Blog #23

Today we actually went into the computer lab, instead of getting with a team member, to create a thesis and draft plan of my essay. This was unusual because we normally start out our papers with a team member. When I first started to write the paper on my own, I was a little skeptic. I ended up creating a simple introduction. The time I had to myself to create the draft was great though. I prefer to create the paper by myself. It was easier for me to get my ideas flowing through my head. Listening to Pandora was also a plus. I enjoy to listen to music while I am writing because, it helps me to concentrate and focus on what I am doing at the time. This was an overall great experience and I hope that we continue to go to the computer lab. I think it also helped out most of the class because many people were actually working on their papers. Instead of being at home having to work on the paper. Since everybody knows it is such a drag having to do homework. I saw students who always like to turn in their assignments late with great progress on their papers. Overall it was a great for the class to have the time to write the essay while in school.

Blog #22

The article I would like to summarize is "How safe is MySpace" by Hilary Hylton. This article is about how underage age teens are abusing MySpace and lying about the age or randomly finding a guy to hook up with. An example of this is a nineteen year old guy named Pete was arrested for having sex with a fourteen year old girl. The girl bumped her age up a year and Pete posed as a high school senior. Pete is now suing MySpace and seeking thirty million dollars in damages. Another example is a sixteen year old honor student in Michigan flew as far to Jordan before her parents realized she was planning to rendezvous with and marry a West Bank man she had met on MySpace. Parents are now wondering what kind of liaisons their kids are forging online. Law inforcement agencies and elected officials are now stepping up their efforts to get teen laden networking sites to improve their safety measures. But is this enough and who is to blame the parents, MySpace, or the actual users of these networking sites? I think that all of them are to blame. Parents should be able and have talks with their kids more often and explain to them the dangers of these sites, and if they have a computer at home make sure you lock up the computer with passwords and such. Of course you are not going to be around your kid twenty four hours a day. As for networking sites they should find new programs which allow to check if they are that actual person and verify the age of the users. As for Pete suing MySpace for thirty million dollars, does he deserve the money? No. He lied to that girl the same way he had been lied to. He deserves to go to jail for thirty million years for all I care.
The next article I would like to summarize is called "MySpace Launches a Free Music Revolution" by Josh Quittner. This article talks about how MySpace is allowing users to instantly gain access to a vast library of songs. While other sites such as Rhapsody allow you all the songs you want, but for $12.99 a month. MySpace music is free and has linked deal with four major label, plus the five million artists who already have pages on the site. I am pretty sure that Rhapsody or iTunes is not happy with MySpace music, and will most definitely try to get MySpace to stop letting listeners listen to music for free. So are Rhapsody and iTunes days numbered? Who knows only time can tell.

Blog #21

Today in class, we watched a video and had a discussion about it. The name of the video is called Danah Boyd Handheld Learning Conference 2008. This video talks about how education is bringing in new technology and using the technology in todays education system. Many teachers around the world are using facebook, myspace, and blogging into their classrooms and using this for assignments. Many people around the world are asking should we use technology in our classrooms? These people believe that we do not need technology in the classroom. We have done without it in our classrooms before why do we need technology in our classrooms now? Danah not talks about how technology is useful in our classrooms, but also how people are using these networking sites for personal use. People nowadays are using myspace or facebook as a metaphorical owning of a personal space. Teenagers today like to separate themselves from their parents or guardians to provide a space for which they can be themselves or independently show their view of the world in these technological spaces we have. Technology has grown and it is good that teachers are using these new technologies into the curriculum. Technology nowadays is part of everyday life and culture. People use these sites just to be social. Dana stated that most young teenage males use these sites to see how many hot girls they can befriend. The Older group tend to try to use these sites to get more publicity to get people to vote, buy, or get viewers attention. In general these sites are friendship driven. For example she states that people like to keep in touch with friends, gossip, flirting, joking around. She did a study and asked kids "why do you get on these sites so much?" Most of the kids reported that their parents would not let them out the house. It is funny because most of the parents were asking why their kids did not get out of the house. Teenagers are using these sites for a place to hang out. More and more kids are using these sites because their parents keep them busy and they have no time to go socialize in the outside world so they use the technology they have at hand in order to keep up with their peers. Most people as they grow up get a different perspective in life and look back to what they wrote ten years back and might find it embarrassing. She also states that you need to be careful what you wrote because in the future it might come and bite you in the rear.

Blog #20

Today in class we discussed our upcoming essay assignment. The essay assignment is a comparison or contrast essay. It is about MySpace and Facebook. We printed out our essay assignment itinerary and the teacher discussed specifically what she wanted. The essay is supposed to have very specific examples, five through six paragraphs, and specifically stated that this is a comparison or contrast. She then made us create a webbing to see with what we could come up with. Then as a class we all brought our ideas together and came up with plenty of ideas so that we can have ideas to what we want to write in our essay. This was a great experience for me because I have never had a MySpace or Facebook so really do not know everything about the programs although I have explored them. This helped me to get some great ideas for what I want to write. They both have a lot of similarities ,but at the same time are both very different. These are two great programs which have tremendous impact on people. I do not know why, but anyways today really helped me to see things which I did not realize MySpace and Facebook could do. I still need to explore both sites a little more and I am anxious to see if I will be using these programs in the future.

Blog #19

Don't really know what to talk about. Finally have a free blog to write about and I got nothing. An interesting thing happened today though. I was going to work off of wetmore and stahl road. They had construction going on the railroad tracks and had the road blocked off. I noticed people going through so I decided to go through. Then all of a sudden I notice out of the corner of my eye a construction worker running towards a gold lexus. At first I thought that he was going to talk to one of his friends, but ends up nailing this guy with his fists. I pull over jump out of my truck and try to see why the hell this guy is beating the heck out of this guy. I get closer and the construction worker backs off the guy and starts heading toward his truck. I start talking to the construction worker and he starts yelling at me. I tell him to chill the blank out and he flips and starts heading for his truck. I go to the lexus to see if the guy is all right in the truck. He starts to yell at the construction worker saying he is going to sue them. As the guy in the lexus is talking I can tell that he is drunk and I could smell the liquor odor from his mouth.The construction worker starts to head back as if he is going to attack the guy again. I tell the construction worker to get back in the truck or I am going to call the cops. Although I was not because I was just trying to scare him away. The construction worker gets back in his truck and starts to drive off. As he is driving off he starts threatening me telling me he is going to beat me up if I call the cops. I tell him to get the hell out of the truck so that he could try to fight a sober person. He hurries on down the road but as he is leaving I grab a rock off the road and throw it at his truck. Bam! I end up hitting his back window and shattering it. He drove off and never came back. I go back to the guy in the lexus to check his face and hand him napkins from my truck. I tell his drunk but to get in his car and go home. The point of this story is do not drive drunk and do not threaten me because I will strike back.

blog #18

"Killing Us Softly 3" is about how advertisements are every. Did you know that an average American will watch three years of watching television and will see an average of 3000 ads per day. Advertisement is everywhere. Everyone in America feels personally exempt from advertisement. Most people would say that they tune them out or just do not pay any attention to them at all, but these are the people who are wearing gap tee shirts. Advertisement is the foundation of mass media, and the purpose of mass media is to sell products. Advertisements about women have always been about how they look. They try to make women feel that they are not pretty and that they need to spend money in order to look beautiful. Most women in ads have no blemishes, lines, wrinkles, scars. Women body continue to be dismembered in advertising. They try to use a particular part of the women body to sell the actual product. The most common body part is the breast. One in five women have an eating disorder in order to look good. Advertisement is a powerful force that that keeps women trapped in very rigid roles. This video explains how women are being viewed in today's advertisement industry and how they should be. Well advertisements are wrong and I think most women are beautiful the way they are.
"Dove Evolution" shows us a woman sitting down. She has no makeup on and her hair has not been done. You can see from her throat and up. She is a young woman white complexion, highlighted hair, and she is just staring into the video camera.They start with her hair and start putting on makeup. They finally finish putting on makeup and finish her hair. They then start to take pictures of the woman. Then the next thing you know they are using Photoshop and start to raise her head to make her neck longer. Start to make her face smaller and raise her eyebrows. Then they show her advertisement on an ad and show people walking by it.
"Dove Onslaught" shows shows a little girl with red hair. Then all of a sudden you see all these different types of advertisement showing young women. You then see and hear these women talking about products and how they probably make you more beautiful. You then see a woman on a scale and her belly gets bigger then smaller this goes on for a short while. Then more scenes pop up but this time it shows women getting plastic surgery. At the end of the film it show little girls as if they are walking to school. Then the little girl with the red hair pops up again and in the background there is a message stating "Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does."
In summary These videos show the true world of beauty advertising to see what really happens behind the scenes. Which is really disturbing to me.

Blog #17

Today in class we discussed articles about facebook. I am supposed to summarize the articles and tell you what the articles are about. The first article we discussed is called "Colleges Scan Faceboook During Admissions." Students should be careful to what kind of posts you put online. About a quarter of colleges and universities surveyed by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling are checking students facebook page before extending admission or for scholarships. Which means a simple photo might cost a student admission into the school. College officials and social networking specialists said reviewing college applicants is becoming commonplace into higher education, but a rude comment or questionable picture will not remove a student from consideration. "I believe most colleges will do whatever it takes to recruit the right type of student to their respective institution," said Mark D. Weinstein, dean of enrollment and marketing at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind. Although college institutions are not able to deny college admissions to students with a facebook. On the other hand it is okay for employers in the United States to decide if they want to hire you based on what you have posted on facebook. In my opinion I think it is fine that colleges and universities are checking students facebook pages because if they make a bad decision on who they admission into the college the consequence can be bad for the school. The next article I would like to summarize is called "Does Facebook Replace Face Time or Enhance it?" by Lisa Davis. This article talks about how people are using facebook as there social life. An example of this is this person Jenny. Lisa has tried to call Jenny ,but Jenny has not returned her call for roughly a year. Although Jenny has poked her, sent her a christmas gift, and a poinsetta. Of course she did this all virtually thanks to facebook. Jenny has three children and rarely finds time for visits, phone calls or even e-mail, the full-time mom in upstate New York regularly updates her status on Facebook. After 24 years, our friendship is now relegated to the online world, filtered through Facebook. More and more people are using facebook as their social life instead of having to actually talk to the person on the phone or in person. They call this the facebook recluse sydrome. Why? Many people today are very busy these days and do not have time to talk to their peers. In my opinion, I think that it is horrible that people do this nowadays because the best way to be social is to go out in the world and actually go engage in the world, but if your busy and that is the only way then go for it. Only if that is the only option they have.

Blog # 16

Pandora and LastFM are two website services which allow people to hear music on them. They are both free and you can specifically type in any artist and it will play their music. Pandora is a nice program which allows you to create your own station. You can pick any type of music and put it on the station. If you do not like a song which pops out you can give it a thumbs down and you will never hear that song again. You can also choose from pre-existing radio stations on the website. You can also see music videos. LastFM allows you to hear music, see videos, and even lists upcoming concerts coming to your area. LastFM gives a biography about the artists, shows if they are currently touring, and where they are touring. I had never heard of these two websites before, but I sure am glad I heard of them now. They are both quite interesting for me as a music lover. I am definitely gonna be using these programs in the future. This is something that I will share with all my friends. The difference between the two is on Pandora it is easier for me navigate through, easier select songs that I like, and choose from bands I like, but you can only listen to so many songs within the hour so that is kind of a bummer. LastFM is very slow, had too many connection problems, and they did not even send me an email confirming that I signed up for it. They both work in similar ways by allowing you to choose who you like to hear. Have easy ways to search for the bands you like, show photos of the band, and if you enjoy the music they have links so that you can try to purchase the cd or song from a website. In general, these two websites are great websites which allow people to hear and explore different types of music. Today's exercise was a learning experiece as well as a fun lesson to learn. These two websites were great to explore and have fun with. Hopefully we have more lessons like this one.

Blog #15 Reflect on your WC experience.

I went to the writing center in school on Wednesday, October 7, 2009. I went to the writing center to receive feedback on my descriptive paper, which is about describing a video log.The person who tutored me was Vincent. During the tutoring session he gave me plenty of feedback for my paper. For one he helped me organize my paper, because as I was writing my paper my ideas were just flowing and each idea I had would form into a short paragaraph. My paper was just a mess and I had no idea how to combine my paragraphs. Another error he saw that I was creating was I did not have very good topic sentences to each of my paragraphs. I would jump into something without explaining what he was actually doing or where he was at for my paper. He also told me to add quotes and facial expressions to what the person was doing on the video blog. The thing that I liked about the tutoring sesstion was that he really helped me develope my ideas into an essay. His feedback was very informative. He was not afraid to tell me what was on his mind and did not hold back. In class with classmates when they try to give me feedback I could tell that some students were not paying attention to my essay or just did not care. So for him to be so blunt about my essay helped me a lot258. The thing that I wish would have been different would have been for my tutor to actually see the video log I chose. I mean I know I am writing a descritptive essay and it is supposed to explain what is happening in the video. If he would have seen the video maybe he could have helped me to add more or to notice little details that I had not noticed before. Also, he kept telling me that I did not have a thesis for my paper. As I read my paper my I believe that I did have a thesis. After all like my teacher said the thesis for this essay is easy because all you are doing is describing a video. Maybe I should have went into more details with him about the thesis. Next time I go to the writing center I should be blunt about my own paper. My overall experience this time was really great. Hopefully next time I go to the writing center my next tutor will help me out as much as Vincent did.

Blog #14: Reflecting on today's experience. 10-5-09

Today in class we went to the computer lab to read at least two previously written blog entries and leave written comments for the author(s).I thought this was a very weird experience.

Me personally, I do not like to leave comments to other students blogs. I think the other person could be careless and not care what you think, or What if you say something wrong, but did not mean it in that way? Will the person take it personally? Probably not but these are these were thoughts that ran through my head as I was reading and commenting on the blogs. As for students looking at my blogs, I could careless about what the students says. Thus defending my statement above. I mean I will read what they have to say and if they have some constructive criticsm going on I am all for it, but if they something dumb and ignorant to say I will not even take a second look.

It gave me a different perspective when I read another student's blog though. When I was reading the person's blog I thought about what she had typed, and now I have a new a whole new understanding on how blogs should be written. You should really focus on your audience and make clear everything you have to say. This in general gave me a whole new understanding. Now I will be sure to read other students blogs before I start my own.

Blog #13 Reflecting on today's experience. Describe what you did today. How did this help you plan your essay? What else did it help you do? What woul

Today, on Friday, October 2, 2009 we as a class learned how to create a descriptive essay time line. This time line helped us students create a guideline for our essay creating a beginning, middle, and ending. The teacher taught us how to use our senses for our paper such as touch, taste, hearing, smelling, and seeing. Well not really tasting and smelling because obviously you cannot taste or smell a video log. The paper is supposed to be 5-6 paragraphs, contain MLA format, and be flooded with details. In class we partnered up with the a teammate to create a time line for our paper. My partner was great and helped me set up the outline. I have the floor plan for my essay now I just need to add my supporting details to finish my rough draft. This helped me more than the first essay because on the first essay I did not know where to start because I did not have any help the first time. This time around I received feedback to how to start the essay and what I should put in the essay. I believe that if we as a class keep giving feedback to each other and continue to critique each others papers This would help us more in the long run than actually just going home and writing your paper. I believe the more feedback we receive will help us look at our paper from different point of views. The more point of views you have the better the paper will be written. I am glad we had to have had been critiqued by another student and hope that we continue to critique each others papers, but I think we should switch students up to allow other students to view. To conclude this blog I think we as a class should spend more time with the essay in class, because I believe we will get better feedback, more time on this essay, and it will help students who honestly need help with the writing assignment. Plus it would help me out a lot more if we had more time on this assignment.

Blog #12 Choose the vlog you will be using for your essay and write a brief description of it. Include the title, the author, and a link to the video.

The vlog I chose for my descriptive essay coming up is by a comedian named Jim Gaffigan. I first saw this vlog in school at the writing center on September 30, 2009. He looks like he is at his house. He is sitting on a chair (I am guessing) with his hair all messed up. In the background there is a huge painting behind his head hanging from a white wall. When he first start to speak he introduces his wife who does not appear at all in his vlog. In his first video log he explains that his hair is messed up from a night of clubbing as he runs his hands through his hair. He also states that he is not using his vlog to promote his comedy special which aired on comedy central on March 29, 2009 at nine p.m. central time. Although it is clear that he is actually promoting his comedy special. He also states that if the people watch his special he will shave a patch of hair located right underneath his right eye. He then says he will answer a few questions sent in by fans which is written on a paper plate, and only answer one question. Haha well it is funny to me. Jim asks fans to send in more questions to answer for his fans. He then ends the vlog with an I love you. Owww how sweet! Jim Gaffigan does a vlog a day leading up to the comedy special. I chose this vlog because first of all I think he is a great comedian and I am a big fan of his. Another reason I chose this vlog is because I thought that if I actually relate to the vlog I would have more to write about on the descriptive essay. Although it only last a minute and thirty two seconds, this vlog taught me how to start and actually create my own vlog, by introducing myself and just explain anything that is going on in my life that is happening at the moment. The link to this vlog is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbADuuzn1Z4. If you did not watch the special I recommend you watch it because this guy is hilarious and you will have some good laughs. Try to watch for my first vlog I will be hosting which should come out real soon. Till then keep it real homies till then I'm out peace.

Blog#11 Reflecting on today's You Tube video

On June 23, 2008 Mike Wesch gave a powerpoint presentation (An Anthropological introduction to You Tube) at the library of congress describing You Tube. Mike explains how people can upload their own personal videos and post them on the internet without having to go through a producer. On April 23, 2005 You Tube was launched and had its first video uploading. You tube creates a new type of platform. Until then it was difficult to upload to the web, and now suddenly anyone can join in any type of craze that goes on in the You Tube world. You Tube created a global cessation. One person from the United States who lives in California can see a video from someone in who lives in Tokyo, Japan. This is technology at its finest. This is one of the new ways that keeps people connected from so far away. We live in a huge media scape. Where You Tube is a part of it but to look at the whole picture many more websites are involved. Example, you publish a video on You Tube. Then you send an e-mail to somebody where it then goes to the blogsphere (Facebook, Myspace, Digg, and so on.) Where there is an integrated mediascape that we live in. In the middle of all this is us. The most commonly uploaded videos are home videos. Approximately fifteen percent of all videos on You Tube are remixes or remakes of other videos. Almost ten thousand videos are addressed to the You Tube "community" everyday. So Why? From corner stores to grocery store to huge department stores we are suddenly these massive communities of suburbia where we are connected only by road ways and Television, and the televisions themselves are isolating. Meanwhile new forms of communication are arriving such as cell phones. You Tube comes in the midst of all this. This is a great video which explains a lot about You Tube. The link to the page is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU. Take a look this video has many interesting facts. You Tube can keep you in touch with family, express yourself, music, and learn about many different cultures. You Tube is a great way to express yourself and show your individualism. You Tube is used for a political box, a comedians stage, a teachers podium but no matter what it is just a way to reach out.

Reflect on the difference between Blog 3's email and the email etiquette essay you have been writing.

There is a huge difference between the blogs. Blog 3 was to write to a fake email to a friend complaining about a grade given to you by a teacher. This blog was easier for me to write. On this blog I felt more comfortable writing to friend other than a teacher. With a friend I could relate more, explain my feelings, write freely, and use whatever language I want to. Plus this blog only had to be two hundred words, but besides that point complaining is easier to do then providing details for a thesis. My email etiquette essay was to send an email to instructor complaining about a grade and requesting reconsideration. This essay assignment needed to be in email format, contain appropriate language, two to three well developed paragraphs with six complete sentences. This email had to have a thesis which would be followed by a summary. When you are talking to the instructor you know the instructor is a busy person so you have to get straight to the point when you addressing them. You have to thank the instructor because it is the courteous thing to do. With your friends you do not have to be courteous. You can tell them whatever you want because they are your friends. Both of these assignments were challenging. I enjoyed writing these assignments because the first blog assignment was pretty easy so that was an easy grade for me. The email etiquette was challenging because I had to write supporting details for thesis and emphasize on the supporting details. But overall I know these assignments will help me with future blogs and essay assignments.

Reflecting on your workshop experience.

I set up an appointment with the writing center a week before my paper was due. It was pretty smart of me because by the time the week was up the writing center was all booked up. I arrived five minutes prior to my appointment time because I like to be courteous and be early to all my appointments. I walked in approached the receptionist and stated that I had an appointment. The receptionists looked up my appointment time and told me to have a seat and that someone would be with me in a second. I took a seat down took out my writing materials, rough draft, and essay assignment outline from my bag. I began to read my rough draft for errors and corrections that needed changing for my final draft. Ten minutes pass by and my tutor has not shown up yet. I go up to the receptionist desk and ask the receptionist "where is my tutor?" The receptionists reply to me was "the tutor is running late and will be here in a few minutes." I sit down at my desk and review my paper once again. Ten more minutes pass by and a new tutor comes to me and tells me to fill out his paper. He sits down with me and we begin to read my rough draft together. He tells me I need to emphasize on my thesis and add a little more to my conclusion, but overall my paper is a pretty decent paper. My writing center experience could have been better if my original tutor had showed up in time. My second tutor took care of me, but if I would have had more time with the tutor I would have been able to get more feedback from the tutor, but I will definitely be back for help on future essay assignments.

Summarize today's articles 9-18-09

The Dating Detectives by Madhur Singh. This article talks about how in India people are going to dating detectives more often to find out if the female or male is the right person. Vikas Sharma , a twenty eight year old operations manager with an IT company in Mumbai, began dating someone online, using one of the dozens of matchmaking sites that flourished in recent years. He met a girl and began chatting and meeting off and on for several months. Where traditional match making might have relied on a mutual relative or family friend to shuttle between the families of potential suitors, verifying their status to one another, Sharma had no such luxury. Instead he used a dating detective and found out she had been seen checking into a hotel with another man. He confronted her, and it was over. All of which means roaring business for private eyes in India. Is eHarmony Biased Against Gays? by John Cloud. John Cloud never tried eHarmony, but if he had, he would have not been welcomed. eHarmony has two choices on the first page of eharmony.com: "Man seeking a woman" and "Woman seeking a man." The founder of eHarmony, Neil Clark Warren, apparently believes that gays are some kind of different species. Warren, a psychologist, stated "We have done a deep amount of research on about five thousand married people , but never on people who are same-sex. So we don't know how to do that. A class action lawsuit was filed by a lesbian from the San Francisco Bay Area. She claims that eHarmony's no-gays policy is discriminatory under California law. There are are also many gay sites like gay.com and connexion.org, some of which could easily be charged with reverse discrimination. So as for that I will let you decide if you think eHarmony is biased against gays?

Reflecting on taday's experience. What was difficult? What went well? 9-16-09

Today we talked about our upcoming Email Etiquette Assignment. The Email Etiquette Assignment is a fake email to an instructor complaining about a grade and requesting reconsideration. The assignment is supposed to be two to three paragraphs long, with at least six complete sentences. It is also supposed contain appropriate language, have a specific email format, developed introduction, fully developed body paragraphs, and a conclusion. I am nervous to write this assignment because I do not know how to start this thing. We were supposed to start this in class but we still had a good class discussion. As a class we also discussed about something I never new about. The meaning of CC: and BCC:. CC: stands for carbon copy and BCC: stands for blind carbon copy. When you send an email everybody can see the email you mail when you place the people you want to see the email on the carbon copy. When you want to send the email to somebody and do not want anybody else to know who you sent the email to you place them in the blind carbon copy. I don't know I think it is pretty cool to know.

Summarize two of the articles assigned for today 09-11-09

Today in English class we had a class discussion on four articles. One of the articles we discussed is called "New iPod rules touch off heated debate." This article talks about how a new policy at the University of Missouri School of Journalism requires students to have an iPhone, or an iPod touch. The school is asked the students to purchase the devices, so students can download classroom lectures or confirm facts on the web while reporting from the scene of a plane crash or town council meeting. This marks the one of the first times an American university requires undergraduates to buy the device themselves. Clyde Bentley a journalism professor voted against the new policy, because his primary concern was burdening students with an additional expense, and questioned whether the students will actually use the device as the journalism school's has intended for the device to be used properly. Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California, calls the new Missouri requirement "not only reasonable but admirable." Jeffrey also provides how schools are usually behind their students in embracing new technology, and faculty are usually behind the schools. "It really shows how both journalism and education are changing in transformational ways," and adds "The biggest effect the internet will have is how we learn." I think this is a great idea and that new technology shows us students across the country new ways to learn. iPods are great fast ways to gain access to the internet, and the internet in my opinion is the fastest way for me to get the information I need. Another article that caught my attention is called "Al Gore: Should Schools Be Wired To The Internet?" by Vice President Al Gore. This article talks about how all kids should grow up with a computer. The internet gives we the people easy ways of communication and information. The Education Department reports that students in classes that use computers outperform their peers on standardized tests of by skills by an average of 30%. Another study showed that with access tho the internet not only presented their final projects in more creative ways but also turned in work that was more complete and had better syntheses of different points of view. Former President Bill Clinton and Al gore have created an E-rate program to give crucial discounts to schools and libraries, with the steepest discounts going to the neediest communities. Through this program the government gives all children an equal chance to learn and succeed in school. Without this help, technology is one more hurdle for poor and rural communities struggling to keep up with richer communities. This article is important to me because I believe that all schools should be hooked up with the internet because it fast, fun, reliable search engine that students can use in order to complete a specific assignment. I hope someday that all schools will be able to afford computers and internet. For now hopefully our government can help these poor communities attain this technology because you never know where the next Albert Einstein will pop up.

summarize the two articles assigned for 9-9-09

Today we reviewed and discussed four articles and for which two I have to summarize. One caught my attention. The name of the article is called Tech helps students adopt good study habits by Dennis Carter. This one caught my attention because the article talks about how teachers are using online "signals" to warn students that their grades are dropping. If the student grade is dropping the teacher sends study habit suggestions to the student. The system consists of of three signals, a red signal (low grades), a yellow signal (doing well), and a green signal (passing). This would help me greatly to know that if I was failing a class I would be notified within the first two weeks of school rather than waiting half a semester and finding out i am failing. I think this is a great system and that all schools should try using this system. Another article that caught my attention is called Reading, Writing, iPhoning by Elizabeth Woyke. This article talks abut how some schools are issuing out either an iPhone or an iPod touch. Oklahoma Christian University is the only school giving students MacBooks along with the iPhone or iPod touch. Of course the students are going to have to pay for the device, and if you choose the iPhone you have to pay AT&T's monthly service bill. The device will be used inside the classroom for tracking attendance, campus maps, check their course calendars, receive emergency alerts, and keep up with city events. Of course there is a downfall some students might use the device in a non productive way and might screw it up for everyone else. I think this is a great idea for a way to introduce modern technology with today learning planner. Plus hopefully I can get my hands on an iPhone and a MacBook.

Reflecting on today's discussion, your group, your upcoming writing assignments

Today's discussion was very important to us students. Our teacher taught us how to access articles, links, and assignments on our pals account. We also learned that we can access our syllabus from her class from our pals account. She also talked about how many points we can get in the class, survival statistics, and the rules to her class. My group is a pretty good group (Strykers), we always try to get things done together, try to be on the same page, try to get things done on time, e-mail on assignments that need to be done. It's easier that we student development class together because we can talk about our classes and if somebody forget something for a certain class we try to help each other out so they won't stick out like a sore thumb. I know they will help me out if I need help and I'll be there if they need help in any class. In the end of our semester the Stryker team will prevail in the end becoming the English 0301 survivors. We have quite of few of writing assignments in this class. (Duh, it's English class.) We students have plenty more blogs to do which is hell for me already. Plenty more classroom writing, final drafts, and discussions, but in the end I believe this well prepare me for my future classes and will be well worth it for me in the future. I can not wait for what this class has in store for me in the future because I truly need this class to become a better writer in general since it has been about 5 years since I have truly written a story, blog, or writing drafts. I am going to try to survive the semester with an A in the class, but it will require plenty of time and effort from me. The reward? Realize all the necessary writing skills to take me through college and life.

Write a fake email to our friend complaining about a grade you earned in class

What's up homie, long time no talk to. What you been up to? Me chillin started school up last week. So I show up in class and this teacher right old man, 5'9ish, grumpy as hell gives me back a paper that I wrote which took two hard weeks of research on the computer, books, and outside help gave me a D. He said "You should have known better to have written this paper with black ink instead of blue ink." So I said, " You did not specify on whether the paper should be written black ink, blue ink, red ink, or a pencil I see other students have written in other colored inks," then totally cut me off and starts ranting and pointing his fingers in an angry tone, "I am the teacher here so what I say goes, and I distinctly remember telling you that I wanted the research paper written in black ink," and heads off toward his desk angrily moaning and groaning as he walks. So I waited till after class to confront him once again about my grade. As I walk toward his desk he abruptly gets up and heads toward his office in the back of the classroom and shuts his door. I walk up to the door and knock three times.There is no answer. I knock three more times. No answer. I knock again three more times and hear a thunderous voice saying, "Quit knocking on my door and come in already." I enter the door and they he is crying on his desk telling me how his wife cheated on him with another teacher and took their kids and ran off to Mexico. I listen to him sob and cry for about an hour and at the end he ends up giving me an A for the research paper just for listening to his problem and I ended up passing for the semester. Anyways thanks for letting me vent see you at the concert this Saturday. MuDvAyNe rocks. Laterz.

What is your writing process?

I usually start my writing process by putting some music on, get into a good vibe, get some water, and a snack bar. Then I sit somewhere, wherever doesn't really matter where, and start jotting my ideas down on a piece of paper. Once I have them all down the ideas flow through my head for what I want to write. In school it's different I feel like you are being forced to write so I usually blank out and get nervous, but I stop to think about what needs to be focused on and see what I have to do in order to get the job done. Such as taking deep breaths, relaxing in my chair, then I start to write down my ideas then it all starts to come to me after that. I get this habit to write a whole paragraph down, erase it, then write a completely different paragraph down. I also like to over think most of the topics and over stress my mind with ideas most of the time. As you can read I have plenty of things that go on during my writing process, but in the end I think I have to relax more while writing a paper. Thus I have told you my writing process and what happens during this process.

How you use technology in our world?

Technology is very important in my life. I use technolgy to come to school, relax at home, to work at work everyday. At home I use lights to see in my apartment, to watch TV, and play video games for leisure .I use technology at work with huge machines that can read the address of a mail piece which then sends a signal to a barcode reader to place a barcode at the bottom of the letter, which sends a signal back to a computer which sends the mailpiece to a specific bin which is assigned a zip code. So, thus I've shown how technology is an important use in my world so how's it used in your world?