because I used to be a very avid reader which would help my brain and now instead I stare mindlessly at a computer or phone screen for hours as I binge watching Criminal Minds, Dexter or One Tree Hill.

I can't be the only one that notices they put technology over using their brain. Instead of learning how to look up a book in the library I just type my question into google. Instead of reading a book for fun in my free time, I watch a show that the internet provides. I don't even watch Television as much anymore because of the internet providing me with being able to watch shows when, where and what I want to watch.

The aspect of being able to have my questions answered so quickly when i type them into google, or putting aside a book or the tv to watch netflix instead, has made me, as well as many other people, impatient. We are so used as a society to having what we want at our dispense that very moment that we think about it, we forget there's other things to do to pass our time and other ways to find out our information that might be a better source.

I love my phone and I love my netflix, don't get my wrong, but sometimes I wish I had the power to put my technology away and do things "the old fashioned way".

module 3- blog post 4!

 In 6th grade we had this thing called nature's classroom, it was when my whole 6th grade class would go to this nature camp for 4 days, 3 nights. I didn't want to go at all, I had no interest in going and camping out in nature, or so I said, however the real reason was because I didn't wanna sleep away.

However, I really wanted a phone and my parents knew I really wanted a phone so like any good parents would do, they bribed me to go away by saying they would get me a phone. Of course I told them I would go as long as I got the phone of the century, THE PINK RAZR FLIP PHONE! You basically weren't cool unless you had it.

I went to natures classroom and had an awesome time, I made alot of friends that remained my friends in high school and some on. One even became my best friend that still is today. Anyway, so when I got home I was so excited about making all new friends and staying away from my parents that when I was back I totally forgot about the promise for the pink razr.

Don't worry, I got the pink razr, but don't think my parents were too kind, they didn't give me unlimited texting. At first I had no texting at all, just calling, I had to work up for texting. Now a days could you even get a phone without unlimited texting? It's so funny to think back about how the technology has evolved so immensely that just when I was 12 years old, 7 years ago, having a phone with just being able to talk on the phone was crazy and i was so happy for it, yet now a days having anything less than a smart phone is looked down on. How shameful we are.

module 3- blog post 3

"Teachers become more important, though their role changes, within new literacy classrooms" (Ch 15, Best Practices in Teaching the New Literacies of Online Research and Comprehension). Although teachers are still extremely important in the role of children learning, however their role is changing because of the student's access to the internet. Teachers change in the sense that their students expect instant gratification now more than ever. They might have a  question on homework, so first they check the internet, if they can't get the answer right away then they'll email their teacher and expect an answer almost immediately. This changes the way a teachers role used to be because they now have to take their work home with them.

They also have to be more careful when reading student's assignments due to the easy and overwhelming access to other people's work on the internet. Teachers have to make sure their students don't resort  to spark notes instead of actually reading the text that's given in class. Although most of the internet access is used outside of the classroom, teachers also have to be aware when students are using their phone in class, especially during a test because that more than likely means they're cheating on a test.

The teacher changes alot as technology changes, they have to be able to be available at many times for help, they have to be more aware with the technology as well so they know all that their students have at their finger tips such as sparknotes and other people's papers.

Module 3- blog post 2!

Facebook is such a wonderful awful thing. Where else would I go when i want to find an embarrassing old picture of me with braces?! This picture is back from freshman year of high school. Out of all my 961 friends on Facebook, I creep on myself the most. It's a fun place to check out a collecting of pictures of yourselves from years and years. I enjoy laughing at myself and looking at how I've changed thru the years. It's also fun to look back on my years and see who I was friends with and who I still maintain a friendship with these days. Although I think I spend way too much time on facebook looking up people I haven't seen in awhile (or myself), I also think there are other things facebook can be useful for as well. For example, I have a younger cousin, Samantha, I haven't talked to her in awhile and I know she's a senior this year, which means she's thinking about what college to go too which i know is a very stressful confusing time, at least it was for me. So since I don't have her number i relayed on facebook to get back in touch with her after about 5 years. We only talked for about 2 weeks but without facebook i never would have had that opportunity. I also recently re connected with an old high school friend via facebook because she liked a post I put on facebook and I proceeded to text her. Facebook is a wonderful awful thing! Although facebook can have positives, I've also seen it be used for the worst. I've seen bullying to the lowest level and bullying to the highest. I don't think people in high school should be allowed to have facebook because that's when alot of bullying occurs and facebook is the easiest outlet to turn to so that you don't have to bully a person face to face but thru a computer screen.

Module 3- blog post 1

"Manipulate and mold information to achieve a higher goal" (Kaku). This quote reminds me about the thing we are always being told by our teachers, "do something with the readings". I think that the internet helps us do this. Whether we're reading an article on the internet or a hard cover book, we always seem to go back to the internet. We go back to the internet while reading to look up definitions of words we're not sure of, about people we don't know, times and places of things, etc. The internet allows us to "do something with the reading".

Not only can we look up things about the readings, but also can share our thoughts on the readings (like i currently am). Although I am focusing on one particular reading for a particular class, I have also tweeted about a book i have read before and thus started a conversation with a follower, we ended up talking about the book and our feelings. Many people take something that they read and translate it to something more, whether it be a discussion, a tweet or a summary this has been our most recent and standard form of molding the information.

I found this particular reading (first one under module 3) interesting because it brings up points that I've never focused on before. Points such as the positives of the internet which I believe is something that's very important that most people forget that their are positives to the technology due to the fact all the negatives we hear about bullying on social networks and cell phones take people's attention away from being in the moment and living, etc. It's always interesting to see someone  else's point of view.

Post 4 :D

For my post 4, I'm here to ask some of the members of this class for help. At the beginning of this class we were told we would have a final project, we could either write an essay or start a social movement. I want to start a social movement. Although I have no idea how to make my own website, I would use my twitter, tumblr, facebook, yik yak, blog spot, etc. to get the word out. The thing I have to ask you guys is what should my "challenge" for people be? Like the ice bucket challenge, I want to get the word out about a disease without a cure.

Dravet Syndrome is something not many people know of. I have known this little girl Ciara, age 9 now, since she was 3. At the age of 18 months she was diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome. For those of you that have never heard of this awful disease, let me tell you. It's a form of epilepsy. This is no official cure, the only thing that can be done is try to prevent the seizures from happening by going thru a strict diet, varying from Ciara eating 10 cherrios for lunch and only a cheese stick for dinner. She has to take numerous pills each morning, some twice a day or more. She can't do some activities most children her age can do because too much activity could cause a seizure, as well can eat, even some sort of lighting and loud noises can as well. The doctors said they didn't believe Ciara would live past 4 and now she's 9, still with no cure. Every other month she has to change her medicine because her body will get used to it and over power thru the medicine and give her "grand mal" seizures. Her mother set up an amazing fundraiser for her called the DSF Foundation. They do many different walks and 5ks, they also have an annual fundraiser at a hotel that holds an auction as well as a nice dinner and hotel room, called he Butterfly Bash.

So my question to you guys is what challenge can I start to be a social movement to help get the word out about this disease that many young people are suffering from every single day?

  

#colorchat

At first I had no idea how to find a chat on twitter and I was baffled by the fact that I have a twitter and couldn't figure this out. I started to get frustrated because I couldn't find anything on education or anything I found interesting, so I read the twitter chat #SMWTeens that Dr. McVerry posted onto the class community. After reading it and taking some notes on it, I started to look at the things I had to touch upon for this assignment and I realized I really should look for something I find fun, so back to my search bar I went. I typed in #chat in the twitter search bar, up came some things about football, with the whole Ray Rice situation going on, I scrolled passed it and found something called #colorchat. It caught my attention because the picture is of a nicely maintained house as well as rooms and a very eye catching logo saying color chat with the twitter symbol and colors all around.

I proceeded to open it up and look at the what this chat had to do with. The chat's purpose was nothing more than different color ideas and schemes for homes. They have their chat starting up again next Tuesday. The thing I found most interesting was looking at the different pictures of rooms people posted. There was this one woman that posted a picture of a ceiling that looked like something straight out of Disney World. (seen below at bottom of post).

I think this is a great learning chat for people that are interested in re-doing their home and they need some ideas of what to do or what colors might match best together. Even how to do it is shown on this chat. It didn't seem as though this was a marketing event or campaign because people were tuning in to ask people where to get something they were looking for as well as asking if they've ever done a certain mural or painting that they wished to do.

In conclusion this was an interesting chat for me to read about considering I just re-did my bedroom and am always thinking of different things to do. I think that next Tuesday I will tune in and be an active member in the chat.


After going back a second time to re-look at the #colorchat conversation I found that they changed their basis of conversation to focus around the holidays. Some people talked about their holiday styles, such as how they decorated their fire place, Christmas tree, etc. I found that there were much more people engaged in this chat that surrounded the holidays rather than the chat I had previously looked in on. I also found it more interesting to read I think the reason being is that there are always fun crafts and different decorations coming around during the holiday time so it's nice to be able to talk to other people about it who enjoy it as you do and as well as get some ideas for your own decorations in your own home.

twitter #2

It's funny, I've had a twitter since April, 2011 and I have no idea what a twitter chat is. I'm actually excited about this twitter chat assignment because i'll be discovering a whole different aspect of twitter that I've been unaware of for the past couple of years. I'm thinking about doing my twitter chat on something I find interesting like Special Education, Netflix, Food and or cooking. I might do all 3. I find it interesting that there's all these different things to one website I've been apart of for so long and don't know, I guess the only part of Twitter that I use is reading what other people have to say and gossip. I follow things that interest me and people that are my friends but that's mostly by extent of how I have spent my years on twitter. Meet me back at my next blog post which will be my blog post #3 for the next 2 weeks!

My reflection on the readings in Module 2!

Although it wasn't a reading, my favorite source in the Module 2, was the Vimeo video. The woman made an amazing point that we, anyone using the internet and posting anything on it, are publishers. Not that books aren't still extremely important and prevalent, but the process to be a "writer" is much easier and less cumber-son than it used to be. Before in order to publish your words you would have someone to write it, then check grammar and spelling, then someone pick a cover for the book, then a publisher, now with technology, one person has the ability to do all that. Now some teachers face the issue of how do we prepare our students for what the technology might be in the years to come, as mentioned in Vimeo video. The slide show also made some great points like how the internet has created patience for people and a lot of creating and sharing with others comes out of the use of the internet. The readings were very relate able and I enjoyed them.

My to-do list that I hope to follow for Module 2!

Complete all the readings: 9/18
Draft blog one: 9/18; I intend on my first blog being my reflection on the readings.
Publish blog one: 9/18
Draft blog two: 9/18; My second blog will be on my connection/ feelings to social media.
Publish blog two: 9/18
Draft blog three: 9/22; My third blog will be a reflection on the twitter chat i'll participate in.
Publish blog three: 9/22
Draft blog four: tba; I don't yet know what my fourth blog post will be on
Publish blog four: no later than 10/1
Observe twitter chat and post (blog 3): 9/22
Meet with group: 9/22
Publish finished essay: 10/1

my first blog!

Since i only have to do one blog this week due to the fact i have the summary assignment, i chose to write about the first time i discovered youtube. i believe i was around 12 years old and at this point youtube was mostly (to my knowledge) funny videos people would watch. my favorite person that i would watch all the time and always keep on was "supermac18". thinking back to it, his videos weren't funny at all but when i was 12 i would watch them every time he would put up a new one and i loved them. i wonder if he still does youtube stuff now.


Having now grown up and gone back to look at his youtube channel I think that some of them are funny and some of them are just out right stupid. I also noticed that he doesn't make videos anymore, I guess we both grew up. lol. one of the videos that i re watched was this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcUZ-u2ywuU. pretty pointless I don't know how this entertained me when I was younger and attracted me to youtube. Oh well you live and you learn.