PLN 12

        "What teachers really want to tell parents" by Ron Clark describes how teachers are not able to tell parents what they need to about their kids due to parents being combative and resistant to it.
       

        "What teachers really want to tell parents" by Ron Clark makes a valid point due to the reality that there  are very many bad parents today who do not want to hear anything bad about their kid. The article is very accurate and raises some good points. Parents do often make excuses for their kids. The author of this PLN knows this well because one of his parents does what this article is talking about in making excuses, and one doesn't, so he knows what each one is like. He can tell one what each is like. This article is very agreeable. Parents often do make excuses and combat teachers. The author of this paper sees the craziness that teachers see in these parents. He believes that these parents are the way they are due to over-protecting their child. In whole, this author deeply enjoyed what this article had to say and agrees.

PLN 10

      "In Praise of the F Word" by Mark Sherry describes how he teaches students who didn't learn what they needed to learn in high school, so they come to classes to learn what they need for employers.

      The high school students not being taught well enough which Mark Sherry speaks of in his article "In Praise of the F Word" are eye opening for society because it shows how bad education is. They are eye opening because it shows how badly the education system is doing. Some students are even graduating and getting their diplomas, but still coming to this class to get help. Sherry says that students shouldn't be passed if they have not mastered the work. He believes this is at least part of the problem. This is a good point, but sometimes kids have mastered the work, not the knowledge. Kids can complete the assignments, but still not know what they need to. Another point Mark Sherry brings up is that kids coming from bad backgrounds are given those things as excuses. This is not good because kids can learn regardless of their background. They however, may not be very motivated with those backgrounds to learn. Mark Sherry brings up valid points, but isn't totally right.

Why are people so resistant to change in education and other places?

PLN 9

"IBM claims huge strides in quantum computing" by Daniel Terdiman describes how Intel is making great progress towards improving quantum computers.

The events Daniel Terdiman talks about in his article "IBM claims huge strides in quantum computing" is exciting because these events will make a difference in our society that without them would take us at least 50 years to get to. The quantum computers that this article talks about are exponentially faster. There is a certain math problem that would take the best computers today the entire age of the universe to solve and it would take these quantum computers an hour to solve. These computers could help speed up the improvement of computer speed so quickly that a supercomputer would be like a dumb phone. If these computers could be perfected, then the world could be improved greatly.

PLN #8

"What's Wrong With the Teenage Mind?" by Alison Gopnik introduces the idea that teenage minds aren't just bound to being insufficiently developed, but are simply not taught well enough to do certain tasks via informal apprenticeship.

"What's Wrong With the Teenage Mind?" by Alison Gopnik didn't really spark a "hotspot" because this wasn't very intriguing since the author of this paper neither agreed or disagreed or cared. Explaining why teens act the way they do is good to know, however, this also adds excuses for such behavior. It is good though that this article states that teens can overcome this indevelopement by having greater informal education like apprenticeship  "Take Your Kid to Work Day" should be more than once a year so that kids truly can learn more about the real world. Kids used to start inturnships at the age of seven and now they are starting at around 22. What this article speaks is something not very needed to observe. All these problems can be overcome when a teen takes their normally subconscious actions into their conscious. This is a choice. If a teen begins to think their actions through consciously, they won't have to worry about an undeveloped frontal lobe or other things such as that.

PLN #7

        "Could the iPad Mini sell for less than the iPod Touch?" by Daniel nations (http://ipad.about.com/b/2012/10/10/could-the-ipad-mini-sell-for-less-than-the-ipod-touch.htm) is about the impending iPad Mini being sold for an appealingly low price. The article talks about how when the iPad came out, it was offered at a very low price, $499. The iPad Mini would then also be offered for a lowered price. Because of the smaller screen, hence the name iPad Mini it would have a lowered price than the full size iPad. The iPad mini could be sold at lower price, says Daniel Nations, than the iPod touch. The cheapest iPod touch is priced at $299 at the lowest. Nations says that he thinks it is a possibility that the iPad mini could realistically be priced at $249 which he thinks would destroy the competition. He doesn't expect the iPad to be sold at $199 or $249, but he says that Apple might surprise us with a lower-than-expected price. Daniel Nations says some interesting points about the iPad Mini's potential pricing


       I think it would be very neat if the iPad Mini was sold for less than the iPod touch...on the iPad Mini side of things. It's cool that apple would be lowering their prices so much. However, this would prove even more that the iPod Touch is over-priced. It currently is far cheaper to make than it is sold for. The iPod touch should be charged much less for. The iPod touch, with less features, is more expensive than Apple's iPhone. I think if they charged $249 for their iPad Mini, they would have to charge less for their iPod touch. Overall, in the article, Daniel brings to light some very intriguing predictions. It will be interesting to see if they come true. I look forward to seeing what the iPad Mini will be priced at.

PLN #6

          Mr. Fisch's video titled "What if" technically had no plot. It was merely a 6 minute, 18 second video showing what people have said about technology incorporation into education for the past three hundred years. That is what the video seems like without any thought. The video shows what different educators have said since 1703 about different technology being installed into the education system. At that time, it was the transition from bark to slate. Succeeding that was the transition from slate to paper, then pencil to pen, then the transition from self-made to store-bought ink. Technology was harassed next by the PTA saying students depend on fountain pens. The next few include ballpoint pens, using calculators on tests, again calculators are harassed, another shoot-down of calculators, etc. At last, the internet comes into existence, it is unwelcome by people saying it is just a fad, that schools don't need websites, teacher will never use email, rejection of network ports in all classrooms and computers in every classroom, rejection of LCD projectors, (take a breath now, there's more) rejection of high school students having laptops, grades on the web, wireless networks in schools, and electronics in class. Now, we are at the 6 minute, 10 mark of the video, saying, "What if...we'd listened?" This video demonstrates how people constantly doubt technology in a very interesting way.

          I totally agree with what this video was saying. People always say that technology is distracting to the learning enviorment and things like that and they are proven wrong time and time again. It is not bad that they say such things as skepticism alone isn't bad, it is the fact that they say things and never learn from them. Critics fail to recognize that every time they say something negative, they have to later eat their words; this video proves that. I find it amazing how it doesn't matter what the technology is, people still accuse it of basically pampering students. For three hundred nine, almost three hundred ten years, people have resisted change in education. I think the bottom lin of what this video is saying is that if doesn't matter the circumstances, people don't like change...and that is what I entirely agree with.