Classroom Ideas

Next year everyone will have laptops but how will everyone be seated. I think it should change everyday. I like how our web 2.0 class does it. We have the freedom to take a laptop and sit anywhere we want in the library. We have also sayt in the lobby and done work. I just think we should be able to do work wherever we want because we can all stay connected through the laptops.

-Akash Patel

Long Period Today

We were supposed to spend class today working on any little project we wanted to so I spent time on my web site. I ended up adding a wiki to the page to make it easier for everyone to get their thoughts up. The only thing is that you have to sign up to use the wiki. It's all free but it can be a hassle. The website is basically for a group of friends and it's how we stay connected and up to date with our plans. Here is the link to the website: http://www.theadrenalinearmy.webs.com/ If anyone has any other tips or ideas please let me know!

-Akash Patel

"Same Thing?" Response

I think having laptops and hand-helds would make learning a lot easier. When someone has trouble with a subject, they can look up tips and tutorials online. This makes learning so much easier. I know that when i don't get something in class, I go home and look up how to do it online because it just makes everything easier. Every teacher wonders why their students don't get a topic that they find easy. It's because learning it isn't always fun. If there are fun ways to learn online, why don't we use them? Having laptops in class would be a great idea.

-Akash Patel

Live Binder

There have been many times where I've had a bunch of documents that were all over the place. This website is basically an online binder that helps you organize different documents. It's a lot better than just organizing everything into separate folders because everything is right in front of you. All you have to do is organize everything into tabs and then everything is a click away. This was something new that I thought would help some of the students who might need help with organization.

Link: http://livebinders.com/

-Akash Patel

Divergent Thinking

I think divergent thinking is extremely important. Everyone learns differently. I said this in a post earlier. Why are we all taught the same way? This video brought up something new too. it said that people in the same age group don't necessarily learn the same way. Some people learn more easily than others even if they are of the same age group. People shouldn't be forced to follow a schedule or service. They should be able to learn at a pace that suits them. I took a VHS course. I was given due dates and deadlines but they weren't fixed. I was able to pass in the work when it was completed. This made it easier for me to learn because I could take my time and learn at a steady pace. There were other students in the class that were both ahead of me or behind me. it didn't matter because by the end of the year, we all learned the same thing. It was just spaced out differently. The best part about this was that even with the differences in learning time, we were all able to learn what w needed to for the AP exam. I just think we should be able to learn at a pace thats suits us rather than a pace that everyone else learns at.

-Akash Patel

EasyBib

Many high school students need to use a citation maker to make a bibliography for their papers and projects. However, different teachers require different styles of citing. This site was very useful for every class I could think of. I needed all of these different styles in the past and I really wish I had this tool earlier. This is definitely the most useful tool out of the list of we 2.0 tools.

-Akash Patel

"Joel Burns Tells Gay Teens It Gets Better" Response

This school lost many students to bullying and harassment. We are lucky here at Burlington because we haven't lost any students at all to bullying or harassment. This video was extremely sad. Dozens of kids were just killing themselves because they couldn't take the pain everyone was giving them. Those lives could have been saved if people would realize how much words can hurt. Just because you can brush away harsh words doesn't mean everyone else can. Some people can only take so little. Everyone needs to know how much words hurt because even one harsh word can cause a death. We can save the lives of many students if we just think before we speak.

-Akash Patel

Bullying and Harassment

The presentation yesterday about bullying problems was pretty interesting. I though I would blog about it because a lot of people didn't really care to listen. I noticed a lot of people texting a random answer to the poll to try to get it to "win." They wanted the worst answer to be the winner. Truthfully, I think only a few people out of the entire junior and senior class that was there yesterday would actually get up and do something if they saw someone bullying another. It is hard to make a statement. It's not easy to get up and say something about bullying, but it is important. People need to get up and say something about harassment and bullying. We can't let it happen. In many cases, bullying and harassment leads to the loss of an innocent life. People don't need to die. If you see someone getting bullied, speak up because you could be the one who saves someone's life.

-Akash Patel

My Voki

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What I Did in Class Today

I have a math quiz next period on discontinuities so I spent most of my class time looking up how to do them. Mrs. Saxe's page has a bunch of worksheets and notes and page numbers where I can find practice roblems and helpful hints. If anyone needs help with any math problems, she's got the math page to help answer them. She makes even the hardest math problems look easy. There wasn't a lot of PLN building this period, but I got what I needed to pass this quiz next period!

Mrs. Saxe's page: www.burlington.mec.edu/~saxe

-Akash Patel

Students' Struggle With Self-Directed Learning

Students have many classes in a day. Some of them are just looking for a break so when they are presented with free time to work, they usually use the time to just take a break. There are people who enjoy Self-Directed learning because they can space out their own work. However, there are other people who won't do their work until they are told they have to do it for a certain reason. I don't think everyone struggles with self-directed learing. I just think they want a break from the hard work they have to put into other classes. When a student has a choice between work and play, most of them will choose play. This is why it'so hard for some students to stay focused during this class. They have an opportunity to play games so they are going to take it.

-Akash Patel

"Kids’ privacy safeguards in social networks are lacking, survey says" response

Privacy is important, but technology is way more powerful now than it was before. We are able to connect with many different people. Privacy isn't really a problem unless a person abuses the power of technology. It all depends on how a device or tool is used. If you do the right thing with your information online, you don't have to worry about privacy problems, but if you say horrible things and act out of hand, your private information could be used against you. Everything comes down to personal behavior. If you behave properly, you shouldn't have a problem with your privacy, but if you misbehave, you're bound to have problems.

Link: http://seerpress.com/kids%E2%80%99-privacy-safeguards-in-social-networks-are-lacking-survey-says/9400/

-Akash Patel

"A Web 2.0 Class: Students Learn 21st Century Skills, Collaboration, and Digital Citizenship" Response

This article was fun to read. It is great to see how everyone is recognizing the connections we make with other students. I think everyone should connect with a student from somewhere else other than their home town. It's fun to meet new people who live in a different society. Learning about different people and their homes is always interesting and fun. I personally loved the shout out in this article and I like the fact that this class is being recognized. Web 2.0 is a fun class and everyone needs to try it out. Builing a PLN starts off slow, but as time goes on, it starts to get really fun.

Link to article: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/web-20-21st-century-skills-collaboration-digital-citizenship

-Akash Patel

How to get more followers and pageviews.

Getting followers and page views is something that might make a person's mind go crazy. I looked around online and everyone seemed to fall into peer pressure. A lot of answers said to write about what the people like. There has to be some people out there who likes what you like. Don't write about something that you have no interest in just to get followers. When you write about what you like, your posts will come out more interesting and more people will want to view them. Stay focused on what you like and if you really want to spread the qord, use the online tools! Put the link to your blog up on facebook, twitter, myspace or whatever you want. Word gets around quickly about everything. How do you think rumors get around? Your blog will catch the eye of somebody put there and they can help spread the word too. My rule of life is "Patience is the key." Don't get angry about anything, just give the blog some time.

-Akash Patel

What's your learning style?

Find out your learning style! - This site seemed reallly interesting. It's true that we all learn differently, so why are we all taught the same way? Is it fair that a person who does well by hearing and not seeing does good on a test because the teacher lectured all class while the student who does well by seeing not hearing does horrible? Everyone is different so we can't all be taught the same way. This site was cool because it shows your way of learning and how you should plan your study routine.

-Akash Patel

Twitter

Twitter is a fun tool. It can just be confusing at times and it can be hard to follow. It is a very useful tool and it is anexcellent way of displaying your thoughts and starting group conversations. Most people prefer facebook over twitter because everyone could start a "group" and start discussions in a group. This, in my opinion, is better than twitter but I still find twitter useful at times.

-Akash Patel

BHS Library

There are some things in this library that can really make a person want to punch holes in the wall. The main problem is the library sign in. There used to be one laptop with a form that the students had to fill out to get in. This took forever because there were many students who needed the library to use its information and resources to complete work. We now have two laptops with a simpler form. which makes it kindo of faster but not really. Another thing that makes me mad is the fact that the mac lab is closed. We have all of these brand new macs and the lab is always closed. I remember seeing a sign that said VHS class in session in front of the lab. I took VHS! I know what VHS is. It's not like a real class is happening where you see a teacher in a classroom and you take notes. You get a list of things that need to be accomplished by the end of the week and most of it is book work that takes about an hour. I took AP Computer Science in VHS so if it only takes me an hour to complete AP work, the honors students shouldnt be having any problems completing the work. After I finished my work I would treat VHS period like a study. I guarantee you that these students are done with their work by the middle of the week. There is no reason to close the mac lab for VHS, because there are students who really need those computers.

-Akash Patel