Doing What We're Told

All teachers tell their students what to do, but only a few teachers have a reason why.Every student has to do specific things in their class in order to pass. Some of it seems pointless. I know that every student wonders why they have to do things in a class that are completely useless. Some people are graded on how much they talk in class. I think this is horrible. Some students don't have anything to throw out into a classroom. I know that when I'm in a class that I do not like, I don't talk much because I don't like talking about things I'm not interested in. This goes back to my previous posts. We should just take classes that interest us rather than taking classes that seem useless to us.

-Akash Patel

Laptops and IPads for next year

Laptops and IPads sound great for next year. They can help get information faster and it can help students be more organized. All notes and files for each class can be organized into specific folders so nothing would ever be lost. The only problem could be server problems. At BHS we have had numerous times where our server would just crash and we were left with no riverdeep folders all day. This could happen while we have laptops. Also, the number of people connected to the wifi network could slow it down significantly. However, we do have wifi ports all over the school and I think we are ready to handle any problem we face. This is a great idea and it would be great for students.

-Akash Patel

Useful Classroom Tool

I think wallwisher is the most useful tool out of all of the ones listed on ever web 2.0 tool list because it can benefit both teachers and students. Many students forget test dates and deadlines and other important dates so if the teacher had a wallwisher, they could post all of this important information on the wall for everyone to see. Any questions about subject material could also be asked and posted on the wall for everyone to see. Wallwisher can be great just for reminders but it can also be a learning experience because some people will ask questions that you wouldn't even think about asking. The wallwisher can also be useful for teachers. I know a bunch of teachers who can't remember important dates so this tool can be used to keep teachers on the right track. Overall, I would have to say this is the most useful tool for any teacher to use because it can help the class be more organized.

-Akash Patel

"Pencil Ban" - What's Next

I have heard some crazy things in my lifetime but banning pencils has to be the craziest thing I have ever heard. This teacher seems misguided in what he's trying to prevent. I'm not trashing his prefession or abilities in any way. I am just saying that banning pencils seems a little bizarre. Pencils can be used as weapons, but so can a lot of other things. A classroom can be deadly if you actually look at it. Pencils are the least of the worries when it comes to danger. Everyone needs a pencil, especially a person who loves to write in their free time. If someone bans pencils, they ban a writer's ability to follow their hearts and passion. The goal of a school is to help students follow their passions to a successful career. Aren't they stopping writers from doing this by banning pencils? I think the teachers just got a little carried away with this. I mean what's next, banning costumes on Halloween because they "might cause us danger" or because the accessories "can be used as weapons." Or should we start eating without forks, knives, and spoons because they can cause serious damage in a restaurant. School without pencils is like a eating soup with a knife. It just seems silly to ban pencils in a school to me.

-Akash Patel

"Why Does School Have To Be So Boring?" Response

Why exactly does school have to be boring? School is just the same thing over and over again. We listen to teachers, take notes and then take a test on the material we "learn." After the test, most students forget what they learned because they feel like they're done with it. I don't think anyone is really learning. I just think they memorize things long enough to pass the class. So what does the honor roll mean? It just means a student is able to memorize well. There are students that don't make honor roll but they are able to do well in the classes that apply to their future careers. There might be a class that a student does not need in the future and that's the reason they can't make honor roll. Honor roll just means you're good at knowing what the school wants you to know. If you miss the honor roll by a few grades, you are good at what you are passionate about. If you don't make honor roll by a long shot, you aren't trying to do well in any of the classes. We need to start learning. And if we want to do this we have to follow what we're passionate about.

Why Does School Have To Be So Boring? - Link

-Akash Patel

"Should we be good at school" response

Schools have always been taught the same way, but why is it that we can't remember half the stuff we learned throughout our school career? I can't remember anything that I learned in elementary school or middle school right now. Why are schools still teaching us this way if almost all of us can't remember anything from previous years? I think blogging and social media can help with learning because they supply us with resources for certain subjects.This article addresses this problem. I think we should be taught in a new way. We need to be able to learn something in a way that is memorable. If something crazy happens, I know I'll remember it in the future because something bizarre will always stay stuck in my head. When we are able to to make learning fun and exciting, we wont have to worry about students forgetting how to do things. Students will definitely remember how to do a problem if there is something fun about it. Even in calculus we made finding derivatives somewhat fun by making catchy phrases. If calculus can be fun, anything can be fun. Learning isn't supposed to be about knowing things for a short period of time. It's about getting some sort of information and keeping for as long as you live. If you forget how to do something after such a short period of time, you didn't actually learn it. All we have to do is change this boring way of schooling and learning.

Link to blog 4 edu article: http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/

-Akash Patel

AP Statistics

AP statistics is something we have never seen at this school. I think it would be a great class. There are a lot of people who don't take AP Calculus because they think it will be too hard so they tak regular Statistics and regular Calculus. Statistics is too easy for some students and they want to take a class that is a little more challenging for them. AP statistics would be a great class for the people who don't want to take AP Calculus or the people who just want another challenging math course. Mr. McNeill found an ebook that shows what AP Statistics would be like. This book looks pretty interesting and I recommend checking it out because this class would be a great addition to our school.

-Akash Patel